[myboobs]

MB,

Thanks for the encouraging words!

Last night was pretty bad. Today's generally been good, but, unfortunately, the night is still young, and things often seem to go south in the evening.

Michelle

May the almighty give you courage and guidence in your time of need . Just remeber the angels are always with you but you have to ask and pray for their help .

[MichelleM]

Thanks again, MB! I really appreciate it!

[MichelleM]

Time for a quick update.

I'm still taking 500-1000 mg PM most days, along with reishi.

Stats (change since 6/23/14 in parentheses)

Weight: 235 (-4)
OB: 43 (-1)
B: 49 (0)
UB: 42 (-4)
W: 43.5 (-1.5)
H: 46 (-2)

I've gotten down below 230 recently, popped back up again last few days (see below). I'm a little disappointed at the measurement changes; are those typical?

Son came completely unglued. Went to rehab for alcohol and marijuana. Just finished 30 residential program yesterday, moved him to a sober living house for next 3 months. Doing much better, but still outpatient counseling, AA meetings, etc. Will have to see if it sticks.

My GD had largely disappeared, but has come roaring back with a vengeance in the last week or so.

[MichelleM]

Sisters,

I could really use any thoughts/comments/support right now. Between our son and my GD, I'm having a really rough time.

[myboobs]

Sisters,

I could really use any thoughts/comments/support right now. Between our son and my GD, I'm having a really rough time.

I believe on this forum we all give each other moral support .
If a question is asked than ppl answer to the best of their ability

God bless

[MichelleM]

Sisters,

I could really use any thoughts/comments/support right now. Between our son and my GD, I'm having a really rough time.

I believe on this forum we all give each other moral support .
If a question is asked than ppl answer to the best of their ability

God bless

Thanks, MB!

[Lotus]

Sisters,

I could really use any thoughts/comments/support right now. Between our son and my GD, I'm having a really rough time.

Hi Michelle,

How's it going?, if you still need someone to talk to give me a shout.

[MichelleM]

Sisters,

I could really use any thoughts/comments/support right now. Between our son and my GD, I'm having a really rough time.

Hi Michelle,

How's it going?, if you still need someone to talk to give me a shout.

Thanks very much, Lotus! Will do! It may be a few days because I'm buried at work (been here at the office all day today (Saturday)).

[bryony]

Hi Michelle,

sorry to be late contributing to this. I haven't much in the way of ideas for your son, unfortunately, but I do know that stress is a lot easier to deal with if the GD is pushed out of the picture, and if you can think straighter, you may be able to cope better.

I don't know how bad you have it, but I find that on a normal day I need 1g (2x500g) ainterol PM on waking and 2 before going to bed. On bad days, I need more. 1g seems to last me about 4-5 hours, so a day's dosage of 4g is not uncommon for me.

That dose gets the GD down to absolute mimimum - for me. Ironically, of course, it makes my breasts grow most effectively.

However, they are only as big as they would have been if I had been born a girl, with my shoulders and ribcage a lot smaller - so proportionately, they aren't too difficult to disguise.

It took about 3 years before the size became noticeable to my family,so for the short term at least I'd recommend upping your PM dose incrementally until the GD goes away. I think you would find it enabled you to address your problems in as calm a way as possible.

My kids just think it that increasingly common problem of late-middle-age - gynecomastia. I joke about my moobs with them on occasion. My wife knows about my GD and is ok with them as long as I don't flaunt them, which I do sometimes when we are alone to tease her.

I don't know if your wife knows about your GD - if she does and you explain how this stuff is known to relieve stress, she might be ok with it.

=======================================

Regarding your weight, it sounds like you are suffering from the all-too-common complaint of insulin resistance that hits most people over 30,thanks to the crazy dietary recommendations that came out in the late 1970s and has been responsible for God knows how many early deaths.

This happens to many people as a prelude to developing diabetes. The constant spiking of your blood glucose after a carb-laden meal overproduces insulin, which mops up all the blood glucose and starts converting it to fat, which meanwhile lowers your blood glucose, triggering hunger shortly after you have eaten - a vicious circle.

The answer is to move from a carb-based diet that seeks to run your body on glucose to a fat-based diet that powers your body on ketones.

To do this, you need to limit your carbohydrate intake to around 50-150g carbs per day. You can test whether you are running on ketones (ketosis) with urine analysis sticks (Ketostix) available from Amazon.

As your body becomes fat-adapted and you eat as our hunter-gatherer ancestors did, you experience the remarkable sensation of not feeling hungry anymore.

Be warned that switching over to a fat-based diet takes a few days, during which time you experience a phenomenon known as "carb flu", but it passes quickly.

The fat we lay down in our bodies is meant to function as a reserve tank, and if you are fat-adapted, when your body runs low on consumed energy, it switches over to that reserve tank seamlessly. If your enzyme balance is carb-adapted, you cannot access that reserve tank without experiencing major hunger. Most people cannot do this, break their diet, and the stored fat is never used.

I've been living this way for over a year now, during which time I've gone down from 182 lbs to 145 lbs. My target is 140 lbs which I hope to achieve over the summer.

The first thing that I would recommend you do is to give up anything that contains wheat in particular but all grains such as oats, rice, maize/corn, etc.

If you only do that, you will find that you should lose quite a bit of weight fairly quickly.

Replace sandwiches and / or pasta lunches with salads based on high-fat foods:
avocados, walnuts, olives, cheese.

Ideally you would keep the ratio of calories obtained by fat, protein and carbs to 80% / 15% / 5%

Significant weight loss would also help you to keep more stress free in dealing with your son's situation, as you would fill fitter and more energetic. I was only able to do it with suppressed GD symptoms, however,

I'd be happy to help with the weight loss stuff if required.

Some google search terms:

ketogenic LCHF Banting Paleo "Low Carb High Fat"

Best wishes

Bryony

[MichelleM]

bryony,

Thank you very much for your post. As time permits (hopefully, soon), I'd like to follow up on your comments.