1/2019: First off, I appreciate all the support on this forum and I have been following it for the last three months and this is my first post. I took finasteride from late May to late September and stopped taking it in late September when I met my current girlfriend, which tipped me off to severe sexual side effects. The doctors did a full blood panel test at the end of September and everything came back completely normal with testosterone slightly high. Doctors kept saying that it was in my head so they prescribed me Viagra and Cialis. The first month off, Viagra was effective and I was even able to have sex with my girlfriend seven times in one day. Two weeks later, I started to feel the following symptoms: fatigue, brain fog, anxiety, depression, headaches, heart palpitations, twitching all over my body, insomnia, ED, no nocturnals, no morning wood, no spontaneous, shrinkage, penis looked like hourglass, it had a curve. All of these side effects have continued up until now. I’ve been taking these supplements: L-argine, L-cartinine, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, Maca, just started pycegenol and bromelain. Taking 25mg of Viagra every night to try to stimulate nocturnals. Right now I’m on the fifth day of a water fast and believe this protocol has helped with some of the neurological side effects/brain fog and had a spontaneous erection last night awake but it was still weaker than it used to be right off the drug. Still no changes in sexual side effects. Recent hormone result from a month prior showed Test at 224 and DHT at 20, which coincided with what I think was a crash and the incidents of all of these symptoms which I am trying to address. I’m really depressed right now and this is all I could think about. I recently got an MRI which showed traces of a microvascular brain disease affiliated with migraines and then also incidentally showed a 3mm right occipital arachnoid granulation, which I’m not really sure what that means. I’m also getting a pituitary MRI and testing my cortisol with a 24 hour urine test. I really like some feedback on my chances of recovering, even if not fully back to pre-finasteride state. Any tips or pitfalls specific to my case at this point on the post finasteride timeline would be greatly appreciated.
2/2019 update: I figured I would give you guys an update. So I am now just over 150 days off:
Symptoms that remain:
-no nocturnals
-no spontaneous
-shrinkage
-bend to the left and up
-cell phone type buzzing in pelvis area and base of penis
-no tingling in prostate area and base
of penis
-general anxiety
-very weak thin base of penis
Symptoms that have improved a little bit:
-joint pain
-physical shaking with anxiety
-insomnia
-depression
-brain fog
Everything came back mid range for my hormones or everything was very normal. My testosterone came back at 550 but only thing is DHT At 30. My doctor said a DHT level of 30 is normal, which I disagree with pretty heavily.
My pituitary tumor came back with something small not effecting my hormones. My endocrinologist thinks that cabergoline may help with shrinking the tumor and may help fix my symptoms, which does not make sense but I want to try following his instruction. If that does not work, he said we could start on clomid and if that does not work he is going to look at some type of DHT therapy. I went to another doctor that specializes in sexual medicine in NYC and he said I have mild Peyronie’s and suggested a vacuum pump. If that does not work or help, then peryonie shots but he did not think it was necessary.
One thing I have noticed since I posted. I been able to have sex with my gf when taking daily Cialis and have noticed a major difference in my flaccid penis while on it. I have also noticed that vaporized marijuana increases my libido and sensation noticeably. The base of my penis is still flimsy, jelly like, and extra skin there.
Based on my updates, I was wondering if you guys could please help in my next course of action specific to my case or just any thoughts and feedback would be appreciated. Thanks again for all the help and support.