I'm at a loss with all of this

I’ve tried many regimes/diets and supplements to combat the symptoms as they’ve individually manifested often with no or very limited success. Then the urika moment came when after taking propecia for 20 yrs I stumbled across pfs on the intranet and finally tied it all up. on researching posts I realized I’d already tried mostly the same things as others to combat the symptoms. After many fruitless visits to docs/consultants Im now out of options. My wife is leaving me, I’ve lost all but one or two freinds. Had a meeting at work today about my emotional state which is as a esult of a crash!, it’s all falling apart! I’m after some suggestions from anyone who has been here and got over the line. I now have more frequent crashes with a very low normal baseline. TRT to me is prob the last chance saloon, how do I get on it in the UK when all of my tests come back normal and the NHS thinks I’m a lunatic!. I feel royal and truly …

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I’m very sorry to hear what has been happening to you, PFS is truly a devastating condition. Maybe you could find out how to get TRT in places like bodybuilding forums, or gyms. That is the only thing that comes to my head.

I hope things get better for you, you have all my sympathy.

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I would suggest getting to a doctor for trt advice. It’s critical that it be taken appropriately if that’s the path you choose. For me, I’ve found that an extremely disciplined diet and exercise regime has helped, but very difficult for me to sustain. As for the issues you described, you’re in good company here. We’ve all been there to some degree.

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You’d have to do it privately if your testosterone is coming back in the normal range or buy from a bodybuilding site. @Ozeph swears by a ketogenic diet, you could try that to help with the mental symptoms. Also keep exercising.

All the best mate.

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I also took fin 20 years. Lost a wife, the business I owned at that moment (although that was before the crash but during fin symptoms) and when I crashed I thought I would have to abandon my children, stop working, driving and basically stop everything that doesn’t involve sitting in a couch and wishing I was dead.
I had no idea anxiety could be that painful !

However, I believe there is a way out. And yes, I believe in a ketogenic / carnivore diet. But that’s just the beginning of what I had to do.

Zero carbs and on top of eating lots of rib eye steaks, with lots of saturated fat, like extra virgin cold press coconut oil, butter, ghee, lard, tallow (and no oil at all), I started taking pure whey isolate protein shake.
All that helped a lot already.
I took lots of vitamins, like D2 10000 UI, all B complex, some Zinc, Magnesium, Calcium

I addressed the guts and food allergies I didn’t know I had. I took gelatin, collagen peptides, probiotics.

Started doing weight lifting.

Then I selected a bunch of specific amino acids to address specific remaining symptoms. More than half of what I bought was useless, but the rest is really helpful.

I crashed 8 months and a half ago and today I’m virtually symptom free and have a life better than during the last 5 years. No sexual symptoms, no neurological or physical symptoms and I’m as fit as when I was 25 (I’m 51). I do have to takes lots of supplements but I’m more easy on the diet now. I can have a club sandwich and even eat at Burger King (I feel the food is shit. My body can take it but it’s telling me: just don’t…)

You’d be surprised how the end of everything can actually be the beginning of something better. But now may not be the time for you to hear that.

Anyway. I can send you the links to all my thread, I documented everything in details, day by day, with dosage and timing.

Meanwhile, remember: pain is just a feeling. I doesn’t kill. you. This disease totally suck but doesn’t kill by itself. It’s people that kill themselves. But you’ve got lots of options. I was desperate. My friend told me “use it or lose it” and that’s what I did, I used it like a madman. (Aren’t we all mad ?)

I wish the best to you and I remain available if you want to contact me.

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Thanks Ozeph, reading this does give/offer some hope as I’m on my knees, everything just about gone! Mental sides are the killer for me. Awake 23’hrs ish with nothing but emotional pain! I’m turning into a wreck! My 6 year old son who I will see two nights and alternate weekends is what keeps me in the game. Anything you could send me would be great. P.s. I’m 52 an older dad :wink:

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Cheers mate

Well, read this: Success Stories Compilation, I made this to give hope, because there is. I hope to add my own story, If I can manage to stay where I am now for a long enough period of time, say another 6 months.

Here are the links to what I did: Please share results with a ketogenic or high fat intake diet

And: Amino Acid For neurological symptoms. I was supposed to update the regimen as it goes but it became locked. I will make a new thread to detail my current regimen when I have time, but the next 2 weeks are going to be really buzy…

And: Amino Acids for Sexual Symptoms

And: The use of Collagen. Be careful with this one. With everything except food, start in small doses and stop or reduce at first sign of trouble. Especially, if you feel bad, don’t think it’s your body adapting. People have made themselves worst by continuing something their body was telling them was bad. (well, going ketogenic needs an adaptation. but you get the point)

All of this got inspired by My regimen, and it's working and by a video of Jordan Peterson: https://youtu.be/HLF29w6YqXs. He was on this diet for 2 months in this interview. I did it for 6 months and now I’m slacking off a bit and I’m still Ok.

So that’s tons of reading for you, if you care to go through it all.

The best to you man. You can beat this.

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A guy on swolesource with a username of DAMN also recovered who was in his 50’s, don’t worry about age just focus on being as healthy as possible. Also ditch the booze mate (I’m talking moderate consumption, half a bottle of wine with the wife at weekend or a few watching the football), I’ve been in this crap for 2 years and was stubborn with alcohol until 6 weeks a go and it’s made a big difference.

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sorry for what happened. just saying, if you try keto diet to aid in mental symptoms, just know that it takes at least 3 weeks for your brain to adapt to ketones. ive done this diet couple of times, and im on it right now. be patient if you try it

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Thanks for the tips and guidance guys I will look into this and try the diet! Can’t go in as I am cheers

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Cheers Ozeph

I did it well within a week. I’d say 3 days because that’s when the neurological symptoms started disappearing. I always had a slender body and when I was 25, I couldn’t put on weight, no matter how much cards of fat I ate. so it depends on your metabolism and current fat ratio.

This website says 2-3 days to a week. I’ve read elsewhere up to a month but the truth is your body doesn’t have carbs reserves for more than 2-3 days. So after that, you have at least some level of ketosis otherwise you brain would stop working (and I never heard of that) the brain can work on glucose, ketones but not protein.

It’s cheating the diet that makes it take longer. First day is a breeze. The second day is the hardest, as your carbs gets depleted. Third day is easier but still hard and it gets easier from then. I was taking half glasses of milk, half water to get a little carbs through the rough times. You can also eliminate Gluten and wheat, all cereal grain and sugar first (that leaves 1 banana and / or 1 potato a day) and then you cut carbs definitely. Some fruits are really sweet and should be avoided. An 8 oz glass of grape juice has 10 tsp of sugar https://www.myfooddiary.com/foods/5388927/welchs-100-percent-red-grape-juice

https://www.kissmyketo.com/blogs/faq_keto-science-ketosis/how-long-does-it-take-to-get-into-ketosis

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I wouldn’t do TRT unless you have definitely below range T, if I were you. It’s time consuming, expensive, shuts down your natural production, makes it impossible to have kids ever again unless you try to restart (which become harder and harder the longer you are on it) and just generally is a lot of effort for something that will probably not fix your problem. I say that as someone who is on TRT. Only do it if you are definitely significantly below normal range. People tend to think that if you take testosterone then you will suddenly become some kind of super alpha male sex god. It’s not the case. Any effect I’ve felt has been very subtle if any at all.

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Spot on cheers

i think you are confusing what im saying.

my keto flu only last for a couple of days. within a week i felt normal and my neuro symptoms were gone, but the cognitive boosts i get dont come for another 3 weeks. it takes 3 weeks for your brain to use mostly ketones so that period is necessary to do without breaks.

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True. It’s serotonin that makes the alpha behavior. Not testosterone. And as for sex drive, It’s a combination of many factor, including GABA and Dopamine. Erection is something else, but if you’re not horny it won’t want to go up even if it could.

I agree. It may takes a month to completely adapt.

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