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Has Testosterone Been Part of The Depressive Conundrum

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Voidmatrix

Voidmatrix

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Hey all, simply sharing.

I've shared quite a bit, in vivid detail about my experience with depression.

I recently started taking a supplement that is supposed to aid in testosterone levels and production through the use of various herbs. It's been something I've wondered about (if my testosterone may be low) hence this little experiment with this product.

Vitamin D (as Cholecalciferol) 1000IU
Vitamin B6 (as Pyridoxine HCl)11mg
Magnesium (as Aspartate)160mg
Zinc (as Monomethionine and Aspartate)30mg
D-Aspartic Acid 3120mg
Tribulus Terrestris Extract (std. min. 45% saponins)750mg
Fenugreek Seed Extract (std. min. 60% saponins)500mg
Diindolylmethane (DIM)250mg

I'm going to do more research than the preliminary research I've done so far on this list (since I may be sensitive to fenugreek and it may be influencing congestion). But I wanted to briefly share my experience of the effects.

I feel different... Very different.

Cognitively, my memory seems to be functioning better the last few days, as well as my flow of thought. I have more energy as well. Emotionally, I'm less reactive, and getting over things faster. I'm really engaged...

I feel new...

And it is soooooo odd...

But it's a good thing. :love:

Would love to hear any thoughts.

Thank you.

One love,
Vm
 
That's a great stack Void. Testosterone is extremely important for men in terms of optimum functioning and too much or too little is not ideal. Hormones truly do impact our mood and vice versa. Tribulus and Magnesium are great but I haven't tried the others in your stack. Do you have powders or pills? I get my tribulus as a powder and mix in water or milk.

Dr. Huberman has some great advice on this. I found a link to his podcast on the Nexus and have really been deep diving into his recommendations. Its really good. This episode also has information on how to optimise estrogen for advice for our female nexus members too. Check it out

hubermanlab.com

The Science of How to Optimize Testosterone & Estrogen - Huberman Lab

Dr. Huberman discusses the hormones testosterone and estrogen and how they impact the brain, body, and behavior at ages after puberty.
hubermanlab.com hubermanlab.com
 
PsyloCiBeen said:
That's a great stack Void. Testosterone is extremely important for men in terms of optimum functioning and too much or too little is not ideal. Hormones truly do impact our mood and vice versa. Tribulus and Magnesium are great but I haven't tried the others in your stack. Do you have powders or pills? I get my tribulus as a powder and mix in water or milk.

Dr. Huberman has some great advice on this. I found a link to his podcast on the Nexus and have really been deep diving into his recommendations. Its really good. This episode also has information on how to optimise estrogen for advice for our female nexus members too. Check it out

The Science of How to Optimize Testosterone & Estrogen - Huberman Lab
Click to expand...

Thank you for your feedback.

While it's not a complete remedy to some of my issues (like right now where I'm crying for no reason at work...) I do feel a more stable sense of balance and my gym performance has noticeably increased. I've squatted 11 days in row and feel good.

I am taking pills currently. And interesting what you've said about tribulus. That's the one that seems questionable in my stack. Some feel that it doesn't actually help increase testosterone production. Still researching.

And I need to check him out. He's been recommended to me on more than one occasion. Forever learning.

One love
 
Checking in:

Things seem to only be improving, and naturally, as my paranoia dictates, I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop :lol:

One thing that's pretty big for me presently in this augmentation and change is I feel my memory function is back to where I'm used to and what I expect. It was getting frustrating to have information that I was paying attention to get blown away with the wind. Thinking I may start reviewing old information that I feel rusty on (to also see if I'm as rusty as I think).

It's nice to feel like my brain is working...

:love:

One love
 
Vm: Did you have your total and free testosterone tested before you started taking this supplement? I have mine tested yearly to establish a baseline over time.

Good to hear you may have found something linked to improving mood and memory.
 
I remember reading an interview of a well known dutch author who was diagnosed with prostate cancer. They gave him hormone blockers to treat his cancer, and he said that without testosterone everything felt dull and boring, and he found that very challenging.

That made a lot of sense to me.
I still think of my years in highschool and college as the most exciting time of my life.
Testosterone spices up your emotions and everything you feel and experience.

And for women, menopause is often a very unpleasant and emotionally challenging period as well.
 
shroombee said:
Vm: Did you have your total and free testosterone tested before you started taking this supplement? I have mine tested yearly to establish a baseline over time.

Good to hear you may have found something linked to improving mood and memory.
Click to expand...

I have not yet. But I fully intend go have my levels checked and tested (time and money are currently obstacles hindering me). It was something that had been mentioned to me in the past, but due to my age, didn't think it was really likely. Then on a whim I found this supplement, which based on its effects overall subjectively, has me leaning in the direction that I may have low T.

And thank you! It's really refreshing. Just the increase of clarity is allowing for a great deal of better management of my mental health.

dragonrider said:
I remember reading an interview of a well known dutch author who was diagnosed with prostate cancer. They gave him hormone blockers to treat his cancer, and he said that without testosterone everything felt dull and boring, and he found that very challenging.

That made a lot of sense to me.
I still think of my years in highschool and college as the most exciting time of my life.
Testosterone spices up your emotions and everything you feel and experience.

And for women, menopause is often a very unpleasant and emotionally challenging period as well.
Click to expand...

I've been doing more research as of late with regard to testosterone and am seeing more impacts it has on our overall system than I had previously been aware of.

And I've been one to get bored easily, even as a child (perhaps an indicator of ADD or ADHD, but I'm not sure. I tend to assume my attention and focus issues are more related to sensory processing sensitivity; there's an overlap in symptomology between sensory processing sensitivity, ADHD, and autism), but over the past several years it has been really bad.

One love
 
I'll join in on this research. I remember telling you in a private chat, Void, that I was experiencing a loss in libido the last year, so I had my primary care physician run some blood work and I should have the results soon. I'm sure they're normal, and that my ailments are because of work stress, but I'll certainly provide the data when I get it later this week!

shroombee said:
Vm: Did you have your total and free testosterone tested before you started taking this supplement? I have mine tested yearly to establish a baseline over time.

Good to hear you may have found something linked to improving mood and memory.
Click to expand...

Ayooo shroombee, have you noticed any fluctuations or increases or declines in your yearly tests? As stated above, I'll have my results soon, but it will be my very first time checking the levels. Thank you.
 
Toshido said:
I'll join in on this research. I remember telling you in a private chat, Void, that I was experiencing a loss in libido the last year, so I had my primary care physician run some blood work and I should have the results soon. I'm sure they're normal, and that my ailments are because of work stress, but I'll certainly provide the data when I get it later this week!

shroombee said:
Vm: Did you have your total and free testosterone tested before you started taking this supplement? I have mine tested yearly to establish a baseline over time.

Good to hear you may have found something linked to improving mood and memory.
Click to expand...
Ayooo shroombee, have you noticed any fluctuations or increases or declines in your yearly tests? As stated above, I'll have my results soon, but it will be my very first time checking the levels. Thank you.
Click to expand...
Yes, it does fluctuate. I've tested it annually the last four years. Total T ranges from ~600 to ~720, which is good for my age (50+) and not using any testosterone boosters. BTW, we usually quote (or brag about) total testosterone, but the free testosterone number is supposedly more important. My free testosterone numbers also fluctuate in the normal range.

The absolute numbers are not as important as your relative numbers over time. 500 could be high for some but low for others. So whatever numbers you get don't necessarily mean anything right now since you have no baseline to compare them to.

I'll have another full panel of blood tests in about two months. Since I cut out all supplements 8 months ago and changed my diet, I'm curious where the numbers will be - testosterone, cholesterol, etc.

For enhancing libido, have you quit porn, sleeping 8+ hours, eating well, moderate exercise, no alcohol, etc? And an experiment I'm currently trying is to not orgasm. I'm going on 7+ months now. I have once or twice daily sexual stimulation/activity, but not to orgasm. Seems to be working as I look forward to the pleasure every night, which wasn't the case in the past. *shrug*
 
shroombee said:
For enhancing libido, have you quit porn, sleeping 8+ hours, eating well, moderate exercise, no alcohol, etc? And an experiment I'm currently trying is to not orgasm. I'm going on 7+ months now. I have once or twice daily sexual stimulation/activity, but not to orgasm. Seems to be working as I look forward to the pleasure every night, which wasn't the case in the past. *shrug*
Click to expand...

I used to be a big porn guy but not in the last cpl of years. Diet is good. Sleep schedule is absolute trash, I drink quite a lot of alcohol but that's been standard since my 20's. My exercise has been embarrassingly non consistent as well. So... work stress, sleep schedule, and exercise is most likely the culprit, I'm just getting my levels checked to make sure because I'm increasingly thinking about orgasms less and less. It doesn't seem to cross my mind as much as it used to.
 
Toshido said:
I'll join in on this research. I remember telling you in a private chat, Void, that I was experiencing a loss in libido the last year, so I had my primary care physician run some blood work and I should have the results soon. I'm sure they're normal, and that my ailments are because of work stress, but I'll certainly provide the data when I get it later this week!

shroombee said:
Vm: Did you have your total and free testosterone tested before you started taking this supplement? I have mine tested yearly to establish a baseline over time.

Good to hear you may have found something linked to improving mood and memory.
Click to expand...

Ayooo shroombee, have you noticed any fluctuations or increases or declines in your yearly tests? As stated above, I'll have my results soon, but it will be my very first time checking the levels. Thank you.
Click to expand...

Thank you kindly, Toshido :)

And thank you for the understanding on how to interpret the data shroombee.

One love
 
Hello Voidmatrix, I've been trying something similar recently to help boost testosterone and mood, with fairly decent results. Glad to hear that you're having success in tackling this issue.
I know I could see my Healthcare provider and get a script for HRT, but I'm not a big fan of prescription medicine. I'd rather, like you, try my best to address the issue holistically.

My daily regimen is:

D3 125mcg
Panax Ginseng 100mg
L Arginine 2,000mg
B Complex
Creatine 1,000mg
L Theanine 400mg (great for mood)

Been on this for several weeks and all in all, I feel a lot better. The mood swings have become less frequent and less intense, energy level is up and I feel stronger both mentally and physically. I'm sleeping better also.

Hope you continue to have success.

Peace
 
Fourcrows said:
Hello Voidmatrix, I've been trying something similar recently to help boost testosterone and mood, with fairly decent results. Glad to hear that you're having success in tackling this issue.
I know I could see my Healthcare provider and get a script for HRT, but I'm not a big fan of prescription medicine. I'd rather, like you, try my best to address the issue holistically.

My daily regimen is:

D3 125mcg
Panax Ginseng 100mg
L Arginine 2,000mg
B Complex
Creatine 1,000mg
L Theanine 400mg (great for mood)

Been on this for several weeks and all in all, I feel a lot better. The mood swings have become less frequent and less intense, energy level is up and I feel stronger both mentally and physically. I'm sleeping better also.

Hope you continue to have success.

Peace
Click to expand...
Thank you for sharing. While I take a pretty thick stack of supplements amd vitamins (including glutamate, phenylalanine, tyrosine, ashwagandha, ginko, vitamin d, b vitamin, vitamin c, and a few others) there are some in your stack I'm interested in adding. I appreciate the feedback.

One love
 
I also meant to mention that I have also stopped all caffeine intake. My fatigue has been pretty rough this summer and something in my intuition told me to stop caffeine and see what happens. Seems like my long-term use may have had inhibitory effects on certain neurotransmitters and parts of the brain, such as the hippocampus. Have more research to do, but overall, I do feel better, more proactive, and everything doesn't seem so damn hard...

One love
 
i've been on opiates (now in recovery) the past few years and I honestly believe my depression is due to my lack of testosterone. i'm a middle-aged male and shouldn't feel this low and i know there's some connection. pre-opiates i didn't have this issue.
 
I think nowadays with all the junk food, it messes with people's endocrine system causing low T + more depression.

You should get your bloods done VM! It will be interesting to see your levels.

Remember too low estradiol and too high estradiol both can give depression. You should look out for these 2.
 
@famine Thank you. I still want to, it's just about time and money. Life is a bit stifling at the moment. I still want to get tested and see what my levels are though.

Relative to fatigue, I started using caffeine again. After a while not taking any, I was mentally slower and it made the day to day hard. This is likely a result of poor sleep (which can also lower testosterone levels). And sleep has always been an elusive thing to me, maybe because of a stressful home life in my youth.

It's interesting how many things from childhood and adolescence can resurface later in life.

One love

Something I meant to add about my current caffeine use is that I now use it much much later after waking up so that all of the adenosine in my system can be flushed out before caffeine binds to those same receptors, so I'm experiencing less of a crash.
 
Hi,

I quit caffeine for like 6 years now. It will be period when you feel slower and the day harder but once you overcome this you have more energy than ever. And it is real energy. When I used to caffeine pre workout I feel like I have energy but it's synthetic. Not usable.
 
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