Originally Posted by
Turnover25
Hey guys, little update. I have been doing better than ever before, a game changer for me was adding in methylfolate with methyl-B12 and a B complex twice a day, if you're like me and have MTHFR C677T, your body can't process folic acid (vitamin B9) and needs the methylated version. I saw some people who crashed by taking methyls on propeciahelp (I also did) and have studied their stories, every single one of them either only took methylB12 or Methylfolate by itself, this is going to cause you to crash HARD due to them needing to feed off of each other to work properly, eventually leading to nasty deficiencies, especially potassium. There was a study that showed fin users had methylated cells or something, due to my experience and crash back in March, I have a theory that fin causes your body to methylate and this creates massive vitamin or mineral deficiencies, which if it is a functional folate deficiency, or "methyl trap" it's not going to show up on any tests you do because the blood still has a lot of folate, but it was pushed out of the cells due to insufficient B12. If you have PFS, I HIGHLY suggest you test for MTHFR with 23 and me DNA tests, it has really changed my life so far honestly, and if you do have MTHFR and are taking a B complex with folic acid, you're going to make yourself worse. I did that for months and was noticeably worse after taking it, that's gone away with methylfolate. I've lived my whole life with a folate deficiency and never knew. I got methyl trapped back in march because I didn't take methylB12 with methylfolate, in turn I crashed and it was the EXACT same experience as my fin crash, and it stuck around indefinitely until I fixed the deficiencies through supplementation, so maybe there is a link. I also studied a lot of different DNA panels from propeciahelp and noticed most of them had the MTHFR gene mutation of some sort, which effects how your body metabolizes things, such as fin.
Before taking the methylated vitamins, I was dizzy a lot for no reason, that's gone now. I also couldn't handle eating vegetables due to being methyl trapped, and my DPDR was much worse. I've seen a lot of improvements in all of these areas.
Anyways, lately I've been fluctuating up and down, but my ups seem to be much better than my downs. Lately my long term memory has been better than ever before honestly, and I can remember things I did with other people and have conversations again. But this fluctuates and sometimes I nearly have dementia again. But I am functioning a whole lot better than a year ago. I've also been laughing a lot, I've always been the funny guy and it seems that is back for me. My anhedonia is also gone I believe, it still fluctuates but I don't feel as low constantly as I used to. I feel like I have emotions again whether good or bad. I've also been thinking about my future more, which is new, I never did that the past year, I look at pictures of cities and get excited that I could live there someday. Hard to explain, but I wasn't able to emotionally do that like 6 months ago. Also, I look at tattoos a lot lately also which is something I used to do every day, I have a sleeve and I've always wanted another one, so I think once I recover my first move is going to finally start my other sleeve. Definitely frustrating because I definitely don't think putting ink into your body during recovery is going to do you any good. But just the fact that I look at them again and have interest in them again shows that the rays of my long lost personality are starting to shine through the dark clouds of PFS.
Last night, I drank for the first time in 9 months. I decided fuck it, once in a great while isn't going to kill me, and I wanted to see how my body reacted to alcohol. Also, I was at a pool party and decided I didn't want to be sober at this cool party. A year ago, drinking a beer would cause crushing, dark weird anxiety and I would crash immediately, I'm happy to say that my body reacted absolutely great to alcohol and I had the time of my life. Didn't crash at all, and today I don't even feel any anxiety, just have a little headache due to my hangover. I look at this as a huge improvement, I honestly had the time of my life, just taking shots with my friends and laughing and partying, it was a nice release after a year of being strict and putting in work every day.
I'm feeling good about the future guys, I'm probably around 60-75 percent or so, but the final 30 percent is the toughest hurdle for me, and the spacey, high feeling type brain fog doesn't seem to want to go away. I can't imagine a life where I am free from it completely, but hopefully after jumping on my first Andro cycle I see some improvement in that aspect. I still also have light sensitivity and a mental block where it's hard to talk to people and I still forget where I am sometimes, but I feel it's improving.
Just moved into a cool ass house on a lake with my best friend for the summer, I kayak every day and am having a great time, I also have a couple motorcycles in my garage that keep my constantly busy and happy. I think above all, finding things you enjoy to fill your time is the best thing you can do for yourself during all of this. Laughter has honestly been the best medicine for me, alongside everything else I do on the protocol honestly. Which, is tough to follow once you feel decent, but I want to get back to being really strict now that I've had some fun. A little word of advice for someone just starting out on this journey, DO NOT ISOLATE YOURSELF. I spent the first 8 months isolated, it is the single worst thing you can do for yourself during this, get out of your house, find some friends and have fun. My condition is a million times better living with my best friend and doing fun stuff rather than lying my bed and living by myself like I did in the beginning.
Anyways, I'll update later on guys. I'm still not recovered but I feel much better in a lot of different areas. Keep pushing!