Hi
I have been off finasteride for about 2 years. I have been on trt, I am taking tamoxifen and I am on a complete cocktail of vitamin supplements. I need help in regards to exercise. Everyone on the forums says that weightlifting help with the symptoms of finasteride. When I exercise however my symptoms seem to get significantly worse. Is anyone else going through this and if so can you help.
When I do cardio or play football/ basketball I feel way worse after. Weight lifting makes me feel pretty good though. Not much to say about it really mate.
This is my experience also. Weight lifting actually increased my wasting (this was not the case before). Anything that raises testosterone can make me feel worse (exercise, ejaculation). This has gotten better to some point. I also used to get huge problems after injecting my TRT. My response here has also improved. I haven’t found anything that you can do about this except exercise moderately (if at all), avoid having an orgasm and just wait for things to get better. Despite all of this, I believe that keeping testosterone at a reasonable level, makes sense and may contribute to recovery. Important is that you go by feeling (what dosage you feel comfortable with), and not only by numbers.
This is only my personal experience. Many guys on this forum are not affected as severely as I was, and will benefit of activities that raise testosterone to some degree. It varies from case to case.
Hey guys
Thanks for the advice so far. I just want to say that it’s not just about the exercise. I would like to say that while most guys on the forums have had to become complete health freaks. Always eating fresh fruit and veg, no caffeine etc. I have to be the complete opposite. Plenty of fatty foods, caffine, sugary foods and alcohol, I feel much better as opposed to being on a healthy diet. I did the broccoli treatment today to see if If there had been any change. I felt like crap. I felt like the will to live had been drained out of me. I don’t know why this is happening to me?
Overall feeling worse. I am just totally fucked up!
I feel too fatigued and weak to even consider exercising. This is still the case even though on TRT and hcg as of February. Its all I can do to keep up with my job, my house, etc.
Are you sure that hcg is helping you? Are you on gel or IM? A friend of mine with the same problems got persistently worse after going on hcg. I found that IM is much better than gel, because gel converts too heavily to DHT. I am telling you guys, are problem is not that we don’t have enough androgens, from our bodies point of view we have too much (hypersensitivity). That is why increasing androgens (exercise, supplementation, ejaculation) makes the symptoms worse for some/many guys.
Irishguy,
When I was at my worst, exercise also made me feel worse. I couldn’t go for runs or even do light weight lifting (I used to compete in adventure racing, so this was a big change for me.).
I wonder if the adrenaline (norepinephrine?) release that comes with physical activity is overtaxing a burdened stress response system? Typically, some stress is good and causes the body to become alert. However, for someone who has used fin for a prolonged period, the lack of allopregnenalone ----> GABA may leave our brains in a consistent state of “fight or flight” response. I needed months of little physical activity, then a gradual introduction of yoga, in order for me to be able to go to the gym and lift with moderate intensity. Possibly, the calming yoga (which has been proven to increase GABA production) helped to reduce my “internal stress levels”?
As for why you feel better when eating junk and fatty foods, these foods trigger a short-term dopamine release (a reason why some people literally become addicted to foods). Eating healthy initially deprives your body of dopamine associated with food. I’ve theorized about this before (and do not wish to propagate this theory as a fact, just as a theory), but GABA has an effect on dopamine, and possibly there has been a decrease in the a person’s dopamine receptors.
More discussion around this theory is here:
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=4481
Take care,
Former
This has been my experience also. Sometimes exercise helps, especially when I do it after not for a long period. However ejaculation destroys me and often I feel worse after exercising getting the ice cold numb penis in the process.
Awor, what happens to you after you ejaculate? When i can I get muscle spasms where constantly tight muscles loosen up for a few seconds and then weakness/numbness, where the muscles get tight and frozen and I lose control. Then the penis shriveled up like a scared turtle hiding it’s head, very fast, curling up and to the left painfully in the process. This is accompanied 9 times out of 10 with either no feeling or an uncomfortable orgasm that is like nerve pain, or someone scraping their nails on a chalkboard.
Is that so? I don’t believe that everyone is feeling better after exercise. I, for example, have the same problem you do.
Weightlifting and heavy exercise significantly increase androgen levels. We are seeing three kind of reactions to androgens amongst men in this place:
a. Increasing androgen levels by any means (excercise, orgasm, supplementation) makes them feel better (albeit often only temporary)
b. No significant reaction to androgens (perhaps more bloating)
c. Negative reaction to androgens (anything that raises androgens makes the person feel worse and increases symptoms - can include: penile shrinkage, depression, cramps, cognitive difficulties, anxiety, more wasting, etc.)
I am a definite category “c” and know many others on this forum that belong there as well. Many seem to be in “b” and, as far as I can tell, only a select few are truly “a” (sadly so).
I would be interested to know if orgasm also makes your symptoms worse. I would bet anything that it does. I would also bet anything that you wouldn’t do well on TRT.
He’s on TRT (nebido injections) and he has felt some reprieve from his symptoms.
its been wierd with me and excersise.
I’ve noticed my penis gets extremely mushy… reallly mushy, after weight lifting. ( it changes shape as well and gets very small and wrinkled and extremely narrow at the base. Almost like a child)
Jogging has helped me though… sometimes its hard becayse my shrunken testicles retract up and make it very uncomfortable.
Do you feel better or worse after orgasm?
Four months ago, I could not even walk without feeling dizzy or having my heart beat too hard. After starting addressing thyroid and adrenal hormones, I started to be able to exercise regularly. Sometimes, it feels exactly is it used to before propecia (energetic, very alert, etc…); some other times, though, I still have some minor problems, such as feeling sleepy or weak after workout.
Remember that you don’t need androgens in order to be able to exercise or have physical energy; in fact, you only need a decent level of T4 and cortisol. If you can address those hormones (it’s waaay harder than it sounds), you will be able to exercise.
I feel the same after orgasm.
And also i can relate to the dizziness and heart beat problems during a workout! Sometimes its pretty bad but i truck on.
even healthy people get tired after an orgasm but i can barely move.