Not to be discouraging, but I guarantee you that at the worst Merck will pay a few billion in lawsuits. They will still profit from Propecia and no one will go to jail. They got away with KILLING thousands of people via Vioxx with a slap on the wrist. Also, Merck continues to re-apeal the lawsuits filed against them from family members of the dead. When you have so much money and power, you can get away with anything. They know that, and for sure they factored in the losses from lawsuits, but they still profit in the end so it was a good business model to promote and sell propecia.
Yup. I feel like the person I was just a year ago died and now I’m this shell, just kind of drifting through life. It’s pretty miserable.
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Maybe you are right. Maybe. However, comparing the Vioxx massacre with the Propecia nightmare is really a comparison of apples to oranges. To wit: Vioxx caused heart attacks. How many causes of heart attacks are there? Smoking, lack of exercise, poor diet, stress, age…the list goes on and on. Very easy to attack the plaintiffs from a legal perspective. Which is why Merck’s payout was so little in the Vioxx trials. Ken Frazier was the lead counsel, and he used a “scorched earth” strategy - lambasting the older victims of Vioxx for their lifestyle changes and insinuating that their heart attacks were caused by lifestyle, not Vioxx. Very plausible, very easy to defend. And yet - Merck still LOST quite a few of these cases. I actually take heart in that because if research shows some concrete cellular/chemical change in our bodies - what will Merck’s defense be? Do me a favor - Google “Genital Numbness” or “Genital Shrinkage” or any of our symptoms. Do you find anything? No. Why? Because these things just don’t happen in nature. Not like heart attacks. In addition - a heart attack is a one off event. Meaning once you have the heart attack your life goes back to normal. You may have a restricted diet, have to exercise more, but your mental/sexual well being is not compromised. Its a shitty bolt of lightning that if you survive, your life goes on as normal.
PFS? Its a fucking incurable disease. If causation is shown, not only should and will Merck be held responsible for our pain and suffering (the same as the Vioxx victims) BUT they SHOULD also be held responsible for finding a cure for a disease they created.(Not the case in the Vioxx trial.) Factor in the age of the victims in our case, 30 years younger, on average, than the Vioxx victims, and that factors into the consideration of monetary payout. Suffering with a heart attack at 65 much different than be struck with a life altering sickness at 25.
Maybe I am looking at wrong. Please let me know why you disagree. It seems to me that if causation is shown, Merck is up shit creek without a paddle. But I not a lawyer. Just an optimist.
Regarding my experience with Dr. Jacobs - I have consulted with him a few times on various treatments. After speaking with him for an initial period, I gave up hope for about a year before re-contacting him a year later. His registered nurse said she assumed I got better since she didn’t hear from me for a year but the truth was I was just frustrated from seeing no results and having a doctor that was too busy to offer personalized care. My impression on Dr. Jacobs is that he very much does believe in post-finasteride syndrome and has seen it in significant numbers in his practice but would like to believe he is more helpful in treating patients than is actually the case. I have not personally spoken with a single patient that has improved considerably with him so you have to take what he says with a grain of salt. I don’t think he has any bad intentions, but is not my personal PFS doctor of choice given his overly busy schedule and lack of resources to keep track or patient progress.
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I also re-contacted Dr. Jacobs for a follow-up. He seems to have many PFS patients around the world. He told me that he was successful with TRT in other PFS patients. However, he admitted that all of these patients are still on TRT.
I take it Jacobs has cured nobody on here ?
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Doesn’t seem like it. I have a phone consultation with him September 5th, had labs drawn for him. The thing is, my labs don’t look horrible yet my symptoms are incredibly severe, so what can he do besides prescribe Clomid or TRT
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I have an appointment with him in a few hours
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Can you let us know how it goes?
Yes. He basically reccomended clomid and eventually arimidex or aromasin if neccesary. He had stacks of paper from just pfs, and he said this treatment usually helps users feel better.
What dose?
50 mg clomid every other day, although i plan on starting 25 every other day. He also said i may have some thyroid deficits, so we are trying a t3 medicine before i go on clomid to see where that gets us.
I did same with Gordon I would use 50mg and I got worse the first couple weeks on it…Then i noticed improvement but i wouldn’t touch an estrogen inhibitors they do more damage not needed even on trt let alone clomid i would be careful
Hope you have great results with this man. Looking forward to updates.
What we need to do is match blood test results to users who have tried out treatments so we can try to match our phenotype (with any luck) to users for whom treatment worked. For instance TRT would likely it be a help for users with high levels of Testosterone.
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I’m not opposed to trying clomid but I did that same exact treatment with him and I definitely didn’t get better. I haven’t heard a single PFS patient who has gotten better from that, let alone most, so this comment really annoys me. I think PFS patients should definitely see endos and Jacobs will do the job, but I really don’t know why he’s been claiming for years that he helps many guys when there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of this.
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Been seeing him for two years. No real improvement unfortunately.
What kinds of treatments did you undertake with him, if you don’t mind me asking?
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Yeah course. Ask away. I’ve probably been on about 20 different permutations of medicines and dosages. Basically try a regimen for a month, get blood tested, then reassess with him. I’ve tried all these: Ropinirole, cabergoline, bupropion, liothyronine, levothyroxene, methimazole, clomid, aromasin, testosterone gel and injections. Have cut back a lot of the medications and currently taking:
25 mg / once weekly of aromasin
1 ML t-injection of 100mg / weekly
150 mg / daily of bupropion
I’m trying to wean off bupropion. I can never seem to get my thyroid levels right. My T levels are always through the roof and above normal levels but doesn’t help libido, which is the only thing I care about at this point. Estrogen is in check. Pretty discouraging overall. Just started trying out veganism to see if that helps at all.
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Thanks for that enlightening rundown. Did any of the drugs make any difference to any of your symptoms? Did any make things better, or worse?