fike
Member
I started feeling like a big ol' bag of mashed up assholes somewhere around the end of 2012. I was constantly fatigued, gaining weight, muscle and joints were tender and painful, blood sugar was high, depression set in, and my knuckles started growing in size. There were dozens of trips to the doctor and enough bloodwork done that every phlebotomist in the VA hospital was on a first name basis with me. What did this bloodwork reveal, you may be wondering? Not a motherfucking thing. I was 27 years old and had a total testosterone level of 235 ng/dl. I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and major depressive disorder. I was prescribed a shit ton of antidepressants and sent to a therapist. Years went by and there was never any improvement and symptoms were progressively getting worse. I didn't know what to do. I was convinced something was mentally wrong with me and accepted this as my life.
I was 28 when I decided that I had was sick and tired of being sick and tired and I had to try something else. This was around the time that the keto diet was picking up a lot of steam, so I decided I was going to give that a try to lose weight and start working out. Within a month of becoming disciplined enough to stick to the diet and perform bodyweight exercises daily, the weight seemed to melt off. I had lost something close to 20 pounds within the first month. I felt like a different person. My joints weren't as inflamed, red, and irritated and my energy levels were through the roof for the first time in years. I remember thinking surely diet and exercise couldn't have such a dramatic effect in such a short period of time, so I began doing some more research. What I essentially came to realize is that when I started dieting I had began an elimination diet of foods that cause massive amounts of inflammation in many people. This prompted me to go to my primary care doctor and talk to him about what had been going on with me. Although my joints were hurting as bad, the swelling and signs of arthritis remained visible (as they still do today). My doctor listened to my prior symptoms and what I had done to achieve some relief and examined my hands. The first thing he said is, "we are going to run an autoimmune panel on you because you show the signs of rheumatoid arthritis." Thank God he did this, because I discovered that I wasn't crazy and there was a clear cut diagnosis as to why I had been having problems all these years. I was diagnosed with system lupus erythematosus and was placed under the care of an awesome rheumatologist.
Now with all that being said, lupus mainly affects women. It is thought to be partially influenced by hormonal factors. Finding this out, I started haphazardly experimenting with different compounds to lower estrogen and raise my testosterone. Enclomiphene was my first compound and I saw some pretty amazing results. At 25 mg per day for 12 weeks, I was able to lower my E2 to 20 and raise my total testosterone to around 850 if I remember correctly. This sent me down a rabbit hole of cycling on and off different SARMs and other compounds for a while and weight training hard 6 days a week. I didn't realize the importance of rest and recovery until a couple years ago when the lupus started flaring up on me and making recovery harder, sometimes overtraining and putting me down for up to 4 days. Knowing what I know now, I progress just fine doing and upper body, lower body, rest day split and taking an extra day if I need to. Listening to what my body is telling me is key. I don't lift competitively and I'm never going to step on stage for a physique competition. The only person I'm competing against is myself and how much I lifted the previous week. I had to learn to leave my ego at the door and not be so hard on myself when I fell short of the mark.
The introduction of exogenous testosterone was a game changer for me in how I felt and the progression of my disease. Even at simple TRT dosages of 140-160 mg per week was enough to put almost put a halt to my flare-ups for the past two years. It lowered my need for opioid pain medication dramatically and spiced up things between my wife and I. This shores up my belief that lupus has something to do with hormones, estrogen in particular. My current TRT protocol is 200 mg per week of test cyp, 100 mg per week of nandrolone decanoate, and 500 IUs of HCG twice weekly to maintain fertility and keep the boys plump. The deca wasn't added to my protocol until around 6 months ago, but within one month, I was almost pain free until night time when I laid down for bed. The deca has done wonders for my joint pain and I don't have a side effects from the 100 mg dose. I am now down to 5 mg of methadone daily for pain management and I feel better than I have in years, other than the occasional muscle tenderness and back pain from breaking my back in the military. I am eternally grateful for these compounds being readily available and I believe they are very underutilized in the treatment of some autoimmune disorders and diseases.
Are there any other members here that have autoimmune issues and if so, have you found your training, diet, and AAS protocol to be beneficial in slowing down or stopping the progression of your disease?
I know that was a long post, but I appreciate y'all pushing through if you read it. I am interested in your experiences and open to trying some of your tactics if you are willing to share. Thanks.
I was 28 when I decided that I had was sick and tired of being sick and tired and I had to try something else. This was around the time that the keto diet was picking up a lot of steam, so I decided I was going to give that a try to lose weight and start working out. Within a month of becoming disciplined enough to stick to the diet and perform bodyweight exercises daily, the weight seemed to melt off. I had lost something close to 20 pounds within the first month. I felt like a different person. My joints weren't as inflamed, red, and irritated and my energy levels were through the roof for the first time in years. I remember thinking surely diet and exercise couldn't have such a dramatic effect in such a short period of time, so I began doing some more research. What I essentially came to realize is that when I started dieting I had began an elimination diet of foods that cause massive amounts of inflammation in many people. This prompted me to go to my primary care doctor and talk to him about what had been going on with me. Although my joints were hurting as bad, the swelling and signs of arthritis remained visible (as they still do today). My doctor listened to my prior symptoms and what I had done to achieve some relief and examined my hands. The first thing he said is, "we are going to run an autoimmune panel on you because you show the signs of rheumatoid arthritis." Thank God he did this, because I discovered that I wasn't crazy and there was a clear cut diagnosis as to why I had been having problems all these years. I was diagnosed with system lupus erythematosus and was placed under the care of an awesome rheumatologist.
Now with all that being said, lupus mainly affects women. It is thought to be partially influenced by hormonal factors. Finding this out, I started haphazardly experimenting with different compounds to lower estrogen and raise my testosterone. Enclomiphene was my first compound and I saw some pretty amazing results. At 25 mg per day for 12 weeks, I was able to lower my E2 to 20 and raise my total testosterone to around 850 if I remember correctly. This sent me down a rabbit hole of cycling on and off different SARMs and other compounds for a while and weight training hard 6 days a week. I didn't realize the importance of rest and recovery until a couple years ago when the lupus started flaring up on me and making recovery harder, sometimes overtraining and putting me down for up to 4 days. Knowing what I know now, I progress just fine doing and upper body, lower body, rest day split and taking an extra day if I need to. Listening to what my body is telling me is key. I don't lift competitively and I'm never going to step on stage for a physique competition. The only person I'm competing against is myself and how much I lifted the previous week. I had to learn to leave my ego at the door and not be so hard on myself when I fell short of the mark.
The introduction of exogenous testosterone was a game changer for me in how I felt and the progression of my disease. Even at simple TRT dosages of 140-160 mg per week was enough to put almost put a halt to my flare-ups for the past two years. It lowered my need for opioid pain medication dramatically and spiced up things between my wife and I. This shores up my belief that lupus has something to do with hormones, estrogen in particular. My current TRT protocol is 200 mg per week of test cyp, 100 mg per week of nandrolone decanoate, and 500 IUs of HCG twice weekly to maintain fertility and keep the boys plump. The deca wasn't added to my protocol until around 6 months ago, but within one month, I was almost pain free until night time when I laid down for bed. The deca has done wonders for my joint pain and I don't have a side effects from the 100 mg dose. I am now down to 5 mg of methadone daily for pain management and I feel better than I have in years, other than the occasional muscle tenderness and back pain from breaking my back in the military. I am eternally grateful for these compounds being readily available and I believe they are very underutilized in the treatment of some autoimmune disorders and diseases.
Are there any other members here that have autoimmune issues and if so, have you found your training, diet, and AAS protocol to be beneficial in slowing down or stopping the progression of your disease?
I know that was a long post, but I appreciate y'all pushing through if you read it. I am interested in your experiences and open to trying some of your tactics if you are willing to share. Thanks.
I actually haven't been able to find too many studies--at least not recent studies--on AAS use to treat autoimmune disorders. I should probably crawl pub med a little more in depth to see if I can find any more nays and yays on the issue.
