Chris I also have lower back pain now (along with prostate sever pain & discomfort)
I’m gonna check my prostate with a trans rectal ultra sound ASAP
I’m 10 months off - I think having the pain now ie fairly early on is bizarrely a good thing. I know it’s a prostate problem and need to address it before it gets much worse.
So what’s your plan of action Chris? are you going to get TRUS scan in the UK or Greece?
I’m keeping an eye on the Greece thread. May as well do all at once. Easier said than done. Wife, family, work, time off, expense etc.
***if anyone can be bothered - cast your eyes on my candida test and all that goes with it. I think what they’re saying is I don’t have candida as such but some sort of a mould infection which can be eradicated with treatment. Interesting reading and fairly detailed.
Dear Chris,
Please find your lab results attached.
You have a medium colonisation with Aspergillus niger.
Aspergillus niger is a mould. This is the black stuff that should not even grow in bathrooms, however it is found there sometimes.
The lab is of the opinion that Aspergillus has a minor importance in the gut as it lives under aerobic conditions and cannot grow well in the intestines.
My experience, however, is that patients have multiple health problems and often allergies when moulds are found and that a therapy is very beneficial. We always have to investigate if there is a source of moulds in their environment, like the house. Please see attached article.
The moulds, however, are sensitive to the normal anti-fungals. So everything is
like the anti-candida therapy.
Your stool pH is too alkaline:
The pH reading is a measure of the acidity and alkalinity of substances.
A high stool pH (higher than 6.8 = too alkaline) indicates an imbalanced intestinal flora.
Probably protein digesting bacteria have multiplied. This can have different reasons: possibly because of a diet too rich in proteins or incomplete protein digestion because of a low pancreas function. These bacteria increase the stool pH by excreting alkaline metabolic products. These metabolic end products can be unhealthy. Good, acidifying microbes may be reduced, like for example bifido, enterococci, lactobacilli etc. Once the good strains have become stronger and the diet or your digestion has been improved, the pH will become normal again. We recommend a supplementation with acidifying gut bacteria and dietary advice.
In general:
The lab has found Aspergillus, which can explain a lot of complaints.
Please read my paragraph above about Aspergillus and the leaflet about moulds. I have had quite a few patients with Aspergillus overgrowth in my clinic and all these patients had problems like very low energy etc. After some investigation all of them could detect a source of mould in their homes.
Please play detective and see if you have any mould infestation near you.
However, I have no means of telling if this Aspergillus colonisation is the cause for your symptoms or just a contributing factor.
Your alkaline stool pH shows that there is also putrefaction in the colon. This will be caused by certain bacterial strains, which usually live without any oxygen and produce smelly and unhealthy substances. Please see the stool pH text for explanation.
There are different reasons why these unwanted bacteria can grow over: Not enough of the good bacteria like acidophilus, bifidus etc or not enough digestive juices, so that the putrefaction bacteria get too much food in our colon, or maybe some people might even eat too much protein.
These putrefaction bacteria can cause symptoms similar to those caused by fungi.
Findings:
Material: stool
Comment:
The result of the mouth sample Z1 was considered with the findings.
pH of the stool: 7.2 (normal 6.2 - 6.8 with mixed nutrition)
- 103 - 104 (1000 – 10 000) cells Apergillus spec. per g/ml stool
Norm range: should not be detectable.
This mould is found world-wide in earth, refuse tips, compost etc.
It can cause systemic mycoses of the lungs and allergic reactions.
Moulds sometimes get into the stool samples by mistake.
Please consider this and maybe order a control investigation.
Moulds are nystatin sensitive and will be eliminated by an
anti-mycotic therapy with this substance.
Investigation for therapy relevant yeasts: all clear.
BTS - Biological Testing Service Naturopathic General Bowel Health Programme
Week 1- 4 Start date:
Please take the following supplements daily with food unless otherwise stated
Supplement Breakfast Lunch Dinner Notes and Instructions
- Ecodophilus
(Bionutri)
1 High strength beneficial bacteria for re-colonising the gut and replacing unwanted bacteria
2. Ecogest
(Bionutri) 1 1 1 Food based digestive enzymes with specific friendly bacteria, which secrete beneficial enzymes and Gamma oryzanol for the gut integrity.
3. Taracyn 1 Food based liver and gall bladder support. To promote a good liver function and to detox via an enhanced bile flow. These functions are vital to good health and digestion.
This programme can be taken alongside your usual multivits and minerals.
Please do not take these supplements if you suffer from any medical condition without consulting your Doctor
and do not discontinue any prescribed medication without your Doctors consent.
Please note: This programme needs to be taken regularly in conjunction with dietary recommendations for the best effect.
Your urine may turn yellow due to natural colourings in the supplements – please do not worry.
It is generally possible to take this programme on long term.
Fungi
Our environment is colonised by more than 200.000 different species of fungi, most of which are involved in the many natural processes of nature. Fungi play a leading role in decomposing organic matter (e.g. compost).
But also for thousands of years fungi have been used in various procedures of producing food (e.g. wine, bread and cheese). Life without fungi is therefore not imaginable.
Fungi and their spores are present everywhere in the human environment (in nature, living rooms, on food, on the skin and in the intestine). Generally they must not be considered as diseases causing. Their potential pathogenity mainly occurs in immune deficient people (newly born babies, the elderly and tumour patients) or when colonizing body areas which are usually sterile.
Damage by fungi mainly occurs on two levels:
- Fungi produce toxins which harm the organism
- Fungi have an “alarming” effect on the immune system and cause allergic reactions
In microbiological medicine fungi are classified into three main groups:
- Yeast: Yeasts are eucaryontic single-celled organisms which proliferate by budding;
another name for them is “yeast-like fungi” - Moulds: Moulds are characterized by the formation of a so-called mycelium and a fungal layer
- Dermatophytes: This group contains all fungi growing on skin, nails and hair
Intestinal fungi
Fungi are constantly ingested with food. Especially foods of plant origin like salads and fruit are naturally colonised by fungi. For example when eating an ordinary raw vegetable salad (200 g) several million micro-organisms can be ingested (fungi among them as well). Due to the high resistance of yeasts and moulds, a majority of these micro-organisms survive the gastric passage and arrive in the intestine. However, their impact does not only depend on their presence but mainly on the condition of the person’s immune system.
In people with an intact intestinal flora most of these fungi will become decomposed by digestive enzymes. Here it is important that the physiological intestinal flora (about 1014 cfu= colony forming units) competes with the ingested fungi. Normally fungi have no long term survival chance in this competition with intestinal bacteria. They cannot settle permanently and replicate in the gut.
This situation is different, however, in a disturbed digestive tract. A disturbed intestinal flora will give fungi and other pathogenic micro-organisms a much better chance to colonize the gut, to replicate and to unfold their harmful metabolism.
To our experience fungi (yeasts and /or moulds) up an amount of up to 1000 cells/g stool have no pathogenic effect on a healthy person (exception: for example AIDS- and tumour patients, as well as patients during or shortly after antibiotic treatment).
Even slightly higher numbers do not have to be treated necessarily. As long as there are no typical symptoms for a fungal overgrowth like flatulence, diarrhoea, alternating stool qualities (diarrhoea and constipation), anal itching, hunger attacks, alcohol intolerance etc. it is advisable to first only check on the situation (laboratory testing) and then only apply a therapy in a worsening situation.
Only the detection of fungi distinctively above the levels mentioned above should be considered as a disturbed function of the gut associated immune system. Also diabetes, antibiotic therapies and an increased amount of sugar in the diet can promote an increased fungal overgrowth.
Fungal “diseases” (“fungal diseases” are no diseases as such but always a symptom of another problem) progress in three different forms, which can be combined, however:
With a superficial overgrowth on mucous membranes (=colonization) the organism can be harmed by fungal metabolic products.
The penetration of fungi into the mucous lining (= thrush) leads to inflammatory reactions.
When fungi penetrate into the blood stream the result can be most severe illness (= fungal sepsis). This problem does normally only occur in patients with most severe primary diseases.
Various medications are available for therapies (fungicides and immune stimulating remedies) as well as other products (e.g. brewers yeast), which influence the gut environment in a favourable way.
We are cautious about so-called sugar-free “anti-candida -diets” because fungi are capable of utilising alternative food sources when starved of sugars.
Moulds cause illness
What you should know about moulds:
Moulds frequently trigger allergies and subsequent diseases of the bronchi and lungs.
Mould allergies in children promote the later onset of asthma = the children’s allergy career.
Moulds frequently make way for other allergies.
Many moulds harm the liver. This is why mould infested rooms should be sanitised even no allergies have occurred yet.
A specific sanitation of mould-infested rooms can be more efficient for allergic patients than an anti-allergic therapy.
Where do moulds grow?
In rooms which have a connection to dampness (e.g. water pipes or gaps) and
in basements.
What can be done against moulds?
Sanitise damp and basements
What else should you do?
Always air rooms well (especially those with damp)!
Avoid mouldy food on principal!
When finding mould on potting soil or hydroponics always completely exchange soil or gravel.
Get rid of the moulds in your shower
Rinse your mould infested shower cubicle with cold water before switching on the hot water. The spores can travel in steam.
Moulds cause disease
The growth of pathogenic moulds on food is well known. To avoid health hazards, these foods have to be thrown away. As well as growing on foods moulds can grow on and in buildings and affect health.
Mould infestation of buildings, for example in living areas, should therefore be sanitised professionally in order to avoid health risks. The same applies to schools and kinder gardens.
How and to what extent the sanitization will be carried out depends on the species of the detected fungi and the extent of infestation. During the work period precautions have to be taken similar to those during the removal of asbestos.
There is no patent recipe and no universal anti-fungal remedy! The various treatments depend on the kind of detected species.
Somehow you turned the event that ruined my life into something quite funny.
I quit one year ago tomorrow - happy anniversary. What a shit shit year it’s been. A year when I stopped being me and started being this other medically affected being. It’s been and remains horrible.
My prostate seems to be the problem at the moment - aches nearly all the time and I’m booked to see a urologist soon. The wierd thing is just lately I seem to want to masturbate all the time - as if there’s a pressure down there making me want to do it. I have the achey/burning pain but also a pleasurable feeling all the time, like a consistent very very very very weak orgasm feeling - but all the time. No bad thing I suppose.
My semen is also a lot less watery now- there’s colour back in it now. It doesn’t shoot however and there’s not a lot of it but it’s no longer clear - or rarely anyway. Erections are so so. Brainfog comes and goes. Lots of fatigue. Sleep could be better but not as bad as it was. Whole appearance has changed too. Mentally I’m pretty anxious. I just want rid of this and go back to who I once was – sadly I can’t see this ever happening.
So. Saw the urologist yesterday. Once again had to endure sitting around in a waiting room (as I do a lot of these days) with old fellas with dodgy prostates who have to get up 10 times in the night. Told him my story (again). No, the problems you’re having aren’t due to the drug. Yes they are. No they’re not. Yes they are etc etc etc.
He told me they prescribe this all the time with no problems. I explained it wasn’t while I was on it, it was when I came off that the problems started. We played this game of verbal tennis for a few minutes. He weighed up all my symptoms and came to the conclusion that I was suffering from depression and I should be on anti depressants. I had to count to 10. I rattled off 10 symptoms that couldn’t possibly be due to that. Do your balls shrink when your depressed? Does your prostate hurt so much it makes you vomit when you’re depressed? Then he started listening.
He prescribed me Diclofenac for the inflammaion amd something else for the prostate. He said this may cause ejacualation problems - I’ve already got this I said. I checked when I get home and it’s Flomax - I need to steer well clear according to other posts on here.
I told him my Testosterone was low and I needed help. It’s within range he said. The range is 8.0-30.0 – mine is 8.8. I pushed him on this. I asked about Clomid as a first step. He said that he’s never heard of Clomid being used to boost T. He offered me Testosterone replacement.
I pushed for the Clomid and he will talk to his superiors.
Hi Chris, I got clomid on the NHS, has been working ok my balls have come back. I am now working on Xyrem which I know I will get soon as I kick up a right fuss when I get Doctors like yours. My Endo last week was exactly the same. If your in or near London then I can get you my Doctors name and maybe you could get a referral.
Chris, kudos for keeping your cool around this fool. I’m not sure I would take anything he prescribes. His knowledge is obviously very textbook and even that is dubious. Please steer clear of the T replacement. Clomid is a much better choice if you’re looking for a pharmaceutical solution unless you enjoy (further) shrinkage.
This is sad. It’s a good example of how medical professionals have a hard time hearing something out of the ordinary or something they weren’t trained for and since propecia side effects aren’t properly described on the packaging it’s hard to get a doctor to even acknowledge your symptoms and not just immediately label you as depressed. And this was a urologist, someone who is trained to spot problems with male hormones and reproductive health!
Gazzaa - when you say your balls came back - how do you mean? Size?
This is the majority of the letter from the urologist to my GP, copying me. He’s obviously googled Propecia side effects and found this board as I didn’t give him the site name…
[i]Thankyou for your referral from your team of this gentleman who presents with a constellation of symptoms after stopping taking Finasteride for hairloss about a year ago. When he stopped taking Fin about a year ago he started to complain of a wide range of symptoms. He was taking Fin for hairloss and stopped it partly because he felt he shouldn’t be taking a tablet every day and partly because he felt he his beard area was becoming patchy. He also noted rather paltry semen while he was taking Fin.
Since stopping Fin he has developed diminished sexual function in all components. He also complains that he had, for some months, significant but intermittent left sided testicular pain leading to the left testicular shrinkage. He also complains that more recently he has had significant fatigue and brain-fog. He also describes perennial and groin pain and says he also feels cold.
He says he feels at the end of his tether about these symptoms. He describes anxiety and stress. He goes to bed at 10pm and then typically wakes at 3am and sleeps only fitfully thereafter. He blames himself for these problems, feeling that he took an unnecessary tablet that has led to all this.
I note he saw the Endo Dept in 2008 when concerned about thyroid related symptoms. I also note that he was on Citalopram for depression at this time. He also said that he was on antidepressants for a few months up until January of this year.
I note that lab investigations showed testosterone of 20.1 in February though a repeat assay in June showed a drop to 8.4. I note his PSA was measured at 0.63 in Feb. His FSH has been modestly elevated with a reading of 10.4 in Feb. Other blood tests were essentially unremarkable. An ultrasound of his scrotum demonstrated a small and somewhat heterogeneous left testicle, though a normal Doppler flow was seen.
On examination he has normal body hair distribution and is not overweight. Abdominal examination is unremarkable. Penile size is normal. Examination of the testes shows no structural abnormality and the right testicle is normal. The left testicle does indeed seem rather small. Rectal examination shows a small and benign prostate which was somewhat tender on palpation.
I discussed at some length with Mr C about the way forward. I had not previously heard of symptoms of Finasteride withdrawal and have frequently stopped patients’ Finasteride for various reasons in the past. Subsequent internet searching does show a lively discussion board at Propeciahelp.com though the quality of contribution does seem mixed. Mr C in his presentation seemed quite depressed and certainly his early morning waking and self blame might fit with this. I have suggested to him the treatment of any component of depression might improve his situation, though he is reluctant to re-embark on antidepression therapy.
Other of his symptoms would be compatible with low testosterone and his testosterone is very much at the bottom end of the normal range now. I offered him TRT but he was reluctant to start on this. He has read that use of Clomifene can be helpful but I was not prepared to prescribe this to him as I have not heard of this and it is not licensed for this.
As far as his renal pain and prostatic tenderness is concerned, I have agreed to try him on Tamsulosin (Flomax) and Diclofenac to see if this can improve things. I have explained the potential side effects. We will review in clinic in two months time.[/i]
That raised a laugh!
At least it shows that if doctors do take curiosity in a finasteride case, this site is very easy to find through google. I would hope that people watch the videos on the homepage because i think they would have the most impact on someone who is not suffering with our symptoms. I doubt that a quick browse of the forum does, unfortunately.
It’s a shame the doctor can’t just google ‘clomid low testosterone’ in which case he would of found ample sources showing that clomid is used as a treatment for low T. Why don’t you want to try TRT Chris? it’s on the NHS and it will show how your body reacts to proper androgen treatment. The fact is, all this PFS stuff aside - if you have low t, you are meant to treat it. Normal low T guys without treatment in most cases are eunuchs unless they are on testosterone. Obviously trying clomid before going on HRT is a better option - seen as you have blood tests, have you thought about just buying some off unitedpharmacies?
I am going down the Clomid route myself very soon. 12.5 mg daily for a couple of months. I might throw some nolvadex in there.
Why not straight on Trt? I don’t want my grapes to become raisins.
There is that but can’t you use HCG? will it shrink your balls straight away?
You should post up your labs on mesorx.com and crislers forum, you will get some good advice
gaazza,
where do you get xyrem from. i would like to try it for my sleep problems, but doctors are reluctant
This guy is a quack. I hope your GP can find someone else to send you to.
I have told you about GHB/ Xyrem before mate.
A) Xyrem - you get from your GP, but you will need a very good reason to have it, i.e. epilepsy or severe sleep problems that have been verified by a sleep study
B) GHB - off a drug dealer or a friend in the gay scene are likely your best bet
C) GBL - buygbl.net/ or another site that you can verify is likely to be reliable/ authentic