Alcohol, Progesterone, Health, Peating, & Testosterone

natedawggh

Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2013
Messages
649
Hi RPF,

I have recently come to the realization that I am an alcoholic. ;) This is not really news to me, as I have been a heavy drinker for ten plus years. As my health got worse and worse I did more research and learning into the specific symptoms of my condition, all the while having this inclination that even an occasional drink was in the least not helping my condition and at the worst, causing it. My health was so bad that even taking ONE drink a week would cause me to have severe shortness of breath that was rather frightening, and even then I would still drink. This is why I had to go Alcoholics Anonymous, because I could not stop on my own and many areas of my life were suffering because of the fallout of alcohol use.

My point is not to suggest anyone else need do this, but I was under the false impression that I could have even an occasional drink and still fix my health. In MY case, there was no way I was ever going to get better, and indeed I've seen many articles posted on this site talking about how dangerous alcohol is to health, especially to hormone balance and the liver, two very important points in Ray Peat's work. Since I've been going to AA, which was only 40 days ago, I have lost 10 pounds of fat, and I have found that the strategies I was trying to employ before are immensely more effective without the ever destructive presence of alcohol in my body. I also have seen a COMPLETE reversal of insomnia, falling asleep at any time I go to bed and sleeping the entire night, and waking up refreshed. Terribly I have had a varicocele, which is varicose vein like condition in one or both testes, which would get frighteningly worse while drinking. Since I have stopped it is mostly disappeared, only reappearing after I have been standing or walking for a period of time, and is significantly less tender than it used to be. Taking progesterone and vitamin E seems to be drastically healing it, and I am relieved that I will not have to have surgery to fix it.

Part of my recovery is also probably do to the point that Ray Peat brings up often about enrichment and stimulating activities. Going to AA is very social and supportive, and active, and I have made a lot of emotional connections with like-minded people. I feel like this intense social interactivity is giving me that part of the Ray Peat science that I was not able to have before, and is also imparting a great deal of physical healing. Of course anyone can find this in many different ways, for me, being an introvert and isolated, has been more fulfilling than anything I've done in the last few years.

Anyway, I wanted to write this so that if anyone on the forum is suffering health conditions and has a nagging feeling that even the occasional drink is making it worse. IT PROBABLY IS. ;) and please don't hesitate to stop and if you can't, AA is a really fun and wonderful place to get help.
 

tara

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Joined
Mar 29, 2014
Messages
10,368
Good on you.
I never picked up an alcohol habit because it became clear early on that the effects were not worth it. (Not fair to get a two day hangover after half a glass of beer.) But I know I have some other habits that I think are probably hard on my health at times. I'm struggling to change some of them, and I think its because there are emotional and/or isolation components to them that are part of what's keeping them in place.
 
R

ratcheer

Guest
Good on you, for finding a way to stop!

I wanted to share something: After I had been low-carb for a while, I became an alcoholic. I wasn't at all before - though I enjoyed alcohol I wasn't at all addicted. But during that time I was completely out of control, and averaged almost a bottle of wine a NIGHT. I simply could not stop myself, and it including hiding my booze and my drinking - classic traits of alcoholism. This went on for at least several months.

Then, I started Peating and began to eat fruit again. After a couple weeks of that I suddenly realized: I not only had not had any wine at all for a couple weeks, I hadnt even THOUGHT about it.

Crazy, no?

I'm sure that my alcoholism was a direct result of sugar starvation. Resuming sugars fixed it so naturally I didn't even notice.

So, if I were to generalize wildly, I'd suggest that alcoholism if not addiction in general is partly the result of insufficient sugar getting into and being metabolized by cells.

Back when I quit smoking, I ate almost a loaf of fresh bread every day. I used to think "too bad I couldn't control my diet better then". But now I think, the bread wasn't only a side-effect of withdrawal, it was the cure!

Of course this isn't going to be a magic fix for everyone, but I do think sugar metabolism has a huge role in addiction, and Peat eating might be the best dietary option available to someone trying to quit.
 

tara

Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
Messages
10,368
Hi ratcheer,
Nice story.
Makes sense that sugar metabolism could be an important factor in many addictions. In some cases it may be the sugar itself that is missing, as you found, and in some cases it may be something else limiting sugar metabolism. Peat has described addiction along the lines of reaching for something that the body recognises can give it at least some temporary stability. Peat tells a story about an alcoholic acquaintance who gave up with the help of, IIRC, 'enough progest-e to neuter most people (or was it most men?)'.
 
OP
natedawggh

natedawggh

Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2013
Messages
649
ratcheer said:
Good on you, for finding a way to stop!

I wanted to share something: After I had been low-carb for a while, I became an alcoholic. I wasn't at all before - though I enjoyed alcohol I wasn't at all addicted. But during that time I was completely out of control, and averaged almost a bottle of wine a NIGHT. I simply could not stop myself, and it including hiding my booze and my drinking - classic traits of alcoholism. This went on for at least several months.

Then, I started Peating and began to eat fruit again. After a couple weeks of that I suddenly realized: I not only had not had any wine at all for a couple weeks, I hadnt even THOUGHT about it.

Crazy, no?

I'm sure that my alcoholism was a direct result of sugar starvation. Resuming sugars fixed it so naturally I didn't even notice.

So, if I were to generalize wildly, I'd suggest that alcoholism if not addiction in general is partly the result of insufficient sugar getting into and being metabolized by cells.

Back when I quit smoking, I ate almost a loaf of fresh bread every day. I used to think "too bad I couldn't control my diet better then". But now I think, the bread wasn't only a side-effect of withdrawal, it was the cure!

Of course this isn't going to be a magic fix for everyone, but I do think sugar metabolism has a huge role in addiction, and Peat eating might be the best dietary option available to someone trying to quit.

You know now that I think about it my alcoholism DID get worse during and after I tried paleo and low carb! I think there really is something to that. I still couldn't stop anyhow after Peating, on my own. But I do have an easy time abstaining now with AA and I feel like my Peat Friendly diet very much supports that!
 
Joined
Nov 26, 2013
Messages
7,370
Eh, I was drinking a bottle a week (not counting parties) and I just grew out of it. The secret is in the carbohydrates in my opinion.
 

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