Henchman's Story

Member Stories
#284

End of month update, 2.5 years now. So I think this is another “improvements phase”. I’m back to being “unstable”. I’m feeling changes on an hourly basis, but my “floor” is still very high, as high as it’s ever been. I’m getting anxiety, anhedonia and headaches again. Usually around mid/day and afternoon. My insomnia is resolving though finally. My initial insomnia is completely resolved, I have trouble staying awake now at night (past 11PM) and zero trouble getting to sleep. My middle insomnia is MUCH better, I only wake up at 6-7 hours once, and then maybe one more time. My terminal insomnia is also getting better, I can sleep until 8 or even 9AM sometimes now.

However, my rigid hands and painful joints is also returning. This is same as before when my sleep got very good previously. There’s some kind of link there between my sleep improving and my hand joint tightness and pain.

At my peak, I’m feeling VERY close to 100%. It’s very hard to pick out improvements now one you get to a certain point, but as an example of one I’ve noticed is that this past week I’m suddenly able to be “quick-witted” and pull quotes from shows or books and throw them into normal conversation. It’s just something I haven’t been able to do this past few years. I really have to think about it to notice the peak improvements like this, but they are definitely there, so the arrow is still up.

Edit: Libido is also back. Back to normal, 1-2 times a day being a need. Has been optional, only if turned on by external stimulus for some months lately.

#285

Hi Henchman. Rígid hands have made my life so difficult… Also the lost of strength in arms… This people should be in jail…

I am improving quite much with quite high dosis of magnesium bysglicinate and LDN.

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#286

Also same here. For me it is an enigna and a nightmare. When I finally sleep well, my rigid hands and in general muscle rigidness gets worst… I am more than a year off of the evil medicine…

#287

You know, now that you mention it Tiro it does seem to be overall rigidness. I notice the hands the most, but my other muscles are sore in certain areas and my chronic back pain has really ramped up and I’m very stiff overall in the mornings. Nothing really affects me like the hands and knuckle joints though. I hope there’s no additional permanent damage after this round.

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#288

Same here. Rigidness is in all muscles but specially difficult in hands and foreharms… some of my fingers are so rigid that they tremble… I thought I had young Parkinson but neurologist told me it wasn´t…

There are several articles that relates rigidness in PFs with the block of GABA A receptors …

I began feeling rigidness in hands and fingers just a few days after beginning with the evil Finasteride, but as the dermatologist told me Finasteride have 0 secondary effects I couldn´t imagine it was it…

I have passed a nightmare after it…

#289

also back pain and specially rigid when I awake…I can feel that my muscles are so tense that they vibrate… It is terrible…

#290

exactly the same here, did it improve?

#291

Dry eyes, hands, and feet are back again. Dry hands are so bad skin is cracking and bleeding in some areas. Never had issues with this before fin.

#292

Have you considered adding gelatin to your diet? Not Algar, just regular gelatin. Gelatin contains glycine which up regulates 5ar if you have high enough volume in the blood. In reality you can just add it to your daily diet to stabilize its bio availability.

I have found it helps. It might help with your ups and downs. Eat some gummy bears before a workout :stuck_out_tongue: I make my own to cut out the sugar but in a pinch anything with gelatin will work. I just use flavourless Knox gelatin since it’s a reliable source.

I have found though when I first introduced gelatin I did have some minor ed for about a week but I’m still in the recovery phase. You may not have that issue.

I started to get rid of the cognitive sides. They were causing extreme depression, lack of focus etc… now with coffee, gelatin and exercise they are almost gone.

You could also just eat a lot of chicken skin :stuck_out_tongue:

#293

Glad that you’re doing better. The only two items that cross between our recoveries are exercise and time, which it seems fairly common.

I did take magnesium bisglycinate for a while, but I do not attribute any of my recovery to that. I think I took it for sleep.

#294

Feeling very close to 100% today again…. Last few days the dryness has spread now to my groin area (which is new) and I am uncontrollably itchy in that area. I would classify it as SEVERE itching. Like I have scratched my dick until it’s bleeding bad. Don’t know what’s going on, but given how I feel I might make the trade for an itchy groin.

I’ve heard of DHT itch, is this a thing? Can it be localized? If so, I must have a shitton of DHT in my groin now to cause all this itching. Noticed that despite the itching, sensation and orgasm quality has skyrocketed. Libido has also increase, but not to the same degree. I do think it’s related though.

#295

Jock itch is a common PFS symptom but I’m guessing you’d have mentioned the stink if it was that.

#296

Yeah I don’t THINK that’s it, but I guess I won’t rule it out.

Today I’ve gotten extremely itchy hands now also, which is ANOTHER early symptom, perhaps the earliest. This was something that I think happened right after I started taking fin. I had no idea it was related at the time, and went to the doctor multiple times to try and resolve it. Doctors could not figure it out, they said it was contact dermatitis and I was obviously sensitive to touch by something. I thought I might’ve developed an allergy to mango, as my lips also got super dry and itchy around the time I ate a mango. I now know I’m not allergic to mango and I am almost certain this was all due to initial use of fin.

I’m straining my memory, but I really think this might be my earliest symptom. Getting towards the end. Sleep is still up and down, but getting more and more good nights in. Slept until 9AM today.

Edit: and now the dry itchy lips are starting. It’s the EXACT same thing as before.

#297

End of month (~32 months post fin).

  • Itching now completely subsided, took 2-3 weeks.
  • Sleep vastly improved. 7 hours uninterrupted is the norm, plus extra when needed. Traveled across 6 time zones and I was fine (woohoo!). Had only one day this month where I had issues getting to sleep.
  • Depression/anxiety/anhedonia - only 2 significant days, otherwise almost completely gone
  • Brain fog - up and down, but better and better as time goes on.
  • libido been increasing noticeably this past week
  • orgasm quality - had two days where it was approaching 100%. Wow, had forgotten how good it can be.
  • Rigid hands has returned significantly and I already have additional nodules forming on my finger joints. Worst in the morning.
  • Dry eyes, problem in the morning
  • Dry skin in all areas and itchiness - Mostly resolved.

So small tip for initial onset insomnia (trouble getting to sleep). I’ve found that when I have this issue, I will get up and do an intense but very short workout circuit. I’ll do like 25-35 pushups, 90 crunches (30 in each of 3 different styles) and then 50-70 body weight squats, but VERY fast so it really burns and wears me out. It gets my heart rate way up and as my heart rate falls I always fall asleep. This only started working once I was recovered to a certain point, but it essentially always works now when I can’t get to sleep. I used to do that and take a magnesium bisglycinate and melatonin. Now I just the excercise. can’t guarantee it will work for anyone else, but it worked well for me. If I woke up two hours later or whatever, it wouldn’t help me then, but would help me with initially falling asleep.

#298

Over the past 1-2 weeks I’ve experienced a huge leap in mental capability. Suddenly, everything is just so much clearer. My libido is also now suddenly recovered again. Overall, very close to 100%. However, along with, I have steadily gotten less and less sleep each day (like before my initial crash), waking up earlier and earlier which worries me a little. I now am only getting like 5 hours per night and wake up feeling completely wired, but rested. I can sometimes still take naps though after I get over the initial wired phase, so it’s not completely like before. Like many things PFS, it’s weird.

Rigid hands is still a significant problem and the nodules on my hands are getting worse. Lastly, had one day where I had yet another new symptom. Yesterday morning my vision was suddenly very poor. I just noticed I was driving and suddenly I could not read the signs. I’ve read about people with vision problems before, I assume this is what they’re talking about. It resolved in about 24 hours.

#299

Did you ever try a pure carnivore diet?

Seems like messing with the gut biome sends people up and down, that’s what I’m collecting anecdotally across people’s success stories.

I’m 15 days off fin. My neurological symptoms are off the charts. I started the carnivore diet yesterday and I ate a lot of beef and fat before laying in bed. It calmed my mind enough for me to get…one hour of sleep.

I’m hoping if I can get into full ketosis I can work on some hormonal balance — all theoretical, I know.

But just wondering if you ever did pure carnivore at any stage?

#300

Hi, yes I almost immediately went on carnivore after my crash. I stayed on carnivore for maybe 4-8 months? I can’t remember. I do remember I hated it, but it at least made me stop worrying about whether or not if I was eating things that were affecting me. I don’t know if it actually did anything other than that, but that alone made it worth it to me at that stage.

#301

Thanks for the response. There seems to be some connection between carnivore alleviating some neurological symptoms initially, but then it may stress out the adrenal glands which probably contributes to a lot of the insomnia and some neurological symptoms coming back (adrenal fatigue).

I’ve already noticed some short-term calming effects just by eating butter (weird, I know) but I need to push this a little further. So I’m thinking strict carnivore for a few weeks to clear out my gut, then slowly introducing things like cheese and probiotics to promote gut health. All the while still trying to work out and solve the sleep issue.

Wish me luck.

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#302

Good luck, you’re very early on so don’t do anything crazy. Just bunker down and ride out the initial phase and see where you stand. The neurological symptoms are so horrible, I feel for you.

#303

Did you ever try CBD or Wim hof for sleep?

Starting those now too.

Breath training and carnivore to start. Maybe some magnesium before bed. I’ll try CBD if the insomnia doesn’t improve with breathing and meditation