need serious help. is aas causing this brainfog?

[colton45]

Ok here we go. i am 19 and mereley dabbled in aas for a year or two only ran one other cycle before this one and it was a weaker superdrol for maybe 3 weeks + pct. about 5 months ago i ran a 5 week cycle of a tren/epi oral. also to add i am an idiot and drank on cycle im giving you all the info in hoping to get some help so please avoid flaming. i had taken a semister off school and everyone was gone at college while i was home. i was lifting hard and then drinking with one other firend id say 3 times a week. during the cycle i got two periods of having the (symptoms) whitch i will list here in a sec. but they only came and went within a 12hour period.
i was getting worried of these so i quit the cycle cold turkey. didnt have a pct ready and went into serious withdrawal / (symptoms) and i vomited for 4 days in a row
symptoms:
no mental clarity
loss of memory
no focus
loss of erections
no morning wood
emotional
feel ok in the morning , horrible symptoms between 4-7 then start feeling a little better at night

the brain fog symptoms are debilitating i dont even feel like myself anymore.
i got a pct called restore by alri and much to my suprise i was completly better within a week!
no more symptoms and i felt great. this lasted for three weeks and i quickly lowered the dose because i thought i had been cured! stupid i know. and then all the symptoms hit me again.
only this time they have been stuck for 4 months. i feel like i cant go on like this. its ruined alot of things for me. by no means was i feeling like this or depressed ect before i used this product.
so i got some blood tests even tho they didnt give me what i asked for.

Total T 329 280-900
Free T 4.4 9.3-26.5
SHBG 38 11-54
LH 1.4 1.6-9.2
FSH 1.8 1.6-8.6
estradiol 21.2 7.6-42.2
prolactin 4.3 4.0-15
i did a 24 hour cortisol and it was mid range i think

also to add i would say i have not gotten good sunlight at all for the last 6 months i had sleep trouble while on cycle and i would go to bed at 4 or 5 and wake up around 3pm and then would stay in the basement where i live untill 8pm then head to work out when the gym isnt busy.
i have tried another otc pct product call post cycle support and did absolutly nothing.
now i am on 25mg clomid ED and have only been on my third day.
if someone could have the heart to chime in and inform me on why my head could be so foggy
from this.
things like am i on the right track to health?
any other tests i should try to get?
do the test results i have make any sence to my symptoms?
i am mostly refering to brain fog i honestly could care less about erections and strength
i need to get myself back i feel in a constant dream.
sorry for the post but im dying inside because i feel theres no hope and why did i fix it the first time but cant now? maybe the finastride guys could chime in seems like im in a similar spot
thank you all
also to note i havnt drank in 4 months

 

[colton45]

sorry also to add not sure if makes any difference but my thyroid came back in good ranges.
yet have very weird eye twiching and cold feet/hands. and depression but only do to my symptoms and less than helpful docter
any type of advice/diagnose will be helpful

 

[colton45]

ahh sorry last thing to add. as you can see im a little forgetfull i also have very blurry vision since this happened, i never had perfect vision but it has definatly gotton worse and also im always getting headach so much that ive gotton used to them. im also open to the fact that this could be more than just one problem but definatly i have to say that before the aas i hadnt had any of these symptoms. maybe neurotransmitters are F'd as well.

 

[BBC3]

You are too young for juice. You are destroying your life!!!! That brainfog you are feeling is the one you will feel every day of your natural life post 35 yrs old. Do you really want that to happen at 25?? Were the results really worth it. First of all I am sure you did not gain more than a little more than usual. Secondly, unless you are a pro body builder, whats the point anyway. You will lay off and it will all be gone.

Enough of that. The product you took called Restore is nothing short of HIGHLY DANGEROUS. Suicide inhibitors are nasty and a poor choice always IMO. Your now current state of suppression probably has something to do with this. Purchasing products like these is riskier than UGL juice in many ways. This should all be controlled immediately as this stuff is going to harm our society worse than any "steroid plague" ever could!!

STOP, RELAX, AND STOP TAKING ALL THIS SHIT. Including the juice!! Its you could not have done too much damage with that short a history. TIME TO TOUGH IT OUT!!!!!!!!!!! Eat healthy, add a little creatine, and continue exervising 3 times a week. Go back in a year and get bloodwork done. At that time you will know if you are a candidate for TRT.

No good can come from steroid abuse at that age. You qualified for the term abuse due to your age and the use of tren at a minimum. You want to feel like this forever??? there are no fixes for hormonal issues that dont simply mean more issues. You break it and its gong forever. Quit now while you are still ahead enough to shake this off. You wont get another chance like this one.....

If anything should tell you I am right. Consider your short lived fun in the gym mirror, and compare that to your current mental hell. Steroids for the propriation of muscle alone, when not professional, or old enough to risk a life of TRT regardless of outcome, IS FOOLISH! They aint all they are cracked up to be. Consider yourself a lucky surviving victim of a current plague of ignorant abuse.. But I think you know that now...

 

[dfein]

You're lucky that you did not get shut down. I've read going on a cycle is often compared to a "second puberty," which would explain being emotional, and it coincides with the times too. As far as the other mental problems go, I can't really say. Clomid at 25mg is too weak. You have to use 50mg every day, and most people use it with Tamoxifen, but you will get stimulation at 50mg every day.

 

[colton45]

by no means am i saying that i want to use again. the thing was that i bought this under recomendation from the guy at my local sup shop and i should go punch him in the face if i had the rage which i dont anymore. so restore is bad huh? well that sucks i was going to turn back to it being that its the only thing that made me feel like myself again. your advice is good however. i was hoping to hear and maybe understand what is causeing this if you could take a guess i was possibly thinking low serotonin due to low T. just understanding would ease my mind. do you think i have i done any perm damage to my brain? its a little strange about the restore making things worse i believe you but i litterally took less than half the bottle. leaves me a little hopeless i have clean and off everything been eating good and lifting. 2 months later and no change.

ill up the dosage of clomid to 50mg everyday. and was gonna try to throw in a natural test booster by week 3. do you think ill be able to regulate this mess? thank you dfein and bbc3

 

[BBC3]

Eat healthy. I am sure you are shut down in many ways. A suicide inhibitor in essence will stop the creation of E2 by KILLING the means in which it happens. You will not be able to restore this natural process until your body restores the enzymes the S.I. has ruined. There has not been much talk about these products to date. I can tell you that 6-oxo was pulled from the market!!

The guy at the supp shop is in business to sell this shit. he most likely knows absolutly noting about nothing. He is in sales and BS will spew from his pie hole at the greatest of ease. YOU WILL NEVER FEEL LIKE YOURSELF again till you forget what it felt like to supp juice. The comlete lack of E is probably your mental problem. Dont worry about serotonin. Dont start an SSRI over this!! regarding the bottle size. There are OTC supps life M1-t and superdrol that will have your nutz shrunk up in two weeks flat!!! They will make you piss blood in 6 weeks. It DONT TAKE MUCH!! OTC supps are IN GREAT NEED OF REGULATION for a reason.

Who knows why you did the cycle. Your body may have even beginning a natural issue. IN YOUR CASE. stop everything except for some creatine for your workout. You dont worry about creating more issues to fix one. you have not gone that far. There is far too much "do yoru PCT" talk out there. This is a phenomenon that applies to pros and users beyond a cycle or two. A real cycle. Stay clean, check your blood in a year. If you are low on T then, it will not be a result of this. And you can safely address with the RIGHT doc at that time. Until then read here all the time. there is much for you to learn about your body and health.

FYI. consider your alcohol use. It is detrimental to health on your levels of drinking at your age. It will also greatly hinder your recovery from this particular situation and you should avoid it for months minimum to stand your best chancese. This is your life. Now start treating it like the most prized possession you have ever researched and coddled. Isn't that what you were trying to do anyway??

by no means am i saying that i want to use again. the thing was that i bought this under recomendation from the guy at my local sup shop and i should go punch him in the face if i had the rage which i dont anymore. so restore is bad huh? well that sucks i was going to turn back to it being that its the only thing that made me feel like myself again. your advice is good however. i was hoping to hear and maybe understand what is causeing this if you could take a guess i was possibly thinking low serotonin due to low T. just understanding would ease my mind. do you think i have i done any perm damage to my brain? its a little strange about the restore making things worse i believe you but i litterally took less than half the bottle. leaves me a little hopeless i have clean and off everything been eating good and lifting. 2 months later and no change.

ill up the dosage of clomid to 50mg everyday. and was gonna try to throw in a natural test booster by week 3. do you think ill be able to regulate this mess? thank you dfein and bbc3

 

[colton45]

ive had e2 tested and it was normal. and also like i was saying i had felt exactly the same after i stopped the cycle than i did when the symptoms came back after the restore. and dude as much as id love to wait a year that one is going to be hard. the state im in has shut down my social life and i dont have alot of drive to do anything. maybe i could try a sensitive estradiol test to see. im rele interested in where the problem lies not just sit around here and pray i wake up fine one day. when my T gets back to norm wil E2 follow?

 

[colton45]

but in any case thank you. you are very insightful and hopefully i am on the road to recovery soon.
i was just hoping to figure out why this can cause this brain fog/little focus. and do anything i can naturally to insure recovery and get on with my life. unfortunatly kids like me and ppl like the guy at the store are why steroids are banned im guessing. i wish he would have laid it to me strait as you have instead of " ive seen people get serious strength gains in weeks on this" as he said. would you guess my levels are low for my age i know i dont have any previous blood work.

 

[chemman]

Hey Colt. Sounds like you're in a situation similar to mine (I'm 22 btw), although the cause of our problems is different. About 5 months ago I tanked my E2 with arimidex while also having low T. It has been awful to say the least! Right now you're probably freaking out! I've been there and done that (and still doing that sometimes). You probably want to know EXACTLY what is going on. Well, you do have one snapshot of your body chemistry and it is informative. I'm no expert, but I know what you're going through because I have some of the SAME problems right now. You have several issues. E2 is definitely one of them. Looking at your bloodwork, YES your E2 is at an acceptable (almost ideal, actually) level. The kicker is that your SHBG looks really high. So all of your E2 is bound to SHBG and can't do much of anything. Look at your free testosterone. It's in the shitter. Your free estradiol has to be the same way.

Now here's some more to think about. So far I've discussed your blood levels. But that suicidal aromatase inhibitor that you used disabled a lot of aromatase enzymes in your peripheral tissue (brain, etc.). These enzymes convert Testosterone to Estradiol for local usage. So with your post cycle levels of T likely being really low, this would already slow down E production in these tissues by virtue of Low T. Add in the fact that you disabled the enzymes that perform the the T to E transformation, and you have a double whammy resulting in BRAINFOG. You probably also have anxiety and depression along with this. I'm surprised that your joints aren't aching and cracking because this is a common problem with low E2. Mine were stuffed when my E2 hit rock bottom. And they still crack all the time.

Here's another interesting thought. I have read some interesting things about the various assays of testsoterone (free, total, bioavailable, etc.) by steroid expert Bill Roberts. The bottom line is that Total Testosterone actually reflects how much SHBG you have in your system and Free Testosterone is a good indicator of HPTA output. You have a lot of SHBG. This might be natural or as a product of Low T (yes, sometimes low T can raise SHBG from what I've read). That's probably how your Total T is even in the 300's right now. Your Free T is wicked low. I had a free T of 9.1 on that scale and I could barely get out of bed. (It must be higher now because I'm here typing this but I'm still having issues). Bottom line is that your HPTA output is pretty damn compromised right now. Too bad we don't have pre AAS labs to verify the extent of change.

How to solve this? Well, the HPTA is pretty resilient. It should come back for you I would think. Your body has a set point of homeostasis and it will fight to get back there. Clearly right now you are not in homeostasis! I've read that it can take up to 18 months to come back on its own so brace yourself. I would think that the clomid is probably a good choice right now, but once again I'm no expert or doctor so proceed with caution. IF you can get things going again and get your Testosterone up with the clomid, you might be able to drive your SHBG back down (Higher Free T can drive down SHBG) and then free up your locking pattern of high SHBG. One thing to note is that clomid activates some estrogen receptors and blocks others, so one would think that it could make some of your psychological problems worse, even though it is hopefully doing the job of bringing T back up. Also, clomid can affect your vision so maybe that's why you said your vision is strange right now from what I remember in your posts. Careful!

That's just my 2 cents right now. Correct me if I've spewed any false info HAN or any other experienced hormone experts but I think most of that is correct and possibly more than your doctor would know/look into. HANG IN THERE DUDE!!!! You pretty much know exactly why you feel like shit, so that puts you one step ahead of the game. Imagine if you had these psychological issues and didn't know why. That would suck even more. I was in your same boat and thought that I had permanently screwed my neurotransmitters. At one point I was so crazy and depressed and anxious that it didn't even occur to me that having low T and E was doing this to me, I just thought that I was going psycho. But looking at things over a span of weeks and months, I know that things are getting better. Some days still really suck even 5 months later but eventually things will be fine. Also, this board is a good place to be and you will learn a lot, but try not to obsess about it even though it's nearly impossible when you feel so shitty you just want to scream. Once again give it some TIME. I did and things are slowly coming back together, even though I might need TRT because I had probably had low T to start!

 

[colton45]

bro to read that brought tears to my eyes. (i blame the clomid) i know exactly what you mean when you said you were feeling crazy. its hard to imagine that a nose dive in hormones can effect your life to this extent. my joints are definatly odd i guess i didnt care because i had so much other shit going on.




as far as treatment im on 25mg clomid ED. i know it can make me feel worse and some days it does. ive only been on it a week so i was gonna push for three more and then taper off. would you think that once my T comes back if it does. that when im done with clomid my estrogen will straighten itself up?

any advice on treatment let me know i hope all is well
and lets stay in touch
colt45

 

[chemman]

I really don't know too much about clomid except that I know some people go with higher doses. I have read some on lower. Depends on the person, which is a major theme in treating hormonal problems. Where did you get the clomid? Can you verify its potency?

One issue that I ran into is that low T and E is going to stress the hell out of your body. I know that my experience stressed my adrenal glands to the max. I was having multiple panic attacks per day and eventually those glands can only take so much. My advice is if you feel one coming on and you feel that immense wall of stress... lie down and try to sleep (if at home). Sleep was and still is a major player in my recovery. Also, try to get vitamin C 3x a day to support those glands. I take some emergen-C 2 or 3x a day and I think it helps.

Lay off the booze. Even though I am doing better, I had my first 2 beers last night in the past 4 months. Felt good at first but then I almost wanted to cry. Stay away.

I would probably lay off the lifts too. Lifting can eat up testosterone and stress the entire body. Yes the endorphins will make you feel better temporarily and yes some lifts potentially raise Testosterone levels slightly but we're looking for stress reduction right now so personally I would not lift. Also with low T, what's the point? It's going to be incredibly difficult to make gains. Also low E2 is terrible for your joints. I lifted through low E2 and now I'm paying the price with joint issues. Learn from my mistakes and chill.

You also might want to find someone to confide in person. This helped me out a lot. Bottling all of this shit up makes it worse. Find somebody to talk to. There's a good chance that people have noticed that you seem off lately and if they bring it up and you trust them... let them know whats up. They don't neccessarily need to know that the AAS caused the low T but it will help to talk about the fact that you are having medical problems and that you need some support. What's done is done and there's no point denying it right now. This doesn't make you weak or unmanly it's really an indication that you are mature enough to recognize that you have a problem and are taking steps towards fixing it. Knowing that people are looking out for you will help you in your recovery.

Best of luck. Careful with the clomid. Hopefully it does the trick.

 

[colton45]

wow i just got recent test labs back from two days before i started clomid and look?

total T 724
free T 17.4
prolactin 23.3 4.0-15 !!!!!!!!
shbg still 38


wtf happened?
i was off all medication at this time for 3 months. and hadnt started clomid.
sure enough i have a little watery milky from my left nip only. what should i do now
could this be the cause of my brain fog? its just too weird almost heartbreaking.
i was convinced i am on the right track and now the latest test showed my T is normal but i still feel like shit. im not sure if a 23 prolactin is high enough to have a tumor? but could be the cause of my vision loss. im just not sure were to go from here. maybe the doc will give me some caber to fix the prolactin?

 

[Trenbologna]

wow i just got recent test labs back from two days before i started clomid and look?

total T 724
free T 17.4
prolactin 23.3 4.0-15 !!!!!!!!
shbg still 38


wtf happened?
i was off all medication at this time for 3 months. and hadnt started clomid.
sure enough i have a little watery milky from my left nip only. what should i do now
could this be the cause of my brain fog? its just too weird almost heartbreaking.
i was convinced i am on the right track and now the latest test showed my T is normal but i still feel like shit. im not sure if a 23 prolactin is high enough to have a tumor? but could be the cause of my vision loss. im just not sure were to go from here. maybe the doc will give me some caber to fix the prolactin?

So what ever happened? Did you figure out your issues or have they persisted? I respect the comments you were getting regarding the ancillary stuff but something else to consider is that for some increasing their testosterone past a certain level straight causes brain fog. I'm not sure if there is literature examining the issue but I can tell you I know of two guys who were very experienced amateur hardcore bodybuilders and extremely smart- one in his 20's and one almost 50. One day they both found that once they went over a certain amount of testosterone it started to cause severe brain fog. The neurological issues could be related to the tren. If so then I'm fairly confident that those would subside as well as the brain fog but there are ALWAYS genetic outliers for virtually everything under the sun. My brothers best friend is allergic to SUNLIGHT.
I also know a guy that is experiencing brain fog from anything over 700mg of exogenous test yet he doesn't seem to see it himself. I told him he needs to back off he refuses to listen. He leaves his bags and equipment all the time. He was always punctual now he is late for everything. I stopped mentioning it because it's his life.
All this said there is also the distinct possibility that you had dirty gear. It's a real thing my man and that dirt can cause literally any number of issues depending on whatever the hell was in the gear. All we can do is use trusted sources or if you can get pharma grade gear then stick with that and ONLY that. Even if it means being restricted to test only.
At the end of the day unless you are a pro the differences between different compounds compared to "test only" aren't substantial enough to justify taking chances with ugl products imho. That said there are more pharma grade compounds then only test. I include those compounds as ones you should stick to if you happen to have the means.
Ugl gear is always to be avoided if you have access to pharma grade stuff. Again my opinion. The risks and damage are substantial enough with pharma grade as it is.

 

[grey]

The issue here is that you are a hypocondriac. AAS is not for you.

 

[Canknucklehead]

This post is from 2009 .

I was going to reply and ask if OP had covid, but I don’t think he’s around anymore. Hopefully he healed up nicely.

 

[Villain]

Would’ve been cool if he came back and updated us.

 

[BBC3]

Would’ve been cool if he came back and updated us.

I saw where you just marked this old thread. I was gonna say that I was not even sure if I wrote that shit. Then I saw the date on it. LOL... I honestly do not believe I authored all that horseshit after my avatar appearances here as some of it does not even look like the LANGUAGE I would use.. A lot was lost when Millard transferred the forum and the big translation occurred. I'd strike half of that shit if I could. Its like looking at something in the twilight zone. Makes me scared to go back on any other stuff that may have been cannibalized. Perhaps I just forget was an ignorant ass and softy I was...

 

[Trenbologna]

I saw where you just marked this old thread. I was gonna say that I was not even sure if I wrote that shit. Then I saw the date on it. LOL... I honestly do not believe I authored all that horseshit after my avatar appearances here as some of it does not even look like the LANGUAGE I would use.. A lot was lost when Millard transferred the forum and the big translation occurred. I'd strike half of that shit if I could. Its like looking at something in the twilight zone. Makes me scared to go back on any other stuff that may have been cannibalized. Perhaps I just forget was an ignorant ass and softy I was...

So Colton45 was you?

Fuck that I'd bump shit from the 80's if I could lol. I absolutely believe the brain fog shit does happen to outliers but that's based purely on the anecdotal. Personally I've never had any type of mental sides on gear. I didn't even get irritable on large doses of trenbolone the one time I did 150mg/day for 6 weeks. Only thing I get is the very first injection of my cycle I always get the cough. Lasts maybe 10-15 seconds. Cytomel gave me anxiety that I remember.

 

[BBC3]

So Colton45 was you?

Fuck that I'd bump shit from the 80's if I could lol. I absolutely believe the brain fog shit does happen to outliers but that's based purely on the anecdotal. Personally I've never had any type of mental sides on gear. I didn't even get irritable on large doses of trenbolone the one time I did 150mg/day for 6 weeks. Only thing I get is the very first injection of my cycle I always get the cough. Lasts maybe 10-15 seconds. Cytomel gave me anxiety that I remember.

No I just saw where I participated in this one and I was unsatisfied with my input. Some of the words look like they got messed up in the website format change translation. Most Notably, I changed my position on suicide inhibitors a bit after some wise education from a member here. I just cant recall if before or after and I honestly did not feel like I was ever that dramatically far to "the left" on that LOL..

It confuses matters a bit when you care about things and see something stroked in the past, but it's not quite 100% in original form or context. Its like swallowing a big ol crazy pill. So its like saying to yourself "I know I did not say quite just that, but I also know I said something similar" -and I can't prove or justify anything in my mind from the current review.... I don't point conspiracy fingers REGARDLESS as it would just be an inherent hazard of the happening of the information transfer.

I just had to say something because of the way the experience of seeing this struck me. While I DO know that not all things got translated properly in the changes, I also know I was growing back then. It's probably an interesting psychological web forum construct that precludes folks from existing at any one place too long. So I also see a scientific psychological experiment in progress.. You know? Do we just trash ourselves at one place till the bridge is burnt beyond return and move on. It really just interpersonal non-sense in my head.

So the long and short is while growth and change is painful, it can really suck to look back into the past. The lessons we learn from these moments. Its like be sure of what you say before you say it. Do we take the risk of saying it at all? Do we say it loud? To speak softly is to risk not being heard by the right forces to help us learn. If you do express with loud intent, the learning is more certain to happen and the pain that comes with. One of the shitty caveats to aging as MATURITY is ACCOUNTABILITY. Which can really suck... I know that not many people are capable of this feat. Still, most times I just wish I could have remained an ignorant stump... At least a more ignorant stump than I am today...

I just took too much on around here which is too much for someone such as myself who foolishly attempts to one day attain "perfection". I can always rest easy in the knowledge, that I am a perfect ass...

In conclusion, I am not strong enough to see into the looking glass of myself. It makes me wonder why I came back around when I knew I should not. It also makes me want to take the easy path and move back on my way. Its been a long strange trip around here indeed...