u/Status-Star-8336

Hey guys,

Not sure I even know how to write this but i have a friend whose very odd. He's not a guy i particularly like, however I am a social person who likes having people around that can just entertain themselves whilst I do my own thing and hes perfect for that haha.

I met this guy at a cruising park. He goes almost every night and doesn't hook up all that much. Just likes to watch and talk. Im similar and through proximity we've become "friends" however he has some very disturbing views that unfortunately A LOT of other guys in the park have also "stepped in" during our convos that have agreed with him.

Ill list the following:

1. He believes people with undetectable HIV should legally have to disclose their status before having sex with someone. In my state if you are undetectable you do not have to disclose your status as "U=U". He has bareback sex and doesn't use prep or condoms. Im also not sure he believes HIV is real. Ive tried discussing herd immunity, how you need to protect yourself and you cant expect others to protect you, etc. It falls on deaf ears. He firmly believes people with HIV are disgusting and the problem. I point out how hypocritical and dangerous this behaviour is. As he is the most dangerous category for actually acquiring and transmitting the disease to others. Ive told him that people who are DETECTABLE do have to disclose their status and if caught after transmitting the virus that they would be held accountable, to try and educate him. But nothing but deaf ears. Unfortunately in group chats at the park I have been completely outnumbered on this topic. With all the other random gay guys joining in and adding their 2 cents to say they agree with my friend. Sadly.

2. He believes being gay is a choice. He has never had sex with a woman. Shows no interest in women. But fully believes he will get married and have two kids (or at least wants to). He has never even been on a date with a woman. He won't label his sexuality. But says that if he stayed with his father (he never even met his dad) and stayed in a sport he wouldve been straight. He blames being attracted to men on his mother as he says his mother wanted a gay son and chose a more feminine upbringing for him. He wishes he stayed with his dad and stayed in a sport so he wouldve been only attracted to women. He belives your sexual orientation is a choice that you choose from your "culture". That if you play sports and are around masculinity you will simply choose to be attracted to women. He believes its nature vs nurture. He does acknowledge it may not be a choice for "some people" but not in a conceding way. Ive highlighted the dangers this has as its seems like a conservative talking point and dismisses all the hard work the gay community has done to be accepted and obtain our rights. I believe he is gay. He has no labels but I think he thinks he's attracted to men but will simply change it when its time to have the kids. Ive explained maybe he is bi/fluid so he has the option of choice that he is projecting onto others that don't have that choice. He still disagrees. I believe he was born fluid. He says no one is born anything and its all culture and what youre currently doing. I can't get him to see that he comes to the park and has sex with them BECAUSE he's attracted to men. Its like talking to a brick wall.

3. He believes men are too harshly judged in cases of rape. If a woman shows off her cleverage and gets a man to buy her a drink or goes back to his place, and then she says no. He thinks the blame is on the woman for bringing it upon herself. Ive tried to explain that "no is no" but it falls on completely deaf ears. In primary school I was accused of sexual assault by a girl that didnt like me (im very much gay and always have been and 100% did not touch her) so im also a bit jarred from how women can use their words as power, however that would never ever delude me to undermining cases of rape. But he believes women only cry rape to punishment the man.

4. Dont start me on his thoughts about covid

5. Dont start me on mental health conditions either we could be here all day.

6. Social housing and government policy omg

Ill leave it at that at the moment. There is more unfortunately. I will just add that what ive ascertained is that the guy ONLY thinks "outside the box". Even if its something very simple or definitive he will constantly think outside the box for it. He also doesn't converse like a normal person. He will tell 5 stories within one story and completely go off topic but its always a story that has nothing or barely anything to do with the current topic. Its extremely frustrating and he turns a 100 word remark into an hour long 30k word debate and still doesn't get anywhere near to the point.

For instance he will go back and tell anecdotes from his childhood that just BARELY connect to what we are talking about. He will not let you speak and he doesn't stop speaking. Ive tried to teach him he needs to know how to volleyball in conversations, know his audience, think inside the box, get to the point. He acknowledges it but can't fix it.

Im not asking for help per se, I just kind of want to know what to do with him or what you do with these people. He has a kind heart and is a nice person and I like having him around for some reason but I also recognise his views are quite embarrassing and quite frankly damaging. I can cut him off but I also just think maybe he's too stupid to understand reality and feel sorry for him.

I will add im also quite stubborn and like to get my point across in a very direct, succinct and "in the box" way which im realising just may not be possible with him and its time to move on.

Back ground:

25. I took finasteride. Severe side effects. Tapered off slowly after a month. Completely recovered.

26. I took minoxidil foam. NO warning label. Severe side effects. Stopped abruptly. Severe crash. Still the same 7 years later. Came to find out later the foam had a strong anti androgen mixed in aswell but was only listed in the ingredients.

Im now almost 34.

Ive had every test imaginable. Spent thousands of dollars on supplements, tests, etc.

Recently I had my bloods tested again.

I was surprised. Low Test/free test. High LH and FSH. High estradiol but not over.

Whats interesting is everything points to primary hypogonadism. That's my testicles are the problem. Not my brain. However after my crash I only had neurological issues. I got visual snow syndrome. Twitches. Spasms. My left foot became permanently numb. Etc, etc.

Yet all my bloods point to my testicles being the issue.

As per my drs advice and also using chatgpt I started TRT.

Which did nothing for my libido or erections at all. It only gave me pretty bad acne and made me unable to sleep.

Its all just so confusing. My bloods say its my testicles not working. My body says its my brain.

I stopped TRT and now ive completely crashed again (however this is a normal crash i expect after anyone stops TRT, not a PFS crash so im not freaking out)

I dont know whether to go back on TRT and just commit to it for life like my blood tests are saying.

Or listen to my body and just acknowledge this is a neurological issue.

I want to stay on TRT. However its just far too expensive and I can't afford it. It did help a little but not enough its worth the price. So im thinking about jumping on HCG and trying to jump start natural production again.

Chatgpt gave me a few probable causes

1. That my pituitary is sending out the high fsh and lh. And that the signal is broken and my testicles can't recieve the message rather than them being damaged. But in theory TRT wouldve worked then. This points to a neurological issue.

2. My testosterone levels have reached some kind of equilibrium where they message is not being received properly and test is showing as low but its actually its normal? Again also neurological

3. Somehow my testicles have been damaged and I do have primary hypogonadism. But then why didn't TRT do anything for me?

4. A combination. Both neurological and coincidently my testicles have stopped working.

I fully dont understand how my blood work is only showing primary hypogonadism.

When we know PFS is a neurological event. A brain injury would show low fsh and lh which would cause low test. I have the later. High fsh and lh and low test. Which shows testicular damage. I would compare PFS to a brain injury but somehow my bloods don't reflect that? Only testicular damage? But then TRT should work? But it does nothing. Which only reinforces this is a neurological event (along with all my other neurological issues ive stated)

Its truly baffling. My only conclusion now is its an equilibrium. My testicles on a cellular level arnt responding to some kind of feedback. And even when you force testosterone in it still doesn't read it/recognise it.

Again we are also only talking about sex drive and erections. Even if they were seperate issues it would make more sense. By this theory I can never truly recover. As even if I do neurologicalluly my testicles will still have failed now.

So. Should I continue TRT? or just on HCG and try get back to at least the small amount of libido/sex drive ive had. Its all so confusing and makes no sense.

7 years out.

Im probably one of the worst cases ive come across. With nerve damage all throughout my left foot. Visual snow syndrome, obviousoy full blown PFS, etc, etc.

Even with PFS I kind of got to a point where I could function normally. Especially if I didn't jerk off for a day or two. It was extremely weak but at least I still had the urge to cum or have sex. It was incredibly weak and varied but it was there. Back in March I started TRT. Three months later even with varying dosages and schedules I experienced no positive change. Apart from losing more hair and getting painful acne cysts. My dick/libido remained the same or even worse. I did a blood test and my TRT had dropped my LH and FHS to zero and my test was considerably higher now. However still nothing. I decided to quit TRT and stopped. Now a month later... man I feel NOTHING. Like not even the slightest urge or anything. My dick is completely dead down there. Like the first year of PFS all over again. Had I crashed myself permanently? Im freaking out and not sure what to do? Should I go back on TRT? Wait it out? I don't know what's happening. But I can't get hard or have sex at all now. It feels COMPLETELY turned off now and I dont know what to do.

Even just the opening scene taking from scream 5 when she's walking down the alley

They went the self referential route with Teyana being hood and the bird call and her nomination but it wasn't comedy.

They couldve actually spoofed that scene properly

As she's about to walk down the alley and talking to the killer on the phone spoofing Samara weaving.

"Wait i see someone, they're waving at me"

"Really? I dont see you?"

"Yeah they're getting closer"

"Where?"

"Omg they're coming at me with a knife!"

"Omg get out of there"

As she turns around and bumps into an uber eats guy holding a plastic knife trying to make a delivery.

"Oh God you scared me, I didn't see you there"

"Oh sorry miss, you must be careful out here. Its very dangerous"

We hear a car revving and see a menu log car driver

He hits the uber eats deliver

He opens the door and goes to pick up the food and drive off but then a foodora drone smashes through the window and steals the food.

It then jumps to a full war between all of the delivery services fighting in the alleyway, with an uber eats driver running over a menulog bike rider. Then one of those robot ones come in illuminating from green to red and starts running other delivers over.

Ghost face rocks up and goes to kill his the victim during the battle but she gets a notification that the meal deal on her app is about to expire, she goes to buy then it starts upselling to her. She skips it but then there's a surcharge after surcharge. She gives up and is like

"Oh fuck this i dont have time for this shit"

She grabs ghost faces knife and kills herself to end her misery.

Ghost face looks around and everyone is dead and the opening credits play.

Hey guys,

Just after a bit of advice. Some background.

When I was 27 I got PFS, six years later I've had mild improvement. I could have sex but and it could be normal but it was so incredibly weak. Kind of like a day where you are super horny and jerk off 4 or 5 times and you try to go again but you are just fully milked. Whilst probably possible, you have to FORCE it to happen. That's how weak it felt to have sex unless it built up over a week or so.

Back on the 5th of march I started TRT, after many years of supplements, etc. And waiting for natural recovery, to try and get my libido back.

My initial blood work and dose

Age: 33

Dosage: x2 - 1.25 (2.5 a week)

Results just before TRT:

Test 11.4

Free testosterone 287

SHBG 21

FSH 18

LH 9

Oestradiol 157

Prolactin 182

Results two months after being on TRT:

LH 1

FSH 1

Oestradiol 148

Prolactin 174

Testosterone 18.1

Free testosterone 535

SHBG 16

My symptoms are now the worse they have ever been since my initial crash. I have zero libido and zero erection. Even with my test increasing.

The nurse said maybe it was because my SHBG was low and my E2 was high. She said to do 0.15 every 3 days. The doctor then called me a day later and said it was that my test was too low and to go up to 0.30 twice a week.

Im absolutely shattered. What id do to just feel anything again. To feel my brain and my dick connecting again consistently. This was my last attempt at fixing this horrible condition.

If anyone can provide any advice id be really grateful. But I understand this syndrome is obviously way beyond hormones at this point and something to do with the brain. I just want to feel something. I just want to have sex again.

Ive been looking into a lot of hormone stuff, also chemical castration. It may just be the receptors are too badly damaged and can never recover, much like people who are on chemical castration meds for prostate cancer, etc. I cant believe testosterone only made things worse. The nurse said it may be that testosterone is also shutting off over things in the brain which is making things worse and TRT will be of no help to me. The suffering continues i guess. Id do anything to feel my dick again.

Post finasteride syndrome sufferer here for 7 years. After many many moons of no libido and no erections without a huge amount of effort (only 33) I decided to give TRT shot. I didn't think it was possible to feel worse than PFS but man i feel like SHIT. Before at least I could jerk off. Now I can't even do that. The TRT clinic im using is also absolutely useless. They have no contact number and dont respond to any emails. Ive been going 2.5 months and I dont want to do this anymore. Can I just quit? I feel absolutely disgusting in a way I can't even describe. Like I have the flu constantly? I can't even feel my dick now its completely numb. Horrible feeling.

Native Americans

Government operations

The Shining

An orphaned daughter with a clown obsession

Wayyyy too many far fetched story lines that even with proper execution probably wouldnt work with season one.

I really hope we get a more solid and sound season 2.

Id love to see an inversion of the story. Pennywise slowly stalks the popular kids this time, slowly driving them crazy and becoming unpopular and the unpopular kids becoming popular. He isnt just trying to eat them but psychologically destroy them.

The 1960s were plaqued with racism which was the theme of season one, season two could be based on economic hardship and class divide plus the ongoing threat of war.

Pennywise showing them visions of them being inadequate to be soliders, their families dying in war, their homes and neighbourhoods bombed.

Id like to see pennywise play more tricks like he did with Eddy.

If youre going to borrow from the Stephen King universe I think it should be something of equal weight. A child with abilities like "Carrie" that can take on Pennywise or possibly a child that has the power to break free from his visions or a twist on his powers, etc.

But I think execution would be important so its not "ugh this is just taking from Carrie" and needs more groundwork like the powers only work around Pennywise, etc.

Even something like a kid has been relentlessly bullied by the other kids and instead wants to help Pennywise eat the other kids and starts scaring them himself to make Pennywise stronger.

I just hope for a more succinct story.

Whilst I was so excited for this show and really thought it would be great, man I did not like it.

Theres lots of reasons but the main one being it felt like it didnt commit to anything.

There were so many references and adapted storylines to Kings work. Shawshank, The Shining, Carrie, the Mist, etc. I almost felt like the show became what it is because they wanted to come up with a plot that embraced all of Kings universe but in the process lost the actual essence what IT is.

For me the show is far too long. Way shorter episodes would be appreciated. Quality over quantity.

The IT attacks were excellent at the start, but by the cemetery it fell off hard after that. The Shining storyline, the government, the clown obsessed daughter, all just seemed so weak and non related. IT is scary because of how it stalks and hunts it's pretty. The native storyline just rendered it to being a silly alien contained within a magical border.

For instance IT taking the dads appearance. He just walks into the forest, that scene itself had so much potential. IT trying to learn why kids liked him, a scene where hes trying to imitate his look, etc. Instead it was a 5 second scene that told us nothing really.

I wanted to know more about his stalking behaviour and feeding patterns. I wanted more pennywise being pennywise.

I just wanted the reality of the situation. The government seeking out a weapon that they honestly have no idea about or even proof of isnt really reality? Like maybe plausible but cmon.

I really wouldve appreciated a well contained story that just focused on a group of kids trying to survive and learning more about IT itself. We already know it isn't defeated and there's no stakes. So dont try tell us there is. Tell us what we dont know.