I am wondering, after stopping your 5ar inhibitor, how long it took for your facial features/structure/skin, to noticeably change?
The same goes for the body as well?
Did it take simply a few days? A month to begin noticing? Two months?
And what were your symptoms like
My skin started to change whilst still on the drug. It’s hard to say exactly when as it wasn’t something that I was looking out for until that time when I first started to notice it, so it could have been insidious for a good while, quietly causing damage, but that point of noticing it was a good few years in. The subcutaneous fat loss occurred within months of stopping including tissue loss to the shaft of my penis. It has unfortunately fast tracked aging which wouldn’t have necessarily occurred if not for the drug, like cheek crinkling when I smile and also completely lax neck skin, no doubt made worse by the weight loss to my face.
@qowpel : what has been your own experience?
Oh wow so once you were off the drug did the subcutaneous fat loss hit suddenly via a crash, like a few months after? Like you stopped, then after a few months it began to rapidly lose?
Did you document it to show your doctor you aren’t lying, as they generally just gaslight victims?
Lastly when the accelerated skin changes began, did they happen with other pfs symptoms too?
For me I think my sub Q fat loss is beggining and the dark circles seem really prominent right now
What I notice thus far is that, plus a lower libido, and for some reason, retaining more water in my body. (Usually I never retain any water but suddenly I’m retaining a few pounds of water no matter what I eat, suggesting the microbiome or thyroid is working differently…. I’m off the stuff for about 2.5 weeks now
Hugely suffered from facial and body collagen loss and have made improvements over time but huge improvements over last month
From finasteride & Tribulus but more so Tribulus I lost collagen from face, quite alot, my left side has what I would describe as two invisible thumb prints as part of overall collagen loss, I think @LazarusRy has described similar
I experienced collagen loss from fingers too
I have always had very sallow supple body skin, that changed too. I was a very muscular guy and when I would be in changing room for example I would know my body hasn’t just lost muscle but collagen too
Last year I tried coffee enemas and over did them, 2 a day for 10 days & matineance and I developed Sibo like symptoms
So here is the thing, a month ago I stumbled on a doctor or perhaps he was naturopath, anyhow he talked about how sometimes Sibo can mimic B1/Thiamine deficiency and it can be so bad that repleteing it can cause you paradoxical reactions in first weeks of being on it
Stress, alcohol, coffee can all deplete Thiamine
My theory certainly for me, finasteride through stress/cortisol lowered B1 in me, Tribulus made it much worse, coffee enemas added more fuel to the fire
Four weeks ago I started water soluble B1, first few days took between 200 to 300 mg and got tough die off like reactions so lowered it, about a week later introduced fat soluble thiamine, can only tolerate 3 consecutive days for now but the collagen improvement on my face is remarkable, people are noticing it, I still have those two invisible thumb prints on left side of face but less obvious to me
My fingers are fuller, was in the chuch on the wkend and when joined my hands to pray, I couldn’t believe it, they don’t feel boney, it is not extra bone density it is extra collagen. I
My body skin composition is thicker
Now it is my view, that in my particular situation Finasteride along with Tribulus along with coffee enemas have done untold levels of stress to my body leading to B vitamin depeltion and thiamine supplementation has increased stomach aicd for me to get all nutrient absorption
One final thing, I developed allergies, histamine like that already improved with progesterone & copper but are improving even more now, I added B12 to my thiamine along with its cofactors as it is important for histamine, actually B12 improved my facial complexion too
I also have much more colour in my face now
Gone are the days I looked so pale at times
The sub fat loss happened within months of stopping, although I can’t say for certain whether it was a crash as I generally wasn’t in the best of places at the time and there wasn’t a specific time when I became aware of an onslaught of new symptoms. A bit like my earlier becoming aware of the skin on my face having unduly aged, it was some penny dropping moments in front of a mirror when I realised what had happened, like flossing my teeth and the skin on my cheek crinkling more than it had which of course was because it now had less support due to the sub fat loss. I can however say that it was fairly rapid in the case of the sub fat loss/tissue loss to my penis/generalised weight loss due to my becoming aware of it only months after stopping. When I first found this site I was still taking finasteride and of course read of these stories of subcutaneous fat loss to the face and around the eyes, but like so many folk I sadly felt protected at that time as I could somehow convince myself by saying: I have this but at least I don’t have that, but that just reflects the inherent dangers of also STOPPING the medication which I still don’t feel are properly conveyed in the labelling, that the medication can harm you, first just by taking it, then by stopping and starting it, and then by stopping, and of course I really don’t know if there are further harms if you take it whilst taking any other medication. I was on an antidepressant at the same time which brings with it its own set of harms.
I did take photos at the time and shared some on this site just a year or so after stopping. I don’t believe that most doctors that I saw believed that I was lying, certainly my GP at the time didn’t appear to. She just expressed regret that she prescribed me it, but I couldn’t criticise her as it was under my instruction. Also, with the information that was out there at the time doctors were also mostly in the dark and just went on the information they had that all was sunny and bright.
Re: my skin changes, there were no other pfs symptoms that were apparent at the time, although maybe things like being diagnosed with dry eyes which meant that contacts were out the question.