so I started taking Tom Kennedy about seven years ago in an attempt to help me naturally
recover from ped use that I had quit a few years prior now it had been around three years since I
had stopped using PDS and I felt like I was still experiencing some of the side effects that were
associated with being on PDS and then coming off of them and at the time Tom cataly appeared to
be a fairly promising supplement to help recover testicular function and testosterone production
now since then it has become enormously popular with guys that are trying to increase and optimize
their natural testosterone production however it's been about two years since I've taken it
and so in this video what I want to do is outline some of the reasoning as to why I quit taking Tom
cataly so let's go ahead and Dive Right In now the first and primary reason I stopped
taking ton catalooze because of all these side effects that I started to experience now in the
beginning stages there were only benefits to taking tonkanely benefits to mood and
energy levels as well as stress levels and libido and at the time I wasn't really in the habit of
getting my testosterone tested which I really regret because I don't really know if Tom catali
had an appreciable effect on my testosterone levels however the longer and longer I started
to take Tom cataly the more and more side effects I started to experience and the first one that I
started to experience was irritability now this one is fairly surprising to me because of how
much tonkatalie seemed to improve my mood in the beginning stages of taking it however the longer
I started taking it and presumably the healthier I was getting the less it seemed to improve my
mood and on the contrary eventually started to kind of lead to irritability and somewhat of a
short temper now because Tom cataly can lead to irritability in some individuals a lot of people
like to assume that this is because Tom cataly is increasing testosterone however I don't believe
this to be the case I believe it has more to do with possibly the effects that Tom cataly has on
blood sugar as well as various neurotransmitter levels now there is some research to suggest
that Tom Kennelly does affect blood sugar and specifically lowers blood sugar which in a lot
of individuals might be a good thing but in particular for guys that already have a good
blood sugar level dropping your blood sugar levels when you already have healthy blood sugar levels
can lead to irritability and you see this a lot in diabetics that have low blood sugar they get very
irritable very short-tempered and so this is one of the possible reasons as to why tonkat Ali might
actually cause irritability now when it comes to my specific situation when I started taking ton
catali my diet was a whole lot less dialed in and my exercise regimen was a whole lot less dialed in
as well and so as those things began to improve over the years it's possible that my blood sugar
started to get to a healthier place and that adding the tongue cataly on top of an improved
diet and an improved exercise regimen might actually have began to drop my blood sugar too
low throughout the day and cause that irritability that Tong cataly can cause in some individuals now
according to a genetic test that I recently got back I do appear to be fairly susceptible to blood
sugar dysregulation from a genetic standpoint and so it's entirely possible that I was specifically
experiencing this irritability because of this blood sugar dysregulation that Tom cataly was kind
of exacerbating and now even though it's entirely possible that I was experiencing the irritability
because of blood sugar dysregulation I'm actually more of the opinion that I was experiencing the
irritability because of the effects of tongue cataly on various neurotransmitter Pathways
specifically dopamine now again according to that recent genetic test I am also coincidentally a
uh susceptible to fluctuations in dopamine levels I am a low metabolizer of dopamine
according to the comp to Gene and because of this I'm also highly susceptible to compounds and very
sensitive to compounds that increase dopamine because I can't metabolize the dopamine that
is increased in the central nervous system now because dopamine in consistently high levels
can cause irritability in some individuals I'm personally of the opinion that because Tom cataly
was increasing dopamine and then I was personally not able to properly metabolize that dopamine that
it was subsequently leading to an irritability because of just simply increased dopamine levels
now in a lot of individuals that have normal dopamine metabolism function according to
their specific compt Gene I'm taking things that increase dopamine a lot of times doesn't have a
negative effect and a lot of times actually has a positive effect on mood and a positive effect
on motivation however again for individuals like myself that can't properly metabolize dopamine
and are particularly sensitive to compounds that do increase it there is a large chance of
irritability that I believe was largely attributed to this specific fact now if you guys are anything
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second side effect that I was experiencing from Taking Tom Kennelly that caused me to stop taking
it was joint pain and this one actually took me a while to kind of figure out what's actually from
the tong cat Ali I at the time was just thinking I'm training too hard and I'm pushing myself too
hard in the gym however when I started to take more Cycles off of Tom Kennelly I started to
notice that my joint pain would also go away and is what kind of tuned me into the fact
that it was the tongue cataly that was causing my joint pain and not my trips to the gym now
I used to think this was largely because of Tom kennelly's effects on the estrogen receptors and
pre-clinical trials tongue cataly did appear to be fairly effective and fairly potent at blocking
estrogen receptors and because estrogen is such a potent protector of joint health it led me to
believe that Tong Canali was causing joint pain in a similar manner to things like tamoxifen that
also blocked the estrogen receptor and also cause joint pain however more recent research seems to
indicate that Tom Kennelly does not have an effect on the estrogen receptor now recent Studies have
demonstrated that tongue cataly does not have an effect on gonadotropin output which is something
that you would expect to see if Tom Kennelly was indeed blocking the estrogen receptor and because
because of this this has led me to believe that there are some other mechanism involved that is
leading to joint pain and has led me to believe it is because of some type of immune reaction
related to conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis now rheumatoid arthritis is a condition that is
immune related where the immune system gets over stimulated and tends to kind of act on joints in
such a way that it causes joint pain and because Tom cataly has been shown to stimulate the immune
system it's entirely possible that Tonk Italy is causing joint pain secondarily to stimulating the
immune system and now I personally again appear to be genetically susceptible to inflammatory
conditions and autoimmune conditions which is why I may have personally experienced this type of
side effect whereas some individuals don't however it is one of the primary reasons why I stopped
taking tonkat Ali now at first I started to just simply cycle my intake of tongue Ali as well as
some other herbs I was taking at the time things like ashwagandha I would take them for about a
month and then take a couple weeks off and then take them for a month again however it did get to
the point where I had to start only taking them a few times per week and eventually got to the point
where I just stopped taking them all together and then on top of this it's also worth noting that I
also got to a point where I didn't really feel like the benefits of Tong cataly were actually
outweighing the side effects and what I mean by that is that the benefits weren't things that I
felt like I needed anymore my mood had improved my energy levels had improved my libido had had
improved and this wasn't because of taking the herbs it was largely because I was dialing in
other aspects of my lifestyle I was dialing in my diet I was dialing in my exercise regimen I
was getting more sun I was managing my stress levels better and continuing to take these
herbal supplements on top of of an improved lifestyle was just getting too much to manage
now there were other side effects that I was experiencing such as headaches and insomnia that
I was experiencing somewhat intermittently however another important thing to point out here is just
how unspecified the actions of herbal supplements like Tong catali are as opposed to Pharmaceuticals
that are very specified in their actions and because of that you can kind of predict the
downstream effects and the side effect profiles of those Pharmaceuticals when it comes to herbal
supplements they're a whole lot less specified they have several different mechanisms of action
and work on several different Pathways in the body and oftentimes makes it very difficult to predict
the downstream effects and predict the side effect profiles that are typical in individuals and then
furthermore there just isn't a lot of long-term data on herbal supplements such as Tong Canali I
I think the the longest trials to date are up to three months in length and so beyond that
we just really don't know the uh the long-term consequences of taking herbal supplements like
Tong cataly and because of this also led me to stop taking it at the time I had been taking it
for years off and on and the the question mark of long-term use became so big that I just couldn't
in good conscious continue to take it and then furthermore when it comes to long-term use
there's actually some evidence to suggest that Tom hanelli is not even effective long term there are
some recent data to suggest that yes tonkanely can increase testosterone in the short term but
in the long term tends to decrease back down to Baseline which means that if you're taking it for
the purpose of increasing testosterone that it's not a good long-term Strat and historically this
is how cultures have traditionally looked at herbal supplements like Tong kanali not as a
long-term solution but as a short-term solution to correct various symptoms that you might be
experiencing while you actually address things that really matter things like your diet your
sleep regimen your exercise regimen as well as your sun exposure and your stress management
but when you look at herbal supplements like ton cataly as a long-term solution it can tend
to distract you from addressing the bigger things that matter worrying about your specific timing of
your of your dosage and when to split and how much to take in always tweaking the these measurements
it actually distracts you from addressing the uh the lifestyle factors that actually have a
bigger impact on your testosterone levels your mood and energy levels now I'm not saying to
not take Tong catali I do believe that there are specific situations and scenarios where it
is appropriate to try something like Tong cataly for instance if you're in your 30s or your 40s and
you're experiencing symptoms of low testosterone one it's going to be important to actually get
your blood tested to ensure that you're actually having symptoms of low testosterone but if you do
have low testosterone Tom cataly might be a good approach to implement in order to kind of correct
some of the symptoms of low testosterone while you dial in the rest of your lifestyle or if you're
somebody who is going through a particularly stressful time in your life tonkadeli can also
be used to kind of help mitigate some of that temporary stress while again you correct some
of your lifestyle factors in order kind of either eliminate that stress or to deal with that stress
better I remember a few years ago when my son was born my our second child I Was Taking Tom can only
because I wasn't getting a lot of sleep and so it was improving my mood it helped with a lack of
sleep and was increasing energy levels however it was a short-term solution to a short-term
problem or if you're someone like myself who has a history of ped use and has made the decision to
go completely natural taking something like Tom cataly might be a good idea to help mitigate some
of the side effects of going natural again and help to eliminate those symptoms while
your body re-regulates testosterone production so again there are scenarios where it is appropriate
to take tonkatalie however it's worth knowing and noting the drawbacks and the limitations of taking
something like that now I do have a free guide down in the description that outlines a whole
bunch more supplements that can also be used to help increase and optimize testosterone production
so make sure to check that out down below if you haven't already as well as all the other
cool stuff that I am affiliated with but other than that I think I will see you guys next time