When pressed for evidence of his cured patients, Ballow claims he instructed them to maintain secrecy, going as far as to have them sign a contract forbidding them to discuss their recovery protocol. He provides various lame excuses for this secrecy, such as their inability to tolerate criticism or drama that occasionally pops up on these forums (which us mods diligently try to contain ) despite that their information could literally save lives, or their inability to not post personally identifying information in an anonymous case report.
I was on the fence about Ballow until some recent DMs. I try to give every user the benefit of the doubt, but his behavior has displayed aggression towards skeptics and tactical evasion of providing evidence, exactly what a scam artist would do. I am not saying for 100% certainty that Ballow is a scammer. It is certainly possible he is trying his best to run a business that he sincerely believes helps people and that he let his anger get the better of him. But that is now a vanishingly small probability in light of his recent behavior. And even if he was not a scammer, he has not demonstrated any innovative expertise on PSSD that would inspire confidence in his ability to treat a complex condition. At best, he's an overconfident amateur health coach with an anger problem. At worst, he's a vile scam artist preying on an extremely vulnerable population.
See the following DMs between myself and Ballow, in which I urge him to provide evidence of his successes, but he resorts to hostility and personal attacks to avoid answering basic questions about his scheme.
rmichaelballow wrote: ↑Wed Sep 21, 2022 2:04 pm Thanks for stepping in. However - the thread shouldn't be locked. This person wanted to take the tone this way, so.. so be it. I honestly think full transparency and differing opinions are a good thing. This argument needed to happen, too. I've sat back and let people like this slander my name and reputation without recourse for too long.
As far as the men I've worked with, as I said, they are not coming to the forum to discuss any of the protocols we've worked together on. Most, if not all of them dislike the forum for its general tone (which I agree is a loud, vocal minority - but that ends up spoiling things for everyone else), and as I wrote in my post, my instruction is for them NOT to go discussing how they got better.
In my line of work, I've seen PSSD be many things. As demonstrated in the video, an identical syndrome can come about from a functional, prolactin secreting pituitary adenoma. I've seen it merely be a matter of optimizing sex hormones and neurosteroids. I've seen it be all of the above, and a dysfunctional dopaminergic system.
But every person has their own unique biomarkers that once optimized, helped THEM to get better, all the way down to B12, Vitamin D, LH/FSH, and thyroid hormones. Not every case is the same.
At any rate - wow. What was initially an attempt to shed light on the dopaminergic side of the condition, as well as the notion that many things can be at the root of PSSD, turned into this. It may be useful for you as moderators to prevent people like this from tainting people's experiences on this forum. Folks like the person I responded to, are literally contributing to what is, consensus, the idea that this place is a toxic cesspool of sullen, down trodden, angry individuals.
Again - I see them as a vocal minority, but the men that come to me do not. It just sours people's experiences, and it's all very unfortunate.
Best.
TalkingAnt wrote: ↑Wed Sep 21, 2022 4:01 pm As a moderator policy we try to minimize drama and keep things civil, and unfortunately that thread stands to continue being a source of it, so I am shutting down the discussion for now.
Regarding your patients, your excuses for why they don't post their recovery stories here are so bad that it increases my own skepticism of your legitimacy. If they are worried about being identified, they can leave out personal details and use a throw-away email (which is hidden from users anyway). If they are worried about drama, they can simply post their case and then never come back. Furthermore the mods will handle disrespectful members. And if they are so afraid of hurt feelings from forum drama that they would give up the opportunity to potentially save lives, I would implore them to look deep into their hearts for compassion for fellow PSSD sufferers.
Lastly, the appearance of you instructing them to remain secretive about their recovery comes off as sketchy as well. It's like you either value making a few grand over countless ruined lives or these patients don't actually exist.
If you are legitimate and honest, I also implore you to look into your own heart and find compassion, as you stand to help many hundreds of PSSD sufferers if you really have working protocols. Your recovered patients could be sources of inspiration for others who are presently on the verge of suicide due to hopelessness. Your protocols could be the basis for open community research, that may even influence scientists who have been known to browse this forum and mention this community in their papers.
If mere profit is your motive, I would argue that having your recovered patients post their stories would increase your credibility and drive more sufferers to seek your individualized advice. Giving away your "secret sauce" would pale in comparison to the increase in interest for your detailed personal guidance/coaching.
Overall I feel you are making a grave miscalculation in how you present yourself to the community, and until things change, you should expect skepticism.
rmichaelballow wrote: ↑Wed Sep 21, 2022 6:23 pm "Ant"
Well - not everyone I've worked with has recovered. I haven't contended I have a 100% success rate. Frankly, the echo chamber of this community, and now interestingly, people like you, get into people's heads, and give them doubt, which leads to compliance issues, which leads to people not getting better.
Profit isn't my motive, exclusively. Yes - I run a business. There is nothing wrong with that. But I offer services to people based on my expertise, NOT based on market opportunities. Did you not see the sentence that read: I reject 95% of potential clients? I'm unsure how that just blew past you and you aren't considering it. This being the case, profit couldn't possibly be the over-arching intention.
Grave miscalculation? Have a look at the people you moderate. If the mods are like this, this community is doomed to sit here endlessly theorizing about the 1A receptor, and other incorrect theories.
Thanks for thinking you understand my business model, and future endeavors. Again - this is the fallacy of the shortsightedness that takes place in these contexts. I am working on a much larger, cheaper solution for this condition. It won't "cure" everyone, because as I said, people's root causes can be different, but it should be able to help a considerable amount of people get better. THAT is the ultimate goal.
Not to be consulting people, because frankly, this vocal minority is entirely too skeptical and beaten down, that they end up acting like the guy I was debating with, and in some sense, you.
Apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
To be honest - though I want to help the people that want help, this angered, snarky, over skeptical, highly critical element of the forum steers SOLUTIONS away, let alone people like me.
I expect skepticism. But there's a difference between skepticism, and downright accusations, or near accusations of a scam, the latter of which is cruel and unnecessary.
Imagine being one of the people that prevents your community from getting help.
THAT'S LITERALLY YOU.
Don't message me again. I wish continued chasing of your tail, to get better. You literally had an open channel with the 1 person that's actually been able to get people better, and this is how you treat it.
Some of you folks really are diseased. Mentally. Seek help.
PS: I'm sorry you were naive enough to take an SSRI.
TalkingAnt wrote: ↑Wed Sep 21, 2022 6:41 pm You did not address any of my concerns regarding your secrecy around former patients posting their stories here. Instead you went on a personal attack against me and the community at large. I will give you one last chance to provide a good, rational argument why you are unable to provide any recovery stories from former clients, otherwise I will publish this chat and let the community know how evasive you are about this topic.
BTW, I am recovered from PSSD, my story is posted on this forum, and I regularly espouse hope and positivity to other PSSD sufferers, as I truly believe recovery is possible. So don't tell me I am dragging this community down.
Your behavior just digs yourself into a deeper hole. If you were hoping to improve this community's opinion of you, you have done the opposite. Surely you must understand that when a non expert shows up to a community filled with vulnerable desperate people and asks for thousands of dollars for a secret cure, it is met with extreme skepticism. When you provide lame excuses for why you cannot provide former client recovery stories and go on the offensive towards skeptics, it makes you look even less trustworthy.
I sincerely hope you are just misguided rather than malicious, but it is increasingly looking like the latter.
Suffice to say, this user has been banned. My apologies to the community for not doing it sooner.rmichaelballow wrote: ↑Wed Sep 21, 2022 7:21 pm I can't help a community that is influenced to have an undertone of extreme skepticism, and learned helplessness, driven largely by people like you.
PLEASE post it. It does not matter to me, because again, I am not here to market. lol. This is the hilarity of yours and the misguided others' perspective on me. That you believe I'm here posting, to stand to gain from anyone here.
As I said - the clients that come to me have their mental faculties together, know how to take instruction, and don't get in the way of their own recovery. Professional, productive members of society, that see the toxicity that comes from this forum, and wants nothing to do with it - but do want to get better.
Am I making myself clear? I. Do. Not. Want. Clients. From. This. Community. Exactly BECAUSE this toxic, negative, THREATENING attitude and demeanor turns people into parroting little minions for the angered crazies here.
I was here to help. You're welcome for the 45 minute long video and TONS of research and work I did for JUST THAT ONE CLIENT, only so I can be called a scammer, and be treated like absolute shit.
POST IT.