Hi, I'm Niles...

[Niles]

I was introduced to this forum by JoeKool, from over on the Ray Peat forum after PM'ing him about his journey. Been reading some great stuff on here, which really gives me hope.

I've been through a downward-trending series of mini-recoveries and mini-crashes since I quit finasteride in March, after only taking it for a couple of weeks at .25mg EOD. I've just been giving it time up until now, but it seems I need to take some serious action at this point. My initial symptoms were:

Dry skin on face
Fatigue
Pain in hands
Depression
Brain fog
Emotional blunting
Muscle wastage
Loss of body hair and eyebrow hair
Loss of "fullness" in face
Low libido
ED
Panic attacks
Anxiety
Digestion issues

New symptoms, after another crash accompanied by prostate pain, are (sorry to be graphic):

Genital shrinkage
Hard flaccid
Testicular atrophy
Severe ED
Spider veins on penis (big blue ones and smaller red ones)
Interrupted sleep
Severe mood swings (from negative to neutral and back)

This is my current cycle for treatment:

Wake (~6am):

D3: 5000iu
K2: 680mcg

Eat Breakfast

Vitamin A: 20,000iu
Vitamin C: 1000mg
Fish Oil
R-Andro: 200mg
Horse Chestnut Extract: 300mg (For vein health and circulation)
Niacinamide: 500mg

Lunch (~12pm):

R-Andro: 200mg
Horse Chestnut Extract: 300mg
Colostrum: 500mg

After Work (~5:30pm):

R-Andro: 200mg
IGF-1 LR3: 20mcg (for muscle wastage)
Taurine: 500mg

Workout

Protein Shake

Before Bed (~10pm):

Horse Chestnut Extract: 300mg
Vitamin E: 400iu
Niacinamide: 500mg
Tadalafil: 5mg (for nocturnals)
L-Theanine: 200mg
Glycine on the way

I'm only 2 days into this cycle, but I can say that my "ups" have been higher than in the two weeks prior, yet still very unstable. Two things that I believe are really holding me back are my poor-quality sleep and malabsorption issues - I often have undigested food in my stools (again, sorry to be graphic).

Are there any things anyone would suggest I change in this current cycle? I imagine some of it may be superfluous. Also, does anyone have any suggestions to aid digestion and sleep? I have some enzymes on the way that will hopefully help my stomach, but I suspect I have low stomach acid since my food looks almost identical on the way in and the way out.

My other main concern at this point is very low blood-supply/shrinkage downstairs throughout the day, and great difficulty in achieving erections. I've only been "turtled" for 3 or 4 weeks, but I'd like to get things moving down there to prevent lingering damage

Thank you all!

Niles

 

[hairloser]

You lost body hair, but how about top of your head? Is MPB stopped?

 

[Niles]

Started diffuse shedding on my head really badly soon after stopping, which was accompanied by severe itching. Itching and shedding has stabilized now, and thickened up a little bit, but this was accompanied by the onset of my worst pfs sides. Hair is now the least of my worries.

 

[joekool]

Welcome Niles, you'll get some more replies over the weekend. I'll re enter my reply here shortly too.

 

[joekool]

First, the caster oil, are you applying it on your head or ingesting it. Unfortunately, any of those oils (hemp for example that has GLA in it) are anti-dht ... Caster has some anti fungal properties so I understand why you're choosing it, but I would avoid it or anything related to saving hair at this time... hair loss is more thyroid anyhow, so we'll be correcting that and hair may come back.. plus, if you're taking igf1, (big props to that), Caster oil is moot. Another way to say it, say someone is taking a ton of testosterone and steroids but still also taking Tribulus Terrestris (I'm sure you've heard of that herb)... it's not in the same league of product. IGF1 will help heal all, including nerves and help regrow hair, given time and proper nutrition.

When I took the 5a-DHP, I liked it at first but then I noticed I got this 'tightening' feeling in my genitals... kinda like I was ALWAYS trying to stop my pee... you know that muscle? The 5a-DHP did that to me and I don't know why. So i cut that out. The R-Andro is your best friend at this point, so the 5a-DHP may not even benefit since you're getting the good stuff from R-Andro. I'm actually on it again, 200mgs twice a day (morning and then 6 hours later)... That will actually bring down your estrogen and boost your natural testosterone production so it's a great and safe product. Just saying, I no longer use 5a-dhp.

Tadalafil is perfect , it's healthier and safer than Viagra.. I actually use less and use it every other day, in very small cycles... I actually use a mg or less before bed (it's in liquid) every other day for maybe 2 or 3 dosages and then not again for a couple weeks... depending on when I had a personal full on erection. So plan to kinda cycle that down or go every other day. We're looking for gentle blood flow to our genitals , especially overnight (love the nighttime dosage) but we're not looking for anything that holds an erection for too long or 'go time' because we need to fix our Gaba receptors as well.

Here's one of the biggest additions I added that helps tremendously... iodine ... I use nascent iodine 2 drops in the morning in water like a shot glass... this helps thyroid function and will fix some major parts. The brain fog & any metabolism or blood flow issues like cold genitals, even will eventually help ED. I claimed L-Tyrosine helped my brain fog which it did, but it was really because I was giving the thyroid building blocks... iodine has been magic in my opinion. Did you get any toe fungus or any type of fungal infection during FIN or POST-fin? Take your temperature throughout the day, you'll likely see you're not 98.6 like normal people which is rife for fungal and digestion issues, the iodine will help that as it's anti fungal, anti viral, etc...

Also, I take a probiotic to help digestion... it's 8-billion from Nowfoods... stored in the fridge... take 1 or 2 a day, this helps overall digestion and some thyroid conversion takes place in gut.

For sleep, the glycine will help, 6G with 200mg l-theanine, or 400 mgs... that should help big time.

How long are you planning R-Andro at 600mgs a day... you can cycle down and very likely not even need PCT because it's not the same type of feedback loop as testosterone... I'll explain...

The male pituitary gland monitors for estrogen... when estrogen is high, it cuts down it's testosterone production... estrogen is opposed by DHT (guess who has low levels of testosterone? FIN users, and you can see why. They're lowering their DHT levels and this increases estrogen which then tells our bodies we must be over producing testosterone so it cuts back... vicious cycle)... so by taking Randro, you're getting DHT from a different pathway, not the 5ar pathway... so this lowers estrogen ... which increases your testosterone production so long as your don't take a testosterone alongside, (like 4ad)... there is actually evidence this spares 5ar enzyme because you don't need it to convert Randro to DHT...

So you take it AM, Afternoon, evening... whenever you're ready to quit, you would first cut out the evening dosage... this gives your natural hormones a chance to bounce over night... when they release the most... then do just AM and afternoon for 2 weeks... then cut out morning dosage for 2 weeks. Then cut out single 'afternoon' dosage and you should've have any estrogen bounce back which is what PCT is designed to prevent, because you won't be testosterone deficient because you never took testosterone... and you're testicle size should increase while on Randro because it doesn't signal the negative feedback loop.

There's more to understand though, but the DHT cycle you're starting is great... there's acidosis issues with FIN users, and aminos to help. Minerals too, in the future... the group I was on here with were no longer welcome here at Raypeat... we're over at our own forum called Hackstasis.com that I would like to invite you to... there's actually a recovery over there by a guy named @Scenes... an accutane recovery from @Orion. And you'll find @bruschi11 has improved leaps and bounds with his fasting protocol. I have experimented a ton with thyroid and iodine has been magic.

 

[TubZy]

Hey dude, you can also start with some of the links in my signature too.

 

[Niles]

@joekool @TubZy Thanks guys! Just 4 days into my current cycle, and I can already say that my brain fog, anxiety, and depression has improved significantly since earlier this week. If I was hovering around 2/10 mentally on Monday, I'm now approaching 4 - 5/10. I can pretty confidently attribute most of my improvements to the R-Andro, as my upswings correlate with my R-Andro dosage and I feel I start to regress right before I redose (mornings right before R-Andro are when I'm at my most anxious/brain-fogged). Physically, I feel more sustained energy throughout the day and in the gym (R-andro + IGF-1 LR3 = best pumps I've had in months!), and my libido has been enhanced very slightly. I'm also beginning to see circulation improving downstairs, and less "turtling".

@joekool you were spot on about the 5a-DHP - I also got the clenching feeling the first couple of days on it. I've left it out the past couple of days, and the only difference I can feel is that the clenching has dissipated. I'm planning to stay on this 600mg/day R-andro for 4 weeks, then 1 week of 400mg/day and 1 week of 200mg/day. So far things are looking very promising, but remaining cautiously optimistic and fully prepared for a bit of a post-cycle setback.

I'm starting to plan what I want to do once these 6 weeks are up, and I'm interested in both a 14-day juice feast and tinkering with zinc finger. Would you all suggest that I take a few weeks of limited supplementation to allow for post-cycle bounce-back before I take on another protocol? And once ready, would you suggest I begin with a juice feast first, or zinc finger? Other things I'm sitting on are some RU and Toremifene, but those seem more extreme so I'd probably want to save them for later, if necessary. I've already been reading quite a bit about RU on the forum, but I haven't seen anything on Toremifene as a potentially safer alternative to Clomid. Anyone have any insight into cycling one of these SERMs?

 

[Niles]

It's funny how much I'm enjoying studying chemistry, hormonal pathways, PH balancing, and nutrition... At least PFS has given me a new hobby XD

 

[joekool]

Oh I'm happy to hear of some improvements thus far... my first R-Andro cycle was over 2 months... just fyi, and yes... some stuck, some didn't...

I'm on 400mg now and feel great... this would be my 2nd R-andro cycle and, perhaps, I'm more receptive to DHT now... after some time...

Starting with a score of 0, after my first R-andro I was probably a 3... however by the time I started this R-andro, I was improved to a 6 I'd say... maybe 7... hard to say fully... just mentioning so you're not discouraged if you have a post cycle lull ... you're baseline should improve each time...

igf1 is the best... I do 20 reps per set, 5 sets per exercise... it's kinda funny, igf1 is needed to signal new cells to be created... called hyperplasia ... I know ppl who use igf1 and say to me, 6 months later, "I'm growing better now than when I was on IGF1" ... I say 'Yea you moron, you created new microscopic cells 6 months ago while using IGF1, they're only now becoming visible because you're growing these new cells"... These guys are what they refer to as meatheads... lmao

The turtling has plagued me... despite R-Andro... I believe it's thyroid but I can't be sure... been trying a few things...

and I don't know why everyone says clomid isn't safe... man, I've used it dozens of times... sure, sometimes I say the same thing twice but other times I only say the same thing more than once...

Stick around man

 

[Canari]

It's funny how much I'm enjoying studying chemistry, hormonal pathways, PH balancing, and nutrition... At least PFS has given me a new hobby XD

Like gbol who said it is his hobby...
Maybe a way to feel more power when we lack it so much in front of what is bigger than us... Fortunately, we are also living human beings, globally! This is to be remembered and felt! Being alive is great!

 

[MNK99]

That's awesome about the mental improvements @Niles
"If I was hovering around 2/10 mentally on Monday, I'm now approaching 4 - 5/10. I can pretty confidently attribute most of my improvements to the R-Andro, as my upswings correlate with my R-Andro dosage and I feel I start to regress right before I redose (mornings right before R-Andro are when I'm at my most anxious/brain-fogged). "

I hope you get better through the cycle and the improvements "stick". Keep at it mate. Nice write up on R-andro too @joekool.

 

[Niles]

Thanks man! I'm gonna move this cycle over to the "log" section and provide updates there.

 

[joekool]

Niles, you think you got some good responses and activity here?? I feel since I recommended you come over here, I'm hoping everyone welcomed you and gave you some cool advice...