Some of my Newer Self-Treaments...

[Andy451]

Recently (6months ago) I came off all psychotropics because they seemed to be exacerbating my POIS symptoms, by numbing me out and making me lethargic. It helped tremendously.

For the last two weeks I have been treating my POIS like an injury instead of an illness and the mindset has helped me use effective methods of treating and coping.

1) I have been icing the region between my genitalia and anus with an ice-pad (not a pack- it is too hard).
        a) It has reduced inflammation in the region and helped with even what seems to be migraine like symptoms.
2) I have been eating a gluten-free/high niacin diet. (peanuts, green beans, mushrooms, steak, chicken, liver, broccoli are all high niacin foods among others) 
        a) Irritable bowel symptoms and indigestion, plus overall energy has improved tremendously.
3) I have been lifting very light weights in short measured amounts
        a) Helps with almost everything
4) I have been going for short runs (1-3mi no more!).
        a) the runs help w/ mental symptoms a lot but ease the physical pain too
        b) do not go too far or you may exhast yourself (I am an athlete and used to run 6mi or more). I have found moderation and measured prolonged energy burst work way better than over-expending.
5) Regular stretching
       a) helps muscle/joint pain
6) Breathing exercises
       a) calm the asthma/panic like symptoms
7) Orgasms only once per wk or every two wks if you can (I have a very high sex drive and this is hard)
      a) a must. But be careful w/ impotence because you may run into more problems in my experience.
      b) Do one thing a day that is sexual but not highly arousing (not masturbation). It will help cull the urges and deal w/ symptoms from a healthy psychological viewpoint. ex(flirtations behavior, experiment w/    alternative sexual practices besides orgasmic or highly arousing ones; within reason and that will not inflame you more)
Stay busy and Social!
     a) I don't know about you but I have the tendency to become a recluse when symptoms act up. You must stay busy w/ your social life or make one, it will help even if you think you cannot.
9) Using the anti-inflammatory as needed.
     a) I prefer to lay down when I take them. And mostly take them for the first two days after an O.
10) Don't stay sitting on hard surfaces or in car for too long.
       a) I find it inflames me tremendously
11) Stay away from comp/tv screens for extended periods of time if you can, given your job.
      a) they give me migraines and everyone's tolerance is diff. My limit is a half hr to 45 mins.
12) Regular sleep with a set routine.
      a) I go to bed early and get up early 10PM to 5AM or8 on some days.
13) Do not ever masturbate or have sex for an extend period of time
     a) you wanna talk about bad inflammation.. 
14) Don't OCD over how uncomfortable or painful symptoms are
       a) Just do things to make them better and move on with my day.
15) Try to plan happy things you want to do
       a) This is very hard for me but it does wk.
16) Stay Positive!



I hope this was helpful. If not, I do not mean to affront or offend anyone.  These things can be hard as hell and I know how tough it is, I'm still learning and trying. This is just what I have been doing and it has been helping a lot during bad flair-up. 

Please feel free to ask questions or give feed-back.

This routine is wking better than anything I have tried

[Colm]

Andy451,

Congratulations on finding a working combination to both get you  off unhelpful medication, and also that helps with your symptom management and health.

There's a lot of usable ideas in there that make common sense.

Thanks for sharing them.

[mellivora]

I agree - they're good observations. Staying busy and social is an important one that is easy to let slip and sometimes you have to force it. Its easy to become a recluse in POIS - an aversion to social situations is pretty much a symptom. However, getting out and being with people usually helps. the difficult bit is feeling you're not yourself and being "not on form" with people you care about. I want people to think of me as the real me not the POIS me and sometimes that makes me avoid social situations. It can be a tough one but usually if I do put myself out there I find afterward that overall I'm glad I did and, despite still feeling I'd rather have been on form,  it feels like less of a wasted time.

Thanks for posting the things that help you cope Andy451

[Andy451]

Np guys. I'm glad you found it useful. And thank your much for the compliments.

I totally agree, socializing can be the hardest thing to deal with at times. But as you said mellivora- about "not on form," ; I get that very same feeling and try to apply my coping strategies.

I was thinking when I looked at your comments that I had forgot to include 3 things in relation to the other self-treatments that may be helpful/useful.

( I should note- Many of these tool and strategies (above as well) have already been mentioned by others in varying degrees by others on the forum yet these are my own adaptations of them and maybe some new things)

1) Take vitamin 100-400mg B2 for the migraines when they are acute or as a daily preventative measure.
     a) It is water soluble and has no side effects except for turning your pee more yellow or orange.
     b) I take 100mg during any acute episode and it seems to help migraine related symptoms in particular.

2) The High Niacin diet helps to keep me good all day as opposed to one larger flush which tires me and is difficult w/ my hypersensitivities.
     a) Through trial and error I have found that the diet helps me more than the supplement. (although I may reintroduce 50mg niacin at a later date) Whatever wks for you is fine. There is credence to the Niacin helping reduce inflammation. It may just depend on tolerance for the flush; I don't know.

3) I may start physical therapy for the "genital region" soon- it's a real thing!
      a) My doctors are looking into "pelvic floor syndrome" as related to POIS... Which has some physical remedies and therapies in my understanding which is limited at this pt.
      b) I will have Imunogobulin testing soon to see what if anything could be going on immunologically (yet this is certainly inflammatory)

4) I have had the "allergy shots" in the past and would not recommend them due to limited success if not regression.  Yet if you want to try that's fine.
      a) Dr. David Resnick (immunologist) in NY provides these shots. I have seen him but not for the shots.
      b) I have seen Dr. Werner for the shots an urologist who specializes in male sexual dysfunction.
      c) A helpful psychologist I have seen is Dr. Christine Hyde specializing in the psychology of sex out of NJ.
      d) Psychiatrists have not helped much as I mentioned...
      e) Neurologists- for the migraines  related to POIS has been helpful and that only.

5) Massage or Chiropractors tend to help ease the physical pain if your insurance covers it or you can afford it.
      a) My own electro-stym unit has helped w/ muscular pain.

6) When I sleep, sleeping on my back reduces symptoms the most...

7) I sit on pillows in the car and on hard surfaces to reduce inflammation. It helps a lot w/ the acute pain and inflammation.

Bring peanuts almost everywhere I go- If i feel like shit, I have immediate small doses of Niacin.

That's all I can remember for now. Again I hope at least some of this was helpful or useful.

[Disaster]

Hey Andy sounds like you are in my neck of the woods. I am in central jersey. You should join the facebook group. Couple ppl from NY on there. Have you heard about the Rutgers group?

[demografx]

Recently (6months ago) I came off all psychotropics because they seemed to be exacerbating my POIS symptoms, by numbing me out and making me lethargic. It helped tremendously.

For the last two weeks I have been treating my POIS like an injury instead of an illness and the mindset has helped me use effective methods of treating and coping.

1) I have been icing the region between my genitalia and anus with an ice-pad (not a pack- it is too hard).
        a) It has reduced inflammation in the region and helped with even what seems to be migraine like symptoms.
2) I have been eating a gluten-free/high niacin diet. (peanuts, green beans, mushrooms, steak, chicken, liver, broccoli are all high niacin foods among others) 
        a) Irritable bowel symptoms and indigestion, plus overall energy has improved tremendously.
3) I have been lifting very light weights in short measured amounts
        a) Helps with almost everything
4) I have been going for short runs (1-3mi no more!).
        a) the runs help w/ mental symptoms a lot but ease the physical pain too
        b) do not go too far or you may exhast yourself (I am an athlete and used to run 6mi or more). I have found moderation and measured prolonged energy burst work way better than over-expending.
5) Regular stretching
       a) helps muscle/joint pain
6) Breathing exercises
       a) calm the asthma/panic like symptoms
7) Orgasms only once per wk or every two wks if you can (I have a very high sex drive and this is hard)
      a) a must. But be careful w/ impotence because you may run into more problems in my experience.
      b) Do one thing a day that is sexual but not highly arousing (not masturbation). It will help cull the urges and deal w/ symptoms from a healthy psychological viewpoint. ex(flirtations behavior, experiment w/    alternative sexual practices besides orgasmic or highly arousing ones; within reason and that will not inflame you more)
Stay busy and Social!
     a) I don't know about you but I have the tendency to become a recluse when symptoms act up. You must stay busy w/ your social life or make one, it will help even if you think you cannot.
9) Using the anti-inflammatory as needed.
     a) I prefer to lay down when I take them. And mostly take them for the first two days after an O.
10) Don't stay sitting on hard surfaces or in car for too long.
       a) I find it inflames me tremendously
11) Stay away from comp/tv screens for extended periods of time if you can, given your job.
      a) they give me migraines and everyone's tolerance is diff. My limit is a half hr to 45 mins.
12) Regular sleep with a set routine.
      a) I go to bed early and get up early 10PM to 5AM or8 on some days.
13) Do not ever masturbate or have sex for an extend period of time
     a) you wanna talk about bad inflammation.. 
14) Don't OCD over how uncomfortable or painful symptoms are
       a) Just do things to make them better and move on with my day.
15) Try to plan happy things you want to do
       a) This is very hard for me but it does wk.
16) Stay Positive!



I hope this was helpful. If not, I do not mean to affront or offend anyone.  These things can be hard as hell and I know how tough it is, I'm still learning and trying. This is just what I have been doing and it has been helping a lot during bad flair-up. 

Please feel free to ask questions or give feed-back.

This routine is wking better than anything I have tried

Excellent. Thanks for reporting, Andy !

[Andy451]

Try an experiment for me...:

Something to consider correlating to the new research.

Upon reading about the Vagus Nerve Simulators and Discussing ear pain on one of the other locations of the Forum; I thought to myself what can I do that is similar to the experimental research but not dangerous...

So, I looked up natural ways of stimulating your vagus-nerve and tripped upon something that made all to much sense to me. Sit-ups or clenching your stomach muscles and breathing exercises (long slow breaths where you temporarily hold your breath) naturally stim you vagus nerve. Which may be why situps and running help me.

But there is more- (vagus nerve location) (Picture for reference)----> https://www.google.com/search?q=vagus+nerve&biw=1680&bih=946&tbm=isch&imgil=Uf14bU03I_JGVM%253A%253B9ftDUvUf31-d6M%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.riversideonline.com%25252Fhealth_reference%25252FTest-Procedure%25252FMY00183.cfm&source=iu&pf=m&fir=Uf14bU03I_JGVM%253A%252C9ftDUvUf31-d6M%252C_&usg=__FY9YZPpy6eBYrORCbk2Wfw6MueM%3D&ved=0CD0Qyjc&ei=1ck0VICXCsunyATsyIHwDw#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=UsmoGht0dDCUlM%253A%3BdLgn2g9se7gmtM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ffaculty.ucc.edu%252Fbiology-potter%252Fcranial_nerves%252Fimg014.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ffaculty.ucc.edu%252Fbiology-potter%252Fcranial_nerves%252Fsld014.htm%3B512%3B384

I got to thinking, how the hell would my vagus nerve be over or under-active? Well it may be a simple pinched nerve, right? Well, where the hell would it be pinched, and why had I had so much ear-pain related to POIS and even as a child? Did my horrible ear-infections do something to me which impaired the nerve itself? Are symptoms caused by simply putting pressure on the nerve anywhere it can meet a hard surface? Why would scuba diving 5yrs ago make my symptoms so much worse?

The nerve itself runs right by the jaw line where your jaw is hinged..

Try an exercise I am trying right now, and is actually reducing symptoms as we speak...Lay down, relax, do some breathing exercises... Now open your mouth wide, very wide and slowly relax your jaw... See if symptoms reduce after 15mins of doing so... Take another 15mins and clench your jaw, and see what happens... Clenched increases symptoms for me wheras open helps. It may be the opposite for you, test it out..

I don't know why this wks, but it does... It is reducing symptoms. I just started doing it tonight, but its wking. Try to notice which ear has more pain or tinnitus in either position and do not lay that side as you sleep. My left ear seems to hurt more.

Try it guys.. I am going to be testing this over the next couple of days... Because the results are bizarrely good and I have no idea why. I just started doing it 1hr ago while laying down for sleep.

Have a good one, and be healthy!