Let’s Go - My Journey to 100%

[LetsGo]

Maybe a bit of a derail here, sorry for that. But what irks me sometimes when people bring up “PFS recoveries” is that it is such a vague thing to say. I don’t know this case but it sounds like he had sexual issues, which he alleviated by taking large doses of a quality aphrodisiac. Maybe that isn’t that far fetched?

People start arguing when bringing up solutions and protocols because everyone seems to have varying interpretations of what PFS is based on personal symptoms. To me the thought of mass dosing tribulus will onviously not appeal since my issues are mental. And then you have CD who had every symptom in the book and was going through hell on a yearly basis. So I can’t blame CD or his peers when he is condescending when it comes to these ‘bite sized protocols’, while he figured out an all encompassing and multifaceted way of going forward.

All these protocols are nice to know, and I appreciate you bringing it up and experimenting with it. But people need to look at these things with adjusted expectations. At the same time I wish others would take caution when declaring solutions when it just doesn’t apply to everyone.

Sorry for the psuedo rant here, and it’s not personal at all. It’s just something that has bothered me for a while. I remember endlessly roaming PH back in the days reading of all kinds of protocols that where supposed to fix my issues when in the end my issues where maybe not even relevant.

‘X fixed his PFS with Y’ is just a bit if a pet peeve for me as everyone has his own mental image of what PFS means to them.

I didn’t find CD to be condescending in his response to my post; I’ve known him on this board for two years, and he’s always been nice to me. Sometimes he’s direct, but I know him well enough that I did not interpret what he said as being condescending or slapping me down or anything like that.

I don’t want to repeat everything I already said, but from where I’m sitting, it felt like words were being put into my mouth. I never said that mass tribulus doses were “the new cure for PFS,” or that anyone should do anything other than the protocol. If you need anything clarified you can send me a DM. If you end up not follwing my thread and/or deciding to avoid me, that’s completely alright and my feelings won’t be hurt. Wishing you peace and a speedy recovery.

[Mojo]

If you have your own thread that might be a better place to talk about this, but if your only PFS symptoms are panic attacks, anxiety, and insomnia, then you should double and triple down on meditation, breathing, cold showers, see a talk therapist if you’re allowed to do that without losing your pilot’s license, etc. There is a hormonal component from PFS anxiety and panic, yes, but you have to attack PFS from every angle, and that includes un-learning the thought patterns and catastrophic thinking that is heavily contributing to your panic attacks. Your body is not a machine that is just having panic attacks due solely to hormonal/neurosteroid dysfunction, you are also a psychological being.

Your thoughts massively affect your emotional state, which in turn affects your thoughts.

When you fix the psychological side of the equation, you will be left with only the PFS causes, so the symptoms will be a lot better. And by the same token, even if you 100% recover hormonally/chemically, if you habitually engaged in catastrophic thinking, guess what? You’d have panic attacks even after recovering from PFS. So you’re going to have to address it at some point. Even though it started out as PFS-induced, if your anxiety and panic continued, then it builds its own momentum because you’d still have the catastrophic thinking induced panic m.

You absolutely nailed it. I’m trying my best to convince myself of this. A year of mental conditioning is hard to reverse but I’m making progress. I have finally found a good CBT therapist that will assist me through it.

Also had a neurotransmitter test done by an endricologist (gave me like 2 boxes for free), and my noradrenaline was high, serotonin low. Apparently normal results for someone with PTSD or long term mental stress. My plan is to give 5HTP another go (elevates ser, depletes nor) and go all in on the mental game. Feeling optimistic ever since I learned to accept that I’m in a cycle of fear that is likely causing the gross of my problems.

Thanks for the support man.

[Cdsnuts]

You absolutely nailed it. I’m trying my best to convince myself of this. A year of mental conditioning is hard to reverse but I’m making progress. I have finally found a good CBT therapist that will assist me through it.

Also had a neurotransmitter test done by an endricologist (gave me like 2 boxes for free), and my noradrenaline was high, serotonin low. Apparently normal results for someone with PTSD or long term mental stress. My plan is to give 5HTP another go (elevates ser, depletes nor) and go all in on the mental game. Feeling optimistic ever since I learned to accept that I’m in a cycle of fear that is likely causing the gross of my problems.

Thanks for the support man.

Are you practicing the breathing exercises and mediation daily?

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No worries, thanks for the clarification!

If you have your own thread that might be a better place to talk about this, but if your only PFS symptoms are panic attacks, anxiety, and insomnia, then you should double and triple down on meditation, breathing, cold showers, see a talk therapist if you’re allowed to do that without losing your pilot’s license, etc. There is a hormonal component from PFS anxiety and panic, yes, but you have to attack PFS from every angle, and that includes un-learning the thought patterns and catastrophic thinking that is heavily contributing to your panic attacks. Your body is not a machine that is just having panic attacks due solely to hormonal/neurosteroid dysfunction, you are also a psychological being.

Your thoughts massively affect your emotional state, which in turn affects your thoughts.

When you fix the psychological side of the equation, you will be left with only the PFS causes, so the symptoms will be a lot better. And by the same token, even if you 100% recover hormonally/chemically, if you habitually engaged in catastrophic thinking, guess what? You’d have panic attacks even after recovering from PFS. So you’re going to have to address it at some point. Even though it started out as PFS-induced, if your anxiety and panic continued, then it builds its own momentum because you’d still have the catastrophic thinking induced panic attacks.

I’m going to guess that maybe you’re laying awake at night thinking: “I really hope I never have a panic attack while I’m flying. Oh man, I’ll lose my medical certificate. I’ll probably get fired. Oh man, oh man. I’ll be so fucked. I can’t do anything but fly planes, if I lose that, I’m finished. I’ll be homeless. If I can’t get cured it’s just a matter of time. Oh man, oh man…” Well no wonder you can’t sleep! And that lack of sleep makes your anxiety worse, makes you more vulnerable to panic, makes your PFS symptoms worse. That type of thinking is called catastrohpic thinking, and it literally causes panic attacks, even in non-PFS people. Anyone can give themselves panic attacks if they get into the habit of catastrophic thinking (which is addictive) and you need the right therapist to un-learn all the unhealthy coping mechanisms that PFS “taught” you. Once you’ve addressed the psych angle then your PFS symptoms will be “on their own” and your overall symptoms will be less severe.

A CBT or REBT therapist is the right kind to see about this. REBT is arguably the best for that. Usually you learn all the techniques within a few months, it’s not the kind of thearapy where you lay on a black couch and talk about what dreams you had last night or what happened in your childhood. So assuming you’re allowed to do that in Europe and keep your medical certificate, go do that and consider it part of your overall recovery strategy. Just remember: don’t let them tell you to take drugs. If you’re truly not allowed to see any therapist period, there are resources where you can learn about it yourself and try to be your own therapist by reading the works of Albert Ellis. The techniques are learnable on your own, but it’ll be better and faster if you have an REBT therapist to work with.

Vemoherb is good stuff, hopefully it’ll give you good results. I’m surprised at how strongly I respond to it.

Fantastic post. Thanks.

[Mojo]

Are you practicing the breathing exercises and mediation daily?

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Fantastic post. Thanks.

Yea pretty much daily. But my mind is filled with unshakable doubt because of my OCD tendencies. Breathing and showers usually calm me down enough, but I need some extra ways of readjusting the way I think about things. The chaos feels so ingrained at this point that I can’t control it during my sleep. And then waking up from intense nightmares and having to get out of bed every 3 hours to do breathing is such a drag that only made me hate sleeping even more. Wim hoff was the biggest game changer so far tho, I’m recommending it to everyone.

My LEH order that contains my blue vervain has been held at customs for a month now, it’s getting real annoying.

I think I’m going to go for a stretch of daily multi hour meditation for a bit and see what that gives me. Sort of a mental cleanse / fast

[Cdsnuts]

Yea pretty much daily. But my mind is filled with unshakable doubt because of my OCD tendencies. Breathing and showers usually calm me down enough, but I need some extra ways of readjusting the way I think about things. The chaos feels so ingrained at this point that I can’t control it during my sleep. And then waking up from intense nightmares and having to get out of bed every 3 hours to do breathing is such a drag that only made me hate sleeping even more. Wim hoff was the biggest game changer so far tho, I’m recommending it to everyone.

My LEH order that contains my blue vervain has been held at customs for a month now, it’s getting real annoying.

I think I’m going to go for a stretch of daily multi hour meditation for a bit and see what that gives me. Sort of a mental cleanse / fast

If it's that bad you could always cheat and use holosync. That will FORCE your mind into the state you want it to be in. Force maybe too strong a word......it gently pulls your mind into the state created by the binarual beats.

Usually mediation is hard enough on it's own. Breathing BEFORE mediation really helps calm the mind. But if you need that extra push, holosync will get you there. Meditate WHILE listening to it. Game changer.

But yeah, Wim Hof is certainly a huge find.

Calming the Mind | Total Male Optimization

I found this REALLY helpful in the beginning. I don't need it now because I'm seasoned, but it is what started me down the meditation road and honestly, I don't know how hard it would have been without it given my mind state at the time. I can relate.

[Mojo]

Thanks man, I’ll check it out. The one I’m using now, headspace, seems to be a lot more traditional in the sense of meditation.

[Cdsnuts]

Thanks man, I’ll check it out. The one I’m using now, headspace, seems to be a lot more traditional in the sense of meditation.

How? Does it use binaural beats?

Edit: I just realized we're hijacking his thread. If it uses binaural beats then you'll be fine.

[LetsGo]

How? Does it use binaural beats?

Edit: I just realized we're hijacking his thread. If it uses binaural beats then you'll be fine.

Headspace doesn’t use binaural beats. There’s an English man or woman’s voice, guiding you through the meditation exercise for 10, 15, or 20 minutes and you can pick different courses to work on, one per day.

[Cdsnuts]

Headspace doesn’t use binaural beats. There’s an English man or woman’s voice, guiding you through the meditation exercise for 10, 15, or 20 minutes and you can pick different courses to work on, one per day.

Not even close to holosync bro....not even close.

[Mojo]

Not even close to holosync bro....not even close.

I have a binaural beats playlist on spotify. I remembering it helped my back in the days when I crashed. Guess I can listen to that again while I meditate.