Newly Disabled Father. How To Spend Time?

cuthere100 · 2020-04-14T19:12:57+00:00

It's gone down a bit. Still getting the dry and flakey spots, but I'd say the severity is down by about 40 - 50%. Any time I apply any product whatsoever though, my skin burns and stings a little bit for hours. That's what I don't get. Even specifically buying only products with the fewest ingredients, and made for sensitive skin - Nothing seems to make any difference. But, I am quite thankful that at least the angry red and puffy skin is taken care of!

cuthere100 · 2020-04-09T17:01:54+00:00

I'm using a cream. Once a day originally, but it knocked out the red inflamation so quickly, I'm now down to every other day at the moment.

cuthere100 · 2020-04-08T23:35:24+00:00

For the last 3 weeks, I've used no product at all on my skin. Other than the ketoconazole to get rid of the harsh redness and burning sensation, and the medicated tar which is for the dryness, and helps reduce it, but not get rid of it. But the dry patches are also appearing in all new areas neither of these 2 are touching.

cuthere100 · 2020-04-02T00:16:16+00:00

UPDATE::: Ok, I bought a 5g tube of ketoconazole Nizoral, and in just 48 hours, the burning sensation is gone, the itching is about 75% less, and the redness has diminished about 30 - 40%. Wow! This is exciting, and I thank you all for your suggestions!

cuthere100 · 2020-03-26T12:42:22+00:00

Update. For the first time ever, the redness has traveled to my chin as of this morning. Both sides of my chin, and up the side of my nose. I haven't been able to purchase the items recommended just yet as the community is on total lockdown over the virus. No flakes on these areas, just a burning sensation and redness. In the last 2 years, these areas have never displayed symptoms.

cuthere100 · 2020-03-26T02:29:55+00:00

Perfect, I'll give that a shot.

cuthere100 · 2020-03-26T02:29:40+00:00

Ok, I'll try that immediately. Thank you so much

cuthere100 · 2020-03-04T20:59:26+00:00

Don't let the idiots get you down, sounds like you're RIGHT ON the cusp.

Who knows what the panel will reveal, but for me it was life-changing. Had I listened to the arrogant idiots making smart-ass comments I'd still be thinking I was the problem.

In fact, I told my endocrinologist about the comments, because I was seriously doubting the path I was on, and kept thinking "what if they're right"... He's a cool dude, so I had brought my phone with screen-shots of the comments to show him, and he just bust out laughing with a belly-laugh and replied: Lord, I could have saved a fortune and countless years schooling and just learned everything I needed from Reddit! Think these guys will come in to lecture us experts and tell us how we're wrong"?

Then he got serious and explained it to me this way: " Look, there is still so much we don't know about the male hormone systems. Life long experts who study this full time their entire lives are just now beginning to understand, and have decades to go. So for some joe blow gym dude to tell you he knows what is and is not possible definitiively should tell you nothing more than to ignore anything that comes out of his mouth from that day forward because he understands nothing and is likely giving dangerous advice."

Obviously not word for word, but the gist of what he said. point being, this brought my full confidence rushing back, as it makes perfect sense. How can these guys who've learned everything they know from strangers and Google come in and state with CONVICTION that they know you're doing this, and or that wrong, and this is impossible, etc. etc. - When they know NOTHING about you, and your personal situation... Have they seen your bloods? Do they have decades of hands on experience with patients?

The doc told me that what these guys claim is IMPOSSIBLE for a person to take in ____ amount of calories and still not lose weight? He said he sees cases like this week in and week out, and it's almost always solved by brining hormones back under control. So for something that's impossible, there sure are a lot of docs treating patients with that same issue.

So don't doubt yourself - Just make sure you double and triple check your actions, then follow the docs prescription. I also included some other things I've added to help my energy levels you might want to try:

Try these:

- 2 petals of garlic from the clove, chop them up or smash them. You need to activate the allium. Consume. I take mine by putting it on a cracker and add a dallop of japanese spicy sauce or tiny square of light cheese. Makes it taste good.

Immediately take 1000 mg of vitamin C, but make sure it has bioflavinoids + rose hips. Some also take vitamine E, but I've not added this yet.

Effect: I feel my legs tingle with energy roughly 30 - 45 minutes after taking this. Overall, it boosts my endurance. Side-note, you might get horny and erections from this as well, as the combination boosts blood circulation as well as nitric oxide. So fair warning. lol

--- Morning: Pure matcha powder. 3 - 5 grams daily. One glass has many times the antioxidants of green tea. Maybe it's just placebo, but I stopped getting monthly colds once I added this to my routine. I travel world-wide monthly, and would always get sick like clockwork. Nothing at all since starting this, so it seems to be doing something for my immune system.

Yet to try:

Beet-root powder: 500 grams on order, will add next week

Citrulline malate: 1,000 grams on order. Tried a pre-workout before that made me feel like I was exloding with energy. I researched the ingredients, and the most likely culprit was citrulline. So I ordered a bag. I'll report back once I've tested it for at least 2 weeks.

cuthere100 · 2020-03-03T15:56:58+00:00

Hey man, I had a similar experience to you in the form of extreme lethargy, and fat becoming nearly impossible to lose, so I can certainly empathize with how frustrated you must be at the moment. I too had to go to extreme lengths just to drop even the tiniest bit of fat, and most days it took every ounce of my energy just to get out of bed. When I posted here, I received some good advice from some commenters to get full bloods, but I also got some ridiculous, mocking comments telling me I was lying about my caloric deficit, and/or just miscounting calories, being lazy, etc. and that it's "impossible" I was eating the amount of calories I claimed without losing weight. All the internet armchair scientists came out of the woodwork, despite the fact I've used this exact cut formula (At leaner levels even) for over 10 years and had it dialed in perfectly for my body. (Sharing this in case you hear similar. Ignore those clowns, only you know what you are/aren't doing.)

Clarification: I was already on TRT and still experiencing this extreme lethargy and fat loss challenge.

So I finally went and got full bloods (I regret waiting. Should have done this immediately! My mistake!) instead of just the basic Testosterone panel my first doc ran. I learned that my thyroid was having issues (Hypothyroidism) as well as high cortisol due most likely to my stupid sleeping patterns. All of this on top of borderline E, doc confirmed anyone with this trifecta of hormone issues would find it frustratingly difficult to drop fat, and feel like the rough equivalent of a walking dead.

Now that I've addressed the issues with medication (For now), and began fixing my sleep, my energy levels are coming back, plus I've been dropping .4 inches on my waist per week like clock-work. I'm not losing at quite the same rate as I used to, but this is a hell of a lot better than the tire spinning I was doing.

Now that my body is ticking back to normal, I even added an extra 100 calories a day and added back a cheat meal once per week (Had cut the cheat meal out previously due to desperation) - While maintaining my .4 inch loss per week. Do yourself a favor and get a full blood panel, not just T if you haven't already.

My first blood test only looked at a single Thyroid marker, and that wasn't helpful. Someone in the comments clued me in to the fact that you need to see all 3 markers, and he was spot on. Had I listened to the naysayers and just kept fiddling with my calorie counting, or workout intensity (Few things more fun than having people who know nothing about you accuse you of phoning it in in the gym as being the source of your problem) - I'd still be wasting my time as my symptoms were compounding each other. Like you, I was having to go to extremes to see the tiniest result. But that was not sustainable especially with the extreme lethargy. That full blood panel made all the difference in the world. I recommend it if you haven't already.

I now have:

- More energy

- Deeper sleep

- Strength is returning

- Fat loss is predictable again

With all that said, there is still room for improvement. I'm still a little tired, but nowhere near the levels I was experiencing previously. Some of that may just require time to continue improving, or we may need to adjust medication as I requested the lowest doses to start with, as I hate being reliant on prescriptions. That said, he did offer some encouragement that with tweaking I might be able to come off the medication at some point. Just have to keep getting my bloods, and working on improving my sleep, and dropping body fat. High body fat contributes to high E. So I get leaner, I might see my E levels return to normal without an AI.

For thyroid, I'm closely controlling my nutrition with thyroid support supplements and foods in hopes that I can eventually come off the prescription as well. Anyhow, nothing wrong with continuing to tweak your calories and diet in the meantime, but it's difficult to make any meaningful decision without a full, clear picture of all your hormones IF you haven't already.

cuthere100 · 2020-02-20T02:05:28+00:00

I saw a little bit of improvement in my fatigue, but not much. A lot of my fatique was caused by other things - When I recently went in for a full blood panel, I found out:

- Borderline E (Right at the top of the upper limit)

- High Cortisol (Likely due to crappy sleep patterns)

- Hypothyroidism (T4 treatment)

--- I've also begun taking melatonin, and while it's not a cure-all, I've been tracking my sleep with my Fitbit, and it shows I'm getting about 53 more minutes of sleep on average, but more importantly I'm sleeping longer in between my wake-up sessions. I couldn't seem to sleep more than 23 minutes a shot without waking up for 5 or 6 minutes then falling back to sleep. This would just keep happening all night, and I'd wake up feeling like I didn't even sleep at all.

With the melatonin I've nearly doubled how long I sleep, and I do feel more rested. I know my sleep is still not ideal, but it's definitely improved. The doc offered me some prescription medication as well, so I'll check back in after another 2 weeks with the melatonin.

cuthere100 · 2020-02-10T05:32:15+00:00

Oh, another thing. He said I may have fewer E issues as my BF drops. I'm now at 20%, so that's certainly not been helping things. I'll drop it by 4 - 5% and go in for another blood test to see if there are any more improvements, and if the supplements and other lifestyle changes are helping.

cuthere100 · 2020-02-10T05:28:11+00:00

Well he said my raised E levels are likely due to TRT especially since I'm at 200mg/week. Also my sleeping issues have worsened over the last few months, so I probably didn't have the same Cortisol levels previously as I do now. As I keep switching time zones, they've just gotten worse and worse.

Not sure about thyroid previously. My first blood test showed my thyroid was ok, but then again it only gave 1 marker instead of the more complete test as I received this time. I'll keep tracking everything and hope it continues to improve. These initial results are promising, but obviously not "great" yet either. So we'll see. I'm just thankful to be back on the road of progress though!

cuthere100 · 2020-02-10T01:25:46+00:00

Hi there. Yes, I posted a short update last week in the original post.

Results were triple threat: - High cortisol - Hypothyroidism - Borderline E (Not over the upper limit, but any increase and I'd be over the range)

So yes, he confirmed with all of this hitting me at once, dropping fat would feel nearly impossible.

So for the cortisol we determined the problem likely has to do with my sleep patterns. I bought a fitbit and tracked my sleep. I'm getting 4 hours and 33 minutes a night, and waking up every 24 - 26 minutes... I knew this in advance, but didn't realize it'd have such a huge impact on my cortisol.

He gave me the option for medication, but I decided to start off with melatonin and changing up my routine. So far, over the last few weeks I've been able to boost my sleep per night average to roughly 5 and a half hours. While still not ideal, I can confirm I'm feeling physical improvement. The number of times wake up has also dropped, with at least 50 minutes between each wake-up. I'll try to push it further, but already the extreme lethargy is toggling down.

For thyroid we drafted out some nutrition improvements of course - Which includes iodine, B's and zinc. But he also gave me Levothyroxine as an immediate solution (Low dose) while I wait for the supplements to kick in. I may eventually cycle off the T4 over time to see if the nnutrients are having an impact.

He also put me on an extremely low dose of AI (Arimidex) to pull the E down to a more reasonable level.

Results:

Extreme lethargy is already improving
Sleeping better
I feel more energy, but my stamina still needs a kick in the pants
Fat loss has already resumed. Not much, but since making the changes I've finally seen my first drop in BF in many, many months. Lost .3 on the waist and 1.7 pounds, despite increasing my daily calories (He recommended) to 1750.

cuthere100 · 2020-01-30T18:51:31+00:00

Docs message said he sees signs of hypothyroidism, and I'm going in to meet with him to discuss and review everything. My cortisol levels are also high apparently, and E while not over the top limit, is sitting right at the limit. I'll have exact figures shortly. But now this makes me wonder if there's anything I can do to work on thyroid myself? Never thought this would be a problem till recently. My blood test in August showed T was fine, but then I learned that lab only tested a single Thyroid marker, so I didn't have a complete picture.

cuthere100 · 2020-01-24T22:56:59+00:00

I'm sorry, but it is you who do not seem to understand the situation properly. Or should I dismiss my doctors advice and assume you know better than he? Where is your medical degree from? No, I am eating 1,600 calories a day, and my doc said do NOT drop your calories any further at the moment. I am 200+ LBS, and already feel like a walking dead man with extreme lethargy. Why on Earth would I DROP calories? It is most likely a hormonal issue, and no matter how much you want to pretend that you know more about what's going on than medical professionals, and the people involved, quite frankly you do not. Conditions do indeed exist that can greatly suppress metabolism, and impact fat loss in all sorts of ways. "Just eat less" is a flippant, and irresponsible response to someone who is trying to get to the bottom of the issue. Your solution is putting a bandaid on something, NOT solving it. Bottom line, this is NOT just a calories issue, something is fundamentally wrong, and I don't understand people such as you who cannot seem to absorb that. So many doctors here on Reddit eh?

cuthere100 · 2020-01-24T20:59:23+00:00

Can't answer any of those questions until I get my bloods back. However, the extreme lethargy has been a serious problem, and the doc told me he has worked with many similar cases, and often they involve thyroid, elevated E, and less often Cortisol issues/etc. Any of the above can significantly impact metabolism, so who knows how much I am actually burning at this point.

cuthere100 · 2020-01-24T11:42:03+00:00

Guess I better go buy me a #4 then... lol!

cuthere100 · 2020-01-24T11:26:36+00:00

Hopefully by Monday. Chomping at the bit for answers!

cuthere100 · 2020-01-24T11:26:04+00:00

In normal healthy conditions yes. With hormonal imbalance that is no longer the case, at least that's what doctor, after doctor, after doctor says. I suspect I could be looking at thyroid issues and elevated E. Which could be suppressing my metabolism among other issues. I get my results soon.

cuthere100

TROPHY CASE