Hey y’all, i’ve been suffering full blown PFS for over a year now. I experienced this after taking a very potent lions mane mushroom extract for a month, and combining it with navitas cacao powder (I believe @mercked had a crash from something similar). It is textbook PFS; I quit, got better, then crashed hard a few weeks later. Physical symptoms, sexual symptoms, and mental symptoms. most things have gotten better over the course of this past year, some have gotten worse.
I’ve been taking clonidine, an antihypertensive medication, for a few years now for sleep. It never used to cause me any hormonal trouble but I decided to taper off of it over the course of about a month, just to eliminate and possibility of confounding factors on my condition. I know minoxidil, an antihypertensive, can cause people trouble.
it could be coincidental, but very quickly I began to notice positive changes.
I noticed facial fat returning very quickly, surges of libido and overall feelings of wellbeing. deepened voice, more masculine face, no more veins on penis. The positives were unmistakable. honestly, it felt like I could’ve been cured going at this rate within weeks or months.
This lasted about a week, that is, until I ate soy, two days in a row. on tuesday, I consumed chili that’s first ingredient was soy protein isolate. I felt off within the hour of consuming it. Those feelings of well-being and libido finished, whilst digestive discomfort (a new symptom), vertigo, and anxiety set in.
the next day, I still felt off, but not horrible. My libido seemed present to a degree still.
after work, I consumed some mexican leftovers, and unluckily enough I ate a bowl of, you guessed it, soy protein isolate. that was yesterday, and last night I felt really really bad. Today I’m still feeling off. the anxiety isn’t as crippling as it was yesterday, but my libido is pretty tanked. I was previously able get erections quickly with just my thoughts, and that ability has completely vanished.
that being said, the soy has cause a brief return in my naturally oily skin and acne, which is something I haven’t experienced since before my first crash.
I believe I have low estrogen- my blood test showed my Estradiol at 20 PG/ML, and my
Total test at 444 nG/dL. Free test- 73.4 nG/dL, fwiw. I’m 19 years old, for reference.
I believe the negative effect I am experiencing has to do with the isoflavones in soy, which are 5ari. These are particularly concentrated in the soy protein isolate. I crashed previously in october of last year from taking a vitamin c supplement that contained citrus bioflavonoids, after which I developed exercise intolerance (which has persisted) and severe insomnia and panic attacks that eventually faded.
i’m kind of neurotic and very health-anxious, even before PFS. really worried i’ve completely ruined my progress. every time I crash, I’m worried it’s going to be the one that permanently fucks me beyond any sort of recovery, and though this has never been the case entirely, it’s where i’m at now. It’s only been about a day since the soy, so I might be freaking out for nothing. I’m looking for reassurance, and hopes that maybe someone has had a similar experience with soy.