My CPTSD Has Rapidly And Consistently Dissolved After Implementing An IdeaLabs Protocol

[Peatogenic]

Over the years I have experimented with Pregnenolone during high stress situations, when I had completely come undone. It was powerful, but only went so far in changing my disposition.

Sixteen months ago, I left a psychologically abusive environment. Shortly after, I was told by a therapist I had symptoms of CPTSD. The symptoms were: depersonalization from my body, emotional dysregulation, intense shame, unstable sense of identity, a mild form of learned helplessness, intense anxiety, depression, emotional flashbacks, etc. I started working with a trauma specialist who did physical rehab to bring me back inside my body. This was the first step in many steps and perceptions, culminating with a hormone protocol via IdeaLabs.

With the depersonalization rehab, I began accessing a new reality that was profound. I started to regain my five senses that I didn't even know were diminished. I began accessing a world of neutral rather than danger. My anxiety would drop and I would gain focus in the work in front of me. In this therapy, I would drape bag weights over my body, and begin to scan my body and the environment. Even my hearing would increase. My brain would slow down. Despite the profound changes, it seemed like it was inefficient....and didn't really seep into every crevice of my dysfunction.

I've been in the Peat community for about five years, so I'm pretty well versed on stress and function. I did a lot to stabilize my diet and regulate blood sugar, which made only spotty improvements that were difficult to accurately gauge. Over the past four months I began researching the physiology of trauma and it all started coming together.

While there are issues with thought conditioning, I've realized that the hormone state dictates our reality and our thoughts to a very large degree. Without any proper studies and perception alone, I began to conclude that the CPTSD problem (repeated and long-winded trauma) is a medical problem. It requires aggressive body changes to flee the Limbic loop....that it's a reflection of damaged endocrine function. It requires a massive overhaul.

So, about six months ago I started experimenting with Androsterone. This seemed profound, because it gave me this new confidence and energy, a feeling of conquering the world, but much like the Pregnenolone and depersonalization rehab, it did not get into every crevice of my dysfunction.

A few weeks ago I decided to go all out and started supplementing Calcirol (Vitamin D), Retinil (Vitamin A), Pansterone (Preg/DHEA), and continued with Androsterone. The effects were immediate and have been consistent at every moment of the day for 2+ weeks.

I noticed this very new sensation of calm fall over me, like a kind of dreamy warmth in my heart. I stopped doing the depersonalization rehab and can feel my body every day without them. I noticed this profound sense of Being. I can only describe this as the sensation of being with myself all day long. I began feeling like I am something, a strong sense of identity. I did not catastrophize with stressful events, I felt that things were going to be ok, I held a position as observer of my thoughts rather than reacting to them. I can work ten hours a day if needed with a very grounded enthusiasm. I feel alive again.

I know I can't say that this hormone treatment has cured me, because there has been a 16 month process of changing variables, but it has certainly provided the most profound and complete and consistent healing so far. I feel excited to be alive, and I have a new wonder about the world, which has even grown specifically because of the things I've learned about the body, stress, our interdependence, our being as organisms within organisms. I also feel that the endocrine element of trauma disorders has not been fully investigated or treated on this level, so I feel surprised and blessed that all of this knowledge has ended up blessing me, even if it's taken five years for all the stars to align. I feel human again.

Thank you Ray Peat, Danny Roddy, Mae-Wan Ho, Gilbert Ling, William Blake, Walt Whitman, Bessel van Der Kolk, Josh and Jeannie Rubin, @haidut, and so many more. I think that the work of these thinkers and scientists could change the world, especially the world of trauma disorders. I've written extensively on my observations over the past year and linking of studies which I have not shared here, and I wish there was something I could do to study this further and disseminate this information. The kind of rapid change I have experienced is completely unheard of in the trauma community, even the trauma communities that focus more on physiology.

 

[Peatful]

Wonderful to read.
I believe this testimony will give others hope.
Thank you for sharing @Peatogenic.

 

[shepherdgirl]

Thank you for sharing this, it is very inspiring!

 

[InChristAlone]

That sounds very lovely, I am so glad you have been able to really be in your body and feel your senses. Sounds like you may be familiar with somatic experiencing? Is that what your therapist was using? If so then yes that work is profound. But if you really do have trauma just using supplements won't cure it. And it will need to be released eventually you may all of sudden experience panic attacks out of the blue. This is when it is releasing.

So as much as you are coming alive right now be aware it may not be like this forever. Also know when to stop the A &D supps. The liver has a threshold.

 

[Peatogenic]

That sounds very lovely, I am so glad you have been able to really be in your body and feel your senses. Sounds like you may be familiar with somatic experiencing? Is that what your therapist was using? If so then yes that work is profound. But if you really do have trauma just using supplements won't cure it. And it will need to be released eventually you may all of sudden experience panic attacks out of the blue. This is when it is releasing.

So as much as you are coming alive right now be aware it may not be like this forever. Also know when to stop the A &D supps. The liver has a threshold.

I used to not believe that "CPTSD" was primarily physiological for me, too. Or, at the most...I thought it was "neurological". The Somatic world teaches that trauma is "stored", but doesn't really say what that concretely means. Through my own perceptions, I realized that certain physical changes could change my "mind state" as well as new thoughts/perceptions about the world. Both interplay. The major revelation for me, though, was that the physical changes (such as I describe in my post) had the most profound effects. If you are aware of all the loads of research regarding how trauma re-orders the brain and alters endocrine function then this makes complete sense. But the trauma world, led by figures such as Bessel van Der Kolk haven't yet made the leap to how you resolve these endocrine issues. At most, you may get certain recommendations like Polyvagal breathing and things like that.

I didn't do Somatic Experiencing therapy, but I did a depersonalization rehabilitation by someone who has an SE background. We literally just worked with my body for a few months (not the trauma-scape of my mind). And it only took me so far, as described. It began altering endocrine function, but incompletely.

I've been surprised/confused how making physiological changes has altered my identity (not just "in my body" as you have misrepresented in your comment)...especially because it seems to go against the doctrine that trauma is stored in the body...as some kind of nebulous dark force. It gives the impression that I am saying trauma is not real....that it's just health problems....kind of like how you question if I really had trauma in your comment. But the truth is that chronic and even intermittent trauma changes our physiology, it even damages it. It leaves its mark. In my post I mention that there are thought conditioning components as well.

I'm happy to answer any questions you may have of my experience, but if all you want to do is invalidate without really knowing anything about my experience, tell me what is profound and what is not, then you have to self reflect on your own authoritarianism...which is something that is not helpful for trauma victims, and it's completely against the spirit of this forum.

At least the Somatic world is ahead of the rest of the psychotherapy world in viewing trauma as a body-issue...that you don't talk these things away. They understand that the body is living in a survival state. My own observations are exciting to me, because I feel I've answered in many ways my persistent and annoying questions of what trauma really is, and how is it stored. I started working again with a client two days after starting my current protocol. She was someone that has known me and interacted with me for over two years. She actually told me after a week that I was a completely different person. I already knew that and had confidence about it, but it was interesting to see someone else observe it. I've even reacquainted with old triggers, and they don't seem to have any power over me anymore. It's not so much a cure, as a complex culmination of variables. But I can't deny the power of influencing endocrine function.

Also, my intention isn't to invalidate the power of new perceptions, compassion, truth, believing new things or even processing what someone has experienced (after all, the very core of CPTSD is how it confuses). These change our lives and our bodies as well. What surprised me was how changing the body created new perceptions, new thoughts, new identity, new behaviors, new realities.

I emailed Ray Peat a couple weeks ago asking about the doctrine of trauma being stored and my own affinity for Whitman's focus on body sensation and Blake's tapping into the imagination of new realities. He wrote: "A person’s way of being is continuous with the way the world appears, so a person has an attitude which includes assumptions about everything. As you discover things about the world described by Blake and Whitman you change; all that is stored is a view of the world that changes as soon as you look at it."

I have found what he is describing to be true. But I also disagree...trauma *is* stored...as endocrine dysfunction. For me, altering the hormone landscape can reposition me differently against previous emotional triggers/flashbacks. I have power now.

 

[Cirion]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. This further solidifies my stance that at the end of the day, essentially every disorder in the body physical and even mental is due to disrupted hormones from a deranged endocrine system. The fix to this damage certainly may differ on an individual by individual basis though. I wonder what the physical mechanism is for a single large acute stressor to instantly put the endocrine system in a state of severe disruption? Normally, changes in the endocrine system are subtle, but a major stressor can instantly shift every hormone in the body. How much would you say the Vitamin D and Vitamin A helped you, or would you say the DHEA/preg and Androsterone helped you the most?

 

[Cirion]

Also, what are your dosages of each?

 

[Peatogenic]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. This further solidifies my stance that at the end of the day, essentially every disorder in the body physical and even mental is due to disrupted hormones from a deranged endocrine system. The fix to this damage certainly may differ on an individual by individual basis though. I wonder what the physical mechanism is for a single large acute stressor to instantly put the endocrine system in a state of severe disruption? Normally, changes in the endocrine system are subtle, but a major stressor can instantly shift every hormone in the body. How much would you say the Vitamin D and Vitamin A helped you, or would you say the DHEA/preg and Androsterone helped you the most?

I think it's a multifaceted process for everyone. I mean, I had to leave the decades long abusive environment for anything else to fall into place later. If I didn't have my years of stable nutrition perception, would these things be as powerful? Interestingly, a system that is more resilient can actually deal with things like missing meals, getting less sleep, etc.

However, to think of my revelations as just unique to my body is also not accurate. Anyone in the trauma community is aware of and believes in the idea of the "body keeping the score". This is just a further exploration of what that really means. I wouldn't be able to say that my hormone state changes my reality and thoughts with good faith if I didn't also acknowledge that my reality and thoughts change my body. People believe in the "mind-body connection", but only see it going one direction....the environment influencing the body. But I've perceived that the reality of our body can influence our environment and "mental" reality. And my larger theory is that "CPTSD" is more of a physiological issue than anything else. It requires aggressive treatments to get out of that Limbic overdrive and the associated impairments. But you don't just take someone from trauma and start putting them on hormones. It's important for them to realize and understand that they were dehumanized, or experienced something terrifying. Even if it's developmental trauma. This is part of exploring the "assumptions" that Peat mentions. Doing these things are like foundational in the pyramid. But these alone, in my perception, cant disturb the impairments enough or quickly enough.

I've seen a study on shock and trauma damaging thyroid gland and leading to "learned helplessness"....with therapeutic thyroid doses even preventing shock and damage. There's also lots of studies on how the Limbic system is over activated with repeated trauma, which also leads to structural changes in the brain. I consider myself to still be building, living, and moving into new perceptions.

I'm not sure what's been effective, though Id guess the DHEA and Vit A or some synergy of all. I actually only started the A and D for dental reasons. The effects I've experienced were not the intention.

 

[Cirion]

Thanks. I think we pretty much agree just mostly semantics. The tricky thing with thoughts are that I do believe thoughts can impact your health (to a degree), but it's basically impossible to maintain a positive thought pattern without good health (as you likely experienced), conversely it's actually almost impossible to maintain a negative thought pattern with good health, so generally speaking, good health tends to maintain itself unless major stressors come along, and negative health tends to maintain itself unless dramatic intervention is performed. And yeah, changing the environment (removing the stressors) is pretty important when it comes to recovery, but the thing is as you stated, once your mind is in a good place it totally changes your perceptions of reality.

I've been frustrated because my health was destroyed in a similar way a year ago after a breakup so this gives me hope that I can achieve full recovery. From the sound of your post, my problem isn't as severe as yours though so I should be able to. My life isn't even stressful really anymore, so I know the problem is merely a perception of my reality / disrupted endocrine system.

 

[Peatogenic]

Thanks. I think we pretty much agree just mostly semantics. The tricky thing with thoughts are that I do believe thoughts can impact your health (to a degree), but it's basically impossible to maintain a positive thought pattern without good health (as you likely experienced), conversely it's actually almost impossible to maintain a negative thought pattern with good health, so generally speaking, good health tends to maintain itself unless major stressors come along, and negative health tends to maintain itself unless dramatic intervention is performed. And yeah, changing the environment (removing the stressors) is pretty important when it comes to recovery, but the thing is as you stated, once your mind is in a good place it totally changes your perceptions of reality.

I've been frustrated because my health was destroyed in a similar way a year ago after a breakup so this gives me hope that I can achieve full recovery. From the sound of your post, my problem isn't as severe as yours though so I should be able to. My life isn't even stressful really anymore, so I know the problem is merely a perception of my reality / disrupted endocrine system.

Yes, thoughts or revelations most definitely change our bodies. My life turned a new direction when I fully realized the brainwashing I was subjected to. Things that I thought were benign, and being told they were terrifying. This changed my reality and had to impact my body in some way. But could it really disturb enough the reordering of the body via trauma?

Without the endocrine dysfunction, there would be more resilience to stress. Someone who has that endocrine dysfunction begins to destabilize in *any* environment, no matter how pure. There's the sense that "nothing ever changes.". You feel like an enigma, and the chaos of it really does destroy lives.

What I love about the "Peat"-prism is that it's very complex the interplay of all the variables, and it acknowledges the interplay of all the variables. Chicken or egg. This is..merely an exploration of that interplay. I think the Peat world, in general, doesn't acknowledge the environmental/thought variables as much...ironically, a kind of blindness to authoritarianism within self and the world and their upbringing. Meanwhile, the psychotherapy world is finely attuned to those things, while lacking these more clinical domains of hormone interplay, nutrition, etc.

 

[haidut]

Over the years I have experimented with Pregnenolone during high stress situations, when I had completely come undone. It was powerful, but only went so far in changing my disposition.

Sixteen months ago, I left a psychologically abusive environment. Shortly after, I was told by a therapist I had symptoms of CPTSD. The symptoms were: depersonalization from my body, emotional dysregulation, intense shame, unstable sense of identity, a mild form of learned helplessness, intense anxiety, depression, emotional flashbacks, etc. I started working with a trauma specialist who did physical rehab to bring me back inside my body. This was the first step in many steps and perceptions, culminating with a hormone protocol via IdeaLabs.

With the depersonalization rehab, I began accessing a new reality that was profound. I started to regain my five senses that I didn't even know were diminished. I began accessing a world of neutral rather than danger. My anxiety would drop and I would gain focus in the work in front of me. In this therapy, I would drape bag weights over my body, and begin to scan my body and the environment. Even my hearing would increase. My brain would slow down. Despite the profound changes, it seemed like it was inefficient....and didn't really seep into every crevice of my dysfunction.

I've been in the Peat community for about five years, so I'm pretty well versed on stress and function. I did a lot to stabilize my diet and regulate blood sugar, which made only spotty improvements that were difficult to accurately gauge. Over the past four months I began researching the physiology of trauma and it all started coming together.

While there are issues with thought conditioning, I've realized that the hormone state dictates our reality and our thoughts to a very large degree. Without any proper studies and perception alone, I began to conclude that the CPTSD problem (repeated and long-winded trauma) is a medical problem. It requires aggressive body changes to flee the Limbic loop....that it's a reflection of damaged endocrine function. It requires a massive overhaul.

So, about six months ago I started experimenting with Androsterone. This seemed profound, because it gave me this new confidence and energy, a feeling of conquering the world, but much like the Pregnenolone and depersonalization rehab, it did not get into every crevice of my dysfunction.

A few weeks ago I decided to go all out and started supplementing Calcirol (Vitamin D), Retinil (Vitamin A), Pansterone (Preg/DHEA), and continued with Androsterone. The effects were immediate and have been consistent at every moment of the day for 2+ weeks.

I noticed this very new sensation of calm fall over me, like a kind of dreamy warmth in my heart. I stopped doing the depersonalization rehab and can feel my body every day without them. I noticed this profound sense of Being. I can only describe this as the sensation of being with myself all day long. I began feeling like I am something, a strong sense of identity. I did not catastrophize with stressful events, I felt that things were going to be ok, I held a position as observer of my thoughts rather than reacting to them. I can work ten hours a day if needed with a very grounded enthusiasm. I feel alive again.

I know I can't say that this hormone treatment has cured me, because there has been a 16 month process of changing variables, but it has certainly provided the most profound and complete and consistent healing so far. I feel excited to be alive, and I have a new wonder about the world, which has even grown specifically because of the things I've learned about the body, stress, our interdependence, our being as organisms within organisms. I also feel that the endocrine element of trauma disorders has not been fully investigated or treated on this level, so I feel surprised and blessed that all of this knowledge has ended up blessing me, even if it's taken five years for all the stars to align. I feel human again.

Thank you Ray Peat, Danny Roddy, Mae-Wan Ho, Gilbert Ling, William Blake, Walt Whitman, Bessel van Der Kolk, Josh and Jeannie Rubin, @haidut, and so many more. I think that the work of these thinkers and scientists could change the world, especially the world of trauma disorders. I've written extensively on my observations over the past year and linking of studies which I have not shared here, and I wish there was something I could do to study this further and disseminate this information. The kind of rapid change I have experienced is completely unheard of in the trauma community, even the trauma communities that focus more on physiology.

Amazing! Glad you are feeling better!

 

[InChristAlone]

I used to not believe that "CPTSD" was primarily physiological for me, too. Or, at the most...I thought it was "neurological". The Somatic world teaches that trauma is "stored", but doesn't really say what that concretely means. Through my own perceptions, I realized that certain physical changes could change my "mind state" as well as new thoughts/perceptions about the world. Both interplay. The major revelation for me, though, was that the physical changes (such as I describe in my post) had the most profound effects. If you are aware of all the loads of research regarding how trauma re-orders the brain and alters endocrine function then this makes complete sense. But the trauma world, led by figures such as Bessel van Der Kolk haven't yet made the leap to how you resolve these endocrine issues. At most, you may get certain recommendations like Polyvagal breathing and things like that.

I didn't do Somatic Experiencing therapy, but I did a depersonalization rehabilitation by someone who has an SE background. We literally just worked with my body for a few months (not the trauma-scape of my mind). And it only took me so far, as described. It began altering endocrine function, but incompletely.

I've been surprised/confused how making physiological changes has altered my identity (not just "in my body" as you have misrepresented in your comment)...especially because it seems to go against the doctrine that trauma is stored in the body...as some kind of nebulous dark force. It gives the impression that I am saying trauma is not real....that it's just health problems....kind of like how you question if I really had trauma in your comment. But the truth is that chronic and even intermittent trauma changes our physiology, it even damages it. It leaves its mark. In my post I mention that there are thought conditioning components as well.

I'm happy to answer any questions you may have of my experience, but if all you want to do is invalidate without really knowing anything about my experience, tell me what is profound and what is not, then you have to self reflect on your own authoritarianism...which is something that is not helpful for trauma victims, and it's completely against the spirit of this forum.

At least the Somatic world is ahead of the rest of the psychotherapy world in viewing trauma as a body-issue...that you don't talk these things away. They understand that the body is living in a survival state. My own observations are exciting to me, because I feel I've answered in many ways my persistent and annoying questions of what trauma really is, and how is it stored. I started working again with a client two days after starting my current protocol. She was someone that has known me and interacted with me for over two years. She actually told me after a week that I was a completely different person. I already knew that and had confidence about it, but it was interesting to see someone else observe it. I've even reacquainted with old triggers, and they don't seem to have any power over me anymore. It's not so much a cure, as a complex culmination of variables. But I can't deny the power of influencing endocrine function.

Also, my intention isn't to invalidate the power of new perceptions, compassion, truth, believing new things or even processing what someone has experienced (after all, the very core of CPTSD is how it confuses). These change our lives and our bodies as well. What surprised me was how changing the body created new perceptions, new thoughts, new identity, new behaviors, new realities.

I emailed Ray Peat a couple weeks ago asking about the doctrine of trauma being stored and my own affinity for Whitman's focus on body sensation and Blake's tapping into the imagination of new realities. He wrote: "A person’s way of being is continuous with the way the world appears, so a person has an attitude which includes assumptions about everything. As you discover things about the world described by Blake and Whitman you change; all that is stored is a view of the world that changes as soon as you look at it."

I have found what he is describing to be true. But I also disagree...trauma *is* stored...as endocrine dysfunction. For me, altering the hormone landscape can reposition me differently against previous emotional triggers/flashbacks. I have power now.

I am sorry for coming across authoritarian. I just have a lot of resentment towards quick fixes using hormones. I was on thyroid when my health crashed. I began having panic attacks and it wasnt until I found the mind-body work that I began healing. I just have a lot of skepticism over hormones or diet completely resolving severe trauma. Peat suggests nothing is stored that when everything is lined up right you can view the events differently and the impact is way less or non existent. I can agree when the everything aligns that could be the case. But to completely put all faith in hormones and physiology I believe is short sighted.

Sounds like you have a good understanding on both approaches. And I hope you continue to experience positive changes.

 

[Makrosky]

I also think "trauma" in most cases (I'm not talking about extremes like war veterans, violent continued rapings in childhood, etc...) are mostly "culture mediated". It is the constant telling in all fronts about PTSd, traumas, etc... fueled by psychotherapists of all kind and the media, magazines, tv shows, etc that actually CREATES the trauma. By a kind of pigmalion effect we believe what happened was traumatic for us and then we create the trauma.

Once you bite that bait, you are over. You will spend insane ammount of time and money trying to solve an imaginary thing in your mind that was created artificially. It is crazy. But it is real, since we are mainly a product of the culture we live in. It is not real but it becomes real if our culture says so. And there is A LOT of interest on keeping it as it is.

It is really curious how in western countries everybody seems to have a kind of bad childhood experiences or whatever and needs to go to therapy. In undevelopped countries people do REALLY had bad childhood experiences compared to ours and nobody seems to be traumatized or anything.

It reminds me how commom was before for parents who could not raise their children to send them to institutions. When it was culturally "normal" to do that, nobody seemed to have traumas because of that. Now imagine a middle class family of today having to send a children to an institution for many years. Poor soul... he/she would end up as cannon fodder for therapists because he/she was traumatized for being sent to an institution. It is ridiculous.

 

[Peatogenic]

I understand, and I mentioned different variables aligning in my original post, as well as the five years of observations that have led up to now. The part where we differ is that you think hormones have little impact. But the research on trauma is overwhelmingly clear that it has a direct alteration on endocrine system. I can't claim to be an expert on the subject matter, though. I'm simply acknowledging that the mind-body connection goes both ways. I know you think it all means my trauma must not have been severe, but trauma doesn't work that way.

 

[InChristAlone]

I also think "trauma" in most cases (I'm not talking about extremes like war veterans, violent continued rapings in childhood, etc...) are mostly "culture mediated". It is the constant telling in all fronts about PTSd, traumas, etc... fueled by psychotherapists of all kind and the media, magazines, tv shows, etc that actually CREATES the trauma. By a kind of pigmalion effect we believe what happened was traumatic for us and then we create the trauma.

Once you bite that bait, you are over. You will spend insane ammount of time and money trying to solve an imaginary thing in your mind that was created artificially. It is crazy. But it is real, since we are mainly a product of the culture we live in. It is not real but it becomes real if our culture says so. And there is A LOT of interest on keeping it as it is.

That is where I use the three principles alongside somatic practice. Our mind is very powerful. If you believe there is no way out that you are stuck in a terrible job to make ends meet then that's how your life will be. Learned helplessness. I have experienced it. But then I stopped taking my thoughts so seriously. And there is freedom. So no matter what kind of day I am having I can let them flow through. Of course having good blood glucose and high anti-stress hormones makes that easy. But we won't always be in a state of perfect health. So we need tools to overcome our own mind's chatter and to not get caught up in the fear coming out of the media.

 

[Peatogenic]

I also think "trauma" in most cases (I'm not talking about extremes like war veterans, violent continued rapings in childhood, etc...) are mostly "culture mediated". It is the constant telling in all fronts about PTSd, traumas, etc... fueled by psychotherapists of all kind and the media, magazines, tv shows, etc that actually CREATES the trauma. By a kind of pigmalion effect we believe what happened was traumatic for us and then we create the trauma.

Once you bite that bait, you are over. You will spend insane ammount of time and money trying to solve an imaginary thing in your mind that was created artificially. It is crazy. But it is real, since we are mainly a product of the culture we live in. It is not real but it becomes real if our culture says so. And there is A LOT of interest on keeping it as it is.

CPTSD and PTSD have specific diagnostic criteria with very specific physical manifestations. It presents as specific symptoms. In my case, at least, I'd never once thought of my situation as "traumatic" or wrong....which tends to be the case. But I went to a therapist and realized I had most of the symptoms due to existential trauma. I couldn't really fake depersonalization, I didn't even realize I did it. But when I saw the contrast, I was shocked. I agree with you in a sense. I don't think trauma can be created, but I think that diagnoses can trap people in things they wouldn't have previously been trapped in. It's the workings of any group, even raypeatforum....you can begin to compare and contrast and feel obligated to the group's way of looking at the world. With a trauma disorder diagnoses, it's definitely easier to feel like you have to relate to it. So I agree with you, but I actually think kind of the opposite... Even more exposure to trauma awareness would be a good thing for the world.

 

[Makrosky]

CPTSD and PTSD have specific diagnostic criteria with very specific physical manifestations. It presents as specific symptoms. In my case, at least, I'd never once thought of my situation as "traumatic" or wrong....which tends to be the case. But I went to a therapist and realized I had most of the symptoms due to existential trauma. I couldn't really fake depersonalization, I didn't even realize I did it. But when I saw the contrast, I was shocked. I agree with you in a sense. I don't think trauma can be created, but I think that diagnoses can trap people in things they wouldn't have previously been trapped in. It's the workings of any group, even raypeatforum....you can begin to compare and contrast and feel obligated to the group's way of looking at the world. With a trauma disorder diagnoses, it's definitely easier to feel like you have to relate to it. So I agree with you, but I actually think kind of the opposite... Even more exposure to trauma awareness would be a good thing for the world.

So you start supplementing a good regimen of hormones and you feel fantastic. You claim the work you did before helped you but it remains to be seen if starting the hormones before yoyr psychotherapy would have had the same effects.

Isn't it more rational to think that there was a severe physical aillment (call it hypothyroid, burned out, adrenal insufficiency, congenital/genetic weakness, etc..) and that using the antistress/prometabolic hormones healed it?

 

[Cirion]

But we won't always be in a state of perfect health. So we need tools to overcome our own mind's chatter and to not get caught up in the fear coming out of the media.

True, but when you're someone like me that has spent 95% of his life getting through life by "toughing it out" and "grit" and whatever else you wanna call it, I'm burned out and need the fix the root cause - hormones. Being healthy should be the norm of life, not the exception.

Nate has a long chapter on Depression in his book F*** portion control on the fact he did literally everything (massage, therapy, support groups, acupuncture, prayer, etc... everything non diet/hormone related) and nothing fixed his depression and other mental issues until he fixed his hormones.

Mental health problems are nothing more than an extension of the disturbed physical health (endocrine system) of the individual. I feel quite confident in saying 100% of people with mental health conditions (whether its bipolar, depression, schizophrenia, PTSD, whatever) have a disturbed thyroid / endocrine system, easily enough verified through hormone tests.

 

[Peatogenic]

So you start supplementing a good regimen of hormones and you feel fantastic. You claim the work you did before helped you but it remains to be seen if starting the hormones before yoyr psychotherapy would have had the same effects.

Isn't it more rational to think that there was a severe physical aillment (call it hypothyroid, burned out, adrenal insufficiency, congenital/genetic weakness, etc..) and that using the antistress/prometabolic hormones healed it?

....but that's exactly what my post is saying....that trauma (and the research is clear on this) impairs endocrine system and creates structural changes in the brain. So trauma does cause a "severe physical ailment". Ailments can't just appear for no reason.

I started improving way before the hormone therapy, just not in this more complete manner. It took almost a year simply to finally see and understand the dehumanization I experienced. I no longer had a sense of identity, could not have a personal perception without doubting it. I feel that a hormone therapy before then would have been incomplete the same. But I definitely lean to what you're saying.....that it's primarily a physical ailment to fix. I'm not exactly sure the efficacy of "processing trauma", especially if there is not this physical repair as well. Because physical repair can change our thoughts. Why spend five years working on your thoughts by talking about them, when the thought issue (in my new perceptions) can literally be changed by the hormone state.

 

[Makrosky]

True, but when you're someone like me that has spent 95% of his life getting through life by "toughing it out" and "grit" and whatever else you wanna call it, I'm burned out and need the fix the root cause - hormones. Being healthy should be the norm of life, not the exception.

Nate has a long chapter on Depression in his book F*** portion control on the fact he did literally everything (massage, acupuncture, prayer, etc... everything non diet/hormone related) and nothing fixed his depression and other mental issues until he fixed his hormones.

Mental health problems are nothing more than an extension of the disturbed physical health (endocrine system) of the individual. I feel quite confident in saying 100% of people with mental health conditions (whether its bipolar, depression, schizophrenia, PTSD, whatever) have a disturbed thyroid / endocrine system.

Gut health is also an inmense source of mental problems. The "pestilent vapours" of the intestines (the ancient medical way to say endotoxin) altering your mind.