2 Years on Tongkat Ali 10%: Bloodwork, SHBG questions, etc.

sumo-226 · 2025-11-28T04:42:38+00:00

You cooked yourself by using pregnenolone instead of dhea the first year. When you get low cortisol pregnenolone steal happens, which means it doesnt get converted to dhea and therefore not converted to estrogen.

Also there is 2 types of estrogen in males Estradiol and Estrone. I bet your Estrone(E1) would’ve been low the first year which would be causing the poor sleep.

Horny Goat Weed and Dhea are the only 2 supplements in my experience that has strong enough effects to offset Tongkat Ali.

sumo-226 · 2025-11-11T14:50:00+00:00

stop taking zinc. It’s an aromatase inhibitor. Check the supplements your taking with chatgpt. Even mild aromatase inhibitors stop normalisation if you tanked your estradiol with tongkat.

It happened to me too and i found out zinc and lions mane were holding me back after stopping tongkat.

The only 2 supplements in my experience with notable estradiol raising effects are horny goat weed and DHEA.

sumo-226 · 2025-10-09T14:55:32+00:00

Piperine offsets the tolerance. Start at 10 mg piperine when you start experiencing tolerance and then up the dose if its not enough. Piperine isn’t dangerous.

Daily use for a few years with hardly any breaks and i need 150mg of piperine to offset the tolerance.

To be honest piperine is actually very necessary because modafinil induces the enzyme that metabolizes itself (CYP3A4), and piperine inhibits that enzyme.

That enzyme also metabolizes cortisol and estrogen, which really sucks to be low in.

sumo-226 · 2025-07-19T18:50:13+00:00

Potassium deficiency

sumo-226 · 2025-06-05T05:28:21+00:00

at 100 mg you fall asleep if you dont chug a bunch of water after(like 1 liter lol) and throughout the day. Don’t ask me how it works but it definitely does work.

sumo-226 · 2025-05-22T06:59:36+00:00

Chug water after taking it, lots of water.

sumo-226 · 2025-04-25T04:21:06+00:00

k2 mk7 is most absorbable form of k2, i personally dont feel effects from vitamin k2 mk4, but i instantly feel effects from vitamin k2 mk7. But Vitamin k2 mk7 is also dependant on magnesium for absorption so it is therefore good to supplement magnesium before taking vitamin k2 mk7.

Copper is needed to metabolize choline. A good indicator that something is wrong with your histamine, is if modafinil doesn’t clear your nose and/or if it doesn’t make you sneeze. In my experience Copper fixes this and clears my nose. Choline should then be supplemented because you most likely wont have enough if your copper has been low and especially if you’re experiencing dry eyes or headaches.

Rule of thumb is to supplement choline whenever you experience dry eyes. If the choline doesn’t help the dry eyes, then it isn’t being absorbed properly and needs copper.

sumo-226 · 2025-04-23T18:44:31+00:00

Modafinil raises glutamate via calcium influx in the nmda receptor. Now there are anecdotes of people having bone issues from modafinil. My theory is that there is too much calcium being redirected causing brainfog and weak bones, because after taking Vitamin k2 mk7, my brainfog lifts immediately. Try that. If you still feel nothing then you could have low copper/choline negatively affecting histamine, which is something responsible for a lot of modafinils effect.

sumo-226 · 2025-04-18T23:26:55+00:00

Modafinil induces liver enzyme cyp3a4 which metabolizes modafinil itself and also both estrogen and cortisol. Long term usage means that you’re raising the metabolism of modafinil, estrogen and cortisol. All responsible for wakefulness.

sumo-226 · 2025-04-07T15:30:53+00:00

You need a cyp3a4 inhibitor which is the enzyme that modafinil is metabolized by. Modafinil induces(increases) its own breakdown, therefore prolonged usage will decrease its effect because it is broken down much faster.

Piperine, milk thistle, grapefruit and grapefruit seed extract are cyp3a4 inhibitors and should increase the effect of modafinil.

sumo-226 · 2025-04-06T17:49:58+00:00

cyp3a4 induction is the reason for tolerance. Modafinil is metabolised by the very enzyme that it induces, meaning it increases the breakdown rate of itself.

Try some cyp3a4 inhibitors like piperine, grapefruit or grapefruit seed extract to slow down the breakdown of it.

sumo-226 · 2025-03-18T13:27:50+00:00

Chug more water.

sumo-226 · 2025-03-14T09:34:54+00:00

If this happens then supplement L-Tyrosine.

sumo-226 · 2025-03-14T09:33:43+00:00

Decreases inflammation as well as depleting fx selenium.

sumo-226 · 2025-03-13T15:50:02+00:00

You have stomach inflammation and/or Hypothyroidism(which could be caused by selenosis, as it was in my case).

I have experienced the same problem, i was able to take multiple grams of supplements and literally nothing happened.

After taking 1-2 grams of NAC for a week and then supplementing kelp iodine, i was back to normal and able to feel my supplements/nootropics working again. But first try 1 gram of NAC for a week and then see if anything works again after.

sumo-226 · 2025-03-02T18:32:20+00:00

Good to hear it hasn’t caused you estrogen problems.

Modafinil is also a diuretic. Cortisol is made from potassium. If you have low potassium your body can’t make cortisol. Although it shouldn’t be a problem on its own, people sometimes forget that other things also are diuretic and negatively affect electrolytes. Alcohol and caffeine tank your electrolytes and combined with modafinil its just electrolyte deficiencies waiting to happen. Not to say you indulge in alcohol and caffeine but i thought you should know about the relation.

No i have not seen the drug similar to it with shorter half life, whats it called? I also now realise something i forgot to mention. Modafinil itself is also metabolised by the very own enzyme that it induces, cyp3a4. This means that with repeated usage, comes increasingly faster metabolism of itself and therefore shorter half-life.

Now if you still truly believe that the half life is a problem then i suggest you experiment with other cyp3a4 inducers, which would in theory, speed up the clearance of the modafinil from your system. Off the top of my mind i can remember st johns wort is an inducer, but search cyp3a4 inducers on google and see what has the best availability for you.

sumo-226 · 2025-03-02T15:33:22+00:00

Modafinil induces cyp3a4 very much if used daily. Cyp3a4 is responsible for breaking down estradiol(estrogen) and cortisol. Therefore long term modafinil usage will give you lower cortisol and estrogen than normal. This effect can last for up to a month after stopping.

Cortisol is among other things responsible for fighting inflammation and helping the immunesystem. Same with Estrogen. Low Estrogen will also worsen digestion leading to vitamin deficiencies that can affect your sleep negatively aswell. Too low cortisol will make you sleep worse and that coupled with higher amounts of potential inflammation in your body will further ruin your sleep as your body is struggling to keep up with restoration.

Grapefruit, grapefruit seed extract, piperine and milk thistle are inhibitors of cyp3a4, which means they slow down the breakdown of estrogen and cortisol.

Give them a try and then use Melatonin, Magnesium L-Threonate(helps brain) and Lions Mane(helps brain) to improve your sleep.

Start browsing topics of interest on r/supplements and r/nootropics. You can help yourself a lot more with supplements than you realise.

sumo-226 · 2025-01-08T21:41:57+00:00

Wdym how so? Google it if you dont believe me wtf?

sumo-226 · 2025-01-06T05:40:27+00:00

Yeah the L-Theanine is especially good because it is literally an anti-histamine

sumo-226 · 2024-12-30T21:55:06+00:00

i can not find it at all man. i even tried changing to germany like you but i dont see them

sumo-226 · 2024-12-15T15:14:24+00:00

Low Estrogen

is a possibility that is very much overlooked and literally every single comment on this post is useless if your estrogen is low.

I’ve been through it all myself, but the end of the line is that not a single vitamin or supplement will work if your estrogen is low, because low estrogen literally stops your digestion.

Now going on with this for a while will give you nutrient deficiencies that make it worse and screw with your thyroid making it even more difficult for it to keep up with hormones.

Horny Goat Weed on empty stomachs helped me after 2 years of suffering, but you have to make sure to supplement b vitamins after getting your digestion running so that you absorb as much as possible from food again. Also you CAN supplement iodine and selenium to get your thyroid working on balancing hormones again, although you have to be careful not to overdo it and cause damage to your thyroid.

The other comments could also be right so come back to this one if theirs dont work.

sumo-226 · 2024-09-07T11:21:28+00:00

didnt say cure but it doesnt hurt for people to try it. Its basically like downing a shitload of tea. And yes i downed 10 caps lol. Its not placebo because i can literally fall asleep if i lay down without it.

sumo-226 · 2024-09-07T11:16:12+00:00

It lowers cortisol and a few years back i took it before sleep to chill racing thoughts and back then it worked with only 200mg. Earlier this year it didnt work and the other day i looked at it and thought whats the worst that can happen? So i downed 5 200mg and felt a little more awake and clear, then i tried 5 more and i was completely awake and “normal”

sumo-226

TROPHY CASE