Looking back, when I was taking finasteride I was also taking saw palmetto at the same time. I bought a box of vitamins from GNC which came in packs of about 9 pills. One of these pills was for prostate health and included saw palmetto.
I wonder if because I was also taking saw palmetto at the same time if the loss of DHT was just too much.
Saw Palmetto + Fin is unlikely to have caused your issues, since almost 99% of the guys here took Finasteride on its own and had their sexual function decimated. In other words, Finasteride is the common factor, not SP.
SP also works through a different mechanism than Fin and hasn’t been associated with “permanent” side effects… the pill you bought from GNC likely had a small amount, not anywhere as much as a standalone SP pill, which even then would likely need to be taken at very high doses to approach the same level of DHT inhibition as Fin (if this is even possible).
What I’m getting at is, I doubt your SP use had anything to do with your current situation.