Did estrogen crash cause me permanent symptoms of low dopamine?

[simeoni]

Ok. I read the full study and commented it on a another thread
( https://www.excelmale.com/forum/sho...k-too-much-Arimidex-did-I-screw-myself!/page2 ).

 

[simeoni]

I want to make an update to this thread since I feel that Ive improvement quite a bit. Im still not fully back to baseline - where I was in the fall of 2016.


I think that these persistent symptoms that I have experienced were caused by the numerous E2 crashes that happened in a 10 month period between the fall of 2016 and the spring of 2017.


So what has improved?


1. Libido

- I had months of really low - or even nonexistent - libido. It was really depressing at times when weeks would just pass by without any desire of intimacy with a woman. Now that has changed. I have days were I have a very strong urge that is somewhat distracting at times. Other days id say it's normal for my age - im 30 years old.

Now one thing that I have also noticed is the fact that stress really is the libido killer #1. When I have highly stressful days at my job I feel that my libido is gone. But in my understanding that's completely normal.

2. Agitation and anxiety

- I had a long period where I would always feel slightly agitated. It was always there in the back of my mind. I have only experienced this when I have crashed my E2. This time it just seemed to last for months. Many times this was accompanied with anxiety.

Now I would say that these symptoms are pretty much gone

3. Sense of well being

This has also improved. One of the biggest things that was bothering me was the strong sense of apathy that persisted. Not felt good or interesting. I had no drive at all.

At the moment I would not say that im suffering from apathy. I have a drive and interest toward things. I want to push forward and achieve my goals.

That said. I still feel that my overall sense of well being is not fully back to where it was - before the crashes.


4. Sense of connectedness

I think that was - for me - one of the most disturbing symptoms. At worst I felt so disconnected from my loved ones. This has improved greatly although it's not fully back to baseline.


So overall I feel like i'm about 80% at the moment. Now there is that theory of E2 receptor desensitization - promoted by nurselyfe. I still doubt that it applies to me.

What is clear from the medical literature is the fact that E2 plays an important neuroprotective role - especially regarding the neurons that release dopamine. In light of that I would not be suprised if a prolonged period of low E2 would cause a long recovery in some men. With all the research that I have done, it would seem that the most plausible explanation would be that the crashes I experienced caused some sort of neurological damage from which im recovering.



For me this period has a lot of similarities with the people who have recovered from MDMA use. It just takes a long time for the brain to recover.

So where do I plan to go from here?

Well I think that the main thing is to keep a steady protocol and pull labs now and then. Im actually to take few test's tomorrow to see where my androgens and E2 is.

Like I said I still do not feel like im back to 100% and hoping that things continue to improve. At the moment my main form of testosterone is enanthate. When I see my doctor next fall, I will have to decide if I keep using this or go back to Nebido (Aveed). I guess im somewhat tempted to go back since it was last time I felt 100%. All though it might not had anything to do wit nebido per se. Time will tell. Now I will just keep things steady and pull labs now and then.

 

[13B]

So fast forward another 6-7 months. How do you feel now after your anastrozole induced crashes. Would you say you're a 100%? It has been over 1 year without an Anastrozole, yeah? Cheers. Keen to see if you feel you're fully recovered.

 

[markcrnll]

Very interesting thread. I would love to hear a detailed update. Like as detailed as the last post in regards to comparison to last update as well as comparison to baseline in fall of 2016 with regard to libido, sense of well being, connectedness to others and anxiety. I was also wondering if you were a weightlifter. How is your training going and your bodies response to training and TRT such as fat loss, glucose utilization to the muscles (fullness), water retention etc. Thank you very much for posting this thread!

 

[swolg8r]

@simeoni man I’m going through what you dealt with but with Aromasin. Exact same symptoms still going strong since July 2020. Labs show normal levels. I have noticed maybe minimal improvements to my mental state, etc but it’s amazing how long it’s taking to recover. It’s weird to describe the libido. It’s like a persistent numbness downstairs that refuses to present any sensitivity. Here’s hoping that I improve like you have.