Hi,
First time posting on the forum. I've been reading for several months and appreciate all the good info and positive community. You guys are great!
Short History:
2012 -2013 - over worked burn-out corporate job long hours sitting at computer, stupid Paleo diet, over-exercised olympic lifts... = severe muscle problems (myfascial pain syndrome) up/down the spine and into the base of my skull that persist to this day. SEVERE irritability brain fog for quite some time. Very low testosterone per lab test.
2013-2014 - re-feeding based on guidance from Matt Stone (lots of calories and fair amount of junk food). Some thyroid help T3/T4 from Endocrinologist (minor effect). Some mineral supplements from Naturopath advice but had to stop because kept getting heart palpitation (main culprit was Potassium). Weird oxygen/Co2 issues where holding my breath to the 10sec mark would likely result in feinting.
2015-2016 - things are getting better. Still have stiffness in back/upper neck that bothers me in terms of mobility and popping/clicking noises but no more pain or tweaks. breathing issues resolved in 2016. palpitations gone in 2016. irritability almost gone (Tai Chi helps). Still experimenting with things, including ideas from Peat. Hell of a lot better now than several years ago!
Short Physiology/Lifestyle Background:
I'm a 36 year old ectomorph. I was 140lbs in 2012 Paleo days.... I'm now 160lbs and still pretty skinny looking! My background as a kid was distance running and soccer. I certainly overtrained back then, but I don't run more than 20 miles a week anymore, typically much less. I run because I love getting outside, not because I'm addicted to stress hormones.... I enjoy Tai Chi too. I sit at a computer a lot... My pulse (waking 45, sitting at work 60-70) and body temp (98.1) are always the same no matter what I do and do not seem to track with my overall feeling of good/bad. Warm hands/feet are a good indicator however. I sleep average 8 hours per night. Digestion is fine, no gut issues. 1 cup of coffee in morning is good, 2 can be trouble, 3 will definitely make the feet cold way before lunch (no matter how much sugar). I don't like coffee in the afternoon. I've had toenail fungus since a teenager and sometimes get horrible atheletes foot breakouts. I have about 1/4 to 1/2 can of smokeless tobacco on the weekends. I built myself a sauna and love it.
My Experiment:
I'd like to boost testosterone to see if it helps my muscular issues heal faster and boost sex drive a bit (although sex drive isn't horrible). I know testosterone was low from lab tests in 2013 (and I could just feel it). Ever since I hit my 30s it seems sex drive is, at best, 2x lower. So, on to the experiment.... couple months back I started trying a daily 30mg of Pregnenolone to see what kind of effect it might have (maybe convert to DHEA and then to testosterone?). The first week I felt good - I felt very relaxed and happy. But at the same time sex drive started falling rapidly. At 2 weeks I might have well been castrated! And I developed a weird twitch in my left eye that I've never had before. Cold/clammy feet was almost unbearable at times. Still generally happy and feeling good, but WTF? After 2-3 weeks of stopping, my sex drive was back up to what it was and my eye twitch went away. Unfortunately I also tried some Niacinimide 1 week after I started the Preg. I started at around 150mg and got up to about 500mg in the second week (and also stopped taking). So, now I am not completely sure which one really gave me issues, but I'm pretty sure the the Preg started the symptoms. Any thoughts? I was also on lots of protein whey the whole time which had yucky sucrolose, which was completely foreign to my body thus far in life and I've switched off of now as well. Thoughts? Anything else I should try?
First time posting on the forum. I've been reading for several months and appreciate all the good info and positive community. You guys are great!
Short History:
2012 -2013 - over worked burn-out corporate job long hours sitting at computer, stupid Paleo diet, over-exercised olympic lifts... = severe muscle problems (myfascial pain syndrome) up/down the spine and into the base of my skull that persist to this day. SEVERE irritability brain fog for quite some time. Very low testosterone per lab test.
2013-2014 - re-feeding based on guidance from Matt Stone (lots of calories and fair amount of junk food). Some thyroid help T3/T4 from Endocrinologist (minor effect). Some mineral supplements from Naturopath advice but had to stop because kept getting heart palpitation (main culprit was Potassium). Weird oxygen/Co2 issues where holding my breath to the 10sec mark would likely result in feinting.
2015-2016 - things are getting better. Still have stiffness in back/upper neck that bothers me in terms of mobility and popping/clicking noises but no more pain or tweaks. breathing issues resolved in 2016. palpitations gone in 2016. irritability almost gone (Tai Chi helps). Still experimenting with things, including ideas from Peat. Hell of a lot better now than several years ago!
Short Physiology/Lifestyle Background:
I'm a 36 year old ectomorph. I was 140lbs in 2012 Paleo days.... I'm now 160lbs and still pretty skinny looking! My background as a kid was distance running and soccer. I certainly overtrained back then, but I don't run more than 20 miles a week anymore, typically much less. I run because I love getting outside, not because I'm addicted to stress hormones.... I enjoy Tai Chi too. I sit at a computer a lot... My pulse (waking 45, sitting at work 60-70) and body temp (98.1) are always the same no matter what I do and do not seem to track with my overall feeling of good/bad. Warm hands/feet are a good indicator however. I sleep average 8 hours per night. Digestion is fine, no gut issues. 1 cup of coffee in morning is good, 2 can be trouble, 3 will definitely make the feet cold way before lunch (no matter how much sugar). I don't like coffee in the afternoon. I've had toenail fungus since a teenager and sometimes get horrible atheletes foot breakouts. I have about 1/4 to 1/2 can of smokeless tobacco on the weekends. I built myself a sauna and love it.
My Experiment:
I'd like to boost testosterone to see if it helps my muscular issues heal faster and boost sex drive a bit (although sex drive isn't horrible). I know testosterone was low from lab tests in 2013 (and I could just feel it). Ever since I hit my 30s it seems sex drive is, at best, 2x lower. So, on to the experiment.... couple months back I started trying a daily 30mg of Pregnenolone to see what kind of effect it might have (maybe convert to DHEA and then to testosterone?). The first week I felt good - I felt very relaxed and happy. But at the same time sex drive started falling rapidly. At 2 weeks I might have well been castrated! And I developed a weird twitch in my left eye that I've never had before. Cold/clammy feet was almost unbearable at times. Still generally happy and feeling good, but WTF? After 2-3 weeks of stopping, my sex drive was back up to what it was and my eye twitch went away. Unfortunately I also tried some Niacinimide 1 week after I started the Preg. I started at around 150mg and got up to about 500mg in the second week (and also stopped taking). So, now I am not completely sure which one really gave me issues, but I'm pretty sure the the Preg started the symptoms. Any thoughts? I was also on lots of protein whey the whole time which had yucky sucrolose, which was completely foreign to my body thus far in life and I've switched off of now as well. Thoughts? Anything else I should try?