Hey All

Long time lurker, first time poster.

Long story short, I took finasteride (1.25mg) for about 13 years (2003 - 2016). I basically had no side effects for the first 10 years, but noticed my libido slowly starting to wane thereafter. It got to the point in 2016 where I had to use viagra every time for sex and then even started to struggle masturbating.

My worst symptoms are zero libido, ED without viagra (thankfully works), weak urine stream, post urination dribble (f*cking annoying), gut sensitivity, poor sleep, really cold fingers and toes, and dry skin. I only realised some of these symptoms could be caused by PFS after finding other (less helpful) websites. Strangely I do seem to get morning erections now and then - particularly if I sleep really poorly after drinking a lot (so the plumbing clearly does work). Thankfully I seem to have avoided most of the severe mental symptoms that many people have suffered - perhaps a little emotional flatness, difficult concentrating, and of course the poor sleep.

Since I quit finasteride cold turkey in 2016, I have tried to eat clean, work out regularly, get good sleep and avoid drinking where I can. I have seen all the doctors (urologist, endocrinologist, sleep, GP, etc) and a naturopath - the latter by far the most helpful. Also had pretty much every blood, urine, stool, and food intolerance test done. While my sex hormones are generally fine (estrogen was initially a little high), the key findings are that I was producing too much cortisol overnight, have a dairy intolerance (out of nowhere) and have small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). However, I haven't made any progress to speak of - and I know that is because I have just been a bit half assed about all of this.

I have read all of Total Male Optimisation and much of this site, and I get it - jump on the protocol and get on with it. I do have one question, however:

If I have SIBO, is it still ok for me to do a juice feast? I have been told that fruit and vegetable sugars can make SIBO worse. However, if I am just ingesting juices, I would have thought that they would move through my system too quickly to cause any real issues.

Overall, I have an innate sense that if I can get deep sleep, fix my gut, and then continue to avoid the booze, eat well and stay fit, I should be ok. However, really interested to hear the thoughts of the experts here. Also really grateful to have found such a positive place to help try and get myself back to baseline and hopefully well beyond.

Thanks in advance and apologies for the long read,

Def