Regarding the Butyrate comment in response to reversing epigenetic changes on our androgen receptors. I plan to take the natural approach with cold potatoes & chamomile tea. watch the video below from 1:37:04.
Again, importance of Butyrate mentioned at around 5.47.
Digging the positive attitude @Alex50 !
Keep in mind that many people who have recovered talk about fluctuations in their recovery. So be prepared for the occasional “one step forward, two steps back”. Don’t let that discourage you!
Hey @Alex50 thx so much for your detailed motivating story. Its really encouraging to see how much you improved.
I myself have improved a lot since my crash 10 moths ago. 2 things really disturbs me that still are here:
Thanks man.
Glad to hear you have improved a lot man!! Keep fighting and keep pushing forward, we will recover. I hope my story helps you on your journey in any way.
Yes, the testicular shrinkage is extremely disturbing to me as well. I have developed obsessive compulsive behavior where I constantly check the size & I panic when my balls are super tight, something I will have to work through with my psychologist.
To answer your question regarding muscle mass, I have only just started to implement weights again. I did a session on Sunday and actually felt pretty good after, which I’m really excited about!! I think you just need to be patient bro, you’re only 10 months in, improvements and changes to our body take a lot of time & patience. Don’t get down about yourself if you haven’t recovered any muscle mass, just keep your head high and stay consistent & the results will come slowly over time.
Good luck in your recovery bro
Does the type of potato matter?
Yes, white potato is best.
Here’s some more info on Butyrate from the book Fibre Fueled by Dr Will Bulsiewicz incase it helps anyone.
White potatoes are an excellent source of resistant starch. In one study, they increased SCFA levels more than inulin from chicory root. Here’s a tip: If you let your potatoes cool, the process of cooling creates more resistant starch. If you heat and cool repeatedly, you just keep turning it up.
Cold white potatoes! Also important point to make, when you cool the potatoes the GI reduces by like 40%. It essentially turns into a complex carb and is blood sugar friendly.
Hope it helps.
Thx man, I appreciate your motivating words. I feel you regarding the testicular size reaction, I have a similar reflex now, but i learned not to observe it, especially not when i feel its retracted. I just stick with the most important, that i still can get it up and ejactuate, even if its not the same like pre-fin anymore its enough to continue life.
Yea man, I’d need to be more patient regarding muscle improvement. I donno if maybe my free T levels are too low perhaps to build muscles? I have just a minimal free T levels.
I completely empathize with your situation man. I was an avid bodybuilder, absolutely loved hitting the weights hard, I trained 5-6 days a week. When I crashed I had finally built a great physique and was at a point where I was really happy with my body. I lost all of that overnight with PFS. I was so fucked up that I ended up losing all my muscle and putting on 10kg of pure fat.
Literally the number 1 thing In the world that I want to get back to doing is bodybuilding. I’ve been so patient for the past 2 years, and I’m so excited because I think my body is now in a position where I can actually tolerate exercise again.
If your T levels are low, of course you are going to struggle to put on muscle. It may just take some time however for your body to bounce back. Be patient before you decide to take TRT.
One thing that helped me through this was to not focus on the things I’ve lost or missing out on, this will only keep you in a spiral of depression. Instead, you need to be grateful for what you do have in your life. You could have been born with spina bifida and not even had the chance to walk or workout ever in your entire life. Or you could have been born with something as debilitating as down syndrome. Always chose to be grateful and positive for everything in your life. Never focus on the past and never ever focus on what you don’t have.
You are so right. I really appreciate to communicate on the forum with strong personalities like you, as one of the main reasons of this forum should be to cope easier with your suffer mates.
I’m also trying hard to not look back what I lost and only appreciate that i’m at a much better place than i was after crash for months. By now I can sleep deep and long, I have no brain fog, anxiety and depression is much lighter and not constant. I have minimal but again existing libido and as I said enough sexual function to live with. The fact that I’m so eager at this point to gain muscles back also proves that I improved a lot, back in spring muscle loss was the least of my worries considering I had such severe mental and sexual sides.
Nah, wont touch TRT nor any androgen supplements now for years to come, I believe I just stick with regular excersize (though our gyms in my country are closed since today due to covid 
) and i avoid any anti-androgen foods.
I wish you a good luck with excersizes at gym again! Imo its really great tool to improve mentally and physically from this hell
You have made so much progress and you have so much man. You can sleep. You have no brain fog. Your anxiety & depression is fading. You can get an erection. You have a roof over your head. You have fresh running water. You are safe from terror. You have an abundance of food. You have friends and family. You are not obliged to go to war. You still have it better than 95% of people who lived in the generations before us and better than many people on this forum. Always chose to think positive.
Just understand that your situation is temporary and you will recover. It’s very important that you believe you will recover. The mind is more powerful than any pharmaceutical drug out there. Positive and optimistic mindset is key.
Try not to stress out about the little things man. Just keep your head high, do good things every single day, be kind to yourself and your body, the results will come in time. Be patient and live in the present.
I wish you all the best.
I appreciate Alex!
Wish you all the bests, keep with your great recovery! I’ll follow your posts
Watch this video bro.
Also I think I read on one of your previous posts that you’re eating a keto style diet. If your SHBG is skyhigh and free test consequently in the toilet, I would consider eating a carb heavy diet to reverse this. Watch the video I posted earlier regarding keto/carnivore diets & low free testosterone levels. Carbs are very important for testosterone optimisation.
All good bro, I hope it helps you or a future reader!!
Thank you so much @Alex50 !
Yea I was on keto for too long and it could have caused me high SHBG indeed! I quit keto in august, so im since 3 months back to a carb rich diet. I hope this will accelerate my free T rise.
I’ll keep you updated
Bests to you
@Sawproblemo has inspired me to post updates, I also want to share my journey to track progress and share information on whats helped me to others.
After 2 years of CFS and Adrenal Fatigue, I have started cycling 20-30 minutes per day and feeling much better for it. Getting outside, moving the body, getting the heart pumping, is all very beneficial I think to recovery. I also take the dogs for long walks in nature and practice mindfulness.
I have also just started up a volleyball team with my mates. Team sports are great in my opinion, again the exercise is fantastic, but the mateship, fun and laughter is very good for the brain in my opinion, especially after experiencing severe trauma. My doctor said its one of the best things to help rewire the brain for PTSD.
I also aim to get 20-30 minutes direct sunlight per day. I believe this is great for overall health and endocrine function.
I hopefully plan to implement a consistent weightlifting regiment moving forward. Depends how my body reacts to more exercise, I have been very sensitive in the past and had severe exercise intolerance, but I now believe I am at a point where I can start going to the gym again which I’m really excited about.
Unfortunately I was unconsciously consuming 5ar inhibitors in the form of Curcumin, Zinc+P5P and EPA. I have noticed a considerable drop in my nocturnal and morning erections because of this.
I feel my best when I avoid technology, computers, TV, phones, etc.
I am positive, I am optimistic, I will recover.
Great attitude my friend! I know you will continue to improve.
P5P is a 5AR inhibitor? Source?
I’m happy to be proven wrong on this. But from my research,to have a positive effect on 5ar, you want Pyrodoxine not Pyridoxal. Unfortunately Pyrodoxine supplementation has been associated with Neuropathy and nerve damage, so please be careful.
Needs more research, but there’s enough data out there to suggest that the active form of B6, Pyridoxal is likely a 5ar inhibitor, and that’s enough for me to steer clear.
Vitamin B6 potentiated the inhibitory effect of zinc
Pyridoxine hydrochloride significantly increased the activity of 5 alpha-R, 3 alpha- and 17 beta-HSD, but pyridoxal hydrochloride had an inhibitory influence on 5 alpha-R
Thank you for the links @Alex50 ! I’ll read up on this. I take P5P quite often, so this makes me think I should re-evaluate that.
Hey guys, controversial I know, but I am having major success with low dose fluoxetine (prozac) to treat my severe hypersensitivity / hyperarousal to stimulation and stress. Sleep has also improved substantially and I no longer feel the need to take all these supplements to get a good nights sleep. The effects were almost instant. I started at 10mg, but I plan to lower the dose to find the minimum effective amount required to elicit the effects I’m after. Low doses fluoxetine has a positive effect on neurosteroids and increases allopregnanlone without effecting serotonin. Before I couldn’t even look at a computer screen without feeling severely “wired”, now I have no issues, honestly the change after starting treatment with Fluoxetine has been amazing. I’m going to ideally drop the dose to somewhere like 1-2.5mg/d
I also have started Natural Desiccated Thyroid (T4 + T3) to treat my elevated TSH of 4.1. I also plan to start TRT with Progesterone very soon. Progesterone also increases allopregnanlone and will help with sleep.
After waiting over 2 years to try fix this naturally I want to try TRT and see how I feel with elevated androgens. If there is something out there that can help me, I want to try it. This is a decision I have come to after much thought and research. I am aware that PFSers often feel worse on TRT, however I am very lucky in the sense that I am not very sensitive to supplements, so I think the potential upside outweighs the risks. I feel like my body is in a good position to try TRT and may be more receptive to exogenous hormones after all of the healing I have done through diet & lifestyle over the past two years.
Furthermore, in my opinion the testosterone “normal” reference range is based on a sick unoptimised population and does not take into account receptor sensitivity to androgens. I don’t care if I’m considered “normal”, I want to get my free testosterone to around 1000 pmol/L (250-750) and see how I feel.
The TRT will be introduced 6 weeks after starting Fluoxetine / NDT.
I am not recommended anyone to do anything. This is what I have decided based upon my own research and to address my symptoms.
Open to any feedback and criticism. Anyway, this is my plan, I’ll update in a couple months with how I go.
Great to hear you are doing better, but be careful with fluoxetine is a potent endocrine disruptor, but I guess you know that.