Just an FYI - you’re on a quite heavy dose of Clonazepam. You really should be tapering at a much slower rate to help prevent withdrawal and other effects.
You’re right, it’s unhealthy. Thanks for your concern, I appreciate.
But I won’t get withdrawal symptoms until I withdraw.
Maximum dose is 20 mg a day. At 4 mg once a night, I’m still far from that.
This is a dilemma. If I don’t take it, I don’t sleep, I can’t work, I lose my business (even with drugs, it’s hard to keep the business running) and I can’t sustain my 3 children in a country without social welfare.
I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place.
On the other side, we so close to an economic depression the size of 1929 that I don’t think I’ll keep my business more than 2 years anyway and in those 2 years I can save enough money to retire.
So I’m pushing the limits just below the breaking point. What’s the alternative anyway. When I don’t sleep, I’m so messed up I can’t even procrastinate by playing computer games or watching youtube. Everything seems boring and I end up just sitting somewhere and waiting for the next sleepless night.
I prefer to keep busy. When I work, I don’t have time to pity myself.
I am with you on the insomnia and fatigue. I am disabled by it. Feels like I am on life support as I can’t even function enough to get anything done. I’d be dead on the street if there were no social assistance in Canada.
Could the hydroxyzine be worsening your constipation? I remember hydroxyzine giving me bad constipation without fail whenever I took it years ago.
Maybe, I took Hydroxyzine for 5 years, never have a problem. Anyway, I solved it, I just eat more fiber.
Day 140 Well, what do you know. 18 days in a row of sleep at least 7.5/10, the last two nights being around 8.5/10. Sleep has not been a problem for almost 3 weeks and I dont feel dreadful before going to sleep anymore, wondering whats the night gonna be like (I used to fear going to sleep after so many horrible nights. I would say God, please make it stop !)
Yesterday I forgot to take my second set of 5-HTP, Tyrosine and L-Dopa and I was still focused, motivated and confident until bedtime, despite a major drama at my manufacture that may have cost me my job (and all the employee`s jobs). This morning I felt short on neurotransmitters and was relieved to take the supplements.
Despite one of the worst situation I had been in years, I didnt have anxiety or insomnia. I took it positively, thinking if I lose my business, Ill have plenty of time on my hands and it might just turn out to be the best thing ever, who knows ?
I also had lots of chocolate fat bombs recently and ended up with low sex drive and sensitivity. I can confirm what others have: cocoa make the symptoms worst (at least the sexual ones).
I`m still on a diet with as little carbs as I can, replacing the energy source with saturated fat. Work had me fasting a bit in the last few days as I had to work up to 14 hours a day with not much time to eat or shower.
Altogether, I think Im showing signs of partial recovery, or at least a decrease in the intensity of symptoms, although its hard to tell with the supplements and drugs.
But not so long ago, the same drugs would give me only 3 hours of real sleep, and 5-6 hours of dreaming zombie sleep. The same supplements would not prevent having anxiety in the afternoon or evening.
I`m looking forward with optimism.
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Can amino-acids help for anhedonia? If so, which should i take?
They have helped me but I can’t tell for you. Every case is different.
I`m not a big fan of taking a single amino or supplement. I believe we have imbalances all over the body and taking only one helps in one place and creates imbalances in others. I think a zero carb whey protein shake, once a day, is a good all over source of amino acid.
But to give you a straight answer, L-Dopa from Mucuna Pruriens , 350 mg in the morning, has made me motivated and it a good mood. I normally take it with L-Tyrosine 750 mg and L-Tryptophan 1000 mg to keep things balanced (I actually take 5-HTP 100 mg, but L-Tryptophan does the same and is safer). I can`t know if it would do the same for you.
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Day 143 Another 3 days of good sleep. 21 uninterrupted days in total. Nice.
Today, I had so much work the only supplements I took was my wake up pills which are:
5-HTP 100mg
Tyrosine 1000mg
L-Dopa 350mg
Calcium Pyruvate and Calcium Lactate, 500mg
Half of all Vitamin B (1,3,6,12, biotin)
Then I was so busy at work I didn’t have time to take any other supplements or even food, for that matter. As a result, I’ve been fasting for 24 hours and was nonetheless full of energy all day.
I feel fantastic. No withdrawal of any kind and since I’ve been on a ketogenic diet for 8 months, fasting was a piece of cake. I barely notice it (and obviously I didn’t have hypoglycemia). I could have gone on for at least another 24 hours, but considering I’m skinny as it is, I didn’t dare. Plus I worked hard enough on those abs, pecs and shoulders, why would I want to feed on them !
I’m starting to believe I might just get through this !
I’m touching wood (no puns. Seriously.)
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Hi Ozeph, I am really happy reading your last post here. 
For one who wants to start taking amino acids, would you say there is a way to cycle just L-phenylalanine and Tyroine to start with?
There lots of people that swear by OMAD (one meal a day) lifestyle. I do this most days, but with little affect on my pfs. I do it mainly because I am never hungry in the mornings and don’t have time for lunch
Hi Capello
L-Phenylalanine didn’t do much for me. Never had any effect from it. Than again, I was taking DL-Phenylalanine.
I’m now taking 750 mg of L-Tyrosine every morning, along with 100 mg of 5-HTP (equivalent to 1000 mg of tryptophan which is safer) and 350 mg of L-Dopa. IMO those 3 go together. But if you want to cycle L-Tyrosine go easy on the dose. It’s a common amino acid, I get about 3000 mg from eating a steak.
I should mention that taking 500 mg of L-Tyrosine on an empty stomach may result in a greater effect from L-tyrosine than eating a steak, as long chain aminos are competing to pass the brain barrier. The steak has so much more aminos, the brain barrier may shut down before 500 mg of L-Tyrosine went through even if you actually get more from a steak than from a capsule.
This is not what made a change for me. What made the biggest difference is 0 carbs, high saturated fat and protein diet. So my one or 2 meals a day, sometimes with intermittent fasting, is done with carnivore / ketogenic diet. Even if I eat 3 meals a day, if I follow my diet I’m fine.
Carbs really mess me up.
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Same here. Carbs get me bed-ridden.
Do you think there is a risk when taking amino-acids? In our case, I mean.
Yes there is. Everyone is different not only in symptoms, but in intensity.
Whenever I’m trying an amino acid or a supplement, I start with low doses and increase if it does nothing or maybe feels a little good. If it feels bad, I stop. Being stubborn is dangerous here. I increase slowly until I see some good effects. If it feels too good, I reduce. If even at high dose it feels nothing, I taper down or stop.
Also some amino acids are more dangerous than others, some are dangerous only to some of us and some are dangerous in combination with drugs or herbs.
For example, SSRI and 5-HTP is a recipe for disaster. And St-John’s Worth will do the same with 5-HTP.
Tryptophan is 5-HTP precursor is is abundant in cheese, poultry and meat. So it’s safer than 5-HTP, some may feel bad with it, some may feel good. Both prevents me from sleeping so I have to take them at least 6-8 hours before sleep.
Upon waking up, 5-HTP 100 mg, L-Tyrosine 750 mg and L-Dopa 350 mg works fine for me. It keeps me confident, motivated, in a good mood, focused and dissipate brain fog as well as waking me up.
Be careful, do some research and see what works for you.
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Day 145 Still sleeping good. Not equally good, depending of the stress of the day, but always between 7.5 and 9 on 10. Something has changed. It’s been 23 days of uninterrupted good sleep, unseen in 4 years.
I’m thinking it’s either taking Sulforaphane occasionally or it’s the ketogenic \ carnivore diet. If it’s the later, I still didn’t sleep good 4 months ago and I was full on on the diet. So I’m leaning toward Sulforaphane (50 mg, taken with broccoli extract) or maybe it’s both.
I’ve been skipping evening aminos, protein shakes, vitamin, hormone balance mix, minerals, just about everything except the morning aminos. Not always, sometime I would take them, but they don;t seem to make a difference. I’m focused, awake, full of energy, don’t feel fatigue, have a good mood (I’m singing songs in my head) I’m definitely not as irritable as before, I’m confident, motivated, brain fog is sometimes an issue but easily fixed with Sulforaphane or L-Tyrosine 500 mg. And I get this whether or not I’m taking the supplements.
The morning aminos (my wake up pills) are:
5-HTP-100 mg
L-Tyrosine 750 mg
L-Dopa 350 mg
Calcium Lactate and pyruvate, 500 mg
And a quarter pill of all vitamin B complex, in a bio available, co-enzymated form.
I also take the nighttime pills:
A tiny qty of B3 (I split a pill in 28 pieces and une it for 4 weeks)
slow release melatonin 10mg
Food grade Zinc, 5mg
I skipped 4 gr of Inusitol without seeing any difference.
Clonazepam 4 mg (I will taper down but I have a business trip to Georgia in 3 days, north of Turkey so I don’t want to mess things up before I leave. I need to be awake, confident and convincing up there.)
Hydroxyzine 10 mg. Non addictive, can be increased or decreased as needed.
Bedtime snacks really helps. I wouldn’t do without it. i switched from cheese to almonds.
When I come back, I will see if I can skip the morning aminos and taper down on the Clonazepam.
The thing I’m not changing is the diet (except on the trip). So far it’s been the best thing for me.
If it holds without the supplement, I’ll just keep the diet. It’s got to much benefits outside of pfs to be overlooked. I feel and look like I’m 35 and I’m 51. I have the body and the ability of when I was 28.
This is my chance for a second life and I won’t miss it.
Now I’'m not going to be cocky. My sex drive is still less than half of what it was when i was 28. But back then I could have sex 12 times a day. It was actually too much to handle. I still have occasional anxiety, but considering the stress at work (almost lost everything in the last 10 days, slept good anyway) I think I’m handling it well. There’s a lot of pressure to perform. Customers don’t want any excuses, anyone else, they want me to do the work and it need to be perfect (I do jewelry). Still have some brain fog, especially when I work more than 10 hours. could be fatigue. .
I one of these guys that act as if I believe in God, although not in a religious way. I think everything has a purpose, even getting this disease. I have this crazy idea that one day, I will be grateful for this adventure with pfs.
If I recover, I will make a long post describing everything i did from the beginning. It may not work for everyone, but it may work for some.
I took fin, 1.25 mg for 20 years, stopped 1 year ago and crashed a months later.
If I crash again, Lol, well so much for the recipe. I’ll just pick up my misery and move forward with it, like a weight on my shoulder. But let’s see what happens next. There’s no point making suppositions.,
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It’s so weird that you feel better on sulforaphane and broccoli extract but it gives me brain fog for days.
It shows how much everyone is different. Sulforaphane acts on the neurotransmitters, for better or worst.
Day 146 another good night of sleep, (9/10). No symptoms today.
I’m skipping and reducing supplements and nothing happens, I’m still good. Sometimes I have mild anxiety, but I did since I was young, way before taking fin. Is it pfs or just normal ?
I’ll know soon enough. I’m leaving for Europe tomorrow. I won’t post for at least 6 days. There’ll be jet lag, I’ll eat carbs even if I try to avoid them and I’ll be in a strange place, in a different climate (cold ! what is that ?). I’ll have no choice but to take clonazepam around its scheduled time as it has withdrawal symptoms. Maybe I’ll just push it a few hours…
Anyway. Last trips I did I ended up messed up and it took a few weeks to get back to baseline. Let’s see this time.
I’m totally open to being symptom free while traveling and I’m certainly not going to will myself into having symptoms just because I believe it has to be this way. So here it is: I picture myself well and symptom free while in Europe, having wonderful nights like I’ve had the past 24 days. Yeah !!!
If it’s for pleasure, let me know if you get cured after your trip to Europe. Then give us the itinerary. Enjoy your trip, you deserve it.
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Thanks Mercked. I will.