I know a few guys here have tried Zinc with some good results and some bad. Can you guys let me know what bad results youve had?
Thanks
I tried 50mg Zink/day and after a few days I felt more spaced out. After I stopped it, I returned to my previous (fucked up) state.
JH
I tried it too for a few days. I started getting anxiety and feeling spaced out. I stopped immediatly.
A lot of people keep saying to stay away from zinc. Are there any good multi-vitamins that don’t contain zinc? Most contain at least 15mg.
Came across this… strange that some have issues with supplementing Zinc when the below says it should help… but who knows.
Effect of zinc administration on plasma testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, and sperm count.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer … t=Citation
The effects of zinc therapy on plasma testosterone (T), dihydrotestosterone (DHT), and sperm count were studied in 37 patients with idiopathic infertility of more than five years duration.
In the first group (T less than 4.8 ng/ml; 22 patients), T and DHT rose significantly after oral administration of zinc, as did the sperm count.
Nine wives became pregnant, six within 3 months and three within 2 months of a second trial.
In the second group (T greater than or equal to 4.8 ng/ml; 15 patients), T and sperm count were unaffected by zinc, while DHT increased significantly. There was no conception observed.
The rationale of this treatment and the significance of the results are discussed.
Not so strange, if you consider that increasing T is not necessarily the answer here. In fact, it may be the cause of he problems to begin with, which is why our symptoms are so similar to steroid abuse.
Since we lowered DHT, there was more non-converted T in the body… eventually this leads the body to stop producing as much T, but the levels of E (Estrogen) remain the same… hence gynecomastia, possible weight gain, anxiety.
Once stopping fin, the DHT production (hopefully) resumes as normal, but this means T needs to be created even more… keep in mind the E levels are still as high as they have always been. Once more T gets made, it started getting aromatased into E, increasing the estrogen levels to extreme amounts, and leading to feminisation – hypogonadism, in particular.
So… you can’t just raise T. In fact, it’s probably a bad idea to try. What needs to happen is same T production, but less conversion to T.
In short, if Zinc raises T, then it will most likely also raise E. (note that the study mentions T levels only, but not E levels. I firmly believe that the problems we are having are not due to the level of one hormone or another, but the out-of-whack disproportionate balance that does not normally occur. ie. normal E with sub-par T or normal T with elevated E or some other effects directly tied to the importance of 5-aR for purposes other than DHT conversion.)
Isn’t zinc supposed to have aromatase inhibiting properties?Anyhow I doubt it would be able to raise testosterone levels to any significant degree letalone cause further problems as converting to estradiol like it were a steroidal compound.
This is just my view,hope someone more knowledgeble can clarify this consideration.
Not sure… I’m not an expert, was just going on the information in NIH article posted, and what little I know about T and E.
From all of the research I’ve done, there really is no effective “natural” aromatase inhibitor. A lot of people have touted Chrysin as a natural aromatase inhibitor, but this is all basically based on one iffy study in which it had aromatase inhibition effects during in vitro administration to a fetus; later studies of full-grown mice compared full-grown mice using both oral and injected methods, and found that neither one altered E levels in any way whatsoever: vrp.com/articles.aspx?page=L … d=&zTYPE=2
Keep in mind, the company posting this article is also trying to sell you I3C, which supposedly triggers dioxin (which you don’t want) and has, supposedly, more side effects than DIM.
Of all the natural “aromatase inhibitors” (again, none actually work) I would be most tempted to try DIM, so I might pick up a bottle. It is not actually an aromatase inhibitor, as such, but has the effect of improving metabolism of E so it could still help lower levels. Ie. T would still disappear as it gets converted to E, but at least the E would then be removed from your body so there’s not such a big imbalance. Will this raise serum free T levels? Possibly not, but it could lower high E levels.
DIM is found naturally in cruciferous plants (broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, etc.) so you could also try just eating more of those – Interestingly, when I was on finasteride… towards the end, right before my major panic attacks, I was craving brussels sprouts all the time. It was inexplicable. I would eat them for breakfast… sometimes after dinner I would have some with butter and call it my “dessert” (my girlfriend always hated that.) In fact, my freezer right now consists almost entirely of brussels sprouts and broccoli – and I didn’t even know about DIM until last night! In retrospect, perhaps my body was craving what was good for it and realized (when I didn’t) that there was too much estrogen in my bloodstream?
My side-effects decrease when I take Zinc and increase when I do not.
I think the reason that zinc may cause some ppl to feel worse is that they don not have an elevated estrogen. It could even be abit low (lkike mine), then zinc reduce estrogen to much and u feel like crap hence too low E. Also could be the fact that zinc also reduces dht aswell. Maybe thats what makes some worse… If u have 600 total testosterone on blood test i doubt that your problem lies with low T, thats just my opinion and i know ppl on trt aim for upper 1/3 of scale and such but i think thats just something they like to do thinking it cant be bad.
Hell i was on 12 (less than 400) out of 10-30 with sublow bio T and was horny like a rabbit…
In my mind theres a reason that there is scales, ppl are different. Im off the scale so i want to correct this but not by putting me att the top of the scale and dealing with the elevation of dht and estrogen from that high t.
I think this is a balancing act more than anything else, and the thing we have in common is that we our out of balance and not we all have low t or similar. So what works for some could have the opposite effect on some1else.
I agree that this is a case of imbalanced chemistry and/or hormones and that what may be too low in one of us is fine in another, what is too high in some may be fine in others… so there is probably not one best solution for everybody.
For what it’s worth, I finally received the DIM I had ordered and I have been taking it… I may be mistaken, but it seems to be helping. I used to get jitters and anxiety at night, and I haven’t had those since I’ve started on DIM. (it’s hard to tell, though, since I also don’t have to work now – since I am a teacher – and that means lower stress levels and more restful sleep periods)
At the very least I can say it is definitely not hurting anything, so that is nice to experience.
I stopped taking zinc (50mg/day) for a few days and my side-effects (decreased libido, ED, anxiety, etc.) increased. Then when I started taking zinc again my side-effects decreased.
Now I’m worried that my body has become dependent on zinc. Is that possible? Does taking Zinc decrease my body’s own production?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Josh
Doubt u have grown dependant on zinc. Lots of body functions downregulate for a time if its not needed, take skin lotion for a year and u stop, yr skin will be more dry than b4 u started with lotions…
If u take something that makes u feel better i think its logical that if u stop you feel worse again
worst case yr dependant on zinc. Thats not really a biggy is it ?
The only thing I can think of is that because zinc inhibits the aromatase enzyme, long-term use might cause upregulation of the enzyme to compensate. When you go off zinc, you’d then be left converting an overabundance of T to E, which is obviously not preferable.
Just a thought.
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