Can't do this no more, doing anything is a complete chore. Can't play games, can't listen to music, can't make youtube videos. So i guess this is what an anti-psychotic feels like. Not sure what this area guy is talking about but i don't really feel like taking something that does the exact same thing as an anti-psychotic
az89 wrote: Can't do this no more, doing anything is a complete chore. Can't play games, can't listen to music, can't make youtube videos. So i guess this is what an anti-psychotic feels like. Not sure what this area guy is talking about but i don't really feel like taking something that does the exact same thing as an anti-psychotic
If you read the earlier studies - it explains more about it, the same remedy will NOT work for everyone, it's just something that can be tried..but if you don't feel good on it then it isn't for you. Also it's NOT JUST PDE-5 ANTAGONISM, IT'S DESTROYING THE GENETIC EXPRESSION OF THE ENZYME..SO IT GOES MUCH FURTHER OVER TIME THAN CIALIS.
It's been a while since I've posted and I wanted to wait until I was sure I was fully cured to share my experimentations, but given the recent fraudulent claims of a cure this might give people some new hope.
After my previous experimentations (many months ago) with SJW I took a turn for the worse and went into a terrible anhedonic state that wouldn't resolve on it's own. Having nothing left to lose I turned to something I had been researching for a while, namely berberine. (Thanks to Area1255. The information I gathered is mostly a product of his work. I did cross-check and his claims and researched everything I could get my hands on)
Being aware of its serotonin raising and DHT lowering properties I decided to give it a go as at that time the pro's started outweighing the cons. (If requested I can explain who I consider something a pro/con/other)
Cons: - Raises serotonin about 50% the first 2 weeks of using according to some studies. Possibly because of its metabolites being a MAOi. After 2 weeks it should lower again and result into an increase in dopamine. - Decreases either 5 alpha reductase or causes degradation of DHT, I'll post some more on this later.
Other: - Metabolites are a MAOi - 17β-HSD1 mRNA upregulation. Pro estrogen. - P450 inhibitor - CYP17 mRNA upregulation
Took 350mg of berberine twice a day for 3 months, my first dose being at 08:00 and the second at 16:00. I combined this with 600mg of Icariin (horny goat weed) at the same times and a daily dose of 5mg tadalafil.
I also combined this with nightly alcohol. Half a bottle of red wine. This might not be relevant but I felt so much better including this. Later I found out that "Chronic voluntary ethanol intake hypersensitizes 5-HT(1A) autoreceptors in C57BL/6J mice" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19094059. (Interesting side note: While on berberine I regained effects from alcohol and nicotine.)
Icariin is a phytoestrogen and PDE5 inhibitor and reduces pde5 mRNA expression. Tadalafil (cialis is a PDE5 inhibitor)
Results:
Week1: A rollercoaster. Anhedonia was gone the moment I took my first dose. Was in a great mood all week. Experienced pretty bad genital numbness days 2 and 3. Numbness resolved after that but less sensitivity remained for the entire experiment.
Week2: Mood went down. Felt depressed but no anhedonia.
Week3: Mood came back to normal levels. Erectile dysfunction improved. I started responding to pde5 inhibitors again (100mg of viagra did nothing anymore before this).
Week4 and onwards until quitting: Libido came back from zero to low (and sometimes high) levels. Erectile dysfunction went away (as far as I can tell on 5mg of tadalafil daily).
I quit after 3 months because I started to notice my estrogen levels spiking and DHT levels dropping. So painful nipples and slow beard growth for me.
Afterwards:
Here comes the bad and the good..
My libido dropped back to zero 2 weeks after quitting. Genital sensitivity returned. Erection quality is ok, but still need pde5 inhibitors. With those it's perfect.
And wait for it ..
My anhedonia is gone!! and it has been for 3 months now!!!
I can love once more, have the motivation to do my work properly again and enjoy listening to music. Enjoying the benefits from alcohol again is a good one too
But that's not all. Currently I'm experiencing an upward spiral of libido and overall fantastic mood because of my experiments trying to raise 5 alpha reductase and lowering 3a-hsd and SHBG levels. I'm not sure if it'll stick though because I've only been trying this for a month now. Will keep you updated.
tl;dr
Was down at my lowest point ever. Didn't think anything would ever help me again. Took berberine, resolved my anhedonia and improved my baseline tremendously!
Be sure to ask me anything you want. I could write a book with the amount of research I've done.
Once again a shout-out to area1255. his site has an amazing amount of information and I doubt I would have gotten this far without it. I gather you had some problems with him in the past but the guy sure knows his stuff.