This ambiguous picture comes up when you search under grave robbing – nothing you can make money out of is sacred. But its entitled grave digger. Digger, robber, it can be hard to tell.
We had an email a few days ago about a young man desperately seeking help who had in good faith taken something he thought would help with hair loss and was now several years later suffering appallingly – both the sexual side effects which some drugs and over-the-counter meds can cause and the social isolation that comes with this.
RxISK began working on PSSD, PFS, and PRSD and the wider withdrawal issues they are linked to to help with cases like this. There is at present very little we can say to young men like this – or young women in the case of PSSD or PRSD.
The RxISK Prize was set up to increase awareness, foster research and prevent people who are in a nightmare situation from turning to ghouls for help. There have always been people willing to trade on the fears and hopes of those who are in a state like this – take their money and expose them to things that don’t work and risk damaging them further.
Many people complain about the pharmaceutical industry who effectively operate a ‘pay us what we want or you will die’ business model. Few mention the Alternative Medicine, Complementary Medicine, Harley Street Medicine, and Transition Medicine rip-off people who can be just as ruthless. The pharmaceutical industry we have today was shaped by efforts to tame the quacks and hucksters who were making ridiculous money from dangerous stuff touted as cure-alls (a lot of psychotherapy can be chucked in here too).
What FDA and EMA and MHRA and Donald Trump and Joe Biden need to realise in doing nothing about PSSD and related conditions, they are laying the ground for a return to hucksterism. See also Stormy Weather.
One of the problems taking the next step with this post is that RxISK has avoided criticising others trying to do something for PSSD and related conditions – because we know we don’t have the answers and its important not to cut off any avenues of research or support. But the two scenarios below are concerning.
A few weeks ago we had this email:
…. back in October I sent you a link from the PSSD Forum regarding potential PSSD research by a pharmacist who also has the condition – Deya Rabbie. Mr Rabbie has experience working in community pharmacies and majored in neuropharmacology. He plans to continue his education in the future. I’m contacting you today on his behalf to share some exciting news and also ask for your help. Mr Rabbie has been in contact with his former university in Egypt regarding PSSD and they have granted him permission to conduct rat studies there with the hope of finding the root cause of PSSD and hopefully a cure. I’ve posted a link to the university website below. He is being assisted by an expert (Mr. Ali) who works at the university and received his MSc in pharmaceutics, excellent with honours. He has experience with cancer research and epigenetic pharmacology They will also be getting aid from several other professors.
(Research proposal as well as CV and certificates are attached)
He promises to be 100% transparent throughout the research. He has come up with these steps after talking at length with the community.
Before the research begins, he will hold a Q&A on the PSSD forum where people can ask him any questions related to the study. Also, he’ll release the one year roadmap for the research and outline how he plans to spend the money that is donated. On top of this, there is a legal notice from the university stating that the research can take place specifically mentioning PSSD.
During the research he will continue to communicate with the community by hosting a bi weekly Q&A about the month’s research and a monthly vlog including footage from the lab. The vlog will focus on the previous months progress and outline the plan for the following month.
On top of this photos of the lab will be shared occasionally and he will also publish a monthly financial report of money in and out.
As you know, we have been waiting for an opportunity like this for a long time and this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for sufferers. It could help to raise awareness of the condition and also lead to a cure which would save many lives. The issue we have is funding. We need to raise $23,000 for laboratory equipment as well as salaries for those involved. This will cover a year of research. Mr. Rabbie has given up his pharmacy job to research PSSD and is only taking the minimum salary required to survive in his country. Mr. Ali has also agreed to work on this full time.
Is there anything that RxISK could do to help like send an email to all sufferers to gain support? Is there anything else that you could offer or suggest? Your endorsement and help would be very much appreciated and are essential for this much needed research to happen. This will put us a big step closer towards finding a cure.
A GoFundMe page will be set up for the research which if funded, can begin with no delay as baseline tests have already been conducted on the rats.
Please don’t hesitate to contact myself or Mr Rabbie ([email protected]) with any questions you have or if you require any additional information.
Perhaps its not but this looks like a scam. The person who sent the email seems taken in by rather than part of what’s going on but he protested vigorously that no this was not a scam. And then another person who really has PSSD jumped in – saying no it wasn’t a scam. Neither have been helped but both seem to think there are lots of people who have been helped, even tho Rabbie himself seems not to have been helped.
What do you think? Would you take help from this source?
A few weeks ago we had this email from someone with genuine PSSD
… could really do with some advice. I’m thinking of taking up a 3 month course with ‘Ryan Michael Ballow‘ he’s a bio hacker and the owner of ‘cortex labs’ have you heard of this man or been on his Web page? nootropics are used in the the 3 month course. Just wanted to know your view as I dont want to waste 3k for nothing? I’m desperate that’s why I’m willing to take risks.
Then we had this email from Ryan Ballow:
I’ll make this brief. I am a biohacker that has been recruited to solve the PSSD puzzle but a handful of men that have the syndrome. I believe the issue is curable. So far, I have gotten some pretty promising results with clients on this. I am not interested in the “prize,” as I work with people on a consulting basis for this, and run an international company. However – I’d like to be in touch with you to share ideas, and generally discuss the matter.
I have had success targeting 5ht1a autoreceptor function, up-regulating dopamine receptor function, fostering hypothalamus release of Oxytocin, and some other targeted approaches. As far as a “cure” goes, to me, at this stage, that seems more like a set of protocols designed to reverse the underlying “bad chemistry,” if you will. I am at the forefront of this. It is a major part of my life.
Shortly afterwards another person with genuine PSSD emailed
The first scenario looks like a scam. The second is more complex.
One of the reasons for a RxISK Prize is to try and keep people and their money and their hopes safe from dodgy research and for what of a better word biohackers. RB doesn’t appear to know much about PSSD – the ideas mentioned are far from cutting edge. Whatever about that, taking 3K off people who will take terrible risks to get better from an horrific condition and then giving them things he knows little about for a condition he likely knows nothing about other than what his clients have told him – fits the Harley Street Medicine bill.
If we on RxISK become aware of anything that genuinely seems to help, we will put it up on the website and tell the world about it instantly and email everyone we know who is affected to let them know and it will all be done for free. These conditions are not something to gouge people over.
But there is another issue here. The marketing by pharma has left many people thinking we can do almost anything with the drugs we have. June Raine the current boss of MHRA seems to think there is no need to warn about PSSD, PRSD, PFS because doctors can cure anything with drugs – after all they can change men into women and women into men. She apparently really said this.
One way to view the current epidemic of Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria in young women, wanting to be men or at least not women, is in terms of a massive biohack – based on the idea we can do anything with the techniques we have. We just need to fiddle around with your bits and we’ll sort you out.
This seems to be a distinctively American way of thinking. Not American only but America first where a belief in techniques and technologies is stronger than anywhere else in the world. The rest of the world almost always follows.
The ROGD epidemic likely links into an American Wellness epidemic – a $4 billion industry where people get checked for all kinds of trace metals and have their hormones tweaked. An industry that corporations fuel as a perk of employment,
The kind of thinking that seems to underpin it is caught (somewhat endearingly) in the Americana musings below. Americans have been thinking this way about their bodies for well over a century and for over 30 years now as Joseph Davis’ Chemically Imbalanced brings out have been talking this way about their emotions too. Many no longer seem to have emotions – they have serotonin and dopamine levels instead.
I’m off X completely… After a couple days, I was randomly emotional and had some memories return that I hadn’t felt/recalled from many years ago. There was a day or two where I could actually feel music, feel the notes. Then came the flu symptoms but of course without a fever. I was always worse at night. Fatigued, achy and anhedonia, and dark thoughts. This really robs you of your empathy and feel like you could witness violence, even happen to someone close to you, and not blink. It’s truly sad. Makes me realize a few small microscopic chemicals and metabolites are what determines being human or not and being a lost soul or not.
The worst of the aches stopped probably 17 days of being completely off. However, I’m still numbed and downregulated or insensitive to much. I have little to no sexual function. Penis is nearly always cold, no erections (except maybe at night when I’m sleeping which makes me question a lowered cortisol level then too). I was on X for about Y years with my increase from xmg to xxmg that really changed me. I gained a couple inches of belly fat shortly after going to xxmg where I used to be slim. Some could be age related… but I’m a bit doubtful as you’ll see.
I share this because I’ve really been reflecting on what’s changed. I’m racking my brain. What characteristics do I remember of myself from my 20s and early 30s when normal compared to now post-SSRI? I used to get colds much easier, had sinus and allergy type issues, was far more excitable, emotional, cried at sentimental things, was creative and could compose music on my guitar/tell jokes off my cuff. I was giddy many times. I had a high libido/probably hypersexual (I saw a study where a group of individuals were considered hypersexual and found to consistently have both high cortisol and ACTH levels compared to the control group). I was also very driven, a bit obsessive compulsive at times, nervous, socially anxious and competitive. Now, often times, I can’t be bothered to be motivated. I’m not nervous or anxious anymore about really anything. I’m usually only physically present but more zombie-like than attached or engaged in the moment. My allergies seem mostly gone. Colds far more seldom. I don’t produce sinus drainage constantly like I used to. I’m not really emotional anymore, good or bad.
This will seem very odd but I remembered a very peculiar trait from before being on X. Please forgive me but I guess it has to be part of the conversation. When I was healthy, whenever I felt the highest libido and when getting aroused, I often felt a wave of drowsiness come and go during that time. Or it happened the most when I felt drowsy. Then I got thinking about antihistamines and that drowsy feeling you get. So it made me research histamine. Did I once have high histamine followed by my body counteracting and is this what I no longer produce well? Is this what is holding me back? Being once under-methylated to now over-methylated? How can I test/tell if this is what happened?
I keep reading people’s stories that they were once hypersexual, maybe had an overly sensitive HP-Axis, always would get anxious, etc. But now after chronic treatment, some people with PSSD only feel anything when extremely hungover if ever. Copious amounts of alcohol raise histamine during hangover, correct? I recall reading people’s stories about only feeling anything after drinking a lot red wine, which raises histamine.
All I can really find is information about wanting to take antihistamines, lower histamine, etc. What if the key is to doing the very thing opposite to what most people without PSSD are trying to do? Rather than lower histamine, we raise it somehow? Force excitability. We are in some repeating loop of insensitive receptors and downregulation. What can we administer to break the repeating loop? Would high histamine possibly re-sensitize the 5-HT1a receptors?
Also, how can I possibly test if X lowered my allopregnenolone levels? Is this not an important neurosteroid that’s often depleted upon chronic ? The men’s clinic I’m working with wants me to start taking pregnenolone 30mg daily, which I would guess could raise my progesterone (which is low at 0.1 ng/ml) and perhaps my allopregnenolone and cortisol? I know I probably don’t want too much progesterone, because I read for males, high doses are what they use to chemically castrate sex offenders in prison.
Some other folks say they took low dose hydro-cortisone over many months (no more than 10-15mg a day perhaps to not necessarily fully suppress or shutdown endogenous production). They then tapered, and their sexual function eventually came back. I just feel like things somehow revolve around breaking this stuck state and rebooting things. Forcing anxiousness over a period of time.
No longer fully naive, I told my wife I will teach my child to take full hormone panel when they are 25 and at peak health to capture their best “settings” in case they ever find themselves needing to “dial” back in someday. Now that data is lost for me since I’m in PSSD and I don’t know where my markers and “settings” are best configured.
The end note is endearing but crazy.
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