Ahh ok, my brain was in reuptake-inhibitor mode so I jumped to a conclusion based on stuff I’d read elsewhere. 
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No worries, mate.
Now I must ask… tongkat ali (longjack)… any thoughts on it and/or dosages and/or length of time.
So far I’ve seen 100 to 400 mg per day. If 200 mg per day, perhaps up to 9 months. At 400 mg per day, perhaps for 4 months.
Do you think people need to “ween off it” to prevent any negative effects?
Any thoughts on potential problems with armotase when taking longjack?
The summaries of the safety studies were weird. They were in upwards of 500+ mg per kilogram of body weight. (Who would take that much?!)
Hell No. They’re weird new steroid substances that the government hasn’t gotten around to making illegal yet.
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I have taken Tongkat Ali for some time but I am not sure about the results.
Right now I am taking Ashwagandha which is scientifically proven to lower cortisol and hence slightly increase testosterone
plus Rhodiola rosea (great adaptogen) and sometimes Eleuthero (Siberian ginseng, another adaptogen).
Those two are not directly linked to increasing testosterone but they can make you more resistant to stress and fatigue.
Thanks, man!
Have you heard about KSM-66?
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Yes, I heard about that. It is just a specific form of Ashwagandha but never used it.
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Yes, it’s an extract that is supposed to be more absorbable, and I think it has research to back it’s wellness claims.
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Yes, it is but honestly, I am satisfied with the normal form. But never say never I may be in the future try this one.
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Do you have a comparison of them both from your own experience?
I was taking it for a while, 200mg/day, but didn’t see any improvements. My issue was too-high SHBG though, not just low T, so that probably played into it.
I stopped it cold turkey one day and didn’t see any negative effects, but that’s of course far too small of a data set (N=1) to draw any conclusions from.
It depends entirely on the other hormone levels; IMHO none of this is a “one-size-fits-all” approach, so every person needs to approach it based on their own biochemistry. As for who would take that much… 
I’ve seen people take amounts of stuff that I thought were crazy, and I’ve had those same people think I’m crazy for stuff that felt fine for me… The craziest biohacker I ever knew thought I was nuts for taking 10mg of melatonin at night… so… ?
I’m not a biochemist, so I won’t even attempt to go into an explanation of why they are not steroids, but the one I have used (Ostarine) has a very long safety record, and TBH I still have my gains from it, even after being off it since last summer. Thankfully the only banning of SARMs et al here have been for professional athletes, and since I don’t give a rat’s tiny little behind about sports at all… that doesn’t affect me. heh.
For the record though, I am looking at peptides as a lower-risk approach now, rather than SARMs. No matter what though, it’s my responsibility to do my homework about what’s safe to put in my body.
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I though longjack was supposed to create more free testosterone by unbinding it from SHBG.
I also took longjack a while back but didn’t notice anything after about 3 months.
Thanks for your input, and you too @Deadpool !
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It didn’t seem to do that for me, I only took it for a month or so though, maybe it needs longer to work?
I need to get a new hormones panel done soon anyway as it’s been a long time, so I’ll see where I am. I’ve still got some tongkat ali left, maybe I’ll finish out the bottle.
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Yes. With ashwagandha, it seemed like other adaptogens such as rhodiola and Siberian gensing. Just gentle, almost unnoticeable mellow-ness.
With KSM-66, I took it and WHOA! I felt very mellow. That WHOA effect lasted only a few weeks.
There are other extracts of ashwagandha now available, but I don’t know much about them other than I think they try to extract different compounds in them to have different effects.
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Thanks, man! (I appreciate your expertise.)
The other thing is, a very small study I saw showed widely varied results in how it impacted testosterone levels.
And kindly share with us so we can also benefit. 
I’m no expert in this domain, I’m just a guy who reads a lot and knows how to corroborate data to satisfy his own risk tolerance. I’m actually highly risk-averse, doubly so since I became a father.
Absolutely! As long as everyone remembers I’m just some (anonymous) guy on the internet lol.
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As an example… a popular fat loss drug at the moment is semaglutide. In addition to the high cost and limited availability, I’m steering clear of this one for 2 reasons.
Semaglutide mimics the action of a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) which binds to GLP-1 receptors in the body, which stimulates insulin secretion in response to elevated blood sugar levels. It also helps to suppress the release of glucagon, a hormone that raises blood sugar levels, and slows down the rate at which food is emptied from the stomach.
The problem here is that elevated insulin promotes fat storage, and the main mechanism for fat loss seems to be the appetite suppression. That would suggest that after going off the drug, the weight would return… and this does seem to be what studies show:
https ://diabetes.medicinematters.com/semaglutide/obesity/bodyweight-rebounds-after-semaglutide-withdrawal/20384552 (for some reason this site isn’t letting me link directly to the article)
The 2nd reason is that insulin is a primary driver of cancer growth…
Increasing my insulin levels is not something I want to do, ever. It’s shortsighted and foolish.
So yep. no semaglutide or tirzepatide for me. I also don’t like injections, but… that’s a minor point.
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Only a TRUE expert would have the humility to say this. 
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I know enough about what I know enough about to extrapolate how much I most likely don’t know about what I don’t know enough about. 
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I know! It’s just like it’s hard to know what you need to know unless you know that you need to know it, you know? (Thanks again, mate!)
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