Get healthy or die trying..
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@mavuue said in Get healthy or die trying..:
@NokiaDrift A word of caution with the androsterone, read my post at -
Interesting, thanks! I'm also very torn about androsterone. On the one hand I feel like it gave me a very nice androgen boost and I had a few days where I felt really masculine and confident on it. But I am also experiencing an extraordinary amount of ED and low libido, which I suspect is also caused by it, and which continues even after I stop taking it.
I feel like I have somehow become addicted to the calm it gives me, which has been a nice change after the years of ups and downs of my porn addiction.I will probably add Test Cream and DHT Cream to the mix soon which will hopefully give me a libido boost combined with more androgens/better mood/confidence.
I'm going to Thailand for the month of January and I want to find a mix that makes me feel like the good days on androsterone without the shutdown of libido and ED.I also spoke to my therapist today and he diagnosed me with depression and recommended I take SSRIs. But judging from how i felt on androsterone, a little push from additional test and dht is possibly all that i need to turn my life around.
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Small update:
The last 3 days on glucose have been really interesting.
I took about 60 grams on Saturday, 90 grams on Sunday and today I'm sitting at 40 grams.I am definitely feeling the effects of the increased metabolism with higher temperatures and more sweating.
The first day felt almost like taking amphetamines. I was very sluggish and full of brain fog and the brain fog went away almost immediately and I haven't been as alert and focused as I have been in a long time. I did have some problems with crashing sometimes, which I am trying to reduce by taking more frequent doses.
My joints were also more aching the first 2 days, but it was better by day 3.I think my sleep suffered a bit. While my sleep was long and uninterrupted, I had trouble getting into deep and REM sleep according to my whoop.
What was also really interesting is that yesterday I played a very intense 90 minute paddle session. During this session my average heart rate was significantly lower than it usually is when I play paddle, so the strain that the training put on my body was significantly reduced and I was able to have more consistent energy throughout the game, whereas in the past I really struggled to keep the focus high after the first 45 minutes.
In the evening my stomach was a bit upset and I had very little appetite so I took a few hits of a very weak weed so I could eat something.
My HFV also dropped by 25%.Today I had a very intense and exhausting depressive episode. I will try to go to the gym in the evening to counteract it.
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@NokiaDrift thank you for being so open about what led you to this point. I think one of the really amazing things about this forum is that people can speak the truth of how hard life is, and you have had quite a tough ride with that medication.
You are on the right track, and from my experience when you are going the right direction, Health slowly but surely comes back through the ups and downs.
I think the wisdom in the replies so far make a lot of sense, that food should be your primary focus. The Kate Deering book is great. I have tied myself in nots with supplements before, And I agree T3 can sometimes be counterproductive If you are not fueling your body correctly. Supplements make up milligrams of your diet, food makes up kilograms.
I too am using glucose and so far I have had really positive results. Interestingly, it has also given me additional benefits which are similar to T3, of raised body temperature and pulse. I am all the way up at 360 g of glucose, you may need less. Supplying the energy for your body needs to work properly seems to be really fundamental. Just a note, glucose depletes thiamine In the body, so it may be worth taking a good dose of vitamin B1 If you start to take higher amounts of glucose, as B1 is essential for metabolising glucose.
Something worth trying in case it Helps you too, When I’m feeling particularly stressed ie brain foggy etc. i take a slurp of my dextrose drink (270g dextrose to 500ml of milk) and hold it in my mouth letting the mix absorb through my cheeks and sublingually for a good 5 mins and the stress plummets. This may be worth a go when your arthritis flares up.
All the best, you will get there.
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@josh thanks for sharing your thoughts! it definately does feel like i'm on the right track and i've already made a huge amount of improvements when i look back what has happend and changed in the past 12 months.
This is also my way on how i try to contribute to this forum. I have a hard time understanding all the complex mechanisms on how everything in the body works since english is not my first language and biology not really my strength but maybe sharing my story can help others who've had similar experiences in the past.Regarding the supplements, i would say that my diet is already pretty good with eating mostly raw milk, ground beef, rice, potatoes, carrots, fresh orange juice, lots of eggs, collagen, no pufa, cheese, oyster and occasional liver and no alcohol. So i don't really know on how else i can improve on the diet side of things appart from screwing with the macro ratio and possibly the timing of the different macros (when to consume protein/fat and carbs and in what amount).
I do understand how T3 could possibly screw one up if the diet would be shit and one doesn't supply the body with the right food. However i think i do supply my body with a lot of nutrition so i'm willing to take the risk on it.
If one doesn't supplement with T3 while being hypothyroid then would there ever be a right time to supplement it? For me that doesn't make sense currently.Question regarding your glucose intake: Is glucose the only carb you eat currently? How do you combat the decreased appetite from it? And when is the last time you take glucose before going to sleep so it doesn't keep you awake? How long did your body take to adjust to taking higher amounts of glucose? And how much B1 are you taking and in what form?
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@NokiaDrift Yeah, I totally get That. My background is in civil engineering and architecture so this is very much a whole new world to me too. On the positive side, I think understanding the bigger picture and not getting buried in the detail can serve you well.
My general diet is almost identical to your diet that you have listed. When I heard of dr stephen’s Protocol of using glucose, it seemed to fit my symptoms so well and i ramped up very quickly to360 g a day, but after a few days I really didn’t want to drink the glucose. I think it was easy to get carried away and think I must do exactly what others are doing or it won’t have the positive benefits, but what I realised is, you really have to listen to your own body, the subtle changes to symptoms. My belief is that stress Is what is stopping my body recovering, and being unwell makes the smallest things stressful. So if you can reduce stress in all its forms, at every opportunity, you will slowly recover. An example of how thorough i try be, I live in a house with a Staircase, I try to avoid too many trips up and down the staircase each day as it causes Adrenaline which all adds up to my total stress burden, and that Burton is keeping me stuck in a maladaptive state. So I’ve decided to start using the glucose intuitively when I’m feeling stressed as a way to bring that down and heal. Now, if I’ve had to go up and down the staircase a few times, I take a swig of the glucose drink (see below) which helps bring my stress response down quicker.
I have tried to take Dr Stephen’s protocol and make it my own, to better what I currently do, Rather than checking out all the good stuff I already do. So I have kept my diet the same with lots of bone broth, good dairy, milk and fruit, But where i used to have orange juice, I now have Milk with 200 g of dextrose in it, And then, also some Collagen and salt added. I then drink it slowly throughout the day, drinking more when I am stressed or have to do something physically or mentally demanding. It seems to work, especially when holding it in your mouth and adding it absorb sublingually. So I guess I have offset the carbs slightly by stopping the orange juice, and hopefully replacing it with carbs that are more effective for the brain. I think it is really important that you don’t replace the carbs in your diet entirely with glucose. Keeping a good amount of cheese, Fruits and a bit of starch stop me from going hypo. I have found, I can still eat a decent amount of fruit and food alongside 200 g, I may start to go up if my body doesn’t mind it, Or if my demand for carbs naturally goes up.
On the vitamin B1 front, I take ttfd 100mg. I have chandler marrs’ book Which is a good reference, And also elliot overtons YouTube channel. I started at 50mg and didnt have any negative effect, so went up to 100mg. At this dose my adrenaline went down and i started getting headaches, so iv stayed there and the headaches have lessened. I plan on trying 150mg and then 200mg where hopefully ill stay. I take it in the morning as i think it can effect sleep due to the energy boost. My theory is that the need for adrenaline in My body went down and so Headaches are just my body feels like without running on adrenaline. Hopefully overtime, my metabolic energy production increases, I will feel well without stress hormones.
I hope this helps, it’s my take on the protocol, Thinking that it doesn’t need to be all or nothing. I think listening to your body and answering it with glucose is a good way to incorporate this protocol.
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Grüezi @NokiaDrift (if you are from the German-speaking part of Switzerland. If not, Bonjour or Buon giorno).
You say that you eat no PUFA, but eat ten eggs a day. Unless you have and feed you own chicken or get the eggs from someone who doesn't feed the usual grain feed, you are getting a pretty considerable amount of PUFA with ten eggs a day. Just something to consider.
Regaring you sleep problem (although it's better now): Do you feel hungry when you wake up at night and does it help if you eat a little snack? I noticed you take some supplements before sleep but your last meal is at 18:30. Have you tried eating a little (easily digested) snack with the supplements? Like some honey and cheese or milk chocolate?
I'm saying this because some of the supplements (Aspirin to be exact) can stimulate the metabolic rate and if you fast three hours before that plus more than ten hours afterwards, maybe you're running low on fuel during the night and in the early morning).
Thanks for your detailed story and I wish you all the best on your recovery path,
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Grüezi @Luke yes i'm from the german speaking part of switzerland
No, I usually don't feel hungry when I wake up at night.
I haven't really noticed a pattern to my night waking. 18:30 is the time I usually try to have dinner, but I have also had night wakes when I have had dinner later, or when I have had a big glass of chocolate milk (or some cheese and honey) before going to bed.
I'm usually not really hungry when I wake up in the morning either. That's why I only have coffee first thing and then a regular breakfast about 2 hours later.In my experience, adding the aspirin helped me to get more consistency in my sleep. I wake up less in the middle of the night. I suspect this is because it helps to reduce inflammation and perhaps my inflammation or the stress it causes was what was waking me up. Especially as sleeping puts a lot of stress on the joints. I also used to have a lot of night sweats, now that I think about it. That has pretty much stopped too.
Your comment about the PUFA in eggs is very interesting. I hadn't actually considered that. But I think my PUFA intake is still a lot lower than it was in the past when I was cooking with vegetable oil and eating foods that had PUFA's listed as one of the nutrients. Or I was eating out on a regular basis, which I almost completely avoid now.
Do you think the benefits of the nutrients in eggs outweigh the harm of the PUFAs? -
Next update:
Things took a turn for the better this week after my depressive episode on Monday.
I started taking 1 drop of 11 Keto DHT in the morning and evening on Tuesday.
The DHT brought me back to life. I felt a much welcome increase in aggression and dissatisfaction with my current circumstances.
I think my depressive episode was just a withdrawal symptom of my addiction. I've been clean for 4 weeks now. What I have noticed in the past is that my brain and body try to make me feel as miserable as possible until I break and give in to the urge to watch porn. I'm very happy that I've been able to stay strong. In the past, these depressive episodes usually lasted much longer until I got weak again.Because I felt so good again, I had trouble falling asleep, which is something I'm used to from the past.
I had to take a sleeping pill to fall asleep on Wednesday and had a bit of brain fog the next day. I also had a persistent headache so I skipped the DHT and Thursday.
Thursday night I couldn't fall asleep again so I took 2 drops of Cypro on my navel and to my surprise the effects were much more pleasant than the first time I took it 2 months ago. It didn't make me as lethargic and apathetic as the first time.
I think Cypro can become a good alternative for me if I have trouble falling asleep in the future.
I also remember talking to Danny Roddy about my negative experience with it and he told me that he usually sees people benefit more from it when their metabolism is better and they're not running on stress hormones, so I think that's a good sign.
Thanks to @josh I have been able to get my glucose up to about 150 grams a day. My energy is much more stable, I'm able to get more done and I can plan better for the future because of it.The only downside is that I get a bit of stomach ache and bloating, but that's a price I'm willing to pay.
My libido is still pretty non-existent at the moment. I have no morning wood and no erections during the day.
This is probably also a symptom of the addiction. In addict circles this is known as flatline and is a fairly common side effect of quitting. -
@NokiaDrift said in Get healthy or die trying..:
Your comment about the PUFA in eggs is very interesting. I hadn't actually considered that. But I think my PUFA intake is still a lot lower than it was in the past when I was cooking with vegetable oil and eating foods that had PUFA's listed as one of the nutrients. Or I was eating out on a regular basis, which I almost completely avoid now.
Do you think the benefits of the nutrients in eggs outweigh the harm of the PUFAs?To some extent yes. Although I don't eat more than two or three eggs a day. I would probably eat more if I had my own chicken and could feed them accordingly. Another potential downside of that amount of eggs is too much methionine.
But if you current diet works for you, don't change it. Keep watching your health carefully and change something if you feel the need to. Perceive. Think. Act.
Regarding the Cypro in your last post, I think Danny is right. Hypothyroid people often run on stress hormones and Cypro is a pretty effective anti-stress substance. If your thyroid function is low and you also lower your stress hormones very significantly, you are more or less running on nothing and feel very lethargic. In the last two months your metabolism has probably improved a lot and you don't feel lethargic anymore after decreasing stress hormones. Did you also use it on the skin two months ago or orally?
Libido will come back after a while. When I first gave up porn after watching every day for more than ten years, my morning wood came back after about ten weeks. Before that, pretty much nothing, no libido at all.
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@NokiaDrift I'm so happy to see you're trying the glucose protocol. I was going to suggest it but then finished reading your post and saw that you're already giving it a go. I'm in my 4th month, but being a tad older than you I expect it could take me quite a bit longer to be 100%. You have overcome so much and are on the right track! Carry on and do keep everyone posted!
