Dear friends,
It has now been 4 months since I developed PFS after taking finasteride for an enlarged prostate for only 2 months. Though initially my worst symptom was severe depression, after about 2 months the main issue became severe anxiety. Benzos like Xanax and Ativan are poor long term options, buspar made me severely depressed, and SSRIs are not a good idea in PFS. Here are 2 things that helped me.
-
Silexan: One of the physicians from Europe in the “Resources” section of PFSfoundation.org suggested “Lasea” (which in the US is known as silexan). Silexan is lavender oil in the form of a capsule. I did do some research and when I googled “silexan clinical trials” or “lasea clinical trials” I was plesantly surprised to see that there have been good quality clinical trials where silexan went head to head vs lorazepam (Ativan) and placebo, and also another trial where it went head to head vs Paxil and placebo. In both studies, silexan was shown to be as effective against anxiety as Ativan and Paxil after 10 weeks but unlike both these medications with their well known side effects, silexan side effects were same as in the patients taking placebo. I was told that it takes a full 2 weeks before you notice the improvement in symptoms and sure enough it did take 2 weeks. I have been on silexan for 1 month and my anxiety is certainly better. I have been very happy with the results. My anxiety levels have decreased by 30-50% so it has become much more manageable. I have had no side effects other than the one side effect reported as occasional mild burping with a lavender scent which is not at all unpleasant.
-
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): This has been the biggest surprise. I had never had any psychological issues prior to PFS so I never new a lot about CBT. Counseling was offered for free by my employer for employees in a lot of stress and I decided to take advantage of this offer though I should say that I did not have high expectations. My job requires a lot of thinking and difficult decision making and anxiety and fogginess had made it very difficult for me to do my job well. I was afraid I would have to quit my job. I was desperate. I had 2 sessions with the counselor and the advice she gave me made my life at work immensely better. She asked me to have photos of family members and places I love around my desk, to have objects from places that I love that I can actually touch around my desk, have other things associated with good times that I could touch. Finally she asked me to chose a very happy and vivid recent memory and use it to escape in my mind any time anxiety hit. I did all the above not expecting much. I had a couple of rocks from my favorite beaches on my desk along with a few photos and other objects. The improvement in how I managed to control stress and do my job was amazing. Everything changed and I can work as I did before I was hit by PFS. It is not that anxiety has resolved. It is still there. However between CBT and silexan I am able to function well at work.
Silexan is sold in health food stores under the name CalmAid. It is an 80mg capsule. It the studies 80mg or 160mg were used daily. I started taking 80mg daily (one capsule) and then increased it to 80mg twice a day. I have had no side effects from either dose.
Of course I can not tell whether silexan will help others but the results of the studies (which can be found online at “Pubmed”) were pretty convincing to me and in fact I have been helped a lot. I hope that others dealing with this awful syndrome will find these 2 treatments (silexan and CBT) helpful.
All the best.
Giatriko.