Guys word of warning! Don’t smoke cigarettes. Obviously stupid to do, but the stress of PFS led me to smoke occasionally. I’m only 31 and showing signs of severe asthma, I haven’t been diagnosed, but I suspect COPD. I’m now on an inhaler twice a day! No history of asthma. Shortness of breath is severe. I was not a regular smoker either. I suspect we are more susceptible to inflammation than normal healthy males. Anyways, I have made my life even worse now by doing this. I want to warn any new members to take care of your body. We are NOT the same as other healthy males. We need to take extra caution to preserve remaining health. Hormones may be fixed or resolve with time. Organ and tissue damage cannot! Do not be destructive to your body like I did due to the stress. Do not take unnecessary risks, PFS is manageable and my symptoms got better with time. Now I’m dealing with respiratory trouble because I didn’t have a better coping mechanism to deal with crippling anxiety of PFS in early days. Please be smart take care of yourselves PFS is not life ending. Take few drugs as possible. Life gets easier.
Are you doing well emotionally off medications?
Cigarettes help to relieve my anxiety, but it’s a bad and expensive habit. How do you manage your anxiety without tobacco?
CBT ACT DBT types of therapy with a therapist or with books on your own.
Low dose short term xanax or klonopin.
Anything is better than a cigarette. A workout, fish oil, meditate, anything. My life is so hard right now bc of the asthma I’ve forgotten about PFS! I took 2 steps forward and 10 backward in this life.
Ironically I feel normalized PFS I feel no brain fog or anxiety but now like my lungs are screwed
smoking tobacco relieved my social anxiety too. i think its because it inhibits prolactin, boosting dopamine and keeping estrogen in control. but i stopped it because of gum issues.
nicotine chewing gum might be a less toxic aid.
Well I’m still alive so I’m going to try to take care of myself hope breathing gets better who knows. Staying positive. Been a wild ride for last 7 years made so many mistakes if I can help one guy on here I’ll be glad. Give it time, yes I’d try to avoid SSRIs despite previous comments I think they lower androgens, workout and know it will improve. I thought life was over so I became wreck less with health. There’s still life even with PFS.
Thank you, guys!
Hey mate what would you say has improved or changed for you over the 7 years? I’m glad your finding a way to live life with our condition.
Man things have improved, sleep, cognitive, strength and muscle, etc. of course I ruined it now by my smoking addiction I lost 30 lbs and feel like shit again. Don’t be like me don’t panic over this life can be very normal with PFS
Yeah cigs are bad news, nevertheless it’s pretty amazing you’ve made some improvements over the years I remember reading some of your earlier posts that sounded pretty grim. I’m confident you’d feel allot better after you quit smoking. Happy for ya mate thanks for coming back and dropping some wisdom.
Your brain fog was pretty life altering at one point, correct?
Yes like an alien life on earth, I was experiencing total derealizarion and lack of brain activity. Also i would post erratically on this site. I was young and scared at 23. When your brain is not working because of a hair-pill, well sanity kind of goes away…but panic did me no good only caused me to act out and damage my self.
Any significant changes you’ve made recently?
Also, were you always able to work out? Whenever I lifted weights, I felt worse.
Hi @scaredoutofmymind How long did you take for you to feel better in terms of depression? Did you take any antidepressants?
Did quitting smoking make any difference to your mental sides?
Workouts are normal, mentally I don’t always feel like a million bucks, but pretty normal mentally.