Hi @Ozeph, thanks for sharing this interesting response. The admins view is this makes sense (retinoids are vitamers of vitamin A) and we would recommend caution in using this if you suffer from PAS, PFS or the possibly connected conditions, in addition to any health concerns for the general population in its use, particularly if you’re a severe case.
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I agree. Vitamin A is one of the few vitamins that is toxic in high doses. It can even kill you.
The only Vitamin A pills I could find here in Thailand are 25000 IU. This is the maximum safe dose. I don’t even know why they sell it in this format. It was cheap (like 2$) and I will receive 10000 IU pills from the US in a few days. So I decided to take them anyway, while waiting for the safer, more realistic dose.
But I got this unexpected result of increased sensitivity !
Because it’s a topic that was discussed a lot before and it seems everyone (including myself) was taking it for granted there was nothing that can be done about it and only time would improve this symptom, I wanted to share this result.
I don’t intent to keep taking this dose when I’ll receive the lower dose pills. I’ll post the result. It will be like the penis version of Flowers for Algernon I guess.
On another forum I have visited there are a bunch of guys who took Accutane seeming to recover by going on Vitamin A elimination diets and doing liver flushes. Like the whole problem all along was Vitamin A poisoning. Just thought I’d share that. Some people apparently think Vit A shouldn’t even be a “vitamin”, that really it’s more a poison, and a huge cause of autoimmune disease. There’s some book on the topic called “Poisoning for Profits” Ive seen recommended.
@vkg1 Thats interesting. Ive been taking Choline and Inusitol 500mg each per day, both of which flushes the liver of fatty acids, including vitamin A. I dont know what to make of this. What do you think is causing the increase in sensitivity ? Its quite a surprise to me !
I’m just getting started here. Very happy to see that you’ve been getting results like that, though. My problems are low libido, which seems to at least be somewhat improved by the TRT I have just started, and anorgasmia/lack of sensitivity (that remains bad). I can’t have a girlfriend because I can’t perform sexually when I can’t feel anything (erections are good except for soft glans, but lack of sensation kills sexual “connection”) Reading up on what all you guys have been getting results with this weekend and preparing to place a big order for aa’s. Also going to switch to Keto diet. So that’s the stage I’m at. Let’s hope I get some results and can make meaningful contributions to discussion in the coming weeks.
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That’s a good idea. please share results with us.
I keep my current regimen updated on Day 1 (the first post) of my experiment on Amino Acid For neurological symptoms if you’re interested. I just updated it today.
By the way, I do believe you will see improvements with this type of amino acid regimen. Many thanks to @alteredlife for putting us on this track ! That was inspired.
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Guess I’m going to find some vitamin A, lol
Well, if you do, please share the results.
Ive been studying the balance (and imbalance in our cases) of amino acids, neuro-transmitters and their co-actors, vitamins and minerals for some time and to simply state that vitamin A restored my sensitivity doesnt make sense to me. Yet, I can feel again.
Perhaps its vitamin A in interaction with one or more other things, I dont know. Im aware that if it was just vitamin A alone, we would have figured it out by now. Im puzzled.
So if other people try it please share results. (yes, too much vitamin A can kill you. But 10000 IU will certainly not, at least not in 5 days)
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Does anyone know if gluten or other food intolerances are particularly associated with causing aa deficits? Is it conceivable that our best currently available treatment would be to go on elimination diets? I hate to be thinking within the lines of trendy diets. But it seems that people here that have seen improvements have also been on Keto or carnivore diet.
Will do. Hoping to grab some today to try out!
Ncsugrad please check the book I mentioned first though. It’s not the very most scientific, but it might have some points you want to consider before taking any more risks like we did when took these drugs in first place assuming they were safe.
Will do
After crashing, all food allergies becomes exacerbated, all inflammation in the body increases. The auto immune response is not restricted to Androgen Receptors, it attacks a lot more.
So eliminating all food allergens and fixing the guts is a great first step. Its also an overall approach that will work much better than those pinpoint attempts at taking a single supplement or drug that address only a single issue and ultimately fail. PFS is not a single disease but a set of bad health conditions triggered by finasteride, Isotretinoin, saw palmetto extract, anti-depressants (SSRI, SNRI, TCAs) or Gonadotropin-releasing hormone, all of which can cause the similar imbalances although often from a different angle. I read a story of a girl who had the same symptoms as us by taking Pregnenolone 25mg and DHEA 25MG given to her by a naturopath because she had adrenal fatigue (I dont know where this naturopath made the link between those hormone precursors and the adrenal glands. It`s like trying to fix stomach ache with anti-wart drops, but I better not get started on doctors. They killed 3 family members by giving the wrong drugs, none of them were held responsible. They have a double 0 license to kill like 007)
But back to the subject. To eliminate food allergens and fix the guts, its good to eliminate grains (which contains phyto-estrogen anyway) and especially gluten which is the number one culprit in guts diseases. Reducing all carbs is also great as it will reduce stress and fix many issues. Increasing protein and saturated fat is very important. Youve got things to fix, so you need the material to fix it. Proteins obviously build lots of stuff, but people are usually less aware of how important saturated fat is. Cholesterol, for example, is the precursor of most hormones. Our brain and nervous system is made of 90% saturated fat (fat from animals. not vegetable oil).
Taking Glycine, Glutamine, bone broth, collagen peptides (in small doses, 2-3 gr and see how you react) are all good ways to fix the guts.
I took the radical approach and went on a carnivore / lots of saturated fat diet only, 6 months ago. No more than 5 gr of carbs a day. The second and third days were hard (i cheated a bit by having glasses half full of milk, half full of water, just to get me through), then it became increasingly easy and after a few weeks I was set for glory. All neurological symptoms except insomnia went away after 3-4 days. including daily headaches I had for 4 years, stomach ache, gastric reflux (I couldnt lie down, I needed a pillow to set myself at an angle so I wouldnt drown in my vomit), stomach discharge was immediately improved, all joints pain disappeared and I even stopped having dandruff !
I also took bone broth and After 3 weeks, I introduced some green low carbs veggies like kale, spinach, celery, lettuce.
I fixed my guts by using collagen. Some people had adverse effect from it, so we have to be careful, but I take 5 gr. of gelatin (which is partially hydrogeneted collagen) 2-3 times a week and probiotics once a week to maintain good guts health. After that, I could take food allergens that used to cause me anxiety without ill effects (like peanuts and sugar)
I found that after 4 months, I could easily eat low quantities of carbs and be normal, but I still cannot have a huge plate of spaghetti without some ill effects. That`s where I am now. I eat 2 slices of bread in the morning, put sugar in my coffee and have 1 tsp of honey before sleep and the rest of the food for the day will be protein or saturated fat.
Doing this diet fixed 60% of all my symptoms. The rest was fixed by exercise, amino acids and supplements.
8 months after crashing, my only remaining symptom is I wake up after 6 hours of deep sleep, then wake up multiple times in the next 3 hours with lots of dreams in between but no stress at all. I get up well rested and have a normal, productive day while being calm, confident, motivated and in a good mood. All the residual sexual symptoms have recently disappeared.
It may not work for everyone, but it did for me. Considering 7 months ago I was so weak, my mind so incoherent, had panic attack and anxiety, I though I would have to stop working, driving the car and would have to move out of the house because I couldnt handle the presence of my own 3 children (not to mention the inability to stand up for more than 20 minutes or climb two flights of stairs, zero sex drive, almost no sensibility and no night erections ). I though my life was over and I was considering dying would be more humane than living like that. But dont give up anyone. There’s a way out and it may not be that far away. You just have to be proactive and do something about it. An overall approach, not a single one thing attempt, starting with radically changing your food habits is in my opinion the best first thing to do to get out of this mess. People have cured diseases worst than ours this way, like cancer, heart diseases and strokes.
Disclaimer: Im not a doctor (thank God). Those are only my opinions and experiences and should not be considered medical advises. (Now that I said that, you cant sue me for trying to help. Ha ha ! Not that a normal descent person would do that anyway.)
I wish the best to you all guys. We can beat this.
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Just find the smallest dose available, increase slowly but not beyond a safe dose and stop at first sign of trouble. If vitamin A was as toxic as cadmium, mercury, arsenic or lead, it would not be on the market as a food supplement. (and carrots would be prohibited. 100 gr of carrot gives you 16706 IU of vitamin A and yes, carrot overdose is a thing)
Trust me, they aren’t recovering. There are 4-5 posters in that thread who “recover” with every new therapeutic attempt, and for some reason, they are still “recovering” multiple times over months or years after their initial supposed “recovery”. I can’t explain this phenomenon as anything other than wishful thinking combined with a few good days in a row. Many PAS sufferers have joined this forum to distance themselves from that crew and the strange theories being born there.
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OK, so get this. I haven’t posted in a while because I’m back and forth with my regimen trying to perfect it. What doesn’t make any sense is that if I take amino acids continuously every day, my pfs symptoms slowly start returning as if I’m not taking anything. Then, I can quit taking them and after a few days, I start recovering again and have really improved symptoms for a good week and a half to two weeks before starting to go back down again. I posted that I thought that the essential acids were giving me the most help, but I was wrong about that. The essentials do help, but the non-essentials are important too. In my opinion, it’s like my amino acids are off balance, and taking too many again puts them off balance and causes the symptoms to return.
So, this is what I decided to try. When I had my first full recovery in August 2018, the only thing I had taken was L-Arginine and L-Citrulline on a Monday and Tuesday then a full recovery that lasted from Thursday to Sunday. This was the first recovery of any kind that I had had in the entire 18 years of having pfs. So I started taking them again, the same way I did when I had the first recovery. I take the essential 9 plus Arginine on Monday and a take the bottle of about 15 different mixed non-essential amino acids on Tuesday. My symptoms are much better with this regimen. I’ve told a couple of guys on here about it through a pm and told them I was going to experiment for a little while before posting to make sure it was going to stick. I’ve only been doing it for about 5 weeks now, but so far so good.
I have never claimed to be healed. I am very much not healed because when I quit, I’ll go right back to pfs, or if I take acids for too long, my symptoms will return. So up around comment 143, @WhatHaveIDone post the results of his amino acid test. I’ve looked over all of them, and one that caught my attention is Mandelic. If you look this acid up, it is responsible for getting dead dry skin off of your body. One thing we all complain about is dry skin. I’ve been threatening to get some of this and finally bought a bottle the other day. Here is the thing about it, it is applied topical. You do not take it orally.
I was a little disappointed that you couldn’t find an oral version of Mandelic acid but I took the topical that I bought and last Thursday night before going to bed put five drops on my hand along with some lotion and rubbed it in real good. Friday, I applied it 2-3 times throughout the day and by that night hadn’t seen any noticeable results so just kind of forgot about it.
Two days later, Sunday, I had another complete recovery. I’m not talking about my symptoms were greatly improved, I’m talking about exactly what happened last August, 2018 when I had a full recovery. Just like @Scott.H described in his post, natural and very organic, pre-fin type of sex. My dick is very much working the way it was designed to work. This is Tuesday morning here in the southeast United States, so starting the 3rd day. I’m not sure how long it’ll last, but right now it is working. I’m at a loss here. I hope there is a doctor on here reading this that this will make sense to.
I go back to my original theory, I don’t believe it’s an androgen problem, I believe there’s a problem with the way our bodies synthesis amino acids. In saying that though, it very well could be a epigenetic problem.
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So what are you taking these days? I’m trying to narrow down people’s lists to something short and sweet to see what overlaps between their stories / experiences
I take this on Monday, plus L-Arginine (not pictured). 
I take this one on Tuesday. I repeat this once a week.
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Lol. It’s sure simpler than what I’m taking !
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