Sex drive is lower than pre-fin and it suits me. Pre-fin I was craving sex all the time, even after having sex 3 times with my GF.
I can have sex 1-5 times a week. I’m cool with that level.
Day 199 of amino acids, Day 332 of carnivore / ketogenic diet and Day 6 of benzo detox.
I`m loosening the ketogenic / Carnivore diet a bit. I’m reducing saturated fat, adding healthy carbs and including Paleo diet items such as very colorful fruits and veggies for the flavonoids and antioxidants they contain. I rarely see any pfs symptoms in the daytime. If I do, it will be dry lips or dry eyes. Still have insomnia issues but getting much better. I can have sex 3-4 times a week without feeling deprived, which in my case is a much lower sex drive. Is it pfs or being 51 ?
Sleep was 9/10 yesterday. Now all I have to do is tapper down benzo and anti-histamine and replace with Taurine, Passion flower, Lavender Oil, Valerian and such. I’ll try taking Ashwagandha. It’s very good for balancing neurotransmitters and hormones.
I have read mixed things about Ashwagandha. I have heard it can even cause insomnia. But I guess we all react differently to these types of herbs.
Carnivore diet is also dangerous study find it:
Yes. Maybe it’s because it creates serotonin and if you can’t convert it into melatonin than you have insomnia. I don’t know. What I know is I used to not tolerate Taurine, especially before sleep, and now I can take it.
So I’ll give Ashwagandha and Bacopa a chance as they both regenerate brain cells and promote hormone and neurotransmitters balance.
They work on the Hyppocampus, Thalamus, Hypothalamus and Hypophysis; which, if you look them up separately, pretty much sums up all the symptoms we have and IMO is the reason why this forum is for a disease that developed from 5alpha-reductase inhibitors as well as anti-androgens, antidepressants, and GnRH analogs, a disease which again IMO affects those 4 parts of the brain.
For example. all sex hormones are regulated by the Hypophysis. IMO, if it becomes unregulated it explains why SSRI patients develop the same sexual symptoms as pfs although they took nothing that affected their sexual hormones directly.
All the aminos, vitamins and minerals I took were specifically aiming at this region of the brain. I now take it a bit further and orienting my diet and supplementation toward brain cells creation and regeneration in the same region. To this end, I added omega 3, flavonoids and anti-oxidants and will try Ashwagandha and Bacopa, both of which increase sexual functions, neurotransmitter and hormone balance as well as brain cell creations from the hyppocampus region.
I will take them morning and afternoon on an empty stomach and stop 5-HTP, L-Dopa and Tyrosine to avoid redundancy. I will take some of those 3 aminos occasionally if I see a need for it. I should get results from the herbs in a week or two and the treatment should not last more than 3 months.
I think taking either of them before sleep would create insomnia , especially Bacopa. If things go well, I will try Ashwagandha before sleep in a few weeks.
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Yes, it can. Red meat shortens lifespan. Saturated fat prevents cell regeneration. This is why I changed my mind and recommend the carnivore / Ketogenic diet for only 6 months (minimum 3 months). I believe it stops and reverse pfs neurological symptoms. After which, Paleo and Mediterranean diet is fine.
Day 395 after I crashed, Day 333 of Ketogenic now turned Paleo diet, Day 200 of Amino and Day 1 of Ashwagandha and Bacopa for brain regeneration, a 3 months experiment if well tolerated. It’s now mid June, I’ll stop mid September.
Good news: I can take other sleep aids on top of 3 mg Clonazepam and 20 mg Hydroxyzine, like Silexan 60 mg (Lavender oil) which works the best because it’s an oil and stays longer in the body. I tried Passion flower extract and Taurine yesterday , both at 1000 mg, and I had deep sleep for 6 hours then woke up and barely slept for the two hours I remained in bed. Sleep was 7/10 because of the missing 2 hours but the 6 hours before were deep sleep. Passion flower extract is water soluble and gets eliminated faster. I expect the same with Kava Kava as it is water soluble. But tonight, I’ll go back to lavender oil for the purpose of having a 9/10 night (with a little luck). Cycling sleeping herbs is a good idea anyway.
Bad news: I need to take something on top of 3 mg Clonazepam and 20 mg Hydroxyzine, it’s not enough to make me sleep. Maybe Ashwagandha will eventually help.
Day 397 after I crashed, Day 335 of Ketogenic now turned Paleo diet, Day 202 of Amino and Day 3 of Ashwagandha and Bacopa for brain regeneration.
Sleep was 9/10. I took Clonazepam 3mg, Hydroxyzine 22.5 mg 1 1/2 hour before bedtime, Kava Kava and Taurine 1000 mg each 30 minutes before, and melatonin 10 mg Inusitol (Vit B8) 1000 mg (down from 5000 mg) just before bedtime. Didn’t have problem falling or staying asleep, I had deep sleep along with normal dreams and woke up 30 minutes before the alarm rang. Went back to sleep and woke up when the alarm did go off. What’s new is I can now tolerate and get benefits from Taurine and other Anxiolytics herbs whereas 6 months ago they were making me feel bad and I couldn’t take 'em.
I will cycle Silexan, Passion Flowers and Kava Kava until I get Valerian, lemon balm and other Anxiolytic herbs, then I will eliminate Kava Kava unless I get a proper reassurance from the manufacturer it was made by the book. (if not, it can be dangerous for the liver)
I took Ashwagandha and Bacopa along with my 3 brain aminos, (5-HTP, L-Dopa and Tyrosine) even though I said I wouldn’t to avoid redundancy. This is because it take 2-4 week for Ashwagandha and Bacopa to have full effects. I will slow down and stop if needed the brain aminos when I’ll be approaching Ashwagandha and Bacopa effective time.
So far, I noticed four effects: I have 1- greater imagination and 2- greater ability to solve complex problems. I found solutions to an economic and geopolitics puzzle that eluded me for years. Just couldn’t get my head around it and now I can. I find it amazing to observe my mind stretching its limits and come up with new original ideas it creates by itself. 3- sex drive is up and becomes more of a pressing issue.
And 4-, a negative one, I get mild anxiety after taking a dose of both Ashwagandha and Bacopa. It doesn’t last and is only an inconvenience but I will keep a close look at it. If it grows, I will have to lower the dose or stop those 2 herbs. It i gets better, than I’m Ok and will just go on.
I had way too much sugar yesterday at that birthday party. Turns out the host made a buffet consisting almost exclusively of cakes and sweet bakery, all with sugar. there was almost no normal food. I had more sugar that day than I had in weeks. The anxiety could come from that. It didn’t prevent me from sleeping. Could be benzo withdrawal. Who knows !
Update: Well, I had sex 3 times today and I’m still horny. I don’t know if it’s Ashwagandha / Bacopa already having an effect, the change of diet to include colorful food full of antioxidant and flavonoids or the addition of carbs while reducing saturated fat, but it feels good.
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So ozeph Iam glad you are doing fine.
Can you name some foods that absolutely would fuck you up during your sensitive time, pls?
This diseases also affects the visual cortex, I can promise you that
Oh yeah: sugar, soy, peanuts, chocolate, gluten, brown rice, corn, all highly processed food with artificial flavors, colors and chemicals. I still stay away from those and try to eat things with only one ingredients (like purple cabbage, rib eye steak, Ghee, etc…)
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It did that to me also. Someone described it as having your head in a fish bowl. I liked the comparison. To me it felt like I was not looking directly at things but rather from the side, as if my vision was misaligned.
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Has your vision cleared up? I didnt know this was one of your issues originally? I wonder if the vision issues are due to low DHT which protects nerves. It seems tinnitus and visual issues could be lack of DHT protecting nerves?
I didn`t have it for long. I went ketogenic 6 weeks after I crashed and started getting better from that point on. But I had it again when I tried to detox from benzo using Gabapentin and man it was strong. Some of the heaviest brain fog I’ve had was with Gabapentin, along with visual troubles.
My DHT was always a normal levels. I think it`s part of the neurological symptoms, and I think they are due to neurotransmitter imbalance (and their cousins, neurosteroids, neuropeptides, hormones and enzymes, all of which are chemical signaler part of the endocrine system instead of electrical signaler part of the nervous system). I think it starts with cutting Allopregnanolone supply by fin, which I know it does for sure, and from then on unbalancing all the rest. But that I don’t know for sure.
By the way, I found that Beta-Hydroxybutyrates salts can induce ketosis in an hour. Available on Amazon, it’s an easy way to bypass the harsh first week of a ketogenic diet. I’m gonna get some for my son and wife. You drink a glass of that stuff and you’re in ketosis in 1 hour, along with all the benefits (clear mind, energy, calmness etc…) Worth a shot…
Interesting stuff. I’m seeing a top top endocrinologist today in New York City. I’m hoping he will be able to give me more direction and really drill down on my levels. I was looking over test results from back in December. My DHT and free T were both super low. I feel like they are still not good. I may consider a very low low dose of TRT just to see if I feel ANY improvement. Ultimately… I’m realizing… I need to get really really serious with diet and excercise. I have wasted a lot of time hoping things would improve on their own. But I dont think anything will get much better unless I commit to some type of keto diet and heavy weight and HIIT regimen. Feeling totally worse this last week. I think drinking beer has tanked my levels. Back to no drinking
If you’re interested:
They have at least 50 brands that sells the stuff.
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I dont want to say “I crashed recently” but something got way worse as of Sunday/Monday… fatigue and dizzyness. I fasted for 36 hours, did some heavy legs sets and the fatigue seems to have subsided… the dizzyness and visual stuff is worse. I’m hoping it gets back to its norm baseline. Until then… I am going to get moving forward with diet, HIIT and Heavy Weights. Once I feel I have stabilized a bit, I will check out the Keto supplements. Also… I feel Keto has to be measured… do you measure with those test strips at all. I know you have been doing it for so long that you probably know when your in keto just by the way your body feels.
Sounds like a good plan.
Water tastes sweet when you’re in ketosis. And no, I don’t measure things. I just eat rib eye steaks, spinach zucchinis, romaine lettuce, no more than 6 oz, and lots of saturated fat (like 3 oz a day) mostly ghee.
I am back to baseline… maybe even a little better today. So weird. Had an abnormally good night sleep. I have refused to increase any dosages of sleep meds and commit to having a bad night sleep if necessary. Sun, Mon, Tues were bad… last night my fit bit measured 2 hours of deep sleep and 2 hours of REM. Went to bed at 11pm and woke up at 6:30am and felt good. @Ozeph are you able to get a Fitbit where you are? They really help put some metrics to sleep and how you feel. I highly recommend.
Congratulation ! That’s good news. You’re showing progress. Good idea to resist the temptation to increase meds. I also decided to not increase any dose and have a bad night if that’s what it is.
Monitoring my sleep would be great. I’ll check if I can get a hold of that. Thanks for the tip !
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