Hi @TFD – not big changes, but here’s an update, in case it helps anyone.
Re: gut issues – My gut hasn’t really been a focus for me. Clearly something is wrong (I rarely feel hunger or satiety – multiple tests show problems with absorption and food breakdown), but it doesn’t really bother me day to day. I went to a really well-known gut naturopath, took more expensive tests, and he didn’t really find any angles to pursue. This is the fifth or sixth time I’ve been investigating the gut, and it’s gotten me nowhere. I’ve tried adding a bunch of microbes, and I’ve tried nuking them all – I haven’t really felt any different either way. I think that’s why I haven’t pursued more drastic measures like FMT. If the gut really was the key to this, I think I would’ve felt at least something.
When the pandemic started, I quit my job to give myself some time to test the hypothesis that job stress might be contributing to PFS. I spent about 10 months taking it really easy – I put zero demands on myself, apart from a daily exercise/meditation routine, healthy eating, and spending time in the sun. Slept as long as I wanted every day. I definitely felt better, put on enough muscle to go up a size in clothes, but I still felt trapped in the “local maxima” of PFS.
In November I got a really bad testicular pain which was diagnosed as a side effect from anal fissures - small wounds in the rectum. I did a 30 day course of a steroid suppository, and the pain went away. I noticed that I had the occasional rush of “positive feelings” in the pelvic area – I don’t know quite how to describe it. Perhaps the steroids were dampening a rampant inflammatory response? The urologist found nothing wrong with my prostate (normal size etc), but the muscles around the prostate were apparently really tight. Testosterone has anti-inflammatory effects, so perhaps various tissues in the pelvic region isn’t using it correctly, and is therefore causing all these random problems?
I caught Covid in January, and I’ve felt more cold, had more fatigue and neuropathy since then. I think I’m over it for the most part, but my hands are now even more dry and cold than they’ve ever been. They also look completely shriveled and wrinkled, as if I’ve taken an hour-long bath. Just another thing to add to the list…
One really positive change I made in the last few months was to start going to bed at 10pm and get up at 7am. I’ve always been a night person, but when I adopted this new schedule I’ve found that it’s easier to get up in the morning and that I need less sleep. So that’s been good.
Staying in the fight - might try hCG at a lower dose soon. Continuing with DCT stretching to get blood flow into the pelvic area.