I think many of us have experienced the same feelings. What’s been consistent to help me get past it is lifting weights. I don’t do it as often as I should, but when I do, it seems to help in a few days.
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Have you tried taking an antiprogestin?
Think the same. Think it’s just too shameful to talk about, because it is. It’s like having taken your essence of being away.
I do think this could potentially be influenced by hormone levels.
Have you had any luck with some more extreme protocols?
Do you have the same when you look older pre-fin pictures, and looking yourself in the mirror? I am just filled with utter horror if I do. And I’m curious if people that recovered ever where in such a state and recovered from it, or never been there…
What would you say?
Hi there @weaksides
Would you consider filling in a Member’s story so as the other guys here can get more of an idea of your own experience.
If you open the following link which takes you to the members section: https://forum.propeciahelp.com/c/member-stories/20, then click on the “+ New Topic” button near the top right, a new thread window will open with a new member template which you can fill in.
Thanks
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It’s been so long for me, I don’t remember my old self. I’ve gotten used to this condition and do every single thing I can to live my life in spite of it. Things do indeed feel better over time.
Healthy eating, little to no alcohol, as much exercise as I can muster and proper supplementing has kept me and a lot of others going. I grew a beard to cover up my thinned face, and wear clothing that hides that big belly some of us get.
I’ve tried a few extreme things over the years, including TRT, HCG, Clomid, AI’s, etc…And a ton of various supplements. I’m not going to stopping looking or trying, but I no longer let this condition consume me.
Three years ago, I almost died when my appendix burst. I was in the hospital a few days, and saw so many other really sick people. The guy I was sharing the room died, not long after a really horrible conversation on the speaker phone with his family. That week changed my perspective on so much.
I don’t underestimate our condition, or the impact it’s had on so many of us. To me, it’s a condition I share with no one and that way, I don’t have to worry what they think. And I’ve learned to fake smile around people to get past the depression they would otherwise see.
With all of this, so many more people are getting PFS, due to the ease of online ordering, and the condition cannot remain hidden. Some will tell you a cure is decades away, but I believe with so many people trying so many different things, I wouldn’t doubt that someone will stumble across some sort of viable treatment ahead of the medical community.
Until then, live your life as best as you normally can. Don’t let this condition affect you more than it already has. Things do get better.
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Thank you, and I agree with a lot of what you’ve written. I’m no longer a “Type A” personality, and spend so much more time listening and caring even more than I had. Since this condition doesn’t seem to affect our cognitive abilities, listening helps us make better decisions, and I think more and respond better. Not all Betas are weak, and many appear “smarter”, but yes, it’s a huge shift. It’s also interesting to see people who somewhat feared my old Type A personally react to the “new” me. It was a strange feeling to see everyone at my old job, where I was often someone to be respected and sometimes feared. At that moment, I realized how much I changed over time, but especially due to this condition.
This condition has also made me so much more introspective, and I hope mature. I often buried myself in work, and usually don’t give myself a free minute to start thinking and worrying about this condition. Keeping busy all day also tires me out that I sleep better, which is important.
I try to keep doing the “right” things and keep positive, which doesn’t always work, and I can get really depressed, but I know that I will come out of it, because I have over and over in the last 15 years. To a degree, I think this condition’s effects are cyclical and maybe based on some circadian rhythm, kind of like a woman’s period.
I don’t know how many people here would admit to a change in sexual preference, but the forum has quite a few who expressed the same. I will say those feelings are relatively short lived and seems to go away. I do miss the intimacy with women, maybe more than the sex, and when the opportunity arises, I spend so much more time in foreplay with them, which they love seemingly more than the actual act. If you develop other skills, they can still be well pleased and it will keep your and their interest. It may not be the most masculine thing to say, but I make it all about them, because human touch is very very missed and I find it more painful to live without that than sex.
The absence of the sexual tension is missed, yes. But what it’s done is make me the mature, “safe guy”, and I now enjoy so much more of the platonic company of women, especially because this can be a very lonely condition.
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hey, one more question. Short one. What caused the appendix to burst? Doctors tell you?
HI Scotsman, do you know why Belikewater has been banned? It’s mentioned because of insulting staff, but I want to contact him. Is there a way?
I have gotten no specific reason from the doctors why the appendix burst. It happened about a dozen years after I got PFS, so I don’t think it’s directly related, but maybe the supplements of other things I did affected it.
After the surgery, I seemed to recover quickly, in about half the time the surgeon expected. I suspect the heavy dose of antibiotics made me feel better, but I don’t know. I also stopped taking pain killers quickly, because with this condition, pain, like everything else, seems dulled.
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Hi there @weaksides
I don’t know the details for Belikewater’s suspension beyond what’s publicly posted alongside his profile as I’m not a mod, although what it says will pretty much explain why. I don’t know how you can contact him in the interim or how long the suspension is for, sorry.
The reason I was interested in your member story was when you posted the following. I wanted to know the specifics of what you feel has changed with regards to your appearance.
Have posted some more on other threads, story will be online soon though!
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Hi man, you’ve responded a while ago. I really think I got this gene methylated… how about yourself? Would you think anything to change that would be possible?
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I do not have this problem
As for changing it, don’t do anything right now.
Hang on to your baseline level of health and contribute to our community projects
Once we get enough information on this awful disease we can then start treatments that actually work
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Yes, it’s exciting to think about it. We will be the craziest group of guys in the world. We need to have our own laboratory under the leadership of the administrator, actively donate money, do solid research one by one, and then beat this bitch instead of tickling it
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Hey man, sorry that it took some time to respond.
You’re right, there’s isn’t necessarily anything wrong with being more beta, as in more analytical and technical in an approach. But it’s still such a strange and life altering phenomenon to have your personality changed in such a way. While listening better and taking the time to respond isn’t really a bad thing, there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s power in silence at the right time as well. (That’s what brings tension, and attention most of the time.)
It’s indeed best to focus on the positive. Man, your words are definitely encouraging, it’s awesome to see how much growth is possible. Also encouraging to see your still date, and meet girls. Although the experience of it all might have changed, some more positive aspects have grown that weren’t so prevalent before.
I definitely take your case as an example.
Maybe we could regain some ground, but I do think it’s possible Finasteride changed something in our brains. Also why I think people like @awor and @anhedonicape ventured into specific compounds in hopes to change their genes/dna back to normal with demethylation. While that might or might not be reversible, the way we deal with that is on us, and it’s probable a big part of the recovery.
What I do believe, though, is that there are more silent sufferers of PFS then are willing to admit they do. They won’t speak about it because it’s embarrassing, it’s generally also hard for people to admit to making a mistake. Some people go their life living with the implications of their actions, without ever admitting they were wrong in their decision. It’s pretty visible to me that people who took finasteride, are a bit, different. Even those that to my knowledge don’t report any side effects. So that other people are able to live with this “normally” is somewhat encouraging.
You have tried certain steroids as well right, Proviron if I’m not wrong, which didn’t work in the end. I can remember talking with you on another thread. Have you maybe encountered certain drugs and or supplements that stimulated recovery for you?
Have a good weekend man.
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EDIT: Sorry for the tangent.
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Hey man, what were the signs leading up to the appendix burst, I as of today had I feeling I never had before, as if food was entering the cecum/appendix, in the lower right section of the colon “the ascending colon”. I never felt entering that part of my intestines.
It’s at the point where my right hip is located.
Could this be a telltale sign?
EDIT: Turned out to be nothing for people curious
The area seems to be the same. It was accompanied by increasing pain that was excruciating, and was worse when pressure was applied to it. It was also accompanied by a fever. Not knowing what it was, II waited hours, thinking it would pass. Eventually, I took a tums and threw up several times and couldn’t hold anything down, including water.
I took an Uber to the hospital and I painfully felt ever single bump in the road. I stopped at the nearest hospital (which wasn’t fully covered by my insurance-a $17,000 mistake) and an mri or catscan confirmed it, along with a blood and urine test. I was brought right into surgery.
I hope you don’t have it, and that it quickly passes, but if you do, don’t wait too long, like I did, or it can be more serious.
Here’s some more signs.
I wish you the best and please let me know what it turns out to be.
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Oh man. What a difficult experience that must have been.
Scary as well. I can understand once your dealing with something like it, being covered by insurance in a certain hospital isn’t the first thing you’ll think of, especially if your insured with most hospitals already.
Good to hear your better now,
I don’t yet (knock on wood) have the symptoms described in the article. But at this point I’m not sure what things can happen due to this drug.
At this point I’ll wait it out, but if there’s pain accompanied with it, I’m definitely talking to my GP.
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On topic:
Found a very interesting TED talk, by Donal Skinner, neuroendocrenologist. Describing the general ideas causing sex differences in the brain, it’ll give a quick background on the widely accepted theories around now: https://youtu.be/9x8yzoXQ-W4
He has also written an article on pubmed on the same topic: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3356085/
“ The development and expression of sexual partner preference has been extensively studied in rat, ferret, and sheep model systems. From these models it is clear that gonadal testosterone, often through estrogenic metabolites, cause both masculinization and defeminization of behavior during critical periods of brain development. Changes in the steroid environment during these critical periods result in atypical sexual partner preference. In this manuscript, we review the major findings which support the hypothesis that the organizational actions of sex steroids are responsible for sexual differentiation of sexual partner preferences in select non-human species. We also explore how this information has helped to frame our understanding of the biological influences on human sexual orientation and gender identity.”
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Wow! Assuming that’s true, about estrogenic metabolites, it leads to additional credence that our gut microbiota could have something to do with this. condition, as has already been suspected with PFS, and also covered in the article below.
For me, it could explain why I’ve been worse after the appendicitis, because I was put on massive antibiotics during and afterwards, and my digestion has been even worse than before. And given the differences in everyone’s gut microbiota, it could explain why there are so many differences in this condition.
Of course, I’m not certain if this is a cause or effect of PFS, but after so many of us have tried every hormone we can get our hands on, I clearly wouldn’t rule it out at all. It would also explain a lot of things, especially improvements with diet, intermittent fasting, different effects with probiotics, rumored success with fecal transplants, SIBO and even the dreaded “three day recoveries”.
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