If a person has been self-medicating with natural herbal AAs for about four months, how long does it take for T-levels to return to normal after quitting the AA regimen? The lab test showed testosterone at 20 ng/dL (free t was 2 - whatever the measurement is).
The self-medication has been entirely through raw, natural herbal sources as a tea, not pills from any kind of bottle.
Also, the person in question is concerned about having permanently damaged his ability to produce natural T. Is this a concern after only a few months?
Normal total t range is 350ish to 1100. Having taken t and gone off it twice, I would say 4-5 weeks until it returns to pretreatment level, at most.
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Unfortunately you are asking a loaded question. It could take a few month and then again it might be never. So called natural products haven't been studied for side effects and my be more dangerous/damaging than prescription medication. One example is a member took Sal Pimento which many people take with out issues however he had serious side effects from it that he is still living wth. All you can do is wait and retest in a couple of months and see what happens. I would also suggest the person receive profession treatment should they desire to feminize in the future to reduce the risk as much as possible.
Sal pimento? Do you mean saw palmetto? That's not a true testosterone blocker, but it does block THC receptors. I take it to prevent hair loss, and so do a lot of other women.
The herbs in question are green tea, spearmint tea, red clover, black licorice and white peony.
Your right, Saw palmetto. I know it's not an AA but it also was supposed to be pretty safe. This is the tread I am talking about. (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,195367.0.html) As I said, with a natural product, it's anybodies guess. When I was working on that thread I spent about a week working the web and accumulated several hundred threads on the subject. Most were directly passed to the OP because that was just before I became a moderator and I didn't want to overload the moderators with a pile of off site links. It was enough to make me very wary of any product that claims medical abilities but hasn't been tested.
I once self medicated with medical HRT for about a year. I never tested my hormones but my T must have been suppressed due to the changes I was experiencing. After I quit it seemed like my testosterone was recovering after a few weeks. Later on I did get it tested and it was quite high.
During the time I was self meddling my meds and and dosages were all over the place. Different drugs and different dosages all the time. It started causing me some physical problems like chest pains, high blood pressure, and a lot of weight gain which eventually scared me into quitting.
Conform and be dull. —James Frank Dobie, The Voice of the Coyote
Quote from: Cailan Jade on March 23, 2017, 08:01:28 PM
Sal pimento? Do you mean saw palmetto? That's not a true testosterone blocker, but it does block THC receptors.
Can I pleeeaaasse make the silly joke everybody was thinking about? >:-)
In other news: There are some different substances you can take, and even the herbal ones can inhibit testosterone production. I've also been on herbals for a year or so, and it did in fact help. Before we talk more about that, there's this: testosterone is produced primarily by the testes, and they do so by converting
cholesterol. That's right, the plain old cholesterol you hear everybody complaining about as a health problem is actually the basic building block for 95% of your body's testosterone. Neat or what ;)
That has far reaching implications. For instance; keeping your cholesterol levels high enough is paramount to having your body resume it's natural T production cycle. Don't rely on hamburgers too much though :D
As for the recovery of your testicular function: this wildly varies on your own body and on the medications you've taken. Again: Herbal anti-androgens are anti-androgens, too. They might not be
that effective, but that doesn't mean they don't do anything. What I do know, is that for those of us who've been on medical AA's (cyproterone-acetate, spironolactone) for a year or more, testicular function can require up to 3 years to fully recover. But: that's when taking a proper HRT regimen, so it probably won't be that bad. Also, please keep in mind that testicular function encompasses both the production of testosterone and spermatogenesis, whereas the latter (sperm production) takes a whole lot longer to get upto speed than teststerone production.
Quote from: Cailan Jade on March 23, 2017, 08:01:28 PM
Sal pimento? Do you mean saw palmetto? That's not a true testosterone blocker, but it does block THC receptors. I take it to prevent hair loss, and so do a lot of other women.
The herbs in question are green tea, spearmint tea, red clover, black licorice and white peony.
How well does it work to prevent hair loss? I am taking Finasteride/Propecia at the moment but considering other options, tried Minox a few times but had a bit of a reaction to it and made my eye bags darker/puffy. and irritated my skin a bit.
Quote from: J2J on March 24, 2017, 04:59:28 PM
How well does it work to prevent hair loss? I am taking Finasteride/Propecia at the moment but considering other options, tried Minox a few times but had a bit of a reaction to it and made my eye bags darker/puffy. and irritated my skin a bit.
I've been taking it for about three months now, and at about two months I noticed less hair in the drain and on my hairbrush. My husband started it five months ago, had the same results and more recently his hair is starting to look thicker. Our son, who has serious male pattern baldness going on (in full retreat!), just started taking it a month ago. Any changes for him would be notable so we're waiting to see his results.
Don't take it as a tea, though. The active ingredients aren't water soluble. Get the extract. The two companies with good reputations for quality and dosage standardization are Nature Made and NOW.