4 pills of propecia: before vs after 1 month

Member Stories Lab Tests
#21

I’ve just finished my first 2 months of clomid (25 mg every 5 days), so here is my evolution on clomid, both in terms of sexual hormones and liver enzymes. Also, I tested my vitamin D, after 2 months of 10,000 IU daily: it’s 65 ng/ml (30-80).

Can anyone comment on them? I am still having my cycles of either a) good erections but low sensitivity (orgasm is hard to reach) or b) bad erections but good sensitivity (orgasm is easy to reach). Under the column “1 month”, which reports the results corresponding to 1 month on clomid, I was on the peak of the (b) cycle; under the column “2 months” I was on the peak of the (a) cycle. My libido also varies: it’s higher in (a) and lower in (b). I tracked all my symptoms for months and I can confidently state that the peaks of two cycles are 9-10 days apart. I’ve always had these cycles since I took those 4 pills back in November 2009. Although many symptoms improved (penis size, semen aspect, mental), my libido and erections have got worse since then, which made me decide to take the “hormonal treatment route”. What Clomid has done in that regard is to make the (a) cycles better and the (b) cycles worse…

Can anyone formulate any theory about these cycles? I would like to share ideas with Dr G next week.

Mentally, I’m doing very good. I attribute this to my diet (as raw as possible) and to not doing those sports that require “sprints” (i.e. soccer and gym). Also, this month I stopped taking zinc and eating broccoli. And my E went from 42 to 27… Since zinc and broccoli are supposedly anti-E, maybe their interruption is not the cause of this decrease; perhaps my E varies a lot and is the real cause of my cycles (low E in (a), high E in (b)).

I will be taking clomid until September and I will be posting a new blood test every month

situationMay2010_1.JPG960×720 64.5 KB


situationMay2010_2.JPG960×720 47.6 KB

#22

did you use any AI during clomid treatment?

sps

#23

What is AI? Is it anti-inflammatory? In any case, I haven’t taken anything else with clomid, except for some vitamins.

#24

AI = Aromatase Inhibitor. It lowers E2 (Estradiol) levels.

#25

Thanks Mew, I haven’t taken any aromatase inhibitor. If anything, I stopped taking natural aromatase inhibitor (zinc and broccoli).
Also, I just updated the post above with my latest results: now the liver enzymes are visible. Note that finasteride didn’t have any negative impact on them. In fact, they have been improving since all this mess started – thanks to a pretty strict diet.

#26

Yesterday I talked to Dr G about my latest results, which he finds awesome. I explained that I still have my cycles: ED but excellent orgasms / poor ability to have orgasm but excellent erections. Nevertheless, my sex drive is extremely low, in the sense that I don’t crave sex at all (I could go weeks without masturbating). He said that he’s never seen such cycles, which may be caused by cyclic changes in my neurotransmitters. He suggested that I should take the dopamine agonist cabergoline (0.5 mg twice a week), which would definitely improve my sex drive. He added that cabergoline doesn’t cause permanent desensitization of dopamine receptors, and that the side effects are also very limited–his patients tolerate it very well.

While taking cabergoline is tempting, I am going to wait a little longer before messing with my neurotransmitters. The reason is that I think I see some improvement, but I’m not quite sure. In the past 4 weeks, I noticed a slight improvement in libido and, especially, in the connection “brain-penis”. Lately, sexual fantasies have been triggering an erection almost every time; nevertheless, I don’t feel the urge to have sex or masturbate. I want to monitor my evolution until the end of this month. If the improvement continues, I will definitely NOT take anything else (except clomid).

My questions:
a) Can clomid be the cause of my extremely low sex drive even if my E2 is perfect? I read some posts on bodybuilders websites that say that you feel like crap while on clomid, but great once you stop it. But they don’t explain why you don’t feel right while on it.
b) Do you know of anybody that took cabergoline even when he had a relatively low prolactin? I have 7.4 (2.1-17.7). Furthermore, I read a few stories on this board, which are quite contradicting. jantmar seems to have benefited while NameChange hasn’t.

#27

Why doesn’t he test adiol-g? By goldstein not testing or acknowledging this piece of the puzzle it seems he is leaving out a large chunk o the potential problem. Adiol-g is a neurosteroid that mediates libido and testosterone - check out studies by c.a. Frye (can’t paste them now, on phone) for more info.