Silymarin (Milk thistle extract)

[Fester]

High dose silymarin (milk thistle extract) seems to have had an permanent positive effect on some of my symptoms. A quick search brings up connections between milk thistle and serotonin, androgen and estrogen receptors, but I am too apathetic to try to understand it.

This happened about a year and a half ago... I hesitated to post about it because I've been suffering from gut problems for the last couple of years and I'm not sure if the silymarin may have made it worse.

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I had been taking milk thistle on and off to see if it helped with my liver, but it never did. Then I read someone who said they took megadoses and it finally helped them produce more bile, so I decided to try it...

I bought some silymarin powder (NOW Foods brand) and empty 00 size capsules. I packed in as much powder as I could in each capsule and weighed them before and after filling. I bought the powder instead of capsules because I intended to take large doses for as long as possible.

Day 1:
I took ~3.5 grams with breakfast, then ~3.5 grams with lunch.
I remember feeling severe anxiety even sitting in my own house, and also extra fatigue. I intended to take another dose with dinner, but skipped it due to these symptoms.
I noticed my flaccid penis was larger, and that night I had nocturnal erections and woke up with a morning erection also.

Day 2:
For some reason I decided to take another ~1.5 gram dose with breakfast.
Again I experienced severe anxiety, so bad when I went outside I could feel it throughout my entire body and had to keep wringing my hands. Probably the most intense anxiety I have ever felt in my life. I experience anxiety as a physical/neurological symptom only with no effect on my mind which is mostly blank and spaced out at all times.
I noticed increased sexual thoughts and feelings.
I decided to stop the experiment for good this time due to the anxiety.

1st day after stopping: Erections and sexuality still improved.
2nd day: Improvements persist, but experience fatigue, headache and nausea
3rd day: Improvements persist, mild nausea
4th day: Improvements persist, headache first thing in the morning, mild irritability
5th day onwards: Improvements persist, no other symptoms

Some of the improvements seem to have persisted permanently. I get nocturnal erections more frequently and sexual stimulation is seems more pleasurable now.

Other improvements like daytime sexual thoughts and morning erections did not persist. I think this may be due to my testosterone levels, as when I take things that seem to boost them, I notice temporary improvements sometimes.

It had no effect on my anhedonia, anorgasmia or any other symptoms.

..

I'm only posting this as an experimental observation, not suggesting anyone try it. I've been unable to resolve my gut issues so it is impossible to say if this worsened them or not. The headaches and nausea in the days following dosing were quite concerning to me as I don't know how safe these megadoses of silymarin are. Judging by the fact I got anxiety from a lower dose the second day it is possible a lower dose would have had the same effect.

It's worth noting that when I took antidepressants they gave me severe chronic depression and suicidal ideation combined with severe social anxiety to the point of being unable to the leave the house. I was a dumb kid and trusted my doctor so continued taking them for 4 years lol. Other people who had different experiences with their medication could have a completely different reaction.