It’s been a while since I’ve updated my thread here, but the time felt right to share some things I’ve learned over the last year. Perhaps someone will find it valuable.
I’ll try to keep the theatrics to a minimum and keep this short – the beginning of the year started strong. I had a really good exercise routine (weightlifting and yoga) and had upped my carbohydrate intake (by a lot) and was gaining muscle slowly, but surely. I was trying to use a high carb diet to decrease insulin sensitivity (kind of the opposite of what you normally want to do) in an attempt to lower SHBG, which is correlated how the body responds to insulin. This seemed to work well – I was feeling better, and also saw that SHBG had dropped massively and a corresponding increase in free T. The problem was, estrogen had also increased dramatically, which manifested as tender nipples and an upper lip swelling (haven’t been able to confirm that swollen upper lip this is a symptom of high E, but it’s been mentioned on this forum).
The big setback came in March, when I started using maca root. After three days’ use, I suddenly got panic attacks like I hadn’t experienced in many years, and to my horror, I saw that my penis had taken on an hourglass shape, with even more prominent veins than before. There was also a bit of shrinkage and excess skin. Constipation worsened. My face changed within 2 weeks – larger pores, wrinkles, dark circles under my eyes, new folds appearing, the whole package. This was immediately followed by a nasty sinus infection that I just managed to get under control, 6 months later. The infection kept me away from the gym, which was really hard for me, since it was the main thing I felt had made me feel better.
In short, the hard years keep on coming. It will be 9 years of PFS for me in November.
Some learnings from this ordeal –
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T, DHT, and E levels only seem only mildly correlated with my symptoms
- In 2015, I had an HCG-releasing tumor that spiked my T and DHT, but it didn’t cause any significant change in how I felt.
- When I got the high E, I felt the symptoms I mentioned, but those were not big problems compared to the other things I’m dealing with…
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… but prostate size and/or prostate tissue DOES seem to affect symptoms
- Maca root is apparently fairly good at shrinking the prostate (at least in mice). In this paper, finasteride was used as a control – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28635053 . Probably a good idea to stay away from anything that’s mentioned in the same sentendce as finasteride. Wish I had done my research on this.
- The paper that Axolotl found the other day also points to an interesting prostate-shrinking mechanism for serotonin, which could explain the symptoms of people with PSSD – Serotonin regulates prostate growth through androgen receptor modulation
- So how do you increase prostate size? Testosterone is one answer, but that’s all I’ve found so far. Googling for “increase prostate size” is almost impossible because it seems like everyone else on earth is trying to reduce their prostate size, so every article is about things you can do to get a smaller prostate.
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SHBG might be a red herring
- If you have high SHBG, it might just be a sign that you’re a fit person who is unlikely to get diabetes. Low SHBG is actually a diagnostic marker for diabetes. So instead of chasing remedies or drugs that purport to lower SHBG, I’d rather try increasing T in the ‘normal ways’ – with a bodybuilder’s diet and weightlifting.
- 5 months of NOFAP ‘hard mode’ did nothing for me
What am I doing next?
Now that I can exercise again, I’m going back to lifting weights. I’ll also be adding more protein and fat to my diet, and keep the carbs on a more moderate level. I’ll also do some trials of digestive enzymes, since my latest stool test showed very poor breakdown or absorption (or both) of both proteins and fats. I’ll try bromelain, which apparently can be beneficial for sinuses and inflammation in general.