Got PFS because of astaxanthin

Member Stories
#1

Welcome to our community. Please fill in the following template as a way of introducing yourself, and helping others to understand your background and situation.

Where are you from (country)?
Poland
How did you find this forum (Google search – if so, what search terms? Via link from a forum or website – if so, what page? Other?)
Searched “can astaxanthin cause gyno?”

What is your current age, height, weight?
16, 178cm (5’10) 72kg (160lbs)

What specific drug did you use (finasteride, dutasteride, saw palmetto, isotretinoin/Accutane, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, leuprorelin, etc…)?
Astaxanthin, saw palmetto (but I only took it a few weeks before that in a multivitamin so the dosage was 60mg and I doubt it was that)

What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
16-24mg

What condition was being treated with the drug?
Concussion from boxing
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)?
14 days

Date when you started the drug?
Somewhere in the half of the summer holidays

Date when you quit the drug?
Latter half of the summer break

Age when you quit?
16

How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Cold turkey
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects?
10 days

What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?

Check the boxes that apply. You can save your post first, then interactively check/uncheck the boxes by clicking on them. If your symptoms change, please update your list.

Sexual
[ X] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ X] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[X ] Loss of Morning Erections
[ X] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ X] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[X ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[ X] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[X ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ X] Confusion
[X ] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[X ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[X ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ]X Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[X ] Suicidal Thoughts

Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[X ] Testicular Pain
[ X] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[ ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ X] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[X ] Muscle Wastage (strength came back but I’m still 10kg down in weight)
[X ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes

Misc
[X ] Prostate pain
[ X] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ X] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[ ] Hearing loss
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature

[X ] Other (please explain)
My urination frequency has decreased, nausea, flaking psoriasis-like rash on foreskin, food intolerances

What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
None
If you have pre or post-drug blood tests, what hormonal changes have you encountered since discontinuing the drug (please post your test results in the “Blood Tests” section and link to them in your post)?
I don’t have the results of blood tests but I remember my progesterone being twice above the range 2 weeks post crash when I got my blood tested
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience?

Tell us your story, in your own words, about your usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
Somewhere I may I had gotten a concussion while sparring, It started getting better but at the beginning of summer break I got into a fight and reignited my concussion symptoms. Over the next months they had gone away, but I was worried about the lasting damages of the hit to the head, as an MRI had shown a blood clot. I read on the internet that astaxanthin lowers neuroinflamation and is protective of the brain, so I started taking it alongside choline as a measure to recover from brain damage. 12 days into my usage I had a stabbing pain in my liver and kidneys that woke me up at night (worth to mention that I was consuming a lot of grapefruit juice with the astaxanthin pills) and in the morning I had flu-like brain fog, I thought that I was just sick and decided to wait it out. Next day I had awful nipple sensitivity, to the point that I couldn’t put on a shirt, I read that astaxanthin is a 5ARI and quit taking it, the side effects resolved over the next 4 days, and I thought that I was fine, but after 5 days of feeling good everything came back and for the past 4 months I have been fluctuating (feeling awful for 5days and good for 2) I had one 2 week window of recovery, but after that I lost my appetite permanently, and only thing that fluctuates is libido (for past month seems to be stable and about 70% recovered)

I don’t know what to do, and I’m really scared that I’ve ruined my life. Today I woke up with a dent on the side of my head and I don’t know if I’m just paranoid, or that I am starting to experience tissue loss

Self-reporting template - ONLY USE FOR FUTURE POSTS TO REPORT ANY TRIALS OF TREATMENTS, NOT YOUR INITIAL MEMBER STORY

  1. Name of the therapy/substance:
    • Dosage:
    • How often you took it:
  2. Status
    • Still using [ ]
    • Stopped with no lasting change to initial symptoms [ ]
    • Stopped with persistent change to symptoms [ ]
  3. Duration of use: Days [ ] Months [ ] Years [ ]
  4. Response when you started:
    • Greatly improved [ ]
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    • Stayed the same [ ]
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  5. Current response (if you’re still using the therapy/substance) OR Response in the time before you stopped the treatment
    • Greatly improved [ ]
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  6. Lasting changes to initial symptoms after cessation (if you have stopped for more than 3 weeks)
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#2

Hey man, try to calm down. Unfortunately, it was mostly likely Saw P. Saw P is a DHT blocker/5 alpha reductase inhibitor. The crash can occur sometime after cessation of the supplement. Try to stay grounded and give it some time. I understand it seems almost impossible with anhedonia/emotional blunting. This should be a crime to do to a 16 year old kid.

#3

Thanks bro, I’m trying to stay positive, but shits getting hard. My condition was getting better over the past 2 months but I crashed and I’m really at a low point right now.

#4

Hi, stay strong. PFS can get better over time. I also think it is from the Saw Palmetto. What did you take to crash?

#5

Thanks for the reply, I haven’t really taken anything, or changed my diet to much prior to the crush.

#6

Sorry this happened to you. I wish you the best.

I echo the others that it is more likely than not the saw palm.

Astaxanthin is what gives krill, shrimp, crabs, lobsters, salmon their pink/red pigment.

Accutane inhibits 5ar type 1 but not 5ar type 2, which is why users still get hair loss. Finasteride inhibits 5ar type 2 but not 5ar type 1, which is why users still get acne. Dutasteride and saw palm inhibit 5ar both type 1 and 2. Data is scarce as to how astaxanthin behaves in this regard, but it appears it inhibits both.

This might be the youngest case I’ve heard of: https://www.foxnews.com/health/hot-flashes-in-11-year-old-girl-linked-to-herbal-medicine

It said the hot flashes went away after cessation but the abnormal menstruation continued for a year after cessation.

Denmark banned saw palm 19 years ago: https://www.supplysidesj.com/healthy-living/denmark-issues-alert-bans-saw-palmetto

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#7

Thanks for the reply. I don’t know about the saw palmetto man, I’m not excluding it as the cause, but I took it a good few months before I first crushed. I think that I took such excessive amounts of astaxanthin, that it’s 5AR inhibition caused PFS. It has an lifetime of 40 hours (I think) and I also chased it with grapefruit juice, which inhibited it’s metabolism, so a lot of it probably was circulating in my blood day round.

#8

The saw may have pushed you to the edge and the astax may have pushed you over. The half-life of astaxanthin is 16-52 hours. Finasteride is 5-6 hours while accutane is 10-20 hours. Dutasteride is 4 weeks. Beta-sitosterol is credited of being the active component in saw palm with a half life initial phase of 3 days then 2 weeks for the second phase. Note that half-life is how long it takes to reduce by half. The substance is only eliminated after 5 half lives, so I’m not going to do the math, but you get the point. So even if you used it prior, it may have still been in your system when you crashed. Avocados, nuts, and olives contain beta-sitosterol yet don’t induce post syndromes. Most the beta-sitosterol supplements don’t specify the source, so it could be any of the aforementioned or a combination thereof.

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#9

Grapefruit juice contains Furanocoumarins, which irreversibly destroy the enzyme CYP3A4 in the liver and gut. CYP3A4 is responsible for breaking down ~50% of all drugs, including Astaxanthin and sex hormones.

By drinking “a lot” of grapefruit juice, you disabled the liver’s ability to clear the Astaxanthin. Instead of a normal dose, the drug accumulated in your blood to toxic levels (10x to 20x normal concentration).

This turned a mild “health supplement” into a pharmaceutical-grade 5-AR bomb.

#10

Kava, xian mao, and pomegranate are inhibitors of CYP3A4. St Johns wort is the opposite in this regard, an inducer instead of an inhibitor.

Kava pairs well with vanilla and orange juice, from a taste perspective.

Xian Mao comes with a warning saying it is “mildly toxic”. The rhizomes infused in rice wine vinegar for at least a week then strained makes a deliciously smokey flavored condiment. Again, a taste perspective. The rhizomes can be mistaken for dog feces, so the jokes you can play are aplenty.

Pomegranate juice and gingko biloba pair nicely taste wise.

1 Like
#11

Update: past two weeks I have been doing alright, but I think I am starting to crash again, as I had bad on and off insomnia for a few nights, and today I woke up with a burning sensation in my nipples, sore puffy eyelids and I once again have brain fog and anhedonia.