Hi everyone

[coppersocks]

@aflac
CD is right, your cortisol is going through the roof with the heavy weights, maybe lay off them until you get a solid herb rotation and you're taking the bramhi. This used to happen to me also particularly early on but after laying off the weights for nearly two weeks whilst I did the fast I've just felt brilliant in the gym. It's difficult for me to parse which elements of the protocol are most effective for lowering coritsol as I jumped on the whole thing at once but I would seriously recommend working out early in the day, getting the magnesium and glycine if you haven't already and following a healthy sleep schedule.
Mine is about 9.30 (early I know) I run my bath, take my magnesium (400mg) and about 6g of glycine. Stay in there for about 25 minutes (I did the goddamn Wim Hof in the bath last night CD, right before switching on the shower..... man, I nearly passed out but it was worth it!) keeping the water hot and listening to something relaxing like a podcast. Then I let the water out and switch on the freezing cold shower and stay under that for a three or four minutes. After I get out I just focus on keeping my mind quite and being present in my actions so as not to let it wander too much, which is easy after the cold shower it really is. Also important is to lay off your phone and any screen as they can make your mind race and disrupt the bodies natural production of melatonin.

I know this doesn't really help you as you're constantly waking up but living right and keeping to a healthy plan is all we have. The past few days I've felt awful and yesterday before I got in my bath I had another awful pain in my testicles, I looked at it and I could literally see varicous veins appearing and the blood going through them to my heart beat. All kind of thoughts were racing through my mind but I did this, calmed myself and stopped thinking about it and today I feel better and was getting constant nocturnal wood last night. What I think was happening looking back at it was the circulation was probably returning too my genitals after a few days of a down turn and having very little blood flow and thats what was causing the pain, but I'm no doctor.

Anyway, the tingly sensation that I talked about could probably be described that way, when it happens my vision is usually quite blurry and sometimes my pupils are more dilated than they should be. It really does feel like the afterglow of MDMA if you've ever experienced that but in a bad way as it's in combination with my other symptoms.and I usually get it after a bad night of disrupted sleep. I lived with this sensation for about 3 weeks during my initial crash. Now it happens periodically as I'm slowly on the mend.

Hope this helps man.


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[Aflac]

@aflac
CD is right, your cortisol is going through the roof with the heavy weights, maybe lay off them until you get a solid herb rotation and you're taking the bramhi. This used to happen to me also particularly early on but after laying off the weights for nearly two weeks whilst I did the fast I've just felt brilliant in the gym. It's difficult for me to parse which elements of the protocol are most effective for lowering coritsol as I jumped on the whole thing at once but I would seriously recommend working out early in the day, getting the magnesium and glycine if you haven't already and following a healthy sleep schedule.
Mine is about 9.30 (early I know) I run my bath, take my magnesium (400mg) and about 6g of glycine. Stay in there for about 25 minutes (I did the goddamn Wim Hof in the bath last night CD, right before switching on the shower..... man, I nearly passed out but it was worth it!) keeping the water hot and listening to something relaxing like a podcast. Then I let the water out and switch on the freezing cold shower and stay under that for a three or four minutes. After I get out I just focus on keeping my mind quite and being present in my actions so as not to let it wander too much, which is easy after the cold shower it really is. Also important is to lay off your phone and any screen as they can make your mind race and disrupt the bodies natural production of melatonin.

I know this doesn't really help you as you're constantly waking up but living right and keeping to a healthy plan is all we have. The past few days I've felt awful and yesterday before I got in my bath I had another awful pain in my testicles, I looked at it and I could literally see varicous veins appearing and the blood going through them to my heart beat. All kind of thoughts were racing through my mind but I did this, calmed myself and stopped thinking about it and today I feel better and was getting constant nocturnal wood last night. What I think was happening looking back at it was the circulation was probably returning too my genitals after a few days of a down turn and having very little blood flow and thats what was causing the pain, but I'm no doctor.

Anyway, the tingly sensation that I talked about could probably be described that way, when it happens my vision is usually quite blurry and sometimes my pupils are more dilated than they should be. It really does feel like the afterglow of MDMA if you've ever experienced that but in a bad way as it's in combination with my other symptoms.and I usually get it after a bad night of disrupted sleep. I lived with this sensation for about 3 weeks during my initial crash. Now it happens periodically as I'm slowly on the mend.

Hope this helps man.


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Thanks for the suggestions!

What you described sounds exactly like a migraine 'aura'. I don't know if you get those headaches or just the vision sensation, but the tingling and vision distortion you describe is exactly what happens to me about 15 minutes before I am about to have a migraine headache (like a warning sign). They are called Scintillating scotomas. Poor sleep, caffeine, stress, dehydration were triggers for the aura and headache.

Strange thing is I don't seem to get them anymore since my finasteride experience (another obviously example that my nervous system / brain chemistry was altered). They were hell on earth. But they go away after several hours and then I was 100% back to normal. The disappearance of these was the only positive physical change I noticed surrounding my finasteride symptoms. However, I'd take them back in a heart beat to be normal again in the departments that have taken a hit.

Also I have bad veins / had them prior to taking finasteride. I am pretty sure I have a varicocelle too (very common in general population). Regardless of whether finasteride caused that to happen to you it should not be the root of your symptoms, lots of men have this without experiencing symptoms we have.

[coppersocks]

So update. Feeling much better than I was this time last week. Felt good in the gym and able to concentrate for the most part in college. My libido still is low but I have much more feeling down there again (no pins and needles) and it all hanging as it should. My sleep seems to have gotten settled into a pattern; fall asleep after my cold BATH (yup graduated to cold baths) about 11, wake up at 3.30 to piss then sleep again until 6. I used to hate that I couldn't sleep past that but I now enjoy the time it gives me in the morning and I can get into the gym before college well fed. Brainfog still descends most days for an hour or two at a time but it is manageable and I doubt most anyone notices unless I tell them.
My mood is mainly good, with bouts of anxiousness and flatness here and there. One thing that I'm beginning to understand through the meditation and aftermath of Wim Hof sessions is that much of my bad moods come from constantly checking in on my libido and becoming frustrated. A couple of weeks ago it came rushing back in the space of a day and stayed for about five days and I guess I'm still hopeful of that so I'm always accessing whether its happening. I really need to look at the big picture and look at the incremental steps that I'm taking rather than hoping to just wake up better, easier said than done. Chronicling all this helps though as I can go back and look at my progress.
Protocol wise, again it's simple when you get into it and you look forward to checking it off as you go about your day. It isn't hard to follow. I deviated twice this week however; I put on some aftershave on my clothes when I knew I would be studying with a gorgeous girl in my class and I had popcorn at the cinema... actually I've just looked popcorn up and it's paleo approved so I've deviated once. Sorry CD!

I also said last time that I would lay off the preg and 5a-DHP but after doing a bit more research and speaking briefly to Tubzy I've decided to continue with them as I felt I was getting benefits, mainly in the gym from the 5a and memory wise with the preg. Again when you're taking so many supplements and vitamins etc it can be hard to parse which is effecting you the most but I definitely felt I was retaining more information on the preg and it's an important time of year for my studies.

Another thing I should mention is that I'm cycling the nootropics citicoline and sulbutiamine. Citicoline is found to be a neuro protector and a dopamine agonist (which I definitely need) as well as some reports suggesting it raises libido. Sulbutiamine is a version of vitamine B (thiamine) that has greater bio availability than standard VB and it improves mood and brain function. These stacked seem to be having positive effects on my mood, concentration and study stamina, I also find that words come to me much more easily. I first heard about this stack over on a nofap sub as a guy there suggested that it helped reset his dopamine reaction to porn and that it helped cure his porn induced ED. I subsequently read up on the stack and it seems that it's considered very safe and basically a starter combo for those getting into nootropics so I thought I'd give it a go. I'm not really looking to expand it or expect any miracles from it but it seems it's just another thing that I can use to eventually get to my 100% and then when I do, past it.

That's essentially it, mostly good. One thing I do want to say is that if there are any lurkers on here who haven't jumped on yet and are worried about any aspect of the whole thing, please feel free to hit me up for any reason at all if you feel I can be of any help. It can be a lonely and daunting thing to deal with PFS so I'm always wiling to listen or help if I can. Except Ahmed Wolf, fuck that guy!

[coppersocks]

Bit ironic after me giving sleep advice but the past few days have been pretty awful. My sleep quality took a massive nosedive and this has had a knock on effect to the rest of the day and my symptoms throughout. Been waking every few hours with strange, incredibly realistic dreams in between and not feeling rested at all leaving me pretty spaced out and unable to concentrate throughout the day which ain't great as I have a test today.
Looking at the bigger picture I've felt worse but annoyed at this latest onset as my sleep is the one element that I felt I was making constant gains on, ah well. What a difference a few days make huh?

Edit: Having just read maxouts and CDs latest replies to hulk's thread I'm gonna stop feeling sorry for myself and take this as a darkest before the dawn moment. I'm gonna head to the gym after my exam and just focus on the next upswing and how good that'll feel.

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[Cdsnuts]

Bit ironic after me giving sleep advice but the past few days have been pretty awful. My sleep quality took a massive nosedive and this has had a knock on effect to the rest of the day and my symptoms throughout. Been waking every few hours with strange, incredibly realistic dreams in between and not feeling rested at all leaving me pretty spaced out and unable to concentrate throughout the day which ain't great as I have a test today.
Looking at the bigger picture I've felt worse but annoyed at this latest onset as my sleep is the one element that I felt I was making constant gains on, ah well. What a difference a few days make huh?

Edit: Having just read maxouts and CDs latest replies to hulk's thread I'm gonna stop feeling sorry for myself and take this as a darkest before the dawn moment. I'm gonna head to the gym after my exam and just focus on the next upswing and how good that'll feel.

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Don't beat yourself up Copper....and if you're that tired, maybe just hit the sauna or do some stretching or mobility work? Maybe revving up your already blown out nervous system some more isn't a good idea until you start getting rest again? You just gotta roll with the punches.

[coppersocks]

Don't beat yourself up Copper....and if you're that tired, maybe just hit the sauna or do some stretching or mobility work? Maybe revving up your already blown out nervous system some more isn't a good idea until you start getting rest again? You just gotta roll with the punches.

Cheers man, I'm trying not to. I'm just outta the exam which didn't go as badly as expected. I'm exhausted though so I'm gonna take your advice and do my mobility work and go for a walk or something. I'm heading away with the family for five days tomorrow for my mum's birthday so I could do with a rest anyway.

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[coppersocks]

Update time.

A day after my last update myself and my siblings flew my mum out to NYC for her birthday. I took enough herbs to last me along with Vit D. Was a good time all in all but I'm dealing with bouts of anxiety, fatigue and emotional flatness which was extremely uncommon for me before. Walking round the city tired me out at times and when I would get back to the apartment I'd feel like I'd just want to sit in my room and be by myself, but by in large it was a good time. I did have a few on my last night there with a friend who I hadn't seen in ages. When I got back my hormones felt all over the place, my sleep quality whilst good in NY took a massive nosedive again and I was getting hotflashes, sweating a lot and my libido was pretty high. I was like a girl on her period basically. I think it was the combination of the long journey and the couple of drinks I had on the last night.

Anyway things seemed to have calmed down these past few days, I still get fatigue and brain fog but my libido baseline seems to be higher than most at this stage, meaning that I have't had shrunken or tingling genitals in well over a month and can mostly get hard by thinking on it- sometimes with manual stimulation, though throughout the day my day to day thoughts are rarely sexual.
I feel my biggest problems at the moment are mental. Over the course of my twenties I became a socially confident, quick witted and outgoing person. I generally feel dulled since this and this gives me bouts of anxiety and shutting my self in and avoiding most social situations. At times I also struggle with enjoying things that I used to love doing and the two problems just exasperate each other. An example of my anxiety is that this past week I've felt a slight tingling in my extremities, particularly in my hands and arms. I haven't really though much on it but a couple days ago I looked up what this could be a symptom of, MS was listed and it just sent me down a spiral of getting extremely worried about the prospect of developing MS! It's probably ridiculous I know though I still might get it checked out as it persists. But some days I have really good days or hours at a time, but I do feel fragile mentally and sometimes exhausted by looking how far I still have to climb.

The program helps, without doubt. I don't know where I'd be without it mentally giving me a plan to set my eye on and physically my baseline continues to rise slowly and with the occasional jump up and slide down. I really have to work on my day to day thought patterns however. I'm so up and down that I it will probably hinder my progress at some point and could already be doing so, I mean my libido though better would probably be better still if I just didn't have that anxious feeling taking up most of my thoughts.

[Cdsnuts]

Update time.

A day after my last update myself and my siblings flew my mum out to NYC for her birthday. I took enough herbs to last me along with Vit D. Was a good time all in all but I'm dealing with bouts of anxiety, fatigue and emotional flatness which was extremely uncommon for me before. Walking round the city tired me out at times and when I would get back to the apartment I'd feel like I'd just want to sit in my room and be by myself, but by in large it was a good time. I did have a few on my last night there with a friend who I hadn't seen in ages. When I got back my hormones felt all over the place, my sleep quality whilst good in NY took a massive nosedive again and I was getting hotflashes, sweating a lot and my libido was pretty high. I was like a girl on her period basically. I think it was the combination of the long journey and the couple of drinks I had on the last night.

Anyway things seemed to have calmed down these past few days, I still get fatigue and brain fog but my libido baseline seems to be higher than most at this stage, meaning that I have't had shrunken or tingling genitals in well over a month and can mostly get hard by thinking on it- sometimes with manual stimulation, though throughout the day my day to day thoughts are rarely sexual.
I feel my biggest problems at the moment are mental. Over the course of my twenties I became a socially confident, quick witted and outgoing person. I generally feel dulled since this and this gives me bouts of anxiety and shutting my self in and avoiding most social situations. At times I also struggle with enjoying things that I used to love doing and the two problems just exasperate each other. An example of my anxiety is that this past week I've felt a slight tingling in my extremities, particularly in my hands and arms. I haven't really though much on it but a couple days ago I looked up what this could be a symptom of, MS was listed and it just sent me down a spiral of getting extremely worried about the prospect of developing MS! It's probably ridiculous I know though I still might get it checked out as it persists. But some days I have really good days or hours at a time, but I do feel fragile mentally and sometimes exhausted by looking how far I still have to climb.

The program helps, without doubt. I don't know where I'd be without it mentally giving me a plan to set my eye on and physically my baseline continues to rise slowly and with the occasional jump up and slide down. I really have to work on my day to day thought patterns however. I'm so up and down that I it will probably hinder my progress at some point and could already be doing so, I mean my libido though better would probably be better still if I just didn't have that anxious feeling taking up most of my thoughts.

All part of the territory, unfortunately.

Have you been keeping up on your breathing exericises?

[coppersocks]

All part of the territory, unfortunately.

Have you been keeping up on your breathing exericises?

You know what, I've been doing more pure meditation recently for my anxiety as although I see less immediate benefits from it I view meditation as the more "long term" solution. Maybe I should switch back to just breathing as it gave me the "shots" of immediate pure calmness that I'm probably in need of. I can feel the high cortisol in me currently and I think the breathing might be the best way to keep it under control. I'll up it to 3 times a day instead of one and make my sessions longer and report back.

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[Cdsnuts]

You know what, I've been doing more pure meditation recently for my anxiety as although I see less immediate benefits from it I view meditation as the more "long term" solution. Maybe I should switch back to just breathing as it gave me the "shots" of immediate pure calmness that I'm probably in need of. I can feel the high cortisol in me currently and I think the breathing might be the best way to keep it under control. I'll up it to 3 times a day instead of one and make my sessions longer and report back.

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I know what you're saying in regards to meditation, but the breathing sessions lead to BETTER meditation sessions over the long term, which is what you want. There is no limit to how long and how many times you do this breathing. The MORE the better.

I find no better way to get the mind into the space it needs to be for proper meditation. Also, in the beginning you can feel the resistance to doing to doing these breathing sessions. This resistance is a clear sign that you need to be doing MORE of them.

Make sure you dose your bacopa prior to doing the breathing and meditation. This herb is perfectly suited to aiding your sessions so that you get the most out of them.

Prior to doing any meditation, you should always do the breathing exercises.