05-06-2012, 08:21 PM
Has anyone any suggestions as to what I should do now? It looks as if I may have to wait at least until August for surgery, and if it was rapidly changing estrogen levels that triggered the initial gall bladder attack, which is possible but by no means certain, I am not certain that I wish to risk another attack in the meanwhile. I have been off PM, as well as off spiro and beta blockers, for more than a month now and have been taking butea superba during that time, latterly also tongkat ali, neither of which seems to have any noticeable effect. J. and I are agreed that any improvement in my conventional male function is to date far too little and will probably remain so. My inclination for the present is to restart RC and FG (which is after all what produced my initial budding) plus perhaps SP (although I suspect my T level is still minimal), pending further developments (hopefully of the right kind). The initial attack was great from the weight loss point of view (10lbs in only a few days) but a lot of it came back as hydration levels returned to normal. Blood pressure seems to have stabilised nicely at good levels. I still seem to be very calm - maybe the butea superba has a calming effect if nothing else? The bruised feeling behind my nipples has gone and the buds seem less firm.
I have been wondering about the potency of the butea superba and tongkat ali that I have used. I started off with BS from Ainterol but since BS products seem to be on Health Canada’s hit list (they have apparently alleged that many contain bootleg Cialis or Viagra analogues) I also ordered some from a Canadian source (since then apparently itself put off the Canadian market by Health Canada). The latter said that it was 30:1 extract (200mg per capsule), while the Ainterol says that it is 500mg of root powder. Both seem equally ineffective. Obtaining genuine tongkat ali seems to be problematical in any case, and one apparently needs at least a 50:1 extract. The Ainterol capsules do not seem to be an extract at all, and their extract is both expensive and does not state its concentration. The product I did get claims to be 100:1 extract but only contains 50mg per capsule, whereas some other sources suggest that you need 1000mg per day of 100:1 extract. I did steadily ramp up the dose on each recommended 5 days on / 2 days off cycle, but again with no noticeable effect.
I have also been taking maca. Way off topic, but I discovered on reading up on maca that it is grown only in a limited area of the Peruvian altiplano between Junin and Cerro de Pasco, which is somewhere that I actually visited fifteen years ago on a railway tour through Peru. This included a round trip on the Cerro de Pasco Railway, which passes right through the area concerned at an altitude of around 14,000 feet. My photographs do show some small cultivated areas. Having noted PattiJT's "Can't decide on a title" thread and some other recent posts by Pansy-Mae, I should note that another participant on that trip was in fact a leading American manufacturer of garden railways (although my own interest has tended more to the full size variety). I did once have a railway building fantasy at our last house, where our land ran back over 1000 yards into the bush through interesting terrain, brought on by the discovery that a local firm of house-movers had hidden in their yard not only three British 2 foot gauge locomotives but also the better part of a mile of track panels. Of course I didn’t have that kind of money and they were known to be unwilling to sell in any case, but it was fun planning a possible layout.
I have been wondering about the potency of the butea superba and tongkat ali that I have used. I started off with BS from Ainterol but since BS products seem to be on Health Canada’s hit list (they have apparently alleged that many contain bootleg Cialis or Viagra analogues) I also ordered some from a Canadian source (since then apparently itself put off the Canadian market by Health Canada). The latter said that it was 30:1 extract (200mg per capsule), while the Ainterol says that it is 500mg of root powder. Both seem equally ineffective. Obtaining genuine tongkat ali seems to be problematical in any case, and one apparently needs at least a 50:1 extract. The Ainterol capsules do not seem to be an extract at all, and their extract is both expensive and does not state its concentration. The product I did get claims to be 100:1 extract but only contains 50mg per capsule, whereas some other sources suggest that you need 1000mg per day of 100:1 extract. I did steadily ramp up the dose on each recommended 5 days on / 2 days off cycle, but again with no noticeable effect.
I have also been taking maca. Way off topic, but I discovered on reading up on maca that it is grown only in a limited area of the Peruvian altiplano between Junin and Cerro de Pasco, which is somewhere that I actually visited fifteen years ago on a railway tour through Peru. This included a round trip on the Cerro de Pasco Railway, which passes right through the area concerned at an altitude of around 14,000 feet. My photographs do show some small cultivated areas. Having noted PattiJT's "Can't decide on a title" thread and some other recent posts by Pansy-Mae, I should note that another participant on that trip was in fact a leading American manufacturer of garden railways (although my own interest has tended more to the full size variety). I did once have a railway building fantasy at our last house, where our land ran back over 1000 yards into the bush through interesting terrain, brought on by the discovery that a local firm of house-movers had hidden in their yard not only three British 2 foot gauge locomotives but also the better part of a mile of track panels. Of course I didn’t have that kind of money and they were known to be unwilling to sell in any case, but it was fun planning a possible layout.