Zinc

[ErgogenicHealth]

Zinc reliably worsens my PSSD symptoms, makes me lethargic and extremely fatigued. I think its cortisol , or 5-HT1a related!

[AdvencedResearchPL]

Zinc is a waste of time 30mg ION / monthly did nothing.

[squirtleSquirtle]

gatogordito, are you still feeling well? I have recently discovered that Zinc/P-5-P/Vitamin K combo works great for me! I guess Zinc played a huge part in my improvement. I also noticed that my results are much better when I combine Zinc with Vitamin K. I am happy to say that I am at 100% improvement so far. I hope my results will stick long term.

That's great to hear!

The past few months have been pretty rough for me and I'm having a hard time figuring out what exactly is going on. I was doing great with 15 mg of zinc, but things started to stagnate and my anhedonia wasn't improving. I tried upping it to 30 mg and after a few days I felt even worse. I stopped taking it and the next day I had a rebound effect where I felt great, much like when I was taking zinc picolinate last year. This lasted for a couple days then I started feeling worse again. So from there I kept lowering the dose and taking it less often. Whenever I lowered the dose, things would improve for about a week, and then I would start to feel worse again. It got to the point where I could only take about 5 mg every few days. But it sucks because I've lost a lot of the benefits from the higher doses of zinc, and from what I can tell my testosterone levels have plummeted.

So now I'm starting to think I may have low copper levels and the zinc is pushing it even lower, causing these bad reactions. When I started zinc over a year ago, I was taking 50 mg of zinc picolinate for nearly 5 months. That's a pretty high dose, especially with zinc picolinate, which I've found to be highly absorbed. I think some of the bad effects I experienced could be explained by low copper:

-I started to experience bad insomnia, where I'd wake up about every 1.5 hour. Sometimes I would wake up with my heart racing. An enzyme called superoxide dimutase (SOD) is low in people with sleep apnea. SOD requires both zinc and copper, so it's possible this is the cause of my insomnia.

-I noticed that I would get depressed and feel stressed after eating a large meal, especially if it was carb heavy. Copper is involved in glucose metabolism, and a deficiency can lead to glucose intolerance (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6363640).

-I may have been mildly anemic. My body temperature has been pretty low (~97.0), I get cold hands and feet, and have pretty bad cold intolerance. Sometimes I'd experience shortness of breath while working out, and have been struggling with cardio. Copper is critical in the conversion of ferrous to ferric iron, which is the form needed for it to be transported into the blood.

I think I may setup an appointment with my doctor this week and get some blood work done. I definitely need to get serum copper, zinc and ceruloplasmin levels checked. Maybe iron levels too.

I've got to get this fixed. It sucks knowing how good it is to feel 100% again, but then having that taken away again. I don't know if vitamin K will help prevent the issue I'm having, but it wouldn't hurt to try! I just hope you don't run into the same issue as me.

Update? How has this all played out for you? Any advice on zinc?

[squirtleSquirtle]

Okay here we go!

I took 50 mg of zinc last night before bed.

Woke up today with like the 5th monrning wood ive experienced in the last 4 years. A welcome feeling to say the least.

Lets see how this plays out over the coming days and weeks. I will keep this thread updated.

After reading this thread last night I studied my diet for a bit and realized I probably had a zinc deficiency independent of anything related to PSSD. That's what prompted me to give this a shot.

[BlackCat]

Zinc helps healthy people with erections too. But most supplements have too many milligrams. I split mine into 4 parts (25mg/4) and it has the same effect on libido as the whole tablet, without the sedation.

[dandelion5]

Do you guys think Zinc would be helpful to women also?

[AdvencedResearchPL]

night erections happen to me, but I wouldn't combine it with sex drive. I noticed that it is related to pressure on the bladder if I drink a lot before bedtime. Probably the bladder cuts off some blood vessels and the blood stays in the penis what you see as night erections.
Only erections count when you don't pee in the morning and don't have a full bladder in the morning.

[PsychoGenesis]

i was wondering why you'd be responding to gluconate better than other forms, like people already pointed it's logP is low so it's brain crossing ability is lower, if zinc is androgenic(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7019230/)
and we know from Meso's research that agonism negatively regulates AR centrally (and upregulates peripherally) then it only makes sense that the water soluble zinc form would be a better(or less worse) option

[Kael]

How are you doing now ?

[ErgogenicHealth]

How are you doing now ?

Still terrible. Unfortunately for me, Cyproheptadine + Inositol + Lactoferrin are the only things that help me.