Hey Everyone,
Background: I was insecure about my hair loss and took finasteride for around 3.5 weeks back in Nov 2020. I crashed back in mid December 2020. The first few weeks post crash I was feeling totally depressed and at times suicidal because I was reading was PH and thinking pfs was permanent. Thankfully, I found this forum at the end of December, and reading the guidance of CD and everyone else has turned everything around for me. Now I have a ton of motivation to not only recover, but also develop a healthy routine that I can continue for the rest of my life. There aren't enough words to describe how appreciative I am of all your work and energy that you put into supporting the pfs community CD. Thank you and also thanks to everyone else in this community for guiding me in the right direction and keeping me on track.
Symptoms: One of the first symptoms I noticed was tenderness in my left breast and mild gynecomastia. I also had no more morning wood at this point. That's when I decided to stop taking fin, and a week after I stopped, I developed tinnitus and also my digestive system got totally messed up. A few days after that I had a full on crash and woke up with 0 libido, total erectile dysfunction, insomnia, brain fog started to develop, etc.
To list out all of my symptoms more clearly for reference:
- Gynecomastia
- Tinnitus
- Severe Digestion Issues
- Lack of libido
- Erectile Dysfunction
- Frequent urination
- Anhedonia, this was one of my worst symptoms at first, but has improved a good amount over time
- Brain-fog, lost my ability to do major critical thinking, terrible memory, concentration. This has been pretty tough as I have to work 50-60 hours a week in a job that requires a lot of mental energy
- The brain fog also led to social anxiety, lack of confidence, I started stuttering at times
- Insomnia, wake up 3-4 times a night, poor sleep quality, always have dark circles under eyes, felt like I was only getting a few hours of sleep
- Dry mouth, especially at night
- Extremely dry, itchy, bloodshot eyes
- No oil production on face
- New wrinkles on face
- Inability to sweat
- Extremely dry skin
- Penile shrinkage, lack of blood flow when flaccid
- My nuts are like half the normal size
- Probably some I'm missing, but generally similar symptoms as everyone else
Current Update: I've been on the paleo diet, working out 5-6 times a week, cold showers twice a day since start of Jan 2021. In the last 2-3 weeks I've been able to take up everything in TMO, except I don't have time to get sun most days, and I wasn't able to do a fast or juice feast. I know that a cleanse would be extremely beneficial, especially with my gut issues, but I cant take any time off work and I didn't want to deal with a cleanse on top of work given how tired I am from work normally.
A lot of my symptoms have improved a good amount since really getting into the TMO routine, and going through the process of figuring out which herbs I respond well to. My digestion has made huge improvements compared to where it was before. I think part of this can be attributed to brone broth which I drink a bowl of twice a day. For the past week, I no longer wake up multiple times a night, my sleep quality still seems poor as I always have dark circles, but I have been feeling much better rested this past week, less brain fog, improvements in erection quality, my face no longer has dry patches, and I have started to sweat more.
The reason I'm posting is because today was the second time I tried Tongkat Ali in my herb rotation. The first time I took the recommended dose by LEH, or perhaps a bit less, and I had much worse sleep compared to usual that night. I don't know why I didn't take the first time as a lesson, but I took the same recommended dose for the second time today, and as a result my gynecomastia and breast tenderness has flared up again, and there's been an increase in brain-fog, as well as penile shrinkage/ED. Gyno had previously went away around 1-2 weeks after crashing and I haven't had any more issues with it until today. Moving forward, I'm going to avoid taking Tongkat Ali and stick with the rest of my herb rotation. I know this is just a temporary downswing, but I was curious if anyone had insight perhaps if this indicates anything about my hormonal profile, and if those indications should translate to anything I should keep in mind to avoid future gyno flare ups? Any input would be welcome, but no worries if not.
I have no doubts I'll make a full recovery as long as I keep up my routine and follow the protocol. I'll try to update my progress as best I can as I go along!
