That’s right it’s been used to treat TBI, read ‘The Brains way of Healing itself’ by Dr Norman Doidge there’s a fantastic section on PBMT how it works, and a few very impressive case studies.
I started maybe a year ago. I purchased a vielight alpha, then I purchased a vielight x plus, both are designed for use on the Brain. I started using it twice a week for perhaps a month, then worked up to using it three times a week (over a period of two months), now I use both devices every second day. ‘Less is more’ when it comes to PBMT periods of rest a crucial. Improvement of certain symptoms depends on where I placed the device (xplus), on the top of my head i notice a great improvement in mood. Back of the head can improve libido. It helped my sleep, mood, anxiety, libido, more feeling in my genitals. I am a much calmer no longer constantly in fight or flight. If i used the device too much I would get a temporary worsening of symptoms which was short lived, but ultimately I would recover better than I was. You can definitely overdo it. I am not 100 percent, but I am a lot, A LOT better.
I was deteriorating or just keeping my head above the water before this treatment despite all my lifestyle changes. So I put down my improvement 100 percent to this therapy. I’ll add that I have been seeing a practitioner who specialises in the therapy and the laser devices they use are much more powerful than home devices and can penetrate deeper into tissues. The trouble that I am finding is knowing which areas of the Brain to target, so there is a bit of trial and error I am working still with my Dr. I had a SPECT scan of my Brain which shows blood flow, I have low blood flow to large areas of my Brain which I believe to be areas where the AR is high.
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Do you know what areas specifically?
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Yes. from my report ‘Focal hypoperfusion in the medial aspect of the left cerebellar hemisphere, left lateral occipital and anteromesial right temporal lobe and mildly in the left anterior temporal pole. Perfusion in the thalami and basal ganglia is less than expected with greater reduction in perfusion in the left thalamus’ ‘an active inflammatory process is not excluded’.
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Does the doctor know you have PFS?
My Dr wrote the referral he doesn’t know what to make of post-finasteride syndrome, the dr who read my scan just interpreted the results, she said the low blood flow could be due to some underlying neuroinflammatory condition.
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Fuck brother. That’s a lot of regions.
I tried to find if any of those areas are particularly rich in AR but not much found.
Do you by any chance have visual snow? I see areas that are affected in your case are visual, memory, hormone- and mood regulation centers.
Fin is linked to neuroinflammation. Look at this picture.
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What was the referral based on if you don’t mind saying. Thanks for answering!
Yeah it’s pretty fucked! But I’m getting there, slowly. There was a brief period where i had distorted vision but that’s more or less gone now.
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I asked my psychiatrist to write me one, i have a diagnosis of depression.
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i didn’t say it inhibits 5ar because its used for hair loss
there is research paper on its mechanisms that shows it inhibits 5ar. i even made a post on it asking if that was the case and it very much pointed in that direction.
upon consulting with individuals that are more familiar with the LLLT mechanisms and the research behind it, they also said it works very similar to minoxidil where its primary function is to stimulate hair growth, but it also inhibits 5AR
i only learned of this in the last 2 months
I see, i’d have to see the paper, can you provide it?
I think the best way to go about treating PFS is to target the areas which are most affected first, where AR levels are the highest. I think for a good portion of us that would be the Brain, the trouble is working out exactly what areas of the Brain that would be or what areas in the body in general. Another therapy which might be good could be TMS, I think any therapy which can target a specific area like PBMT, or a therapy which has a whole body effect would be quite good, I’ve often thought that HBO therapy might be good, but less than ideal as it doesn’t target a specific area. Also something which has helped dramatically with sleep, and have helped with symptoms are blue blocking glasses, they block blue light which allow for the release of melatonin.
Melatonin has been shown to increase sirt1 activity, sirt1 has ben shown to decrease AR levels. And the good thing is CSF levels of melatonin are higher than peripheral levels which suggests levels are much higher in the Brain/CNS, which would mean natural release of melatonin could have a positive effect on AR levels in the Brain. I have taken exogenous melatonin before and it made me worse, the reason I think this is the chase is in th original post (accumulates more in body that brain). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28109165/
BlockquoteNumerous findings report a rise in activity, especially on SIRT1, in a diversity of cells and animal models after melatonin treatment.
BlockquoteSeveral studies have shown that levels of melatonin in CSF are much higher than those in the blood. Evidence indicates that melatonin originating from the pineal gland and melatonin synthesized by brain tissue both contribute to the high level of melatonin in CSF
.
Also this study found melatonin ‘attenuates’ activity of the AR: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11582594/
Blockquote. Despite this increase and maintenance of AR agonist binding capacity, the androgen-induced reporter gene activity and suppression of AR-mRNA were attenuated.
So what I’m saying is allowing for natural melatonin release at night by avoiding blue/bright light should help us. It does for me.
Hi Bloom,
I enjoyed reading your well constructed post - thank you. I too am in Australia and a severe case after 20+ years on Finasteride. I am coming up to my third anniversary, postfinasteride and have made a lot of improvements over that time - most of which have been since stating a new regimen recently. I’m considering posting details on what has been for me a remarkable turnaround once more time has lapsed - happy to share via DM though.
In terms of LLLT i have been using it (irestore) to prevent hair loss since cessation. While it has worked quite well for that purpose, I’m now wondering if it has had a bearing on my recovery. I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts.
Somewhat related is Magnetic EEG/ECG-Resonance Therapy (MeRT℠) which as i understand it maps your brain activity through AI, looking at areas that may not be communicating effectively - I’m wondering if anyone has tried it and whether they’ve derived benefit? Whats interesting about this one is the frequency is matched to the individual, unlike TMS which has one frequency.
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Please share what has allowed you to improve after three decades.
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Hi Orthogs,
I will put up a thoughtful post of what I’ve found works (for me), once I’m satisfied I’m not experiencing a false positive. I don’t want to be shouted down.
My steps so far seem to have resolved (to varying degrees) my anhedonia, akathisia, head fog, motivation, mood, anxiety, exercise intolerance and joint pain. Oh, and I’m three years post finasteride and on balance would say i was better before ceasing. My eye sight for instance continues to decline - I don’t understand why.
Further to this, is I’m about to trial HGH to see its effects on sexual function - I read in a urology forum somewhere about a PFS sufferer who had complete remission of sexual dysfunction from HGH - worth a try i think.
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Have you been checked for venous leak/fibrosis if you don’t mind answering or dm me?
Hi Wegotyou
…I assume the question relates to ED?
No ive not had a fibroid check - worthwhile do you think due to androgen starvation?
I did have vascular studies done many years ago while on Finasteride, as ED was increasing - it came back clear. Having said that I did have a massive varicose vein on my left teste, which has shrunk by approx 75%.
Thanks - looking forward to hearing your insight on this.
Yes, as it relates to ED. I read an article about higher incidence of penile tissue changes in PFS sufferers. I would check for venous leak and fibrosis in the penile tissue before trying hormone therapy as HRT might not reverse these issues. If you are cleared of these issues then you might try some kind of hormone therapy although it’s hit or miss from reading forums and sometimes detrimental. Risk vs. reward. I’ve read of a couple people improving on HCG. If there is fibrosis you might try shockwave therapy instead but not sure of its effectiveness. Venous leak isn’t curable right now so penile implant might be needed if viagra/cialis don’t help but that’s a big step for most. Moonman1 has talked about his very successful implant journey on the forum. These are just my thoughts from what I’ve read on the forum here.
I myself haven’t found anything to improve my ED as of yet and haven’t had any tests done on my penile tissue because I’d rather not know at this point. Viagra works well enough for now.