It is my firm belief, after experiencing all of the symptoms, that our problems stem from a hormone imbalance. I think most people would concur there. The reason it is difficult to “normalize” amongst us is because I think the imbalance could manifest in a variety of ways… ie, you could have normal T with too much E, or you could have normal E, but not enough T, etc. Either way, it’s not good. They sort of regulate and balance the processes in your body. Yin and yang, if you will.
In any case, I wanted to share some things I have used which may/may not be working, but seem to have provided some beneficial results for me:
GABA:
Some other threads on this board have mentioned that there are studies that have shown that the 5-aR inhibition causes depleted or abnormal uptake of GABA in the brain. This definitely makes sense to me, since the symptom that first told me something was seriously wrong was the fact that I was having major panic attacks (I thought I was dying. More than once. Went to the emergency room 2 or 3 times.) The doctors diagnosed me with anxiety-induced panic disorder, and gave me some alprazolam (generic Xanax) It was only a temporary prescription, and although it worked I did not want to take it long-term, as you can form a dependency and then if you suddenly stop taking it you can have serious side effects, including strokes or death.
So, I decided to order some GABA (which my girlfriend had long ago informed me that she used to take it whenever she felt anxious or stressed and that it really helped calm her) GABA regulates your parasympathetic nervous system that kicks in with “fight or flight” syndrome and puts you on edge. So it reduces anxiety and calms you. In fact, Xanax works by affecting GABA – rather than increasing GABA, it delays the reuptake of it, allowing more of your naturally-produced GABA to accumulate in your system.
I have found that using 2-3 pills of Twinlabs GABA with Inositol & Niacinamide (these help it cross the blood-brain barrier) has helped to calm me when I feel anxiety or panic setting in. May not help with the ED issues (for one thing, it can make you drowsy) but definitely seems to help with anxiety.
Melatonin:
Melatonin is a hormone which your body naturally produces based on circadian rhythms… ie. based on time of day. When the sun goes down and it gets dark, your body produces more of it to tell yourself to go to sleep (it also starts triggering the healing process that occurs while you sleep.) So, in theory, melatonin pills are designed to help people fall asleep. Of particular note I have found studies which state that melatonin has a direct impact on estrogen levels while you sleep – melatonin is like a “trigger” that triggers many things, and one of them is to tell your body to make less estrogen during your sleep cycle. This could be beneficial for lowering estrogen levels for the next morning. I have noticed that when I take it I: a) almost always wake up with an erection, and b) don’t feel anxiety in the morning (a little groggy or spaced out sometimes though.) However, as the day goes on my sense of well-being seems to diminish, which tells me that maybe the body realizes it has lower E and plays catch up to create it again.
Also, I am concerned about taking melatonin on a regular basis because:
- it is a hormone. As we’ve seen, things that mess with hormones are serious business. It is one of the least-understood hormones in the body and we don’t know all of the purposes or effects it has.
- there is a lack of long-term studies with melatonin, so even though short-term studies indicate that it is highly safe, there may be unforeseen consequences after long-term use.
- the dosage in the supplements seems ridiculously high. Mine contain 3 mg… which is more than 1000 times what your body naturally produces at night.
- Melatonin is light-dependent… you need it to be dark in order to work. Light in the room can cause you disrupted sleep or difficulty falling asleep.
Considering these things, I do not plan on regularly supplementing with melatonin, and will only take it on occasion when I feel I need help falling asleep.
DIM:
DIM (among others – I3C and Chrysin, for example) has been touted as a natural aromatase inhibitor. I believe we stand to benefit more from aromatase inhibitors than any other solution because they keep T levels normal or high while reducing E levels, which can bring our bodies back into balance. [If you just supplement with T, that’s not good because raising T will translate into raising E. For example, if your T is 2 and your E is 4, and you raise T by 50% and that means raising E by 50%, you’re in no better shape because there is still an imbalance. This is why users of anabolic steroids get some of the same symptoms we are having.]
Examples of drugs that are highly effective aromatase inhibitors are Tamoxifen and Arimidex. These are primarily designed to combat breast cancer (by the way, did you know that high E imbalances will also open us, as men, to a higher possibility of breast cancer?)
From all of the research I’ve done, there really is no effective “natural” aromatase inhibitor. A lot of people have touted Chrysin as a natural aromatase inhibitor, but this is all basically based on one iffy study in which it had aromatase inhibition effects during in vitro administration to a fetus; later studies of full-grown mice compared mice using both oral and injected methods, and found that neither one altered E levels in any way whatsoever: vrp.com/articles.aspx?page=L … d=&zTYPE=2
Keep in mind, the company posting this article is also trying to sell you I3C, which supposedly triggers dioxin (which you don’t want) and has, supposedly, more possibly toxic and problematic side effects than DIM.
Of all the natural “aromatase inhibitors” (again, none actually work) I would be most tempted to try DIM, so I might pick up a bottle. It is not actually an aromatase inhibitor, as such, but has the effect of improving metabolism of E so it could still help lower levels. T would still disappear as it gets converted to E, but at least the E would then be removed from your body so there’s not such a big imbalance. Will this raise serum free T levels? Possibly not, but it could lower high E levels.
DIM is found naturally in cruciferous plants (broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, etc.) so you could also try just eating more of those – Interestingly, when I was on finasteride… towards the end, right before my major panic attacks, I was craving brussels sprouts all the time. It was inexplicable. I would eat them for breakfast… sometimes after dinner I would have some with butter and call it my “dessert” (my girlfriend always hated that.) In fact, my freezer right now consists almost entirely of brussels sprouts and broccoli – and I didn’t even know about DIM until last night! In retrospect, perhaps my body was craving what was good for it and realized (when I didn’t) that there was too much estrogen in my bloodstream?
Sorry for not posting links to all of the articles and studies supporting the information I stated, but you can find them if you Google things like “Chrysin aromatase”, “DIM aromatase”, “DIM I3C”, “Melatonin estrogen” etc.
