Yes, it could. I’ve heard that COVID attacks AR and that is why it brings loss of hair as an aftereffect.
I want to add that I have had multiple vaccines and boosters with no long-term effects. I had many short-term effects from COVID, but don’t expect any long-term issues at this point.
Welp, I’m back into full record keeping mode again. Was doing better for a bit, but had an almost no sleep night last night. It’s been a while since one of those. Thankfully, I’m doing fairly well otherwise, but sleep continues to be a problem. It helps me to be able to read my thread and look back when I have issues like this. Record keeping helps me. Seems to be I haven’t had issues like this since December. Current symptoms:
- Sleep disruption
- Body odor loss/fluctuation
- anxiety
- brain fog
- lack of drive/motivation/passive
- Frequent urination
- Slight muscle twitching
- Rigid hands
- Dry eyes
- Depression/anhedonia
- Digestion issues
- Loss of morning wood
- Loss of spontaneous erections
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Since PFS I am fully aware that I will have at least once per month some days with sleep problems. I don’t think will recover that thinking something that comes and leave helps me.
Be careful in catching COVID.
Finasteride blocks several neurosteroids among them GABA A receptors and COVID blocks GABA B receptors and worse all this previous conditions. As Finasteride creates intestine inflammation and neurological inflammatory issues.
That can be different for each one of us, but in my case vaccine and COVID made my PFS problems clearly worse.
For the sleeping and other PFS + long COVID issues I am taking LDS
So, pretty sure now that I messed up quite properly. Either the COVID or the shampoo. My sleep is in absolute shambles. Tuesday last week I barely slept. Last night I couldn’t sleep, I spent the entire day so exhausted only to find myself unable to sleep again tonight. I have not had multiple days together with no sleep since the first 12 months post-fin. My sleep in between those days (while much better) was not great either.
I’m in real trouble here. My anxiety has been quite high, and I’m just generally not doing well. Full fledged PFS again basically. That being said, as long as I can figure out how to get some sleep, the rest has been bearable. I am just hoping against all hope that things don’t get worse. I still have some enjoyment of things, although greatly reduced, and my anxiety is at a manageable level. I have some libido, just reduced, and I can perform well.
If things don’t get worse. This is not a bad starting point for recovery AGAIN. I can’t believe I’m back here. I had this thing beat, but i have to be able to push on for my kids and my family. If things don’t get worse, I can put on my face at this level and do what needs to be done. I can endure some suffering on the inside.
So, as always, I now need two things, a plan and some goals.
Plan:
- Do what primarily worked the first time. Get really serious about my exercise, dial in my diet, get strict with my sleep hygiene, reduce stress, get outside and enjoy the sun and family, lots of snuggling to get that Oxytocin flowing.
- After a few months, I need to see where I stand. I may add back in some stuff I did early on if not improving. Probiotics, Vitamin D, melatonin, stricter diet, etc.
- Open up that spreadsheet I haven’t touched for years to start recording, so I can track my progress.
Goals:
- Fix sleep so I can consistently get 6+ hours per night. Resolve initial insomnia at least. (Will work on middle and terminal insomnia later).
- Be able to consistently have good days, where majority of every day is not plagued by anxiety, depression, or anhedonia.
- Get back to where I can enjoy all hobbies full-time again.
- Get to the point where work is not a complete daily struggle.
- Eliminate fear of further crash (as much as possible)
Wish me luck yet again guys.
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So, I have absolutely no clue what’s going on.
I’m currently feeling 80-90% baseline again a few days after a some solid nights of sleep that was so deep I woke up in a puddle of drool. Despite feeling good, my anxiety remains high though steadily lower each day, and same with brain burning sensation which has been a constant presence.
I’m just trying to enjoy it while I can knowing i can crash again any minute. Living the best life I can.
Hi Henchman. Sorry to hear that. I am using LDN for the anxiety. That helps a lot and have other healthy sides regarding PFS as control of neuro inflammation.
Think that eventually that always pass… Keep focus in future
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Things have been well, sleep is great. However brain burning is ceaseless. I don’t think I’ve ever had brain burning for this long straight, ever before in my PfS journey, which is of course very concerning. Anxiety also remains to be an issue, it is up and down with some spikes. Dry eyes and rigid hands are getting much worse, brain fog is also fairly significant, but still overall all is manageable.
Brain burning lifted today finally along with Brainfog, anxiety and the rest. Everything came back online, libido included. Feeling pretty close to 100%…. Hopeful this isn’t a false recovery and starting the clock again.
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Hey Henchman, glad to hear you’re feeling a bit better this week. Your diary is a source of inspiration. I’ve been quiet on this forum for about three months as I wanted to see how things progressed for me. One thing I notice when I read your post is this the cyclical nature of your recovery-crash cycle. Do you feel your recoveries are quicker each time, and that your baseline is higher overall? Or is it all random?
I honestly thought I was out of the woods and didn’t have true PFS. By 2.5 months off Fin, I was 100%. Not a single symptom. I was that way for about six weeks straight, had a minor dip from eating beta sitosterol rich foods in mass, but I recovered from that in a week. However, in the last two weeks I’ve had what I would call a “major setback”. Anxiety and insomnia came back (I’ve been drinking and partying and eating whatever I wanted). Thankfully the insomnia only last one night and the anxiety seems manageable but I’m wondering what to expect. Given that I already made good strides I’m hopeful this is a quick blip - but if you had to average it out or guess, how often do these “down windows” last for you?
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Hey Darkstar,
I would say that there is definitely a random element to it, as this was my worst crash in a LONG while that just kinda came out of nowhere. However, despite the randomness there is definitely still a general overall positive trend.
I am overall more stable. The swings don’t feel like they happen quite as steep or as quickly as before. For example, months/years ago I would feel 80% one day and then 0% that same evening. Now I would say I have been teetering between 70% and 99%, and it took me like maybe 5 weeks to pull out of this crash? It wasn’t a fun 5 weeks, but there were no completely horrible days. The body doesn’t seem to like change and there seems to be a constant over correction going on in my body. I will push to a new “peak” and then always crash. I always feel great before a crash. On the flip side, the worst the crash the better the recovery. This crash has lead to additional improvements it seems, I am now sleeping 7 hours with no interruptions every night and can go back to sleep for more if I want. So, to summarize. Both bottom and peak steadily rose and the gap between shrank over time, although it was complete random chaos bouncing between those points throughout recovery. I don’t know if that answers your question, but hopefully it’s helpful.
Not to scare you, but I was in the same boat as you. I was recovered for like 2 months or more before I experienced a setback like you mentioned, then about 1-2 months after this the bottom fell completely out and it was so bad. Like I said, I don’t want to scare you, but instead want to prepare you. If this happens to you just remember not all is lost. There is still chance of recovery. I cannot even describe the horror. I hope this does not happen to you, but if it does and you need to talk, I’m here. It could just be a blip though, so just live your life best you can and avoid 5ari for now.
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Yeah I’ve read your story top to bottom and I picked up on the cyclical nature of the recovery and crash cycles. I expected insomnia to last all week but I went from zero hours of sleep, two nights ago, to six hours of sleep last night. When I first crashed it took me a month to get six hours of sleep. So hopefully my recovery windows are shorter. I’m sure I have more fluctuations in front of me - but ultimately, from what I’ve read, it seems like people who fluctuate end up better off overall.
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That’s great you’re charting positive progress, I hope it continues. I agree also it seems like people who fluctuate fair better than those that have no change at all.
Just curious. Did you start crashing while on fin? Or was it the stopping fin that sent your system for a loop?
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I had some vision issues and brain fog while on a work trip. I came home and decided to go off the meds, that’s when everything spiraled. So I developed symptoms while on, but crashed hard when I went off. I also think I’m a relatively minor case. I don’t have any sexual symptoms. Maybe some slight orgasm anhedonia but that went away.
At ~two months I felt 100% recovered and didn’t even think about PFS for weeks on end. Went two full months without even a slight dip or sign of symptoms. But clearly I wasn’t out of the woods. The fact that my body has put me back at 100% for basically eight weeks makes me think it knows how to recover. Just gotta keep on pushing.
I spent a lot of today reading recovery stories. Some guys don’t see any improvements until after the first year. I’m really fortunate that I’ve had full recovery windows so early on. I believe they’ll keep coming and I just gotta buckle down. Thanks for the kind words.
Edit: my main symptoms, when they flair up, are cognitive - brain fog/anhedonia/insomnia. I think I suffer from neurosteroid issues, not hormonal.
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Same as me, I had symptoms while on, but didn’t spiral until I stopped.
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Thanks. I “crashed” on Monday but it’s not nearly as bad as my first one. Which was a whopper. Last two nights I’ve had 6-7 hours of sleep, only waking up 2-3 times (very briefly). Feel much better today, emotions have returned.
Having read your page top to bottom, I guess I’m now in the fluctuating window. I hope my ups last longer than my downs 
Hope you’re doing well this week. Have a great weekend
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That was my first real goal I think. More good days than bad. Eventually that turns to majority good and then all good (one day). Glad to hear you’re doing well.
I’m still completely fine (close to 100), but brain burning is back again, who knows what that means. 
Brain burning has mostly stopped and I feel more “stable”. Meaning I don’t have the swelling/whooshing feeling in my brain, or the feeling that I’m going to crash constantly. However past 3 days anxiety has been quite high most of the time. Completely manageable, but just not ideal. I can’t relax enough to really just enjoy things like normal and social situations are an uncomfortable but doable. I don’t have much desire to play video games, board games, or watch shows like I normally would. All I want to do is exercise and listen to stuff, I also can make myself read some interesting books. After a few nights with 9 hours sleep, I’m back to waking up at 4.5 hours always and then sleeping hour by hour from that moment on. Muscle twitching occurs slightly through the whole day. It’s everywhere. I’m taking this as an opportunity to get back in really good shape before I’m distracted by actually wanting to do things.
So my thoughts/prediction on this current situation is that the last time this happened, it took me about 6 months to get back to 100% and I was good for about 3. I’m thinking it will take me even longer (6-12 months) to pull out of this entirely, so maybe March of 2025 I’ll start peaking again, but this time I’ll last longer at the top (hopefully permanent). Maybe I can put this behind me by 4th year anniversary.
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I’m all over the place still. High anxiety, mild brain burning on and off, same with muscle twitching, significant sleep disruptions, mild anhedonia and depression.
I don’t really want to do much of anything, no strong desire, but I do get enjoyment out of simple things like hanging with family, doomscrolling my phone, reading, and simple video games. I’m extremely grateful for what I have. I remember how much worse it can be. I’m just glad I can enjoy things and laugh some.
My sleep is not great, but again I’m thankful for what I’ve got. Some nights is only 4.5 hours. Others I can get up to ~9 hours but it’s 9 hours via waking up 5 times throughout the night. Typically 4.5 hours and then 1 to 1.5 hours each mini session afterwards. It’s not a super deep sleep after my initial session or two. Thankfully I have not had trouble with initial insomnia anymore. I can go to sleep without issue, I just can’t stay asleep.
Been increasing the exercise and sleep hygiene like I said. I’ve been bad with my record keeping, but since I’m back in the long haul, I’m gonna try to get back in to this so I can chart overall progress. I’m also going to try and step away from the forum again and do end of month updates to better chart long-term progress. It’ll be easier for me to look back. Good luck everyone!
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End of August update. ~40 months post fin.
July was better than June, August was better than July. Progress is very slow and very up and down, but I finally feel pretty decent on a regular basis again. I still have periods of anxiety, etc. but I now feel better more often than I feel shitty. I had 4 nights of REALLY shitty sleep this month, but I’ve progressed back to being able to get 6 or 7 hours when I’m not in a crash phase. That’s a big improvement over the 4.5 I was getting in my initial sleep phase at the beginning of this crash.
I’ve noticed more random things returning to “normal”.
- used to have a click in my right elbow that has been gone for years. It’s back.
- Before, after I would exercise REALLY hard, I used to lose my hearing and if I pushed myself even further, would get visual affects, like tunnel vision. This has started showing up again.
- Libido is through the roof.
- Emotion from music comes and goes, it’s still the rarest thing to return for me but I think it’s coming back more often?
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