I think you’re on the right track by going back and doing the same things that cured you in the past but why add in more things while you do it? Adding in other things changes the variables and you may not get the same results, recovery is very finicky.
What were the probiotics brand and the thing he gave you for bowel movement (your doctor)?
In April when I took Allicin I was not aware of PFS. İ thought something is wrong with me. Because fin was 15 years ago and I would never thought that it can still be because of fin use. Fluconazole, yeah my health was going to a very good direction and I thought fluconazole will do the final trick to get rid of candida. I did not know that it has an effect on androgens.
About the probiotics, it was just some random one. I will post it later because I will buy it. About bowel movement stuff, I dont know anymore and was not able to find out. I live in Germany and got treated in Turkey that time.
Edit: is L-Dopa in any way harmful? I am afraid to try things like that. I took only 25mg 5htp daily and seen good benefits. But I was afraid to get addicted to it. So I stopped and I mean I was depressed a few days after stopping it. I only took it for about two weeks. My anxiety was pretty much zero, I had super mood etc. I am actually on LDN for 13 days now and my mood is back to good.
Out of curiosity what benefits did you see from 5htp?
Reduced (social) anxiety combined with good bright mood and positive thoughts. Yet I am afraid that it could harm in some way like an SSRI. L-Tryptophan needs to converted from the body at least. But 5-htp is available directly. I absolutely have no clue about chemistry so I don´t know if 5-htp can harm if you take it for too long or in high doses. But Proscar burned me so I am pretty careful with this kind of stuff…
Anybody know if L Dopa is addictive? What happens when you stop taking it? I have read through some stuff and it seems that l dopa is pushing libido and helps with brain function and memory. And I would like to try it. But not if it is harmful.
I also have restles leg syndrome sometimes, wich could be a sign of low dopamine. My memory is pretty much zero. Motivation zero. Goals zero. Focus zero. I dont even have a personality. Sometimes feeling like in a dream. All that started when I smoked weed (first time in my life) in 2012 and had a very very bad trip. There I lost everything. And I am still not sure what damage happened there. I had pfs before (since 2005 low libido but the rest was ok) but there I lost everything.
The reason why I am asking is, I am in Turkey right now, its damn cheap and you can get it without prescription. Costs about 4€ for 30 tablets á 125mg. But I would split them into 1/4 and start with a low dose. I am just afraid that its addicting and once you stop, you feel like when you stop SSRI´s. My plan would be just to kickstart my body to get more dopamine and start to heal so I can tapper off one day.
It could harm you! There was a user here who crashed with 5-Htp i remember.
Felt pretty good on 25mg 5-htp daily but stopped it because afraid of addiction.
I will give low dose of Tyrosin a chance. I guess my dopamin is pretty much at zero.
I am supposed to stop weight lifting? This is my passion though and it has been therapeutic to me for years. Did i read that wrong?
Could you kindly fill the survey ? It is very important.
Nice one! Never tried any of the protocols people suggest in this forum, but I’m considering giving this one a try…
I do believe the key to my problems, If I actually have PFS, lays on gut microbiome!
I feel uncomfortable and full of gases everytime I eat something…
I have one question, though…what symptoms would the issues with AR receptors in the guts, as claimed in this topic, cause in somebody who has them?
I take I suould be experiencing at least muscular wastage at some degree, which I never Felt…
Do any of you agree? Could anybody help me?
Thanks!
Hi everyone, hi BrongFog Boy,
I also suspect the gut is central to how PFS develops. Hormones are central to how the body regulates the microbiome. And I have experienced profound changes when taking steps to change the microbiome, such as fasting, taking zinc, other medicines, etc.
The microbiome is difficult to change, since existing microbes reassert themselves. But in Australia some researchers working on autism found a way of changing microbiomes of autistic people by A) giving antibiotics and bowel cleanse B) giving a stomach acid suppressant and 2 months of fecal transport.
It led to long term improvements in autism symptoms (suggesting it succeeded in changing the microbiome).
Here is the study published in Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-42183-0
And here is the abstract:
Long-term benefit of Microbiota Transfer Therapy on autism symptoms and gut microbiota
Scientific Reports volume 9 , Article number: 5821 (2019) Cite this article
Many studies have reported abnormal gut microbiota in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), suggesting a link between gut microbiome and autism-like behaviors. Modifying the gut microbiome is a potential route to improve gastrointestinal (GI) and behavioral symptoms in children with ASD, and fecal microbiota transplant could transform the dysbiotic gut microbiome toward a healthy one by delivering a large number of commensal microbes from a healthy donor. We previously performed an open-label trial of Microbiota Transfer Therapy (MTT) that combined antibiotics, a bowel cleanse, a stomach-acid suppressant, and fecal microbiota transplant, and observed significant improvements in GI symptoms, autism-related symptoms, and gut microbiota. Here, we report on a follow-up with the same 18 participants two years after treatment was completed. Notably, most improvements in GI symptoms were maintained, and autism-related symptoms improved even more after the end of treatment. Important changes in gut microbiota at the end of treatment remained at follow-up, including significant increases in bacterial diversity and relative abundances of Bifidobacteria and Prevotella . Our observations demonstrate the long-term safety and efficacy of MTT as a potential therapy to treat children with ASD who have GI problems, and warrant a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in the future.
Hey @empiricist01 could you also please take the survey? It‘s meant to stimulate scientific progress and help all of us. Thank you very much
Sure will do.
This is a super interesting thread. Any updates? I’ve been trying to modulate my gut microbiome for a year now. There’re ups and downs but generally feeling a lot better. I agree with the notion that hormones, diet, stress all have roles in shaping the microbiome.
Have anyone attempted the FMT route? There’re clinics in Sweden, Australia and the U.K. but finding a super healthy donor is crucial to success. I’m still in the research phase but this could be my next step. Antibiotics are not universal in their effectiveness meaning each class of antibiotics would be effective against certain bacteria but not the others. I’d surmise that the best approach would be to have microbiome test done first then select the appropriate antibiotic.
Science is lagging in this field. It could take as long as 10-15years or even longer from today to have viable treatments for microbiome dysbiosis.
Did you ever try the higher dosage of Align probiotic the 5x or 5 billion dosage?
I forget if you live in the states. I think its only available in the US and Canada.
It might be something to consider.
I think there could be a scenario for this, but some might need to pop this like candy to overcome a deficit.
Previously, in vitro studies with human dendritic cells suggested that promotion of retinoic acid metabolism by B. infantis was a key regulatory feature of this bacterium [21].
All-trans-retinoic acid (atRA) plays crucial roles in shaping intestinal immunity.
Bhattacharya et al. show that, in the context of colon cancer, microbiota induced intestinal inflammation alters atRA metabolism, leading to a colonic atRA deficit and exacerbation of colon
carcinogenesis. atRA supplementation
ameliorates colon carcinogenesis in a
CD8+ T cell-dependent manner.
This is a line from one of the researchers of that study^
“When there is an infection or dysbiosis in the gut microbiome more RA is produced that results in a higher antimicrobial activity that can kill gut bacteria.”
This is seperate,
for the first time, a study suggests that gut microbes can help rebuild the human immune system .
“ The parallel recoveries of the immune system and the microbiota , both of which are damaged and then restored, gives us a unique opportunity to analyze the associations between these two systems ,” says study co-senior author Jonas Schluter.
Great finding as always @guitarman01 ! I rotate Align (B. Infantis) and other D-Lactate Free probiotics now. I’ve only used the 1 billion cfu version so far but reading through those studies makes me want to pop it like candy as you said 
I was low in bifidobacteria (1% whereas healthy average was 1.7% according to Thryve). Being on B. Infantis + L. Rhamnosus GG have calmed down gut inflammation. I say so because longstanding symptoms of mast cell stimulation disorder (MCS) have been greatly attenuated. Food sensitivities have improved too.
I’m painstakingly researching ways to boosting Tregs and modulate gut microbiome in such a way the immune system is better functioning.
I had (microbiome analysis done in August 2020):
And god knows what else!
Correct me if im wrong but 90% of your gut bacteria is supposed to me bacteriodes and firmicutes. The other 10% is supposed to be other stuff. Can you upload your complete stool test?
I’m interested in seeing everything. PH level, fungus , yeast etc…
Maybe its exactly what CHI said. We have an overgrowth of some bacteria keeping the good bacteria down. Once we sort out the overgrowth the good bacteria will eventually grow back and kick us out of “PFS”
Correct. Firmicutes + Bacteroidetes comprise 90% of microbiome. There’s not a cut and dry percentage of each but 2.1:1 ratio is claimed to be optimal. Mine is little low possibly due to lifestyle choices (high protein, low carbs, low fat). Moreover, I clearly have a history with finesteride and antibiotics. I’ve been on high dose Xifaxan/Rifaximin in 2019 and 2020 and this may have also caused a shift. Antibacterial herbs/spices may also contribute. I clearly have both overgrowths and undergrowths, an example would be faecalibacterium prausnitzii, which defined as butyrate producer. My extremely high serum B12 also indicates that I have an overgrowth of B12 producing bacteria. Another example would be my chronically low E2, which may indicate low in bacteria needed to balance E2 level. I need to boost bacteria that reduces inflammatory cytokines and boost anti-inflammatory ones.
This is continuing to prove to be a super difficult task with limited science and literature available at hand and with the plethora of pseudoscience all over the interweb!
