Ketogenic diet is definitly worth the try!

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Gabriel

Hello dear colleagues!

After 3+ months into keto (+ intermittent fasting), it's time for me to share what I learned, hopefully allowing you to improve your overall metabolic condition and your Peyronie's in particular.

I'll try to elaborate as much as possible in order to provide you with very detailed informations and recommendations, but I'll also insert some "TL;DR" beacons for you lazy folks ;-).




Diving into keto

TLDR: beginning ketosis requires a lot of preliminary researches, patience and techniques, but it's not that hard and it's worth it.

Preparation
- Beginning a ketogenic lifestyle mandatorily requires some research, learning and understanding beforehand; if not, you are going to feel like crap all the time, and not get any result.
- To get a full-range spectrum of keto requirements, working and techniques, I strongly advise you to bingewatch the youtube channels of Dr Annette Bozworth, Dr Eric Berg and even Thomas de Lauer (each one just sells a few supplements/book, but they are extraordinary generous and pedagogical in precious information, all verified by my experience; and yes, even Thomas "f*ing De Lauer", which does seem like a steroids irritating jerk at first, but is actually very well documented).
- All sources agree to say that the modalities and duration of keto/fat-adaptation vary a great lot from metabolism to metabolism; just be patient, ease into it, be kind to yourself, and trust the process.


Tips
- For me at least, ketonemia was very affected by the few grams of extra or less carbs I would ingest in one day; I do recommend you start very low (~10g) for at least one month, so you pass the hard period faster.
- Intermittent fasting, and particularly OMAD, do boost ketones production; but do not rush into it during the first weeks, as it will put an extra stress on your body which is already quite struggling to live without carbs, and that could make you feel quite bad.
- For me personally, alcohol consumption does not impair at all ketones production: I measured myself at 2-2.8 mmol/dL the day after 2 to 4 low carb cocktails (vodka + coca zero) or glasses of wine; and I was still hangover. Warning: while drinking on keto, you'll get drunk in one hour and hangovered the day after as if you had drank 5-6 more glasses :D.
- Absolutely measure your ketones systematically during 1-2 months, at least everyday with Ketostix and every other day with keto mojo (yes it's expansive, but it'll save you much time and trouble).






Effects of prolonged ketosis on metabolism and chronic physical or psychical syndromes

TLDR: ketosis and fat-adaptation enhance an incredible number of health parameters, at short, medium and probably long-term.


Prostate problems/CPPS
TLDR: keto almost totally cured my 7 years-long stubborn prostate problems (dribbling, dysuria, polyuria, nocturia, swelling)
- D3 : nothing to report.
- D23 : slight reduction of dribbling after peeing.
- D28: clear reduction of dribbling and nocturia; possibility to drink coffee and tea again without aggravating the symptoms.
- D+3 months: all symptoms almost cured (75-80% reduced).



Severe insomnia
TLDR: keto greatly improved many symptoms of my long-lasting insomnia (late falling asleep, nocturnal awakenings, probable neuropathic/tension pathologies)
- D1-4: less present; falling asleep faster (~1h versus 1h30+); less tingling/numbness in the extremities; much less hearing of heartbeats; very profound sleep (with strange dreams though); awakening energized and immediately operational.
- D4-21: symptoms come and goes, but are globally decreasing; still this profound and reparatory sleep in spite of the persistent nocturnal awakenings.
- D+10 weeks: heartbeats very little perceivable (SO pleasant), others symptoms come and go, but globally same amount of sleep with MUCH efficiency (much more energy throughout the day).
- D+3 months: all symptoms much reduced even further; falling asleep in ~45 minutes, less nocturnal awakening, but may be due to night yoga + lots of magnesium I implemented.



Global energy
TLDR: Keto adaptation may be long and erratic, but it gives you a huge, sharp and constant energy no matter the circumstances
- D1 – 21: global energy at a normal level, random spurs of weakness, but also random spurs of HUGE boosts, accompanied with strange-cool feeling of euphoria.
- Day 21 – now: global energy greatly multiplied, and above all very constant throughout the day: no energy crashes (I mean not a single one) even after a short night and a big meal at 2 PM; less need for sleep (6-7h and waking up ready to climb mountains); ability to constantly think, work, talk, act and switch between tasks astonishingly multiplied.
- NB: at D+3 months, still have random but rare access of physical and mental weakness, that would pass in 1-2 hours, especially if I eat in the meantime; might be due to overdoing intermittent fasting (mostly OMAD), but I'm not worried at all, as according to Dom d'Agostino (PhD and one of the best references) full fat-adaptation could take 3 to 6 months more than 1 to 3 as often mentioned.



Libido
TLDR: keto does not impair sexual function at all, and might even improve it
- D1 – 21: low but not more than usual since I quit porn/masturbation 8 months ago (libido had come and went, but with huge unusual 5-10 days spurs sometimes); possibility to have intercourse without ED.
- D+5 weeks: huge and constant sexual appetite, with never-ending nocturnal and morning erections.
- D+3 months: no more sexual frenzy (for now?), but libido has stabilized to a more than satisfying level, with still massive erections (night and day during intercourse). I consider my ED now almost cured (in fact I think it is but I just can't believe it). I do not think it's specifically thanks to keto, but I do believe with a gut feeling that stopping porn/masturbation did it over the months (I can elaborate in another thread). Anyway, it's absolutely clear that, for me at least, keto does not impairs sexual function!



Mental health
TLDR: Keto dramatically improved mood, mental and intellectual faculties, with a high and constant psychical energy and much less anxiety/depressive spurs
- From D1: sensation of lightness, clarity, energy, focus and lucidity; erratic, with spikes (like being under cocaine but very lucid, smooth and sociable), but never drops below a floor-limit (never feel exhausted, mental energy almost always available and efficient). Contrats A LOT with mood spikes and depressive/anxious spurs I used to have regularly prior to keto.
- From D+3 weeks: very constant mood, always this underlying always-ready mental energy that allows to quickly overcome depressive or anxious spurs when they come, which is rarer and rarer.
- D+3 months: anxiety and depressive spurs very, very rare; physical, mental energy and focus abilities through the roof 95% of the time. Even in my high-level student twenties I did not experience such astonishing intellectual and mental capacities.



Sports performance
TLDR: keto increased HIIT/cardio performance, slightly decreased weightlifting performance but without noticeable muscle loss, and globally increased recovery
- D4 – 20: constant or even increased performance in HIIT cardio (swimming), even fasted; slightly reduced resistant training perfs (-10/15%), but very good sensations, congestion and recovery, even while fasted.
- D+3 months: resistance training performance seem to slowly progress again; no muscle gain along the adaptation phase, but no muscle loss either.



Body composition and aesthetics
TLDR: keto considerably improved my body composition (muscle VS fat) and my global look (silhouette, skin); plateaus should be easy to break
- D20: eating like a dog (I mean like 3000-3800 kcals a day, and I'm 1,79m tall for 74 kg) and still no weight gain; slightly better abdominal and overall muscular definition.
- D+7 weeks: slowly but steady improvement in muscular definition and body fat/muscle ratio; not noticeable on the scale (even my so-called "cutting-edge" body fat measuring one), but very clear in the mirror; complexion and overall skin look much clear and aesthetic.
- D+3 months: hitted a plateau while going back more regularly to 2 meals a day, but still eating like a mad horse; I do feel I can now eat much less and control my hunger, which is very manageable on keto. More weight loss and muscular definition should be very easy to obtain.



Peyronie's pain while in erection
- Sadly, nothing to report here until now, except maybe a slight decrease in pain after 5 weeks, but it's not very significant and may even be placebo.



Peyronie's other symptoms
TLDR: Keto surely allowed me to add more length and time under traction (result: +1 cm back); but did not stop expansion of the inflammation/shrinking elsewhere
- D+2: traction seems easier, with interestingly much more elasticity.
- D+5 weeks: traction definitely easier, added 2 more metal rings on my PRP after 5 weeks while I was stagnating for a few months; can handle 2-3 hours in a row at maximal tension (VS 1-2 before).
- D+21: gained back almost 1 cm (out of ~1,75-2); hourglass seems to have slightly reduced in the distal part, and propagation of the shrinking in this part seems totally stopped.
- D+3 months: bad news: the proximal (lower) part, which I wasn't checking because it seemed totally preserved until now, is also beginning to slowly but steadily shrink, with a new dent on the right... grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.  



Intestinal/gut health
TLDR: Keto might have improved gut health (bowel confort, digestion, colic pathologies), but does not impair it anyway (just go easy on dairy and trust your body)
- D+3 weeks: bloating, stomach pain, indigestion, bad bowel movements, gases and pre-hemorrhoidal/colitis state much improved; BUT this could be also due to the probiotics I started a little before going keto, so I'm not stating anything here.
- D+6 weeks: body seems to allow me to ingest stuff I couldn't anymore (coffee, dairy, eggs...) but literally rejects stuff I used to take even if it gave me some slight side effets: whey protein shakers, BCAA and most alcohols are now out of question (and guess what: I had absolutely NO decrease in performance or muscle mass, and feel much better after my trainings now!).
NB: I do experienced several times a little flare up in Peyronie's pain (flaccid, which is rare) 15-30 min after swallowing shakers of way protein... Most probably because it causes a huge spike in insulin and M-tor signaling (pro-inflammatory, pro-anabolic); I noticed that if I eat the same amout of protein but out of natural stuff (a can of sardines most of the time), it won't cause me any pain. So, be careful guys...


//


Blood test results at D-1 and D+3 months of keto
- Bioavailable testosterone: +20%
- Total testosterone: +80% (off the charts, even higher than the upper standard limit!)
- Insulin, blood sugar and cortisol unchanged
- LDL slightly increased, but still within the correct values
- Triglycerides: -200%!
(- Next week I'll be testing the CRP I forgot, I'm looking forward to see the values!).


//


--> So, I consider all this very encouraging, even if I'm frustrated to not see any improvement in pain, which has been my major symptoms for 19 months now. I'm currently adding prolonged fasts to my keto regimen in order to beat it; I'll keep you up to date and will edit this post if anything cool kicks in :-)!

I hope that helps and will motivate some of you to begin this cool trip to ketosis; in the meantime, stay strong guys ;-)!

Gabriel
- 35 yo, Peyronies Disease with chronic pain, general hourglassing with girth and length loss since 09/01/17.
- Pain almost cured with Hirudoid cream and diet/lifestyle changes (see my topics on this); deformity still here, but partly reduced with traction + VED.

Gabriel

Surprise bonus already: a Dom d'Agostino absolutely fascinating interview at Joe Rogan's; especially around 2 hours, he talks about the effects of ketones on wound healing, specifically for diabete-related lesions (sounds familiar?): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keSoSyu9m7c
- 35 yo, Peyronies Disease with chronic pain, general hourglassing with girth and length loss since 09/01/17.
- Pain almost cured with Hirudoid cream and diet/lifestyle changes (see my topics on this); deformity still here, but partly reduced with traction + VED.

Whyisthishappening

gabriel thank god you made this post because i wanted to post about that scientist and the combo of water fast ketosis and hyperbaric oxygen treatment his has done for cancer i believe it can be translated to Peyronies Disease i will do it later if someone else doesn't before me
alc ,vitamin e, propolis,pde5,NAC,nsaids,olive oil massage,nsaids,aspirin,essential oils cockteils,keto,IF,green tea,coffee

NeoV

Wonderful post Gabriel!

LDL up is normal. LDL does not matter, only the particle size aka vLDL. Trig to HDL ratio is all that matters and keto improves all of this.

Werther

I'm happy for you man.

Do you personally feel like keto diet is better than the traditional medical treatments? Would you recommend keto instead of the latters?

Gabriel

Hey Werther!

Thanks man!!

From all my researches (I'm talking of hundreds of hours on recent studies and conferences, beyond thousands of anecdotical stories which are too numerous, precise and convergent to be just incidental), and from my personal experience, I can now answer a big "YES, I do think so" to your question. I'm not saying I'm 100% sure at all; and no one could. I'm not being dogmatic, either in a way or the opposite one; but I'm now deeply, strongly convinced that yes, diet and fasting habits can cure or at least greatly diminish all these syndroms I mentioned, without the help of any medication.

And that's kind of crazy: one or two year before, I was the strongest advocate of classical, chemical and iatrogenic medicine ever... I couldn't imagine that I would change my opinions in such a fashion; but I changed them for the best.

PS: Neo, thanks a lot man! What you say is 100% in coherence with my researches on the subject, and even my endocrinologist told me not to worry at all. I'm hugely grateful to you, you've been inspirational all along this keto journey, from the beginning to the current days! Special, heartily and warm thanks also to JS, Zippolite, Birdman and Chistopher (I hope I don't forget a buddy!) who have also inspired me on this unsuspected but wonderful path of ketosis :-)
- 35 yo, Peyronies Disease with chronic pain, general hourglassing with girth and length loss since 09/01/17.
- Pain almost cured with Hirudoid cream and diet/lifestyle changes (see my topics on this); deformity still here, but partly reduced with traction + VED.

TonySa

More and more medical research is finding a keto style diet can benefit a host of medical conditions.  I wouldn't mean it can cure any disease completely for all individuals, but it can go a long way in improving ones health.  Thanks for the great post.
PxD 2 yrs 9/16.  Failed all treatment. 9/11/18: excision, grafting & implant Dr Karpman MtnView Ca, AMS CX 18cm + 3-1cm RTEs.
Pump failed.  2/11/20 Dr Karpman installed Titan 22cm +1cm RTE.

Gabriel

Thanks Tony; couldn't agree more!

See this for instance; everything is there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRPqYqa3oLA (the title is obviously ironical!)
- 35 yo, Peyronies Disease with chronic pain, general hourglassing with girth and length loss since 09/01/17.
- Pain almost cured with Hirudoid cream and diet/lifestyle changes (see my topics on this); deformity still here, but partly reduced with traction + VED.