bostonusa2009's story

Member Stories
#221

Toadstool,

I had good increase in energy throuhout the day once I began taking it. I hoped that I might get a bonus of some sexual or andro type of improvement, but that has not happened.

For me, I did think of HC as a way to help my adrenals rest and recover and help get thryroid hormones to the cells.

I have gotten 2 colds and a stomach flu in a period of about 2.5 months. I have a cold right now that I am trying to get over and I have had it for a week. I called the pharmacist yesterday to ask about the problems which catching colds. They said if you are taking HC, you will be more prone to catch colds and you will have a harder time fighting them off.

So I feel I have had positive effects from it, but I have started weening off of it. Some believe you need to stay on it for years to fully recover. I just don’t think I can handle being sick so often.

#222

That’s very interesting that you say that because I’ve never heard that you could get sick more often. I would assume that everyone is affected differently by all medications, that’s why the list of side effects for meds is so long. Hopefully I do not have that same affect that you did. My adrenals are in such bad shape, so I believe I will see a resounding improvement. The thing with me though is that my thyroid hormones are also out of whack whereas yours seem ok.

I am not one to get sick ever. I’ve been sick once in the past 2 years probably. Are you the type of person that gets sick more then once a year though?

Are you going to retest adrenals now to see where you stand? Also, were you increasing your dosage when you were sick? They say it is very important to do so. Have you ever thought of trying trans dermal preg? It’s a real big thing on Crisler’s forum right now, because HC does not increase preg.

#223

Regarding Cortisol and getting sick, cortisol puts the immune system on hold. It’s very likely that by adding cortisol you put the immune system to rest, a bug jumped in, and then your body reduced it’s own production slightly down, causing the body to react or overreact to the infection. How long have you been on the current dose before you decided to taper?

Have you read JN’s thread where he’s having luck with a combination of Pregnalone, HC, and Thyroid replacement?

#224

I did some looking online on that, and thats why they recommend taking Vit C.

#225

Martin,

It’s difficult to compare JN’s situation to mine. He is still taking TRT, HCG, HGH and other things as well in addition to taking HC, Thyroid meds etc. So, we have to assume the other meds he is taking are offering some type of benifit.

I have been on it for about 3 months or so.

#226

Toadstool,

when you get your HC script, look a the side of the bottle. I have mine in front of me, this is the exact verbiage right off of the bottle: “This Medicine May Lower Your Ability to Fight off infections. Avoid contact with people who have contagious diseases.”

Since you are in the US, your bottle will likely have very similiar vebiage. This is required.

I was never the type to get colds very often. If I did get one, I would fight it off very quickly. Pull up that thread about the topic regarding us Propecia users not getting sick very often. You will see, that I stated I fall into this group. I went several years or longer without catching anything.

Best of luck with it.

#227

Hey B2009, how are you doing tapering off cort?

#228

Time for a little update. I have been weening off of HC for a while now, since I was on it for 4 months or so I wanted to wean off slowly. I have no real negative side effects of weaning off as of yet. I am on half the original highest dose I took. So now I’m on 10mg a week and will be off it entirely in about 4 weeks.

I have been very energetic and clear minded. I’m not really sure how much I can associate to the HC or not. About 2 weeks ago, I had partial erections for about 4 days in a row. The were quite a ways from stiff wood like we should be having, but since I never get morning erections anymore that may be a good sign. Then I had the same thing happen for about a week straight, every single morning. Then one day it just stopped.

I’m not taking any other medications right now. Just the HC and one Vit D pill a day. I exercise quite a bit, usually almost every day lifting weights most days and walking a couple of miles at a fast pace.

I do know I still have a thyroid problem that hasn’t been dealt with properly. I now feel my current doctor just can’t help me fix this. He’s just not knowledgable enough anbout dealing with thyroid problems. So I am planning on going to see a highly recommended thryoid doctor who is not too far by. Personally, I don’t believe all of our problems are tied to the thyroid issue, but at least if I get the proper care I’ll know what problems are tied to it.

#229

Update,

I have an apt next week to meet with a Uroligist is supposed to be an expert with ED problems. I also have another apt to see a Thyroid doctor recommended from RealThyroid help forum next week as well.

My local endo doctor is nice guy and has really tried to help me, but we really need to be in the hands of an expert dealing with these issues. I’ll be driving about 2.5 hours each way to see one of these doctors. I intend to fully explore the thryoid/adrenal problem before going a different route.

After trying to get some guidance from the realthyroidhelp website, I don’t think I stayed on the thryroid meds long enough and I may not have been on the right dosage. I am currently on HC and Vit D.
I will update once I have met with these doctors and see what the next step is.

#230

One question. Why did you ween off HC? I thought you were planning on starting thyroid meds.

HC had the positive effect of downregulating your testosterone metabolism, which forced your body to reduce E2 and increase Free T. In practice, you removed two strong downregulators of testosterone metabolism, E2 and SHBG (well done), and introduce another “healthier” one, cortisol (well done again). So, it’s obvious that you didn’t feel any improvement sexually. But, at this point, you needed to introduce thyroid meds in order to push your FT3 to the top of the range, which would have increased T metabolism. Why exactly didn’t you do that?

#231

m_81 m,

I did try to introduce Thyroid meds. Go back through and read my posts and you willl see that. Initially I had started Armour before taking the HC and I saw positive effects for about a week then I just reverted back. I had also tried increasing the dose at this point and that didn’t help.

At that point in time, I was unaware of the need to be dealing with any possible Adrenal fatigue issues before introducing thyroid meds. I went through all of the testing for adrenals, ACTH & 24hr test and it was obvious I had the andrenal issue. I followed the protocol for starting HC, from senior members at Realthyroidhelp. I ramped up the HC meds and charted temps. The body temp is supposed to stabilize within 2/10ths.

At the point the body temp stablizes, you are then supposed to introduce thyroid meds. My temp never stabilized. However, I did introduce the thyroid meds anyway. Nothing happend. I increased the thyroid meds and still nothing happened.

In theory providing the HC to your body is supposed to help thyroid hormones get to the Cells in the body. Why it didn’t work, is what I’m trying to figure out now. Should I have been on only T3 rather than Armour? I don’t know. Did I not give it enough time? I don’t know. This is why I’m seeking the help of an expert thyroid doctor.

A few weeks ago I was completely frustrated and thought weening off of the HC was probably needed. I am stilll on it and realize, I will need to stay on it until I work out the thyroid problem.

#232

I went to a uroligist today, who is considered one of the most highly respected doctors for dealing with ED problems in the area. Of course my expectations were very low going in.

The good: He went through several physical tests inspecting my testicles and unit. Then went through the dreaded male prostate exam and later says the testicles and prostate look fine. Not a surprise really, we have heard this enough times. He did another test where he poked my nuts with some and unit with some type of sharp device and asked me which one hurt more. I did forget to ask him how I scored on this test, but will inquire next time.

He did seem be very attentative to all of the details I provided to him about my situation. The next step is a couple of hormones on blood test. He is also having me wear some type of device that is going to be attached to my penis. I have to attach this thing to my unit and sleep for a couple of nights with it attached. He said the device measures different activity in the body during REM sleep. He said the device is attacched to a computer and they are able to download the information and use it.

He didn’t get into specifics as far as what it would measure or exactly what to expect from the test.

The Bad: When I was inquiring as to wether we could run a test on the prostate for a possible infection, he got very defensive and went into a long speil about finasteride and how it could never cause an infection of the prostate, blah blah blah. I could easily tell he was bordering on getting offended that I would even question his knowledge.

Then he said he would like me to visit his colleague who is a sexual therapist. He said you know, “stress can cause sexual problems.” “I just want to rule that out” Probably a nice little kick back system between him and his doctor friend. I guess he ignored the fact that I him I have “0” sensation in penis when having sex. How could the mind cause that?

Anyway, I really have no intention of going to see this therapist bs doctor. I am hoping maybe we can get something out of this other test he is going to run with this testing machine. Maybe it could provide some insight, if nothing else. Well the visit only cost me 15$ and an hour of my time.

#233

Sounds like a Nocturnal Penile Tumescence test to measure the number, strength and rigidity of nocturnal erections.

If it turns out you have zero nocturnals, it will certainly help differentiate between a psychological origin vs organic cause of the issues (ie, loss of nocturnal/spontaneous/morning erections, erectile dysfunction etc).

Let us know how it goes and the results.

#234

These guys are something else. They want us to believe they are infallible and omniscient. Yeah it makes their job alot easier with docile patients, but they should at least open their mind to what the patient is saying.

#235

There are guys who get nighttime erections that go away immediately upon waking and cannot get a spontaneous or manually stimulated erection. With shrinkage and penile numbness I don’t understand how the issue could be organic. the only way this could prove beneficial is if there are no nocturnal erections, no?

???

#236

Yes what mew posted is correct, based on what he explained.

SInce really alll we are looking for is to see if a night time erection broke the seal of the paper tape, what is the purpose of hooking it up to this supposed computer that comes with it. Based on the other sites I read on this device, it doesn’t seem it will tell us very much.

#237

Read don’t remember where that there’s different pathways for nocturnal erections than from psychogenic and reflexogenic erections. So you could have erections while sleeping but be unable to have the other types. Didn’t the alex miller thread touch upon this?

I have experienced nocturnal and morning erections yet it was impossible to get a psychogenic and sometimes even a reflexogenic one. Told a doctor and he said: then is psychological. But I have no pyschological issues whatsoever about this. He said: maybe you are nervous when you are with a woman lol. And when I am alone touching my balls and I can’t barely get it up, what?

There must be something that finas does that kills psychogenic erections (getting it up when having fantasies, looking at porn) and drastically impairs reflexogenic ones yet leaves some capacity for nocturnal ones to happen.

It will be interesting to know the results of your test.

#238

That does sound like the NPT and I actually think it will be useful. Most of us, even if we get nocturnal erections, have a greatly diminished frequency and strength of them, and this certainly applies to morning erections also. I think a doctor having the physical proof through his own fancy test that things are not working the way it should for a 20/30 something male will be a very useful tool in getting the mainstream medical community behind us.

This is particularly useful for those of us who only suffer from sexual sides. Physical sides like shrinkage are in some ways easier to convince docs of.

I’m going to see a mainstream urologist (for bloodwork) next week and I’m going to ask him for the NPT, just to get this data for myself. If I am able to get it, I’ll certainly post my results as well.

#239

My erection problem has never been completely terrible (although it’s fairly significant), and I’m struggling with fog and anxiety, so those are my problems of focus, but…

I wonder if the reason libido and erection issues could be so hard to resolve could be due to brain plasticity. The brain is an evolving organ, and it relegates space and energy to the functions used most. However, when you don’t use a brain-based skill, your ability wanes (think someone who hasn’t used a foreign language in a very long time). Now, in the case of regaining skill at a foreign language, you can actively practice your Zulu (haven’t seen Zulu native tongues on the forum yet), and your brain will react by reinforcing the connects around your Zulu memory and performance.

However, if finasteride blocks people from having libido and/or erections, the brain could possibly repurpose those areas in the brain for other skills you are using on a regular basis. However, you cannot practice libido or getting better erections (Achieving an erection is not like shooting free throws, where you get better with practice, because it is a fully internal response to external stimuli.), so if the connections have been weakened or that area of the brain repurposed, then regaining libido and/or conscious erectile function could be extremely difficult.

I suppose libido and conscious erectile function could be tested by a functional MRI, but without a control group for which to compare results, an individual FMRI wouldn’t serve any purpose.

Take care,

Former

#240

New blood test results today.

Vit D 49 Range (30-100)ng/mL

T4 Total 6.5 (4.5-12.0)mcg/dL
T4 Free 1.1 (0.8-1.8) mg/dL
T3 Total 93 (76-181) ng/dL
T3 Reverse Pending
SHBG 49 (9-45) nmol/L

IGF-1 171 (50-303)
FSH 5.6 (1.6-8.0)
LH 5.5 (1.5-9.3)
Progesterone <0.5 (<1.4)ng/mL
Cortisol AM. 14.0 (4.0-22.0) I skipped the previous days HC pills and the morning of test.
Total Test 565 (250-1100)
Free Test 59.3 (35.0-155.0)

I’m a little pissed off that someone at the lab did not add Estradiol which I know was written on the paper work. My SHBG is clearly too high. Progesterone is low which is another indicator of thyriod problems.

I’m not sure what to do next since this doctor wants me to stop the HC before possibly beginning thyroid medication. This seems to be counter to what all of the info online indicates you should do.

Another point worth mentioning the Vit D3 has dropped significantly since my last blood test where it is well above the range. I was supplementing 25k iu. I went down to 5k iu per day. Now I wonder if that will be enough. I just wonder if it will keep dropping.