I seem to be almost 100% now. I am able to achieve erections pretty much most of the time. No brain fog whatsoever anymore. Stamina is pretty good too. My health overall has improved. I had a general blood test a few weeks ago and my cholesterol is the best its been in a while.
I know when I was going through the worst part my blood tests showed I was a complete unhealthy person. Triglycerides were high, cholesterol high.
I have been eating better, exercising. Staying away from soy based foods. I have been able to drink alcohol now without getting bad brain fog but I DONT overdo it.
Any questions you guys have are welcome.
I dont know if any of the āveteransā are still around, Henk, a few others I cant remember the names of right now.
Mitch
Right I recall you from the old Yahoo forumā¦ Kodawolf or Kodiak or something right?
Can you provide us all a brief rundown of your history with the drug ā how long you took, side effects experienced, how long you have been off, and what you did to return back to normal?
Cheers.
Hi Mew,
Yes, that was me, Kodawolf. I have been with the old site since it first began I think.
Brief rundown,
I started Propecia in early 1999 and had decent results but started getting bad sides in 2000 sometime. I had no idea what was happening to me. I started getting depressed for no reason. Couldnt deal with even small stress. Would find myself locked into the bathroom to get away from people. I was a real mess. THen the brain fog started. This lasted the longest and was extremely hard to deal with. Working was a nightmare. My business suffered from it and so did my family life.
There were a few times I really thought about āending itā but the thought of my kids pulled me through these very tough times.
I had blood test after blood test. DOctors said everything was āfineā etc. āit was all in my headā. Very frustrating.
WIth the help of people on this forum who were on the old discussion board I tried different approaches. One of them was addressing adrenal fatique as a possibilty and Thyroid as another possibility. This seemed to improve things. I adjusted my diet to help my adrenals/thryoid. Started with mild exercise and slowly increased it. Eventually my brain fog lifted but it would return when I stepped out of my diet or got stressed out.
Its been a really rough road and Im happy where I am at.
Not a day goes by that I dont think about the nightmare past years and of the other guys on the board who were in the ātrenchesā with me.
If anyone has any questions Im more than happy to help.
Mitch
Did you have problems with libido, ED after propecia?
Was there something else except excercising and diet in your ārecovery strategyā?
I had problems with libido, lack of.
As far as my recovery strategy went. I tried so many different approaches, most failed horribily. I became so over-sensitive foods, meds, supplements I was afraid to try anything anymore.
I started slow with trying to heal my adrenals, no sugars or caffeine. little or no red meat. I would hit the tread mill at first for 15 minutes at a quick walk for a week then increase it to a run etc.
My recovery was slow but it worked for me. From what I understand, different people recovered using different methods. There isnt a āmagic bulletā in this case. I think time is also a major factor in recovery. Unfortunately approaching a doctor with this illness was a waste of time for me and many others. They wont acknowledge the possibility that Propecia brought on this illness. I went to so many doctors and finally when one said its all in my head and they were going to refer me to Mental Health I realized enough was enough, I wasnt getting anywhere with the MDās/.
I also did a liver detox, I believe its called ālivaplexā It seemed to help somewhat but I found that any supplement I would have to start out slow, in small dosages in order to not get brain fog again. It was a tough road.
Hope this helps.
MItch
Thanks for the post. In what time frames did your recovery happen? Did you have problems from 2000 on up to now?
Mitch - Could you also comment on your morning and nocturnal erections? Are they back in full force? What were they like during recovery?
Thanks!
I started in early 1999 and didnt start getting sides until later in 2000 I believe, its such a blur now when I think about it. years past and I was in a fog dealing with such a nightmare. Went to so many doctors with absolutely no success. I got to the conclusion that if I was going to get better I needed to do this myself. I tried so many different approaches and there were times when I did feel better and tried to relate what I was doing at the time I had these moments of feeling better. I did try accupuncture which helped but it was expensive but the woman doing this did say that my adrenals were wiped out along with my thyroid. At first I thought she was full of shit but I started eating better to help these two factors. With time I was able to figure out a diet which helped me. I stayed away from soy, very bad for the thyroid. Sugar, also bad for the adrenals. Alcohol. DId mild exercise etc.
During this time I had my ups and downs. WHen I had my downs I sat down and tried to figure out what I did to make myself feel like crap again. Usually I started drinking coffee again, alcohol. ONce I started feeling better I usually " fell off the wagon" and had to back track and get on target again.
I finally figured out in 2003 or so that it was fin that was screwing me up. Up until then I didnt know what the fuck was wrong with me. I thought brain tumor, depression, insanity. I didnt know anymore. It was a very bad time.
It took me a few years to get to this point. There is no magic bullet unfortunately.
I think what delayed my recovery was that my work was very physical and I really burned myself out and could not allow my adrenals to recover nor my thyroid. I did start taking armour thyroid, a natural thyroid from bovine or pigs, I cant remember. I took this and I noticed a big improvement but with time, not right away.
I dont take it anymore so I do believe one can recover without having to take meds or other things forever.
Id say by 2007 I was at a good point of my recovery and Im able to maintain my health now.
I hope this helps. If you have anymore questions feel free to ask.
Mitch
Hey Jonny,
During recovery they were crap. If I did get a hard on it was soft more of less. LOts of time went by when I didnt even get morning wood.
Now I will get normal erections during the night and morning.
Hey man, IĀ“m Guillermo, sure you remember me, I joined the old yahoo support group by 2004. IĀ“m so happy to learn that you are recovered now and that there seems to be a light at the end of this horrible tunnel. I sort of remember your case and I remeber your were really screwed, so reading your posts is a real surprise. I have also tried many approaches to get out of this crap and so far, out of the 12+ side effects that I had IĀ“m still having 5 of them: ED, low libido, curved penis, no power shot while ejaculating and minor muscle contractions in my legs. Brain fog has gone for a long time, as well as other symptoms but for some reason those 5 remaining symptoms refuse to leave.
I read the āAdrenal Fatigueā book that someone recommended and I also have closely watched my diet for about 2 years now in order to put my adrenals in operation again. So far, I feel very good if we let aside the sexual sides that I just mentioned. Excercise has not been part of my routine, but IĀ“ll put a remedy to that soon. Sounds strange to me that you mentioned that issues with the thyroid are part of the problem. The thyroid in my case has registered good numers when I make blood tests. I have just a few questions for you:
- What dietary changes improve THYROID functioning, meaning the doĀ“s and dontĀ“s?
- Can you briefly say something more specific about your diet? I think I know the answer to this one but want to be sure. IĀ“m attaching a PDF one page document with the general rules IĀ“m following for diet.
- Anything else in your recovery program?
Again, congrats for your recovery, really feel happy for you. No one deserves to be in this shit for the greed and lies of the big pharma corporations.
HonestFoodGuide.pdf (144 KB)
I donāt see the connection between thyroid and a twisted dick, ED and low ejactulate power. My thyroid is fine and Iām having these problems as well. Itās not encouraging if you have had these problems from 2004. Did yours start on fin or after? For me quitting fin was like cutting my dick off. Itās a bit better though, does not look as beat up as it did right after dropping fin. Good luck.
Hi Guillarmo, yes I do remember you, hope things are getting better with you but I see you still have some issues.
As far as any relation between thyroid and ātwisted penisā I dont think there is a relation BUT, propecia has affected so many in so many different ways. As far as my diet goes, No sugars, caffeiine, NO SOY, FLAX, nothing with phytosterols!!! Low fat.
I did do a fast
There is a website, I believe its called,
www.stopthethyroidmadness.com
If that doesnt work let me know. It had a lot of good info to address adrenal and thyroid issues.
In my case I think propecia burned out my adrenals along with a few other things.
Guillermo, I will look through your PDF later today when I have more time.
Mitch
I started taking 1gr. which is 60mgs in the morning every day for a few months but never took cortisol at the same time which I think hindered my recovery somewhat. Either way I do believe my diet helped my adrenals recover. I did this for about a year then I tapered it down when I started feeling better. I took it every other day then tapered it down from there as well until I felt i was doing fine without it all together. Hope this helps.
Mitch
Hi Mitch. I am glad to hear that it is possible to recover from this madness.
Mitch I would like to focus on your diet.
Do you know that SOY, SOY LECITHIN, FLAX is in most every day food products.
SOY PROTEIN - it is present in most meats (the one exception is chicken)
SOY LECITHIN - all chocolates, pastas even chewing gum
FLAX - present in many breads, rolls
it is practicaly impossible to avoid soy in a supermarket because they add it to almost everything, unless you only eat a chicken.
To be honest chicken might be very bed too because they make the chicken grow using those GMO feeding soy based stuff.
I also know that some fish ingredients mimic estrogens.
What do you eat then.
Cheeeers!
When I first started taking the armour thyroid I did notice that I would get good results the first few days but then I started feeling weird, Im guessing not enough cortisol. You have to remember, all this was trail and error, I had no doctor coaching me or advising me. It was all self medicating. I actually started with 30mgs and bumped it up to 60 and kept it there.
As far as blood tests goes, I had one about a month ago and everything is in the normal range, I know I know, weve heard that all before as far as our hormones go when trying to figure out this nightmare. My cholesterol is great, my thyroid checked out great as well so Im guessing its running on its own steam.
You are right, soy is in practically everything and it is not easy to avoid. Also any foods that are considered phytosterols are bad for the thyroid as well.
I just cut out so much from my diet and slowly introduced things at a slow pace. I stayed away for chocolates, sugars, caffeines, nuts, ate lots of fruit, veggies. It didnt always go well, like trying to find your way in the dark but eventually found foods that were ok with me. One of the bad symptoms I also had was I got so hypersensitive to foods, meds etc so I had to be really careful on the doses I took, what I ate, what a fucking nightmare, just thinking about it freaks me out. I did eat more turkey that was raised locally, chicken has got so much crap in it, hormones etc.
I did eat some fish but not all of was good, also one has to be careful with the mercury factor in the fish.
Anyway, hope this helps.
Cheeeers!
And a one final questionā¦
Did/do you smoke??
This whole situation makes me unable to quit smokingā¦
What you think about smoking vs. recovery progressā¦
Can on relate to another in any wayā¦?
Thanks for your answer on advanceā¦
No I dont smoke. I quit 12 years ago and I dont really think smoking wouldve helped my situation at all, most likey hindered it. I dont know any situation where it wouldve halped. I didnt drink alcohol either during this time. I tried a couple times in the beginning but the brain fog was so bad it only made it worse. I did have a friend that smoked a helluva lot and spent some time there, second hand smoke etc.
As far as recovery process, I would do my best to quit smoking, it would give your boky one less toxin to deal with. Lets face it, we have to give as much help to our bodies to get over this mess. No doctor is going to help at this point, at least none with me.
Mitch
Donāt you think Mitch that we are talking about Candida related problems here.
Candidosis if radicaly developed produce toxins that mimic 17-beta-estradiol and some other toxins that mimic TSH making pirituary sending wrong signals to the thyroid.
The thing that actualy cured you is not more, neither less then strict long term anti-candida diet.
Candida could be resolved via extreme diet (like yours) plus anti-fungal medical treatment. Candida is extremely difficult to diagnose because it becomes the part of your body through long period of time. Thatās why you may not find anything strange within the blood work. It takes at least 6 months of a strict regimen to get rid of it. Sometimes even longer.
The natural assumtion to your statments would be: You fighted systemic candidosis.
Mitch are you allowed to eat anything right now or you do avoid some stuff.
Cheee-r-sā¦
Its funny you mention that, I went to an accupuncurist at one point and she mentioned this as well. I was baffled as why I would have this but she mentioned something about the system being so run down and out of wack throwing my body off etc etc. I didnt address my diet to treat candida but just stopped eating things that made me feel worse etc. I do know that at one point that I could literally feel my thyroid ache, strange feeling. Anyway, good point and it maybe a possibility in my case. Propecia might have triggered something.