A (Almost) 6 month update

Howdy Gents. Hope everyone is doing well this Friday.

I wanted to check in with an update.
I've been on the protocol now since October (When I was at my very worst). 8 years of Fin destroyed me into a shell of my former self. I never crashed, I just had the slow decline into brian fog, 0% sexual ability, High High HIGH Anxiety which resulted in depression.

After reading this forum for some months I kicked the the whole thing off with a three week juice feast ordering the herbs over this period, then, jumped full throttle on the TMO protocol.

So where am I today......brian fog has cleared up dramatically, I still have bouts of concentration problems but they are for sure improving. My motivation and capacity at work has greatly improved, to where I have been offered a Director's role at my company with a nice pay rise. (The past three years I'd say I was putting in about 10% effort at work).

I look better (Shifted about 30 lbs and shredded in the gym with these weights and HIIT workouts). I have been diligent with the paleo diet eating 95% organic and backloading after weight days. Haven't touched a drop of booze since I started.

My libido and erections still really struggle but I must say I have recently been seeing some small improvements in this area. Its the one that stresses me out the most....but I have to keep bringing myself back to the fact that this is my hardest hit symptom, so has the longest way to go for recovery. And, not even 6 months in, seeing small improvements, I think this as a good sign.

I do need to get alot more diligent with the pumping and skin brushing, I have been slacking in these areas. I have also struggled with the cold showers this winter. I take them about 85-90% of the time. But this winter in Alberta, Canada was a particularly rough and some days struggled to face a cold shower at Minus - 35 deg outside lol.

I took a transcendental meditation training around Christmas time and this has been excellent along with breathing exercises and guided meditations.

All in all, I'm trucking along, no way I'm going to be healed in 6 months and back to normal...its for sure 2 steps forward 1 step back, and keep going.

I want to extend thanks to CD and all his work and the guys that contribute to this forum....its our only real positive channel (Expect for the new FB page and upcoming TMO website overhaul).

I only check in every few weeks, I made that decision over Christmas, It helped generally get my mind of PFS.

Any advise from guys further along the road...I'd happily take it on? Maybe time I run the pro-hormones perhaps?

Thanks gents...keep on healing !

yeah cold showers are a bitch in Canada for sure haha. Keep on keeping on bro congrats on everything.

Nice work Jaad84. Keep it up.
Cold showers are definitely a punch in the face here as Jacknap said.

Thanks for the update. These are very important for people to read. ALL of them. It would be helpful if everyone could post monthly updates.

Congratulations on your improvements thus far. You should be proud of your accomplishments. As you know, the gains aren't easy. These are hard fought victories.

The two things you're struggling with take the least amount of time out of your day and they can both be done in the shower! Two birds with one stone. Glass half full.

You can brush your skin under some nice warm water so you can enjoy that aspect of it. I find it very pleasurable these days. I won't go into all the benefits here because we both know what they are and it's unnecessary.

Brush your skin for a few minutes, put down the brush and brace yourself for the blast.

If you find it difficult, you're maybe trying to progress too fast. Don't get me wrong...in the beginning it's absolutely painful. Thank fully, you get used to it rather quickly. Proper progression is the key.

You need to do it proper by getting a water proof digital timer. They're cheap....I think you can got one for under $20. Start with only ten seconds at as cold as it will go. Stay here for a week or so. Then go to 20 seconds for the next week or so. There is no rush to the finish line...you're not racing anyone. So on and so forth until you can take a five minute freezing cold water shower and get out of that shower feeling like god himself. The adrenaline surge is unbelievable. Euphoria....it's just an amazingly powerful feeling. Powerful being the most notable of these feelings.

These two things take the least amount of time, but are two of the less committed to of the protocol by most.

The cold water exposure is one of the most restorative, calming and has one of the most instant effects on brain chemistry then most pharmaceutical drugs that take weeks to change neurotransmitters levels in the brain. Cold showers do it INSTANTLY, with long lasting results for a half a day or more. The more consistent you are, the longer and more powerful the results are lasting for the whole day or more.

Those missing out on this component of the protocol are doing themselves a huge disservice concerning their mental health, especially in the areas of anxiety, depression (especially) feelings of contentment in just being, mental clarity and sleep. Which funny enough, once sleep is restored to better levels, the better levels will follow in everything I just mentioned.

Thanks guys ! Appreciate the comments, first chance i've had to get back on here with the new job and all. Appreciate the details on Skin brushing and cold showers CD. I'm going hard on the areas I have not been focusing on to really ramp up my healing. Like, like and like!