Starting to worry now. Please advise.

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05-16-2017
kickingmyhead

Starting to worry now. Please advise.

Hello everyone,

Not sure how to begin. I began taking Fin in 2014 at the age of 22. Started with .5mg EOD and never brought it up more than that. I'll say I wasn't very faithful and would often forget to take it for days, and as a result I'm not sure how well it worked. Over the years I think I've seen a slight worsening in my hairline. I've also noticed more chest hairs and more facial hair. So, again, not sure how well it worked. About a month or so ago I decided I didn't care anymore, didn't want to risk getting prostate cancer down the line and didn't want to be on another drug for life. It's here I should mention I have Crohn's Disease. I know another member here has IBD, the U Tennessee fellow, so would love your advice if you catch this. Anyway, the only major side I ever noticed was short term watery semen. This actually went away while on the drug and that was it. Maybe some forgetfulness/brain fog? But I've been a stoner for years so I would chalk it up to that.

Anyway, so about a month ago I quit cold turkey. In the back of my mind, of course, was the fear of PFS. Good to note here that I have a history of OCD, anxiey, and hypochondria. I really never should have hopped on the drug simply for that. I didn't feel anything really until this weekend. Last Friday I got really, really drunk. Ended up puking on the subway platform by myself, not the proudest of moments. I also developed a cold that night lol. I went home for Mother's Day on Saturday and came back on Sunday night. Very randomly on Sunday I got it in my head that I needed to check to see if I could still get it up. I brought up some videos and tried, took a long time and when it got there it wasn't at full strength, and left quickly after I finished. At this point I started to worry more. Went to sleep, woke up the next day with what I think was some wood, and noticed throughout the day that my flaccid member seemed smaller. Less girthy and shorter. Not sure if it feels "rubbery" though. That freaked my out more. Later that night tried to masturbate again and couldn't get it up. I did finish though. And then I spent the night awake because my hypochondria, OCD, and anxiety kept my mind racing. I'm also wondering if my balls are smaller. I should note that these are my ONLY symptoms at the moment.

So, I have several questions.

1) Do you think I could be imagining this, getting into my head too much out of the blue, and that's what's causing things?

2) If it is related to Fin, do you think additional sides could develop?

3) Worst comes to worst and I want to start this regimen right away, do you think my Crohn's would **** things up? I checked some of the interactions of the herbs and some of them say to avoid if taking an immunosupressants (Ashwaghanda, ex)

4) I ended up taking another .5mg this morning out of fear. Bad idea, good idea? I was thinking of trying to ween off slowly.

I have an appt with an endo on Thursday, too.

Thanks everyone.
05-16-2017
Swill

1) It is absolutely possible, maybe even probable that you have just panicked yourself silly man. The fact you knew about the sides etc. means you were probably looking for them, and the brain is incredibly powerful when it comes to sexual shit... It is highly likely you are absolutely fine but you need to make sure you don't work yourself into a place where this manifests as a complex...

4) Bad idea but don't panic, put it in the bin and move on from taking the poison.

In your shoes id do these things...

1) Don't panic and get on with life

2) It certainly won't harm for you to clean up your diet... with your crohn's not sure how much it limits your diet but do the basics... eat clean and organic, plenty of water, avoid alcohol for a little while, keep exercising and get plenty of sleep. Just see it as a month or two 'fitness kick', nothing bad will come of that.

3) Keep yourself busy so your not analysing every single symptom and dwelling on things. Get out of the house and do shit.

Points 4, 5 and 6 are all the same as point 1, it is that important.

It sounds like there are a tonne of confounding factors (your crohn's, your disposition to worry, the fact you have a cold and were hungover, etc.) that all point towards this in all likelihood being you mindfucking yourself. Avoid masturbation for a month or so too (be strict on this) just to make sure you are not doing it to 'test if it works' and panicking yourself half to death.

Go away and live well for a short period, and I think it is highly likely you will be more than fine.

Also, avoid this place and all other places with discussion on things finasteride... you don't want to be worrying yourself into PFS.
05-16-2017
kickingmyhead

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swill

1) It is absolutely possible, maybe even probable that you have just panicked yourself silly man. The fact you knew about the sides etc. means you were probably looking for them, and the brain is incredibly powerful when it comes to sexual shit... It is highly likely you are absolutely fine but you need to make sure you don't work yourself into a place where this manifests as a complex...

4) Bad idea but don't panic, put it in the bin and move on from taking the poison.

In your shoes id do these things...

1) Don't panic and get on with life

2) It certainly won't harm for you to clean up your diet... with your crohn's not sure how much it limits your diet but do the basics... eat clean and organic, plenty of water, avoid alcohol for a little while, keep exercising and get plenty of sleep. Just see it as a month or two 'fitness kick', nothing bad will come of that.

3) Keep yourself busy so your not analysing every single symptom and dwelling on things. Get out of the house and do shit.

Points 4, 5 and 6 are all the same as point 1, it is that important.

It sounds like there are a tonne of confounding factors (your crohn's, your disposition to worry, the fact you have a cold and were hungover, etc.) that all point towards this in all likelihood being you mindfucking yourself. Avoid masturbation for a month or so too (be strict on this) just to make sure you are not doing it to 'test if it works' and panicking yourself half to death.

Go away and live well for a short period, and I think it is highly likely you will be more than fine.

Also, avoid this place and all other places with discussion on things finasteride... you don't want to be worrying yourself into PFS.

Thanks for the quickly reply, Swill. Much appreciated.

I'll say that you've done something to ease my fears. I am not certain what is happening with me and "it's all in my head" is a possibility. However, I've read that poor gut health and diet is a factor in PFS. Having Crohn's and an only okay diet (one in which I have been drinking a lot...like daily for the past few months although my Crohn's docs say this is not much to worry about for GI health) is making me quite worried. When I say drinking, I mean maybe a beer but more likely at least two a night. I like IPAs. What do you think of that? I have vowed to stop drinking and smoking entirely for the forseeable future.

Also, my GF, with whom I've already talked with about my fears, is supposed to come over tomorrow. I am anxious about what will happen if we start making out. She was super supportive of my earlier, though, so at least I'm lucky enough to have an amazing girlfriend.

I am trying to avoid PFS related message boards. Went to PH yesterday and man what a bad idea for my anxiety. Only good thing is it lead me here where everyone seems to have a great attitude. I want to continue posting here for a bit to see what others might have to say and what you might say in response to this.

Also, let's say I do try to move on. How will I know if there is something wrong? Should I get labs taken?
05-17-2017
coppersocks

Hey man,
Labs won't tell the whole picture and often don't show anything out of the ordinary at all. This is gonna sound annoying but the best thing to do now is to put it out of your head for a while and check back in in a six weeks or so. When I first crashed I was in communication with a guy who quit the exact same time as me and after a month or so he was completely back to his old self pretty much, this is the case for the vast majority of people and its only the few that develop longer term symptoms.
My advice to you for now is to focus on things that you enjoy and to maybe add some of the techniques from the "Calming the mind" section of CD's protocol to help take your mind off of it and also quit porn as this will just make you worse whatever is going on. You may have some finasteride induced ED that will go away in a week to a month (as often happens), you may just be vexing yourself with your thought process or it maybe the very unlikely scenario of PFS but in any case no matter which one it is, the best you can do is to just not worry about it and live your life. If you still have ED in a month then absolutely go all out on the protocol. There's no better way to getting better.

And on that note, in the very unlikely scenario that you do have long term sides, know that it isn't the end of the world. We're all still here, living our lives and having moments where we laugh at jokes, enjoy movies and stimulating conversation and feeling awesome at the gym. Things maybe a bit harder with PFS and there are days where it can be pretty shit if you suffer from the mental sides in particular, but at the end of the day it's still alright though. If you do the things you like and surround yourself with the people you love then what else is there? PFS can't beat you unless you let it. Don't sweat it.
05-17-2017
Holistic

Starting to worry now. Please advise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kickingmyhead

Hello everyone,

Not sure how to begin. I began taking Fin in 2014 at the age of 22. Started with .5mg EOD and never brought it up more than that. I'll say I wasn't very faithful and would often forget to take it for days, and as a result I'm not sure how well it worked. Over the years I think I've seen a slight worsening in my hairline. I've also noticed more chest hairs and more facial hair. So, again, not sure how well it worked. About a month or so ago I decided I didn't care anymore, didn't want to risk getting prostate cancer down the line and didn't want to be on another drug for life. It's here I should mention I have Crohn's Disease. I know another member here has IBD, the U Tennessee fellow, so would love your advice if you catch this. Anyway, the only major side I ever noticed was short term watery semen. This actually went away while on the drug and that was it. Maybe some forgetfulness/brain fog? But I've been a stoner for years so I would chalk it up to that.

Anyway, so about a month ago I quit cold turkey. In the back of my mind, of course, was the fear of PFS. Good to note here that I have a history of OCD, anxiey, and hypochondria. I really never should have hopped on the drug simply for that. I didn't feel anything really until this weekend. Last Friday I got really, really drunk. Ended up puking on the subway platform by myself, not the proudest of moments. I also developed a cold that night lol. I went home for Mother's Day on Saturday and came back on Sunday night. Very randomly on Sunday I got it in my head that I needed to check to see if I could still get it up. I brought up some videos and tried, took a long time and when it got there it wasn't at full strength, and left quickly after I finished. At this point I started to worry more. Went to sleep, woke up the next day with what I think was some wood, and noticed throughout the day that my flaccid member seemed smaller. Less girthy and shorter. Not sure if it feels "rubbery" though. That freaked my out more. Later that night tried to masturbate again and couldn't get it up. I did finish though. And then I spent the night awake because my hypochondria, OCD, and anxiety kept my mind racing. I'm also wondering if my balls are smaller. I should note that these are my ONLY symptoms at the moment.

So, I have several questions.

1) Do you think I could be imagining this, getting into my head too much out of the blue, and that's what's causing things?

2) If it is related to Fin, do you think additional sides could develop?

3) Worst comes to worst and I want to start this regimen right away, do you think my Crohn's would **** things up? I checked some of the interactions of the herbs and some of them say to avoid if taking an immunosupressants (Ashwaghanda, ex)

4) I ended up taking another .5mg this morning out of fear. Bad idea, good idea? I was thinking of trying to ween off slowly.

I have an appt with an endo on Thursday, too.

Thanks everyone.

Also, if you are still using / abusing cannabis. You need to stop it asap.
05-17-2017
jimmyjonas

Quote:

Originally Posted by coppersocks

Hey man,
Labs won't tell the whole picture and often don't show anything out of the ordinary at all. This is gonna sound annoying but the best thing to do now is to put it out of your head for a while and check back in in a six weeks or so. When I first crashed I was in communication with a guy who quit the exact same time as me and after a month or so he was completely back to his old self pretty much, this is the case for the vast majority of people and its only the few that develop longer term symptoms.
My advice to you for now is to focus on things that you enjoy and to maybe add some of the techniques from the "Calming the mind" section of CD's protocol to help take your mind off of it and also quit porn as this will just make you worse whatever is going on. You may have some finasteride induced ED that will go away in a week to a month (as often happens), you may just be vexing yourself with your thought process or it maybe the very unlikely scenario of PFS but in any case no matter which one it is, the best you can do is to just not worry about it and live your life. If you still have ED in a month then absolutely go all out on the protocol. There's no better way to getting better.

And on that note, in the very unlikely scenario that you do have long term sides, know that it isn't the end of the world. We're all still here, living our lives and having moments where we laugh at jokes, enjoy movies and stimulating conversation and feeling awesome at the gym. Things maybe a bit harder with PFS and there are days where it can be pretty shit if you suffer from the mental sides in particular, but at the end of the day it's still alright though. If you do the things you like and surround yourself with the people you love then what else is there? PFS can't beat you unless you let it. Don't sweat it.

This is excellent advise, be cool man, easier said than done but the early days are critical, i made bad mistakes in the early stages hitting booze etc, youre getting the absolute best advice that anybody including doctors can give you, trust that from guys that have been there, know that there is a way out, look after yourself, eat healthy, avoid alcohol and any drugs, no fap and give yourself a month, avoid the other pfs sites like the plague, and know there is a way out with the protocol if needed in a months time, you will be ok man.
05-20-2017
Cdsnuts

Quote:

Originally Posted by kickingmyhead

I am trying to avoid PFS related message boards. Went to PH yesterday and man what a bad idea for my anxiety. Only good thing is it lead me here where everyone seems to have a great attitude. I want to continue posting here for a bit to see what others might have to say and what you might say in response to this.

You're trying to avoid PFS boards but went there anyway? Don't try to avoid them.....AVOID THEM. No one is making you log on to those garbage sites. As you now know they do not serve you in any way possible and only act to make things worse.

If you have a compulsion to log on to any sites, come here and read the recovery stories or the progress that others who are following the protocol are making.

A proper mindset goes a LONG way to getting your fixed.