(pardon me for posting the same question in more than one thread.)
I have a scientific question.
Does “up-regulated or down-regulated genes” mean directly “epigenetic-modifications(Methylation, histone-modification etc)” ? Altered genes expression and epigenetic-modification are completely the same thing?
According to the researches, finasteride brings out thousands of alterations of gene expressions (upregulated or downregulated) in brain and body. So, does it mean that finasteride caused thousands of epigenetic-modifications?
on the other hand, we have the theory that what causes pfs is some epigenetic-modifications which make AR-function distorted and useless. I understand it is the cause of pfs. I don’t know how many epigenetic-modifications contribute to AR-dysfunction. But, it must be not so many.
Then, do the researches reveal that besides epigenetical AR-dysfunction we have “other additional” thousands of epigenetical dysfunction? Is it truth? I feel something strange… If that so, we have not only one problem(AR-dysfunction) but also thousands of problems…
◯ POSITIVE
・sebum secretion came back a little. (Of course not enough and it depends on the day) Running my fingers over forehead, I can visually confirm slight oil twinkling.
● NEGATIVE
・Insomnia is very hard. I can sleep only 2〜3 hours everyday. Sometimes only 1 hour.lol Just bearing…
・Gynecomastia’s improving is at a standstill…
・Hair has transformed very thin and limp in whole. (PFS HAIR)
・wrinkled skin got worse. especially skin of hands and arms.
Things aren’t looking good… I heard some people get new symptoms and become serious with time. I fear it.
But, an improvement of sebum secretion should be positive sign. I’ll continue to just wait and pray for improvement.
Let me state the conclusion first: Regrettably, no improvement. In fact, it has gradually got worse. And I have a question.
For this 12 months, I have been just waiting for natural improvements. I did basically nothing special to cure pfs, because it seems to me impossible to cure this destructive, astronomically complex, and structual damages, besides by the body, life system itself.
6 months ago, I experienced morning wood three times. It had been completely lost since I got pfs. So, I thought it would be the beginning of the first (limited) improvement. But, unfortunately, it was not. I have never experienced any morning wood since then. My libido has been completely zero. Semen has been precious little.
Insomnia keeps the wrost level.
And my skin has become very wrinkled and creaded.
My only improvement is sebum secretion. It comes back a little.
Judging at the moment, my pfs is one of the wrost cases. I am really sad and disappointed.
By the way, I have a question.
Now, I have a lot of hair loss everyday. It had been stopped for about 5 months since I got pfs. Then it restarted and now it is increasing.
So, I thought it might be a sign of recovery. “Is hair loss is the sign of the recovery?” may be a classic question.
Unfortunately, according to the testimonies of people, it is NOT. People say: despite of restart of hair loss, their other symptoms have never been improved.
Umm… Okey. In fact, as for me, there is no improvement. But, I have a question as follow.
Even though hair loss does not meen the sign of recovery, it is surely a change of the state. And thinking it simply, it is rational to think that hair loss reflects a certain degree of restoration of androgen signal in hair related cells. It should be the most simple interpretation. Don’t you think so? This is my first question. The same thing can be said about sebum secretion. Because sebum secretion also had lost and then came back. It should reflect a certain degree of restoration of androgen signal. I think this in itself can be viewed positively. --On the other hand, sexual dysfunction, insomnia, and collapse of skin etc, these symptoms have never been improved.
So, there seems to be a gap between the (estimated) restoration of androgen signal and a realization of recovery from (other) pfs symptoms. How can we interpret and explain this gap? This is my second question.
Simply put, PFS is not necessarily just an androgen signal disorder, but also a disorder of other biological signals. (Its detailed mechanism is not the matter.) This may be the reason why in some cases other symptoms such as sexual dysfunction do not recover proportionately, even though sebum secretion and hair loss have returned. If we assume that PFS is a multiple biological signal disorder caused by violent manipulation of 5 alpha reductase, we can well explain the characteristics of PFS, which has a common pattern of onset, although symptoms and recovery vary widely.
Some patients have no sexual dysfunction, others have no mental symptoms, so this strange disease has no essential core symptoms. (I think this odd characteristic must be extremely significant point. I have never heard of such a disease that has no essential core symptoms. We should think deeply about the meaning of this oddity.) But all biological signal disorder might be caused by the same simple way, that is, strong interference in biological signal. Of course its detailed molecular biological mechanism is uncovered, or rather occult, but it is not the matter. So to speak, we were struck by lightning and the elaborate circuit of our bodies were burnt out.
cf. Two-hit hypothesis
While you might not feel better from balding I’d take it as a welcomed sign of things beginning to work properly. I have yet to lose any hair since quitting a year ago.
I also agree about the oddity of PFS. The fact that no one case is the same scares me even more. How is this possible?
In our body, innumerable kinds of biological signal operate in various ways and levels and sustain our life system and its homeostasis. Such signals work under a perfect harmony.
Depriving of 5α-reductase must be violent and destructive interference in the whole system and its harmony. Because 5α-redactase plays multiple fundamental roles in our body and has a great impact on the whole system through its homeostasis. So, the intervention definitely puts a vast burden on the system and harmony and brings huge distortion to its whole operation. Of course, our system has a flexibility to certain degree to keep its functions. But, there must be a limit. When the burden goes beyond the limit of endurance, the micro-structures which sustain various biological signals gets terribly deformed and loses their functions. Such destructions may occur everywhere both in the brain and the body and at randum. Because our biological signaling system has a flexibility and its limitation and therefore all abnormal strong interference with biological signal can cause such destortion of structure.
If that so, there is no specific mechanism which causes pfs. Because if pfs had a core and key mechanism as the etiology of pfs, there should be a core and essential symptom which is directly brought about by the mechanism. Indeed the list of symtoms is limited and some of them are very popular, but we can not identify any symtom as such essential common symptom. Some patients never have sexual disorder, and others never experience insomnia. So, it seems to be simply damages of fundamental structure of our system. The only reason of its severity may be the fundamentality and cruciality of 5α-reductase. In this case, only the method of destruction, that is to say, depriving of 5AR is common. When we fire a shotgun at someone, no one knows in which the shot hits him.
In my opinion, this is pfs observed from a functional point of view and this is the reason why no one case is the same, despite of the same attack.
