Posts made by irs

I started supplementing tudca/ox bile this week (https://lifeblud.co/products/tudca-max) and 2 out of 3 times when I've taken it I'll get this very slight pain in my back right near the bottom of my ribcage. Also my stomach will gurgle and I'll usually have a BM shortly afterwards.

I'm assuming the pain is liver/gallbladder related but wondering what it could be a sign of and considering its pretty transient, maybe lasts 20 mins at most, if it's anything to be concerned about?

For context too, I started supplementing the TUDCA because I was in the ER recently and they ran some tests on my liver and the takeaway is that I had a slightly fatty liver and also one of my liver levels was elevated (still within the normal range but up 10 points from 6 months ago). I've had higher cholesterol and signs of hypothyrodism for the past year so I figured maybe getting things moving with my liver was the right place to start.

I tested low for Pregnenolone, lower T, high cortisol, high TSH a few months back and my doctor suggested I try supplementing pregnenolone.

I definitely think it was converting to estrogen on me, I had also started TRT and went from feeling incredible to absolute garbage (migraine, zero energy etc) so discontinued taking it.

I then tried Progest-E and the first few times I took it I felt sedated and then eventually felt nothing. Around that time I remember feeling anxious and depressed, really down. Was going through a rough few weeks so that couldve been the cause, but attributed to the Progest-E, which in retrospect may not have been right to do. It was taking like half of a popcorn kernel rubbed into my wrist every few days.

Anyways, I found a cleaner source of pregnenolone so I've been doing that all week, and I don't feel much at all, slightly calm but no other benefits. Wondering if it makes sense to reintroduce Progest-E and if there's any issue taking both together?

@izkrov awesome thank you!

The sedating effects didnt seem to last very long so i think the 2-3 per day makes sense. Within maybe 2ish hours of taking it yesterday I felt calm but not necessarily sedated and then even that seemed to taper off for me.

It's not unusual for my body to have a very low tolerance to anything new at first but then it usually builds.

@Dezbio I did a HBOT protocol specifically for brain injuries, 5 days a week for 8 weeks, 1.5 hours/day. It definitely was helpful and I got several steps ahead of where I was at, but don't know if it was worth the 8 grand I paid for it.

I met other people there who is did help, for things such as having severe strokes and whatnot, so my opinion is it works really well for some people some of the time.

I've heard really good things about lithium as well

Also worth adding, I was super horny and felt the effects of TRT up until Friday. I took another dose then, but Friday night, yesterday and today felt emotional. Since I took the Progest-e today I've noticed I feel a lot more even keeled and my libido is picking back up so wonder if its preventing the TRT from aromatizing

@izkrov Did you take the 5 kernels all at once, and did you take any days off? Also how did you take it?

I got some in the mail a few days ago, took my first dose 3ish days ago. Very small dose, we'll call it half a kernel lol just to try it out, and rubbed it into my wrist. Felt my mood lift and a little spacey but in a good way about 30 mins in. Felt very calm until Fridayish.

It almost felt like if I took anymore it would've been too sedating.

Took my TRT shot Friday, felt a little speedy until yesterday and then felt anxious last night and today.

Took some more Progest-e today, this time it was almost a kernel, again rubbed it on my wrist. About 30 mins later I felt sleepy, slightly euphoric. Then it kind of dissipated and now I feel a little chilled out.

Wondering at what point to increase the dose and the frequency? I read Ray Peat saying that a man should do a kernel once every few days but seems like you were doing way more for concussion recovery

My endodontist who is pretty holistic suggested I see a "sleep dentist" for my grinding.

theres a mouthguard called the aqualizer that's supposed not be a full time thing, but is supposed to re-train the jaw to not grind: https://aqualizer.com/

It's kind of small so i would do your homework and talk to your dentist or someone far smarter than me to make sure you're not gonna choke on it while you sleep.

Also have heard that grinding can be related to parasites

One easy, free, and immediate thing to consider to see if it works is somatic meditation, on the nights when I do this or a similar meditation I'm able to release tension in my entire body that I wasn't even realizing I was holding, most of the time its in my face/neck/jaw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or8U7YUjNGU

@izkrov Awesome thank you! And I def think I'm hypothyroid, my TSH was on the higher side, and I have many symptoms. My doctor described it as "cushing-esque"

This all makes sense, thanks for your help. Going to order the progest-e today

@izkrov lol thanks. I took the life extensions one: https://www.amazon.com/Life-Extension-Pregnenolone-100-capsules/dp/B0002D3890

But was dumping most of the capsule out and starting with 10ish mg. I took this Saturday and Monday. I remember on Monday it made me feel super chilled out for a little while, but then the migraine came back.

On Sunday I tried this other one I had lying around, but tbh it came with a very tiny spoon and so trying to nail the 10mg dosage on that was nearly impossible. I ended up just putting a tiny little crumb inside my mouth and honestly could've been 1mg for all I know: https://shop.forefronthealth.com/collections/all/products/pregnenolone-supplement-powder

The other thing that makes me think I was dealing with an estrogen issue is I took 3mg of Thorne k2 on Tuesday, after not doing any pregnenolone that day (and it being 5 days after I took the TRT), and pulled myself out of the migraine by that night.

I don't know what else wouldve caused it, I felt so fucking terrible, and was eating like 4,000 - 5,000 calories per day, eating dinner twice, just shoveling food in my mouth trying to get some energy back.

Anyways, sounds like I could start small w/ progest-e and see what happens, what kind of dosage did you use to bounce back? Does it matter that I have low pregnenlone levels too?

@izkrov so if i'm understanding correctly, it never converts to estrogen, just lowers testosterone in high doses? And because in small doses it opposes estrogen, then it prevents testosterone from converting to estrogen? Do I understand all of that correctly?

It's funny, because I could've sworn I read Ray Peat advocated for doing prenenolone directly after a brain injury, so I thought I was doing the right thing.

Also interestingly enough, within 3 days of starting on testosterone, I started taking prenenolone, on the orders of my functional doctor (same one that prescribed the TRT), because my pregnenlone levels were low. By night 3, I felt absolutely terrible, had a migraine coming on, which lasted another 3 days, had absolutely zero energy, did a total 180 from how well I felt before. Felt 100x worse in fact. I was assuming that the testosterone was aromatizing but I guess now I'm thinking the pregnenolone wasn't helping my case either.

I'm a little nervous to start experimenting, I feel like my brain has been through enough, but also need to get my life back so I think progest-e might be worth a shot, thanks. Also just read the thread about the guy who posted that his brother went into a psychotic episode after doing a bunch of supplements and "peating" so I think that's part of it too haha.

@izkrov I thought pregnenolone was safer than progesterone as a man because progesterone can convert to estrogen if you overdo it?

I took some pregnenolone last week but either didn't help me at all or made me worse, hard to tell.

I also went on TRT last week, took my first shot and by the next day my PCS was 90% resolved. Only lasted 3 days but at least gave me hope that theres something there.

What are your symptoms?

I sustained 2 concussions within a 6 month period a few years back and still struggle with some concussion stuff so have made it's my life's mission to recover, so know quite a bit about this.

The good news is you're only a week out so totally common to still have symptoms.

Definitely worth seeing a doctor that is up to date on the latest concussion info - most aren't and there is plenty of misinformation out there, a lot of doctors will leave you worse than they found you.

A multi disciplinary concussion clinic is always a good sign. This is a good place to start: https://concussionfoundation.org/concussion-resources/concussion-clinics

In the short term, provide yourself plenty of opportunity to rest, and don't push it too much. The idea of laying in the dark until your symptoms resolve is no longer good advice, but you do need to rest and recover.

I've also heard MB can be helpful although I've been scared to try it myself since I've heard it can cause serotonin syndrome and and issues if you take while doing high tyramine foods

@oldchem Makes so much sense, thank you! Also worth mentioning since my brain injury I put on about 20lbs in the past 2 years, so have more bodyfat than before so this is all starting to make sense.

@oldchem Thank you so much, this is exactly the info I needed!

To give more context I'm on 50mg of Cypionate, these graphs make perfect sense and is pretty much how I was feeling. Felt amazing for 2.5 days and then 100x worse afterwards.

The e2 thing is especially interesting for a few reasons:

1. my e2 levels weren't tested recently before going on TRT, but when I did have them checked in the past they were high. So if I'm getting a small dose of TRT based on incomplete test results and I already have high e2, I would assume it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility that the trt is converting to e2.

2. My symptoms were super low energy, emotional, my pecs around my nipples hurt, and I had a migraine that lasted 3 days.

3. I read vit k2 can help block estrogen so I took a bunch yesterday afternoon and by night started feeling better, pulled me out of my migraine at least

My doctor is going to check my hormones next week, a day before it's time for my weekly shot, so hopefully that will give us a good idea of what's going on. While I'm grateful they got me started down this path to begin with, it's becoming clear they're definitely not hormone experts, especially when you throw the complications of a brain injury into the mix. Definitely looking into doctors beter suited to handle this sort of thing.

I also stopped taking the pregnenolone and am feeling better so wondering if that also plays a part in all of this.

Thank you again!

About 2 years ago I had a pretty serious brain injury. I couldn't work, drive, had memory issues, light sensitivity, exercise intolerance, sleep issues, anxiety, OCD, extreme fatigue and an extremely disregulated nervous system, and regular migraines. Couldn't even go into the grocery store or a busy restaurant.

I was eventually diagnosed with Post Concussion Syndrome. I tried all the therapies that doctors prescribed for me and could hardly make it past step 1 with any of them. Eventually I did make some progress, but most of it seemed to happen just with time and quieting down my nervous system.

There is still a lot I can't do, but I've created a little life that works for me. I still have trouble driving over 45 mins/an hour at a time. I'm back to work but my attention span is nonexistent, get migraines if I push it too hard. Small tasks seem very daunting. I can go outside with sunglasses for a little while.

I went to a functional Dr a few weeks ago, who said I did in fact have hormonal issues: My testosterone was low-ish, TSH high, pregnenolone low, cortisol high, and she prescribed me TRT, a very small dose of 50mg once per week.

I took my first shot of TRT last thursday, within a few hours into the next day I felt noticeably different. I was more dialed in at work. Felt a very calm sense of energy rising up in me. My mental state had done a 180. I was leaping into action instead of feeling exhausted at the idea of doing small tasks, they didn't seem so daunting. My libido was sky-high. Also my brain felt slightly warm and like tension had released from within it.

Things got better and better for a few more days. My concussion doctors always described brain injuries as "injuries of energy" and my brain injury depleting my gas tank - the best way I can describe what I felt was like I finally had my gas tank filled up again. My lingering concussion symptoms seemed to totally resolve.

By Saturday night I was starting to feel the effects wearing off. I had gone to the gym earlier in the day and did a pretty light workout, but definitely had energy to keep going. Saturday night I started feeling a migraine coming on. Went to bed, woke up Sunday and it turned into a full blown migraine. All of the positive things I felt went out the window. It was all gone.

Yesterday same thing, felt ok for a little while but got another migraine. It feels like I'm even worse than where I was last week and definitely feels like some kind of energy management issue. I've been ravenously hungry and probably eating at least 3,000+ calories per day.

My hypothesis is that my testosterone is converting to estrogen but I'm not an expert on this stuff, would explain the migraines which have been under much better control until the TRT. I reached back out to my doctor telling them all of this but the vibe I'm getting is that they're in over their head. Essentially said it was peculiar and they'd look at my labs in our follow up which isn't for another 2 months.

Also worth mentioning, I started taking 10ish mg pregnenolone on Saturday, not sure if that's playing a part.

Any ideas?

If you ever get a extremely bad headache out of nowhere and you don't typically get migraines then go to the ER stat

Anyways that doesn't sound like what this is

I've had migraines since I was a kid and the only thing that helps them is McDonalds Big Mac Extra Value meals. I think its the combo of sodium and calories. As an adult I usually shovel a mcflurry in my mouth as well

Ok so the latest update is that her gallbladder is fine - they did a CT scan and her gallbladder, liver etc all looked wonderful which is wild considering the surgeon was about to take it out lol

So now they're leaning heavily towards SIBO and she's going to take a test next week to see if it is in fact that, who knows if it will be. One of the frustrating things is the way the medical system works, you have to wait to take the test, then take the test, then get the results before taking any action, and she's been in tremendous pain from this.

I figure there are things she can do in the meantime that won't necessarily hurt to see if it provides some relief. She said papaya enzymes are one of the few things that seem work, which makes me think its a stomach acid thing. I suggested she take some activated charcoal and see what happens.

I passed along all of the advice in this thread so she can start incorporating that as well, thank you again!

@Regina Perfect, thank you!

@hypermensch I haven't taken it yet, but I was cycling Ashwagandha for a while now, definitely notice a difference in my stress levels when taking it. Not so much in weight gain etc. Having said that, I've been curious if there is a pharmacological (stronger) option to help calm down my cortisol

Last week I went to a new functional Dr that tested my thyroid/hormones and sure enough my thyroid function was low, cortisol is through the roof, low testosterone, low pregnenolone. She called it "cushings-esque" after I told her how my face has gotten disproportionately fat in the past few years, along with other high cortisol symptoms

Prescribed me some adaptogen type formula to help with the cortisol (the one i got has ashwagandha, rhodiola and some other herbs)

@mostlylurking what's a good dosage for Thiamine considering? I take this B complex now https://shop.forefronthealth.com/collections/all/products/vitamin-b-thyroid-complex which has already helped me a ton with post-concussion syndrome issues and overall energy levels, but suspect the B1 and B3 doses are pretty low.

@Sophocles amazing, thank you!