Metronidazole (flagyl) helped me with regular bowel movements more than anything else

General Discussion
#21

You have to look closely at the exact amount of allicin you’re actually getting. When I analyzed/converted the amounts several months back, I could see that the Now Foods “Garlic 5000” actually had more Allicin than the vast majority of other supplements (including brands like Allimax, etc). The Now G5k probably does have more fructans, but when you’re in kill phase (and ensuring good motility) that part shouldn’t matter.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t ever get ginger, artichoke, Iberogast, or yoga/meditation to really work for me personally…although I only tried those before the protocol. So I had to rely on pharma for that part. I do totally support the idea of taking cleanse-support supplements (if it’s practical/affordable to add in) to mitigate any Herxeimer effects from the kill-off.

#22

I think I know what you mean. Are you thinking about this thread on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/SIBO/comments/18n9bqv/allimax_aka_allisure_ac23_is_not_pure_allicin/?
The Allimax and Allimed thing is indeed strange, but you can find a lot of stories about their effectiveness on the internet. What’s more, I’ve seen quite a few scientific studies that use Allimax/Allimed. If it were all a scam, it would have to be a gigantic conspiracy. I find it hard to imagine that a capsule containing 54 mcg of allicin (almost 100 times less than Garlic Now Foods and over 3000 times less than the declared value of 180 mg of allicin) would have any effect other than homeopathic.
Anyway, I feel that it works promisingly. I have been taking allicin for three weeks (I started with a dose of 180 mg per day, increasing to the current dose of over 2000 mg) and I have had the most flashes of normality in years. I don’t have spectacular results yet, but I have very strong or strong brain fog.

#23

Hey how are you doing these days? I’ve been meaning to try out your regimen and am thinking of giving it a go soon. Have been trying other gut angles without too much of a consistent improvement.
Any particular reason you went for PHGG over psyllium husk/metamucil by the way?

#24

Been doing very well. I’ve come a very long way since the beginning of my PFS journey. Had to take a lot of things (and risks) to help restore all the different systems/tissues.

For the gut restoration, the foundation is kill bad (via antimicrobials or starving out with low FODMAP) + feed good (PHGG) + restore/maintain motility (prucalopride if needed).

I absolutely could not-and still cannot-handle psyllium husk fiber. Gives me terrible bloating/cramping and constipation regardless of water intake. The PHGG is incredible at rebalancing the gut without the horrible taste/texture of Psyllium.

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#25

This is good to hear. Is there a single place with your whole protocol outlined? From looking back over this thread it looks like it’s spread out in a few different places

Would you consider yourself healed at this point- and if so, through treating the gut?

#26

I probably have shit all over the place here that should be deleted. There were many things that helped certain symptoms/tissues either fully or temporarily, but never a single thing that restored the full system long term (after coming off the protocol). I’m currently having a very good response to a dopamine agonist but reserving further comment on that.

The gut aspect, however, I can honestly stand by as one of the most important in the fight. Although I don’t think it’s the master issue (otherwise PFS wouldn’t have been a problem for very long), it’s still fairly high up in the chain of command for your overall health and comfort/quality of life.

Gut dysbiosis is a result of either a terrible diet, an infection, or impaired motility (not mutually exclusive in the general population). In PFS land however, the vast majority is the motility factor…which is caused by vagus nerve dysfunction, which is caused by either nerve damage or altered neuro-transmitters/steroids (ours is the latter).

Since we don’t have a confirmed neurosteroid pathology/treatment yet, you’ll have to rely on what is available, which is the gut protocol I provided here. Don’t necessarily have to do all the antibiotics, etc., but you will most likely need something that fixes/kickstarts motility - unless you want to live on a low FODMAP diet indefinitely.

Does that make sense?

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#27

Mucuna is the only direct herbal dopamine agonist I know of. Blue lotus is weird, being a dopamine agonist and antagonist at the same time. Catuaba and psoralea are dopamine reuptake inhibitors.

I prefer slippery elm powder over psyllium. Don’t just mix with room temp or cold water. Boiling hot water makes the texture better, with slippery elm taking on an oatmeal consistency. Slippery elm was a silver bullet for me with c-diff symptoms.

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#28

It wasn’t until just recently that learned about how nuanced the dopamine factor was. It’s not a matter of simply increasing it, or making more available. It’s about dopamine tone - how well the receptors are responding, similar to the dysfunctional AR theory.

There’s a medication out there that begins with a “P”, historically used to treat a neurological disorder (Parkinson’s disease) and sometimes used by bodybuilders to lower prolactin, that may be of interest.

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#29

Hi Renegade, what PFS symptoms do you still have remaining? Do you have sexual symptoms?

And how recovered do you feel, say out of 100?

I see that in 2022 you tried the ALCAR & Rhodiola protocol. Did you feel that it improved you?

I saw @Livid171 's post from 2021, and he said he fully recovered from this protocol. I also saw @Tricky say he recovered and he also cycled this protocol. They both never returned.

I got PFS in 2021 and I originally saw Livid’s post about ACLAR/RR in 2023. I tried the ALCAR only, as I know RR is a 5ari and I was hesitant to take that.
After cycling ALCAR in 2023/2024 (2 weeks on 2 weeks off) for 12 months all up straight (with a 6 month break at the halfway mark) I now feel 90% recovered most days and have felt like this for 6 months or more. I am so so close!

I also avoid ALL Anti Androgenic and 5ari foods and supplements, and I find this helps me. (As I am sensitive to them. I have a slight return of PFS symptoms when I have a minor 5ari food. And when I have a major 5ari food like Rosemary etc, I assume I would have a big crash, which I haven’t had in years).

I had 100’s of physical symptoms at the start of PFS, and now my only remaining symptoms are mainly sexual ones (like Low Libido, Erection Quality, some tiny bits of brain fog, sometimes low energy).
I am getting impatient and I really want my life back.
I got PFS at 25, and am now 30.

I didn’t want to try the Rhodiola as it’s a 5ari and can then crash some people. However it seems like multiple people had good results on it.

Did the ALCAR/RR regiment help with your sexual symptoms at all?

Did you take anything that you could recommend?

Really appreciate any advice. Hope you’re. Thank you.

#30

This is huge. ALCAR helped you that much? Can you share the dosage and brand?

Anything else you’ve been doing while cycling this? Did you take it in the morning or evening and with food or an empty stomach?

Did you have to do anything to treat the gut or you solely used ALCAR to improve?

How long did it take for you to see improvement once you started?

What exact symptoms did you have and what’s improved?

Sorry for all the questions! I got pfs at 22 and I’ve had it for 6 years…it’s been a long road brother.

#31

Hey man, how much of the PHGG do you use? And did you slowly increase the dose? How often do you take the probiotic and can you share the brand?

#32

Hey, don’t be sorry! I also got PFS 5/6 years ago, so I feel your pain brother. I found this protocol on this sub reddit 3 years ago, so I just want to help others so they can feel better like me.
I have tried posting or commenting this in the Fin Syndrome subreddit, but it often gets shot down. I wanted to wait till I was 100% healed before posting, and I am nearly there after 3 years since I took ALCAR.

And yes it did help me that much, in the same way it helped @Livid171 by the sounds of it, as he never returned after making his recovery post and people trying to shoot him down.

I copied Livid and used the “NOW Foods” brand. I also copied his dosage, which were the 500mg capsules. He took 2x of them in the Morning, 1 hour before food or 2 hours after food (it works better if you avoid digestion).

He also said taking it every single day didn’t have the same effect. So instead he cycled it, and I did the exact same, which was: take it for 2 weeks straight Monday-Friday (but skipped on weekends) so taking it 10 days in total. That is the “On Cycle”.
Then for the Off Cycle, have 2 straight weeks off. Then repeat.

Livid said that you do feel better while on it during the On Cycle. But once you have done a few Cycles (maybe 2 months worth of On and Off) you start to feel even better on the Off Cycle. It’s like you can feel the ALCAR working, actually healing me. He said it himself, and I agree.

ALCAR makes everyone feel good anyway because it gives you energy and mental clarity, so I didn’t have as much mental fatigue or brain fog on my On Cycles.
But I really started to feel real imrovement on my Off Cycle probably around the 2 month mark, maybe the 3 month mark. That’s when I could tell I was recovering.

I haven’t done anything yet to heal my gut, but it is a lot better now. My gut was horrible during the peak of my PFS and I had all the gut symptoms (bloating, gas, noises, floating fatty malnourished stools, explosive diarrhoea etc etc).
My gut is my last symptom I have to resolve. But it’s mainly only SIBO problems now, which is now where near as bad as before, but I still want to treat it as my next step. My libido is also coming back stronger and stronger all the time, and has been improving since taking and ceasing my last lot of ALCAR (June 2024-January 2025).
My libido could be slightly better. Funnily enough, SIBO actually affects Libido and sexual hormones. So if I solve my SIBO (gut issues), hopefully that irons out my last tiny Libido symptom. (Rifaximin is an Anti Biotic that’s used to treat SIBO, but many user’s on here and the sub reddit have crashed from using it, so I am going to avoid that and do it a different, possibly more natural way).

This week I feel 97% or 98% recovered. Everything has reversed, and I feel a little bit better each day.

I attribute ALCAR to roughly 60% of my recovery. The other 20% or 30% I attribute to avoiding all 5ari foods and supplements. I did this for 6 months before starting ALCAR, and it got me from rock bottom to probably 10%, maybe 20% recovery (before starting ALCAR).

I avoided MOST 5ari foods and ALL supplements from January 2023 till January 2026.
But as of 6 months ago I started avoiding ALL 5ari foods chemical and supplements, Anti Androgen foods chemical and supplements, and Endocrine Disrupter foods chemicals and supplements.
Since doing this, my recovery has shot through the roof.

I originally compiled a list on here from late 2022/early 2023 of 5ari foods from other users on here that they reported crashing from.
But as of 6 months ago I got my AI (Chat GPT) to rank foods out of 10, when I search for it on there, in terms of there severity with 5ari properties, Anti Androgen properties, and Endocrine Disrupter properties.
Many recovery stories on here used to follow a similar system of avoiding 5ari foods etc, but didn’t have AI to help them.
Because I have followed this so closely, I have avoided crashing for 2 years straight.

I have a full list of 5ari foods to avoid if you want it, ranked in terms of severity (and chances they will make you crash).

Some foods inhibit 5ar more than others.
It is my theory that if you eat even minor 5ari foods (like Pumpkin, Basil etc) they will keep you in a PFS like state for longer, as you are continually but slightly blocking DHT and nuking your neurosteroids.
And if you have a major 5ari, like Rosemary or Saw Palmetto, then of course you would crash.
I followed this advice from this sub reddit, and I believe my recovery (or at least my 99% symptom reduction (is proof that this is the case).
There is a reason why some have recovered my avoiding eating foods everyday that are 5ari, or are Anti Androgenic, or that distrust the endocrine system.

Lastly I had every PFS symptom under the sun, plus some weird ones I have only read about a few times in here. I had no libido, moon face, gut issues, brain fog, loss of muscle, weird fat gain. I had like 50 more. It’s a very long list, but let me know if you want it and I can supply that.
I now only have the SIBO, and my Libido is improving every day.

Let me know if you want more advice on the ALCAR protocol, or my full 5ari food list. I am more than happy to help.

#33

Thank you so so much for this full write up.
Interesting livid attributed his recovery to both the ALCAR and rhodiola but you avoided the latter.

I would love to hear both your full list of symptoms and also your full list of foods to avoid.
Regarding symptoms, did you have shrinkage as well?

Also, did you try anything else for getting better that your recovery could be attributed to- or do you feel like it had to be the ALCAR? What supplements did you start avoiding?

Can you clarify your regimen- specifically, you said you took it for 12 months on the cycling schedule you mentioned but took a 6 month break at the halfway point? So you cycled it for 6 months, stopped for 6 months, and then took it again for another 6 months?

I think what you said about SIBO and sexual health makes sense. The few improvements I’ve had I feel like came from improving my gut health. I’m currently taking a greens powder, sodium butyrate, a probiotic, and some colostrum powder. I have been planning to add in PHGG as well. Would these things interfere if I were to try ALCAR?

Would love to exchange emails to stay in touch if that’s cool with you!