49 Comments

Is anhedonia an actual side effect from PT141/MTII or this overblown Reddit hysteria?

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well there was none reported in the actual clinical trials for pt 141

and i don't see any potential mechanism for it to cause that

and anhedonia is one of the most common conditions for hypochondriacs to acquire

and reddit is full of hypochondriacs

so idk

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Dec 22, 2023Liked by BowTied Biohacker

During a 36 hour fast, I checked my blood sugar before bed (24 hrs into fast) and it came back at 79. Checked in the morning (hour 32ish) and it read as 91. What would cause it to rise if I had no food and was deeper into a fast and is 79 considered the actual fasting blood sugar over the length of the fast? Really driving to do a deep dive into blood sugar and all things insulin sensitivity.

Thank you and Merry Christmas!

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Easiest question anyone's ever asked!

Your cortisol is highest in the morning and lowest at night. The higher your cortisol, the higher your blood sugar.

Cortisol does this by 1) activates gluconeogenesis (when your liver converts amino and glycerol into glucose) and 2) by inhibiting the activity of insulin, which is the blood glucose lowering hormone

It would be bad if your BG wasn't higher in the morning. 91 isn't terrible, but I personally like to see 75-80

Morning fasted glucose can improve with diet / fasting

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Dec 22, 2023Liked by BowTied Biohacker

So I have been taking finasteride for a while, I know 5-AR blockers aren't ideal. Taking topical dose of 0.5mg per day with minox to maintain hair. Been taking for around 6 months, have noticed morning wood has decreased significantly BUT erection quality and libido have stayed the same. Is this something I should be concerned about if everything is still working as it should?

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If EQ & libido are the same, that's a good sign. Is it possible some recent changes to your lifestyle has had you waking up in non REM stages if sleep? If that's the case, you'll get regular MW if you start waking up in REM again.

I think its also possible that the reduction in DHT could be a direct cause for the lack of MW. If that's the case, there could be a gradual decline in EQ occurring & potential atrophy, because 90% of the time you're hard is while you're sleeping and the eggplant requires this blood flow to maintain blood vessels.

I wouldn't personally take finasteride, but if I did, id try to counteract this by getting a 5mg daily tadalafil script from my doctor to improve blood flow and EQ to offset this. I'd probably further offset the decline in EQ by using a pump a few times a week. The cool thing is you could potentially end up bigger w/ better EQ despite low DHT. Not medical advice.

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Thank you bro that is super helpful advice and I have been considering taladafil recently. Think firstly im gonna try cistanche + suma root and see if that makes a difference.

Theoretically if you couldn't take finasteride but wanted to maintain hair is there anything you'd do? RU5, pyri etc etc?

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Dec 22, 2023·edited Dec 22, 2023Author

Hard to answer cuz I wouldn't. But prob low dose fin with GHK, bimatoprost, oral castor oil, micro needling & maybe minor

Might give topical dut an experiment too. But literally love the benefits of DHT so much that I run it 3x the natural reference range for QoL & would happily trade my hair for it. Only thing that'd really drop me is prostate issues

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FWIW I've been running 1mg fin 3x a week + 12.5 mg tadalifil EOD with good libido, EQ, and MW. Admittedly some wet dreams when I'm abstinent like I'm 15 again lmao. Not medical advice. My bloods are dialed in overall so that's likely working in my favor as well (test, prolactin, estradiol, etc).

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Any reason you opt for fin 3x a week rather than smaller dose every day? Interesting about 12.5mg tadalifil though. I have to abstain for the next 4 weeks, but after that I will hop on the tadalifil train and get the MW back. Feels very weird without it, definitely a lot less blood flow when flaccid

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Dec 26, 2023Liked by BowTied Biohacker

It's what my health practitioner from Marek recommended. I think it's practically the same as a lower dose daily.

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Gotcha brother. Glad to hear its working! I need to find a pharmacy that offers 0.025% topical fin solution...

Though i am beginning to think my symptoms (no MW) are more to do with lack of vitamin D/sun. Its winter in UK and many days i dont feel sun at all. Back in september + oct i was abroad and in sun all day and it was the most virile I’ve ever felt. Rock hard MW daily, random erections, 10/10 EQ etc. Weird one

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How was your Marek experience? Was planning to do guided optimization but was worried that they're just a TRT mill.

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What can cause sore traps/ neck pain that flares up at random times (not related to lifting). Is this posture or something to do with nutritional deficiency ?

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author

Sounds like something a myofascial release massage & topical magnesoum chloride can easily fix

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what would your brain fog and low dopamine stack look like?

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Depends on the root cause. Are you not going outside and getting sunlight daily? Are you using the blue light filter on your phone and blue block glasses indoors when the sun goes down? Nothings going to replace the 1000s of biochemical reactions that require sunlight & nothing will really offset the damage from the artificial lights or screens either.

What else could cause this? Processed food ingredients, excess sugar, excess omega 6 PUFAs w/ omega 3 deficiency all can contribute to neuro inflammation and/or dopaminergic dysfunction. You can't offset those with chemistry, have to manually fix. Vitamin/mineral deficiency another one. Ever download the free cronometer app and log your food for a week? You'd be SHOCKED how many nutrients you're probably not getting enough of. Choline too, huge cause of brain fog. If you're not eating like 6 eggs a day or getting some liver in regularly, you're probably deficient.

Cheap dopamine? Doom scrolling, videogames, porn, sugar, alcohol, drugs, gambling etc.

Gotta quit those because their detrimental effect on the dopaminergic system is too powerful to fix with a pill.

Good all around supps would be cod liver oil or omegavia EPA, magnesium chloride, magnesium gluconate, agmatine sulfate & black seed oil

If I optimized all the above and took those supps, then id maybe look at some polygamy, saffron, and gingko to further optimize, while deploying sabroxy 2-3x per week on days where extra focus and mental clarity is needed. But definitely check with your doc before hopping on new supps. Hope this helps. Remember: lifestyle & nutrition is 90% of the magic, supplements are 10.

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not qualified to answer this but for me, Methylene blue. Got it from Meraki Medicinal, would recommend

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I second this, MB is amazing stuff.

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What is your lifting/diet protocol for bulking? I’m down to around 10% body fat and looking to add some size (formerly skinny fat)

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Hello, and Merry Christmas! Can you please recommend a stack for skin care? (Ignore if you see this question again, I forgot if I posted it as my app has been a little buggy)

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GHK-CU Serum, like Mirror Skin on Amazon

Adapalene or Tretinoin (this ones an RX)

Perhaps a colloidal oatmeal repair cream

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So it's probably been asked before but what gauge syringes are best for research purposes?

My friend is about to begin a lot of research and for daily injections it seems like you'd want as small a gauge as possible.

What does wisdom suggest?

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31g insulin

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How would you go about addressing Asthma if you had it? Haven't had much success with normal inhalers.

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How do you structure your HIIT cardio sessions? 15-20 minutes with 30-60 second intervals?

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I'd do 20 with 30-60 sec intervals depending on fitness level to start

The way i personally do it is redline in 180s RHR for as long as tolerable and rest the least amount possible. I don't even check the times anymore. But i used to.

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Happy Holidays!

Any advice for peri menopausal weight gain?

Things are changing and my typical diet and weight training are not working to keep myself in shape anymore...

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Prob a 8-12 week cycle of ketogenic diet & IF to restore insulin sensitivity at a true 500-1000 cal deficit calculated on tdeecalculator.net with "sedentary" option selected

I'd also prob prioritize lean protein. 1.5g / lb because proteim has the highest thermic effect of food(youll burn 15% of pro calories simply d digesting it) and it keeps you full

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Dec 24, 2023Liked by BowTied Biohacker

Thanks so much! I'll give this a try!

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Transitioning from a long cut to a sustainable bulk. Any tips to avoid excess fat gain? E.g. Would carnitine help?

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If you cut to single digit bodyfat your insulin sensitivity and a reasonable ~300 cal surplus is all you need

L Carnitine probably won't make a noticable impact

HGH or HGH releasing peptides are probably the only enhancements worth thinking about

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Can you explain how AOD 9604 works to accelerate fat loss? If I add it to a fat loss stack (caffeine 200 mg + Alpha yohimbine + 20 mg cardarine), before fasted cardio, and while running a calorie deficit, how quickly can I expect results? I’ve seen in some spots on the Internet that AOD may not be effective until 12 weeks, is that accurate?

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AOD is a fragment of HGH. specifically, the part of the amino acid chain that's responsible for stimulating lipolysis

Lets say you do cardio and burn 300 calories in 30 minutes. Maybe 130 of those are fat and 170 calories glucose.

Now lets say you do the same cardio, but took AOD beforehand. You'll burn maybe 200 calories from fat this time because the AOD liberates fatty acids from adipocytes, allowing you to use more fat for energy

the 12 weeks thing is BS. it works instantly so not sure why people say that. my theory is that these people were not eating at a deficit or doing fasted cardio.

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Is it safe to take creatine 4x/week after working out if I have had a kidney stone before?

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creatine doesn't cause kidney stones don't worry

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What’s up Bio?? Thanks again for doing this. I have a dosage question when conducting research with a peptide in a dropper. The bottle says 30mg x 30ml. The dropper goes in .1 increments up to 1.0ml. How do you determine the what the dosage is?

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sounds sketchy. 30mg x 30ml? I don't know what x means

Could either mean that there's 30mg in every milliliter or 30mg in the whole 30ml bottle.

i wouldn't take it lol

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Is grounding legit for lowering inflammation, improving sleep, etc.? Seems like there's a lot of conflicting info out there

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walking barefoot outside feels good. i just do it. i wouldn't use it to tackle any of those issues though lol

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