AndyJ's Body Enhancement Thread

Totally understand.

Halfway is a hell of an accomplishment.

If you play it right with this keto pause, hopefully not gaining much, you might find you start to lose weight again as you go back on. I remember last time you gained, so this time I guess you need enough carbs to stay out of keto for portions of the day but not so much that you gain more than water weight.

I forgot raw honey as a good source of carbs - if you can find unadulterated raw honey.

I’m not a big fan of honey, but locally-made raw honey is easily available here. I think Mrs. Andy might have some already, she’s into that “artisanal” thing.

Your suggestion of maintaining my diet and strictly controlling additional carbs looks reasonable. No pizza or egg rolls this time.

The endocrinologist took seven or eight vials of blood at the first visit and ran a comprehensive set of labs; I assume she plans to do it on the upcoming visit on the 13th of December. That means I need to start adding carbs next Wednesday. Ideally I could get my doc to do a blood draw for the labs we talked about before then; I need to call his office Monday and see if we can schedule it. Then I’d have a set of labs on keto and off keto only two weeks apart.

During my 30-day PE break I went back to pumping my balls. I’ve been working on them off and on for two years, but time constraints always favored working on my shaft. Now 100% of time was available.

Using the 2-1/8” LeLuv tube with the rolled edge, I set the vacuum to 3” Hg and pumped. I could get anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes before the mouth of the tube started to bite, the scar on the right side of the my scrotum hurt too much to continue, or generalized pain caused me to quit. Considering the guys at newart talk about pumping from four to eight hours at a time, I was disappointed. I did get the “skin thickening” they mentioned, but I also got an itchy scrotum, and eventually chunks of skin started flaking or peeling off.

Hm. Maybe pushed it a bit too hard, there.

I took a week off, my scrotum returned to normal, and I resumed pumping. No pain at all; no “thickening”, no itch. I was setting the timer to 30 minutes; I’d do that, wait 15 to 30 minutes, then hit it again, getting two or three hours per day.

This morning I did several sessions closely spaced, and wound up with a slight thickening and a very mild itch. Well, I know what the limit is, now. Back to manual stretching for a few days to recover.

On the other hand, since I started heavy pumping a few weeks ago, I’m seeing noticeable progress.

I told ya, they react fast. Doesn’t take a whole lot, either, as you’ve experienced. I’m glad you’re expanding the horizon!

My log showed my blood pressure had suddenly jumped up from just over 100 to a bit over 120, averaged across each day. I looked back and found the increase was over a three day period… right after I got a renewal of my Lisinopril prescription. I checked the bottle - same manufacturer, dose 10mg. The pills are marked “10” and look just like the old ones.

Well. Ain’t that a kick in the head.

According to the web, Lisinopril was originally a Merck drug. When the patents expired everyone jumped on the bandwagon - it’s supposed to be the 4th most commonly prescribed drug in the US, and there are at least 21 different companies making it. I’m not sure why; it’s only like $10/mo full retail depending on the pharmacy.

I’ve read a few articles about counterfeit drugs and how they enter the supply chain. Granted 88 million customers just in the US is a big market, but it looks like a counterfeiter would target the more expensive drugs.

The manufacturer listed on my bottle is Lupin. They could have changed their formulation - though I haven’t found anything on the web about that - or they might just be reselling a product made by someone else, and changed suppliers. That’s a legit practice in the US.

Or it might not be Lisinopril at all.

Today is the last day on this keto cycle, and tomorrow I’m stopping all supplements too, until the blood labs on the 13th. I’m tempted to stop taking the Lisinopril for a few days and see what happens.

My blood pressure was running in the 160-170 range when the doc put me on Lisinopril earlier this year. It knocked my BP down to 135-ish, and it has slowly dropped down over the months, down into the 100s, occasionally dipping into the 90s, and every now and then into the high 80s. Both my GP and the endocrinologist asserted that my blood pressure would drop as I lost weight, and I started taking the drug about 75 pounds ago. (yesterday’s weight: 254# - that’s -93# from this time last year) So there’s a small chance that 120-125 could be my normal unmedicated blood pressure now.

Flip side, something has gone wonky and bumped my blood pressure up.

Hmm…

The doc never got back to me about the labs. I suspect he never got the message; he has had lots of office-staff problems over the years. So I’m staying on the diet and I’ll make an appointment to see him in January.

I took the last TRT shot this morning; the next will be a couple of days after I see the endocrinologist on the 13th.

I decided to stay on the supplements as well as the diet.

Now that I’ve been pumping my scrotum for a while it’s loose enough I can get my balls down to where I can use the orchidometer to measure them. So far I’ve only been doing it for four days, but they range to close to both ends of the scale across a matter of hours. I haven’t found anything on the web about that, so I don’t know if it’s something freakish or if it’s just not something that’s talked about.

I’ve gone back to using the heating pad when pumping. I got a three-way power adapter so I could plug it in to the timer along with the vacuum pump; now they both turn on and off together. As happened before, night and morning wood vanished an EQ went to hell. I’ll run with that a few weeks and see what happens.

First 24 hours off the blood pressure med. BP has *dropped* 10 points since yesterday. It will be interesting to see how BP looks over time.

My fingers started getting stiff two or three years ago. Typing speed has gone way down, and it’s hard to do things like control-character key combinations. Accuracy has gone to shit as well.

My hands don’t hurt, at least not like they used to in the mornings before I went keto. There’s no swelling, no sore spots, no “trigger finger”, no tingling or numbness. Just stiffness.

I’ve been doing finger exercises for a month; everything moves properly, it just takes a lot of effort.

From the symptoms I can find on the web, it’s not RSI, not carpal tunnel, not rheumatoid arthritis, and not anything else they mentioned.

Dafuq, dude? [sigh] I’ll keep probing at it.

Meanwhile, I hauled out my old IBM Model F/AT 84-key keyboard. It’s what I learned to type with, and used for twenty years. I wrote a couple of books and a bunch of magazine articles on it, and Baud alone knows how much on BBSs and usenet - just my usenet outgoing mail spool used to average a megabyte per month, which is two average-sized novels. When the rest of the world went to the 104-key keyboards I spent several years with a Model M, trying to make the switch… but the 104s are insanely right-handed, and I’m not. In particular, my preferred editor uses function keys and arrow keys. The fucktarded “inverted-T” 104-key arrow keys are almost impossible for me to use. Maybe if someone has little girly hands, but not my manly hands. I wound up with a “compact” keyboard with not-too-bad of a feel for rubber dome technology and the editing pad was right up against the Enter key, so it was useable. I use the arrow keys all the time; the function keys not so much. But I’ve used it for 12 years now, and it’s starting to have problems.

There were a few problems with the Model F that had to be addressed. Principally, modern computers require an F12 key to get into the BIOS boot manager, and I use that sometimes. I could plug a spare USB keyboard in for those rare occasions. I can’t remember ever having used an F11 key, and I’m pretty sure I’ve never used the right alt key. Virtualbox uses the right control key, but you can change that in the configuration.

I ordered a short add-on keystick that is programmable. As long as it sends the correct scancodes, it should work - I can plug a PS/2 and a USB keyboard in, and most computers will respond equally to either, even Windows boxes. Unless they’re early Lenovo-made “IBM” desktops, which sometimes won’t recognize anything but PS/2 keyboards no matter what OS is running on them.

As soon as the keystick comes in, I’m going to be keyboarding like it’s 1984, baby.

I think my main problem before was that I’d stop pumping before I got onto the results curve. It has been two months of regular pumping now, and I’m seeing noticeable results. I don’t know if they’re permanent, but they last the day between sessions.

In the last couple of weeks I’ve been able to use one of the smaller oval scrotum rings around one ball only. It will stay on the left, but the right is softer and smaller, and it will slip through in 15 or 20 minutes. A while back I made a “fork”; two 8mm rods salvaged from an old printer, with the near ends joined by a small steel block and the far ends rounded off. The spacing between the rods is 11mm, which is the smallest slot on any of my ball weights. I’ve been able to wear it on one ball at a time. This morning, after a 45 minute hot pump, my scrotum was loose enough I was able to get it across both balls. I was still cautious about the rod spacing just in case it restricted circulation, but it seemed OK. It was no problem sitting up and swinging off the bed, walking, or sitting in the chair in my computer room.

Being fairly chilly in there, my scrotum pulled up. I could feel a definite pressure on my balls, but just noticeable, not painful. However, the scar on the side side of the scrotum was under a lot of tension and got definitely uncomfortable. I went ahead and removed the fork at 1h 20m rather than ignore it and power through. The scar has been responding to the Glop and gentle stretching, which eventually cleared the ones on the shaft up, so no reason to damage it just out of stubbornness.

I started my fitness program a year ago at 347#. The “general medical consensus” is that an adult male 5’10” tall should weigh between 149 and 183 pounds, depending on who’s doing the figuring. I’m calling that 175#.

A few days ago I weighed 254#. That’s 93# down, 79# to go.

For extended periods of typing, I’ve started to dictate into my phone. It’s gotten remarkably good at learning my voice, though you always have to go back and make corrections. It absolutely will not get details like “fucktarded inverted-T 104-key,” but it should capture all of the surrounding stuff.

Heh. I’ll post some feelthy peekchurs of my 38-year-old keyboard when I get it cleaned up. Amazing how much scrunge one can collect over the decades and still work.

The big thing about the IBM buckling-spring setup is that when the key snaps over-center, the electrical part is done and the scan code sent; there’s absolutely no question that the keystroke went to the computer. Not like a rubber-dome keyboard, where you have to hit the key hard enough to make good electrical contact, and you can look up and see half the characters missing if you weren’t watching the screen.

I debated for years before making the decision to go back; most of the rest of the world uses the devolved 104-key layout… but in more than 15 years I’m still hunting and pecking on one. And Baud alone knows what horrors lie in “compact” and laptop keyboard layouts.

I also made the decision to go to Dvorak. There are a bunch of alternative layouts; some are “better” (depending on what you’re measuring) than Dvorak, but from looking at them, not *that* much better. Dvorak used to take a special keyboard, or special software, or long and tedious configuration file editing. Now you can just click and select Dvorak on most Linux desktops, or via a simple terminal command. Same for Windows, and Android, and BSD, and even those oddball Apple products.

I also view this as an opportunity to learn proper touch typing. Dvorak should be different enough to break the decades of four-finger typing reflexes.

Over the years I’ve looked at the lot of the “ergonomic” and split keyboard layouts, but most of them still use shitty foam pad or rubber dome keys, and as far as I’m concerned, they all approach things from the wrong angle. They’re usually cupped, and they expect your hands to be pointed down into a specific zone over the board, which might work fine on an old-style typing desk or pull-out keyboard drawer, but not worth a damn on the average computer desk, where the keyboard usually winds up pushed up against the monitor and you type at arm’s length. That’s how I use a keyboard, and I’ve observed that’s how most people type, unless all they’re doing is “data entry” of some sort.

My idea of a proper ergonomic keyboard would look like a pair of boobs; you’d rest your palms and arms on top, and your fingers and thumbs would be the only things that moved; no wrist movement at all. I’ve seen a handful of convex split layouts, but none of them had a palm rest.

I worked the ball fork on this morning after pumping my balls with the heating pad. I wondered what it would feel like with more weight. I stood, looped some paracord around the fork, and hung one of the 3-pound weights I use for hanging. Nope, definitely uncomfortable. I replaced it with a 1-pound weight; I could barely tell it was there. Well, ain’t that somethin’. I walked around the house a bit, and even with the weight swinging it was no problem. I stood at the table sorting old bills and receipts to throw away. After fifteen minutes the scar on the right side was getting distinctly uncomfortable, so I took the weight and the fork off.

It will probably take a while for the scar to stretch properly. But since the scars on my shaft eventually went away, I expect continual stretching and skin softening concoctions will deal with the scrotal scar too.

My exercise routine it split into “bed”, which is ones I can do laying down, “chair”, which are done seated, and “weights”, which are at the other house where the exercise equipment is. The exercise and weight loss have helped my knees and back quite a bit; I’m going to move most of the “chair” exercises to “standing” and do them while wearing the ball weight.

Third day off the blood pressure meds. Low of 97, high of 132, average is around 117.

I’ve been pumping with the heating pad for the last week. EQ dropped to zilch as usual, but by the fourth day it started picking back up, and as of today it seems normal. Maybe you just have to get used to it.

According to two different thermometers the pad runs about 105F, but DAMN that feels hot. Sometimes it’s uncomfortable enough I have to turn it off for a while. On the other hand, it helps keep me warm in the cold weather.

Ordered another male quick connect so I can easily move between the aquarium pump and the breast pump. The male connector is just a simple barb with an O-ring. The tubes come with the female connector, which is a much more complicated piece with a disc valve and a locking device. You’d expect the female connector to be much more expensive, but the price of the male connector is about the same. The tube companies make bigger profit selling replacement parts, but they probably don’t sell many. The female connector is the expensive one, so putting one on every tube costs more. Maybe that’s for the guys who talk about disconnecting and walking around in the tube; even shaved, I never could get a good enough seal for that.

Out of curiosity, I did some research on testicle implants. The human ones are basically FDA-certified derivatives of the ones vets use for dogs and other animals, called “neuticles.” Urologists used to make a cut in each side of the scrotum, like for a vasectomy, and insert them from the sides. The modern method is so make an incision along the scrotal raphe, the line that divides the scrotum. Old-school silicone balls had mounting tabs that were stitched to the side of the scrotum, to hold them about halfway up, which doesn’t make any sense to me. New-style balls are smooth, and simply lay in the bottom of the scrotum, like real balls do.

Implants used to be done only to replace balls removed for medical reasons. Now they’re doing them for guys on TRT, whose balls have shrunk to insignificance. Guys with that generally have balls that ride high, so the doc leaves them alone and the implants go underneath; when the scrotum is fully retracted, the original balls get pushed up into the abdomen, if they’re not usually riding up there already. Supposedly the docs don’t have any problem with manipulation to find tumors, etc. when doing an exam.

It’s simple outpatient surgery and takes about half an hour. Some docs use local anesthesia, some use general. Seems to be generally simpler than a vasectomy.

For that half hour and some silicone balls (the veterinary ones cost about $100-$150), the going price seems to be $5,000 to $6,000. That’d be entirely out of pocket.

[sigh] It’d be a quick and easy solution to the ‘retracted grape balls’ problem, but the Discretionary Spending Budget isn’t anywhere near that.

I had to get up at 0400 and drive to a client site to do some database maintenance. I woke up alert when the alarm went off, felt noticeably good when getting ready to leave, and noticed that I was doing well driving. Same on the way back.

I felt pretty good yesterday, too.

I used to be a reasonably good driver - good enough to be competitive in autocross and run with the fast pack at open track events - but that turned to shit when I got sick a few years ago. For a couple of years I hardly ever left the house, much less drove anywhere. And then the chinavirus hit, and there wasn’t anywhere to drive *to* for quite a while. I noticed a general lack of awareness more than loss of motor control; things would take me by surprise that I should have been alert to. I’ve been driving more in the last year, but my driving hasn’t gotten any better despite my awareness of the problem.

Something *did* change recently, though. I got off the blood pressure meds.

Hmm.

Blood pressure meds in general tend to have a lot of side effects; it’s common for a patient to be rotated through several of them until they find the one with with fewest problems. I did really well with the Lisinopril; just a touch of vertigo, notable mostly when negotiating stairs.

This is the morning of Day 4 off the meds. The highest BP readings are still a bit higher than when on the previous batch of Lisinopril, but the average is still up only slightly, well within normal range. I had planned for a week or two off before resuming taking the med; I expected my blood pressure to climb as the stuff metabolized out of my system. Now, I’m just going to coast along and watch the numbers.

252# this morning. That’s 95 pounds down. The plateau lasted about six weeks.

I’m slightly disappointed I only made it it to 90 pounds down a year after starting, though. It would have been a nice round number. Oh, well.