omg, I am just ready to kill myself. I am 20 and had been taking fin on and off for 2+ 1/2 years when I quit about 7 months ago. The only problem I have is brain fog but it is SO heavy at times, I just can’t think. I can hardly function sometimes. ALL my friends notice it and they many times comment on my lack of thought. I do the stupidest shit and it really is a burden. I absolutely LOVE reading, so much that I can hardly live without it. But I have to re-read virtually every sentence that I read because I don’t understand it. It’s ridiculous! I can hardly watch a movie anymore because I can’t understand what the fuck is going on! I also have difficulty registering speech. I have to ask people to repeat things a lot and many times I just don’t understand what people are saying. It’s so terrible. I have no idea what I am going to do. I just want to try something that will get rid of this brain fog! What can I possibly try?
You can try detoxing your liver. Brain fog is a huge symptom of an overburduned liver. Eat well, lose the junk food. If it didnt come out of the ground or was once living and breathing, dont eat it.
Drink plenty of water.
If you’re really ready to kill yourself, do yourself a favor and go fast for three weeks. I can guarantee you brain fog will lift like you won’t believe. You’ll thihk it’s magic, cuz that’s how good it works. Just be lucky you don’t have any of the more difficult issues to fix, like no libido and sexual issues. These seem to be the toughest to get rid of, if at all.
You are still in the early stages of withdrawal. I went through the same thing, but also suffered from depersonalization and lost self-awareness. It was a very scary feeling, like my body was remote controlled and everything felt like I wasn’t really there.
The good news is that the brain fog is really the first thing to go with time and the very last thing to resolve itself seems to be proper sexual function. I think with a good diet, good exercise, and some more time you will feel the brain fog lift. Hang in there, things will get better. I promise!
It’s fascinating that brain fog and sexual issues can appear separate of each other. I still don’t understand that very clearly.
To OP - I was where you are. I’m 23 now and I’m no longer “lost in space”, meaning I can follow movies and read a lot better than I used to. It’s hard for me to explain why this happens. I think its likely that finasteride alters our neurochemistry. There’s really nothing else to explain the zoned-out state of confusion and emptiness we are left in. Perhaps it could be hormonal, such as adrenal or thyroid or gonadal, but usually these values come back satisfactory. Clean up your diet, eat a lot of vegetables and fruits, steer clear of heavy foods and I think after a while you will notice a change. And consider yourself lucky you’re not sexually damaged like the rest of us with no answer to that either.
J89 is correct that our brain fog is most likely caused by liver problems. Here are a few quotes from a Cirrhosis web page. It also expains why some people have become sensitive to large numbers of substances after fin:
There’s plenty of diseases that have brain fog as a symptom. It doesn’t prove anything; it’s only a possibility until proven.
OK, I know I gotta eat better - that is something I definitely need to work on.
Is this fast thing a good idea? 2 weeks? Are you out of your mind lol? I tried fast for 2 days once and by the end of it I felt like I was ready to die. Of course during that I had nothing but water.
What kind of fast should I undergo? Just fruit, just drink? What specifically worked for you cdnuts?
Thanks
Actually, they were both 21 day water only fasts, medically supervised of course. Google water fasting, and the 80-10-10 diet for more information. These two things alone were responsible for the majority of my returning health. Unfortunately, the diet is very restrictive and is difficult to stay on, but it works.
This is where I did it healthpromoting.com/
Yeah, I don’t think I could do that. I don’t have the resources to pay for something like what TrueNorth offers and besides, I would not be able to just drop my life for 14 days. Even if I just water-fasted at my home, it would affect my work (i am a junior in college and am taking very work intensive classes). I remember during my 2 day fast I could not do anything – not even read a book. I just felt sick and nauseous all the time.
Do you think that a simple 21-day vegetable/water diet can be as effective?
P.S. That liver theory sounds very convincing to me. I had just a few cans of beer the other day and I was puking all over the place! Perhaps my liver is just not functioning properly and I need a fast to get it recharged.
Having also done a 45 day juice feast, I can say that yes, it will work, albiet very slowly compared to a water only fast. Your still creating metabolic waste when taking in calories. Water only is the fasted detox around, as you found out when you attempted it. And yes, you would need to drop everything in your life to do it, because you would most likely not be able to function the way you need to.
Juice feasting can be very expensive. Check out juicefeasting.com/ In my experience, I was basically able to continue on with my life as is.
Has there been any link made b/t Finasteride and Liver Damage?
I’ve been off of FIN for 4 months after being on it for roughly 18 months… One of the lab tests as part of my physical was AST (liver blood test) which came back elevated above the normal range… Coincidentally my previous bloodwork over the past 3-4 years never showed elevated levels or even close to it…
I’m still suffering from brain fog / speech and sex difficulties after 4 months off of the Med, so I may go the liver detox route, wouldn’t hurt at this point…
Thanks for the advice didn’t know there was a correlation b/t liver and brain fog.
cdnuts seems pretty confident that a liver cleansing diet can cure brain fog … can’t hurt to try.
So it’s official, tomorrow I am going out to kroger to get veggies/fruits for the week. I may decide to do it longer … it all depends on what I feel like after a week. Gosh it is going to be difficult to live without the pleasure of meat and grain. I will do anything to get rid of this brain fog though.
Does anyone have a recommended shopping list for me? Is there anything that I can get out of a can? Do they sell all natural liquid veggie blends? Right now I have in mind:
Bananas
Oranges
Spinach
Carrots
Apples
Grapes
Peaches
Celery
Brocolli
Colliflower
Brussel Sprouts
Cabbage
Tomatoes
What else should I include? I’ll probably go out and get a cheap blender.
Would it be a good idea to supplement my veggie diet with a non-salted nut like walnuts?
Also, I don’t exercise at all. I am not obese or anything, I have a very good thin muscular physique (just because I am young). Should I start while I am on this diet?
Any other suggestions/tips would be appreciated. Thanks!
one week wont do shit,in my opinion you need to be thinking at least a few months
… is this true? I really need to save money lol.
i can’t comment on whether it’s safe to be exercising whilst undertaking this cleansing thing but i can tell you that on a more general basis, exercising is something you should be putting alot of consideration into.
exercising won’t just help your symptoms directly, through improving hormone levels and such, it will also help your mental state; as you start to look better you feel better about yourself, you’ll feel stronger, more manly and best of all it will help you take the focus off feeling sorry for yourself all the time.
focus on lifting weights; 6 rep sets, major muscle groups; squats bench press etc. keep it short (under an hour) but intense, this isn’t a sissy powerwalk. also keep a training diary so you can see what you lifted the week before and aim to improve each week.
bgmistake you can do another kind of fasting. from dawn to dusk don’t eat any thing. at dusk break your fast with light ,non fat food and fruits. I did this for a month and it helped me a lot. I am going to do it again very soon. I observed this kind of fast among muslim people and noted very positive changes in their health. Just first 2 days were hard and then body got used to fasting.
Just my two cents.
SPS
OK, I will try SPS’s idea at the end of my veggie/fruit diet if I don’t notice any major changes… I’ve decided to do the veggie/fruit diet for at least a month. Will that work or do I necessarily need more?
Also, I am a little concerned about losing my muscle mass while on this diet. Could that happen? Do I need to lift weights to prevent that? I already do 50-100 push ups a day, i know it isn’t much but at least it’s something.
bigmistake,
You should be able to include Salmon other fish, nuts & seeds. You will need some protein and those are good sources of protein.
Does anyone concur with this opinion ;0?