Hi All

Thought I would drop in to give you all a 3/4 month update.

It's been a relatively short time, so wasn't expecting any miracles. However, overall, I think I have made some steps in the right direction as set out below. My biggest obstacle in this seems to be me. My job, social life, and relationship seem to get in the way of me fully committing to the protocol by making me eat out, drink and have late nights more often than I should. I am lucky that this doesn’t seem to set me back too far, and that if I commit to the protocol at other times, I am generally ok. It is definitely delaying my progress though and I will cut this back as best I can. I have summarised my improvements and continuing issues below

Improvements

1) Exercise is working and I am starting to get stronger in the gym for the first time in a while. Body weight is now up to 165lb from a low of 145lb during juice feast. All muscle

2) Sleep is slightly better if I my gut is not playing up and I use glycine (though still not great - see below).

3) Urine stream seems stronger generally.

4) If I sleep well, then I am seeing more and stronger morning erections.

5) The weeks I get the protocol right, I generally do feel a bit better and sharper overall.

Issues that continue

1) Sleep is still not great in that I will usually wake up at least once or twice (for between 10 and 30 mins) and not as deep as it should be. However it is better than it was - I would relatively often be up for 1-2 hours in the middle of the night which happens less and less.

2) Gut is still problematic but may have had a breakthrough there. I went to a gastro to have an X ray and scope to rule out anything serious. Scope was fine but X ray revealed that I was backed up - even though I was having bowel movements 1 to 3 times a day! I have been using a natural, osmotic bulking agent (sodium chloride, citric acid, lime juice etc) to bulk and soften the backlog. This seems to be slowly working and with it reducing the gas and bloating. We will see.

3) Libido is still non-existent, but as I understand one of the last things to come back online. Thankfully my fiancé’s isn’t that high at the moment either.

4) Sill need PDE5s for sex. I don’t have ED - ie the junk works - but it can take a long time to get it going (which can be difficult without a libido). PDE5s are easier for now.

5) Still dry skin and some other more minor issues.

Things I have done / am doing well:

1) juice fast for 2 weeks as outlined above.

2) pretty much straight paleo with backloading on gym days. My gf and I have worked out a recipe for bread using no grain (mainly almond meal) which helps a lot in the mornings.

3) herb rotation of pine pollen (daily), tongkat, maca, HGW, ashwaghanda, mucuna, he shou wu, eleuthero, cistanche, shilajit resin. First dose is easy, but I do often forget my afternoon dose if I am stuck in meetings, out of office, etc. Need to fix that. Also just ordered Albizia for sleep.

4) heavy lifts 2-3 times a week, yoga 1-2 times a week and tennis once on weekend.

5) cut out xenoestrogens and using natural products.

6) glycine, magnesium and ziziphus / Passion flower for sleep.

7) sunning myself whenever I can (boys whenever I have a chance in private!).

8) no fap.

Things I have not done / been slacking on:

1) cold showers - been pussying out but have just started up again now winter is over

2) breathing exercises and meditation - mental symptoms aren’t bad but I would like to start doing this to see if it helps with sleep

3) skin brushing - I probably just need to get a brush and make it a habit

4) bathmate - I don’t have one and not sure I will get one - not sure how anyone does 20 mins of pumping in a cold shower!

5) prohormones - don’t think I’m ready yet.

6) alcohol - it is a year in which many of my best friends seem to be getting married, leaving for overseas, etc so there has been quite a number of events and some to come (including my own wedding) so I have been drinking more than I should - usually only on weekends and still not going crazy - but still not good for recovery.

Apologies for another monster post, but it is good to write this out for my own benefit if no one else’s!

Def