So after much experimentation over about 6 weeks and lots of false guesses. I was still getting more and more and more depressed. My sex drive reached zero and my motivation to do anything was incredibly low. Depression also meant I couldn't really speak to anyone, unless it was work related.
I had another look at things and started going through everything in the protocol to figure out what it was. I came across Lions Mane, which is a 5-ar inhibitor (many of you pointed this out when we all started looking at the protocol) but it also increases prolactin levels and can kill sex drive and cause dysphoria.
So I removed it along with the egcg 3 days ago and the depression started to lift 24 hours later. I haven't really noticed any negative effects after removing it either, I think it's quite an overrated thing to take. The only benefit I guess is the 5-ar inhibition, but as my t levels and free t levels were also on the low side, I suspect the 5-ar's were causing these problems.
I continue to take reishi that's the only 5-ar inhibitor left in my batch. But I have completely removed lions mane and egcg.
I also found out that after many weeks of experimentation with b vitamins, b12 doesn't appear to be causing the brain fog. I think the b complex is, so I am not sure which of the b's is doing it yet. I need to try them all again. I don't think it's b6, so it must be b2 or b1 that is giving me terrible brain fog and sleepiness.
I have yet to take b12 oils and folate stand alone to see the reaction, as I recently ran out.
Sleep has already improved and I suspect without the b vitamins will continue to do so. Fatigue still seems pretty well buffered even without the 5-ar inhibitors.
But I am essentially off protocol now as I've removed some major components.
@mariovitali @Reading_Steiner @dahsar
I had another look at things and started going through everything in the protocol to figure out what it was. I came across Lions Mane, which is a 5-ar inhibitor (many of you pointed this out when we all started looking at the protocol) but it also increases prolactin levels and can kill sex drive and cause dysphoria.
So I removed it along with the egcg 3 days ago and the depression started to lift 24 hours later. I haven't really noticed any negative effects after removing it either, I think it's quite an overrated thing to take. The only benefit I guess is the 5-ar inhibition, but as my t levels and free t levels were also on the low side, I suspect the 5-ar's were causing these problems.
I continue to take reishi that's the only 5-ar inhibitor left in my batch. But I have completely removed lions mane and egcg.
I also found out that after many weeks of experimentation with b vitamins, b12 doesn't appear to be causing the brain fog. I think the b complex is, so I am not sure which of the b's is doing it yet. I need to try them all again. I don't think it's b6, so it must be b2 or b1 that is giving me terrible brain fog and sleepiness.
I have yet to take b12 oils and folate stand alone to see the reaction, as I recently ran out.
Sleep has already improved and I suspect without the b vitamins will continue to do so. Fatigue still seems pretty well buffered even without the 5-ar inhibitors.
But I am essentially off protocol now as I've removed some major components.
@mariovitali @Reading_Steiner @dahsar
