I’ve seen a lot of people saying that exercise has been helpful for them. It sounds like you’re doing good things for yourself with that and stretching.
It seems things are still fluctuating for you as you can now get an erection when you couldn’t before? It might even be best to hold off on orgasming at the moment whilst your body is still leveling out.
10 days after I stopped taking SP, I started having tingling in the hands and the neck when I sleep on my back. Also tingling in the penis.
Also if I sit on a hard surface my butt becomes numb. So many weird issues. I was perfectly healthy before SP. Not sure what is causing this but it’s annoying.
I started feeling depressed. I went to the spa but had to force myself. It feels as though I can’t enjoy activities that I used to. I can still smile and laugh but don’t feel it. It’s hard to explain how I feel really. Just strange and sad. I never had a depression in my life so I don’t know if it’s normal. It seems to come in waves. Sometimes I feel normal but sometimes not. Libido is still around 70% pre SP. Maybe this whole thing traumatised me so I started feeling this way. Gonna try to get more than 4 hours of sleep tonight.
I now have a new issue.
I am able to get an erection when lying down but can’t standing up.
New problems keep appearing one after the other.
Maybe this is a psychological issue?
Also I woke up during the night sweating.
Can anxiety do that? So confused.
My pelvic pain is decreasing since I started physical therapy and I am overall feeling better physically.
I have the opposite lol this condition is something else.
So it’s been 5 weeks since I stopped SP.
My libido is still pretty low. No more nocturnal erections but I don’t remember if I had any pre SP. Motivation is very low. I have to watch porn to get aroused. I didn’t have to do that before. I actually hated porn before. I think I need to take a break and leave my dick alone for a while.
I take walks every day but I should really make an effort to eat a healthier diet.
I am not very hopeful.
I am tired of worrying and obssessing over this problem and feel pathetic.
Has anyone recovered from saw palmetto?
What did you do to improve?
I started weight lifting every day.
I take zinc and B complex vitamins.
Should I take any other supplement?
Any particular diet I should follow?
I’m scared to take too many supplements at this point.
It seems that exercising increases my libido a little.
I will ask to see a urologist tomorrow but I just feel he will give me cialis and I don’t want to try that.
I’ve read a few cases on this forum of people taking zinc and then crashing afterwards. Zinc has some 5ar inhibitory properties, similar in that sense to finasteride or saw palmetto. A common pattern people report is feeling a little better at first, and then crashing days or even a couple of weeks later. I’m pretty sure there’s a thread on here that links to another forum where someone developed PFS like symptoms from zinc alone, without ever taking finasteride or anything similar beforehand.
Personally I’m not taking any supplements or medications. At first I spent a lot of time researching things that might help, but everythings basically a gamble. For every thing that helps one person, there seem to be many others who get worse from it. I’ve decided to take nothing at all for at least a year, maybe 2, and just give my body the chance to stabilise and hopefully continue to improve. That might be the safest approach for you too. If after a year or 2 I’ve made decent progress I won’t take anything out of fear of things getting worse again. Id probably only consider something if I get dramatically worse in that time, it’s unclear why and I’ve become desperate.
As you mentioned cialis specifically, I will just say that I’d be cautious with that in particular / avoid it altogether. Tinnitus is a potential side effect, and given how unlucky we seem with side effects I wouldn’t risk it. Tinnitus alone can be unbearable depending on severity. Some people have even taken their lives purely because of extreme tinnitus, without PFS involved.
Training wise, having proper rest days is important too. Rest days are important for everyone, but probably even more so with PFS. Maybe lift every other day, or do shorter daily sessions while rotating muscle groups if you really want to train each day. Just be careful not to burn yourself out. Physical, mental or emotional stress seems to be a big triggers for worsening symptoms.
With diet, it’s the same story as everything else… one person can handle a food fine while someone else crashes from it. I’ve read several cases of people developing food sensitivities due to PFS. The most commonly avoided things seem to be avocados, green tea and tomatoes because of their 5ari effects. Some people eat tomatoes without issue though. Lycopene is the compound in tomatoes with 5ar inhibition, and cooking tomatoes increases lycopene a lot, so if you want to keep them in your diet / try them, raw might be the safer starting point.
From what I’ve seen, potatoes, bananas and cucumbers seem to be some of the most consistently tolerated fruits and veg. Meat seems well tolerated too.
I recently made a thread with my current diet plan if you want to check it out. I explain the reasoning behind my choices. HOWEVER, please keep in mind that at the end of the day we’re all guessing because PFS is so unpredictable. My plan seems logical to me, but I can’t say for sure that it would be best for you. The best approach is probably to try foods yourself and take note of anything that affects you personally.
I think its easy to become too stressed and worried about this topic without potentially needing to be. Admittedly I become to obsessed and stressed around diet when I perhaps didn’t need to be.
You are right. I’m pretty sure zinc made my symptoms worse. Everytime my symptoms worsen I get crippling anxiety and can’t fall asleep.
Going to the doctor today. They will surely prescribe me anxiety meds.
My health has so deteriorated in 6 weeks it’s unbelievable. I’m a totally different person now.
Why are people on this site and other forums advising people to take zinc when it’s another 5ari?
I will stop taking supplements altogether.
There is so much conflicting information.
The saw palmetto supplement that I took had pumpkin seed oil in it which I think also contains 5ari.
Is ativan safe to take? My anxiety is too severe at this point.
I don’t think anyone can say for sure.
Personally I tried 0.125 mg of Clonazepam a couple of weeks after my crash, just the once. It didn’t make anything worse for me, but that doesn’t mean it would be the same for someone else. I decided not to take it again because I want to give my body a chance to stabilise on its own without more substances flipping things around inside by body.
There could be an argument made that a benzo could help put the body into a more relaxed state so it’s not constantly burning out, or that it could be useful for sleep which is very important. But that would only make sense short term and with caution because of the risk of dependence. This is a real risk and benzo withdrawals can be brutal. It can make anxiety, insomnia and other things worse.
You could try searching this forum and Reddit for people’s experiences with Lorazepam (Ativan) to help you get a better idea if it’s helped or harmed anyone before. Still, it won’t give a definite answer for how you will respond to it, but from when I was looking up benzos, it seemed they were more on the safe side in regards to not worsening PFS symptoms (and if taken in the short term).
Personally, I’m erring on the side of caution with medications and supplements and not taking anything now.
As for why some people recommend zinc, it could be for lots of reasons: the idea that it boosts testosterone, someone trying it and getting early benefits before crashing later, or some people genuinely benefiting with no issues. Things can work for some people and make others worse. I think everyone who recommends different things are just trying to find something that helps and to share it with others. It’s just unfortunate that the same thing doesn’t work for everyone.
And yes, pumpkin seed oil is also a notable 5ar inhibitor which I would stay away from too.
As I lay here in my bed stressed out and anxious, I don’t think I’m gonna make it.
Something changed in my brain. I am messed up. I have no appetite. I don’t think I will be able to go back to work. But maybe going to the office would help me instead of ruminating at home.
Whoever reads this, I hope we all heal.
But this is pure torture for me.
I am frozen in time and unable to enjoy anything.
I used to make jokes with my son every day. Now I’m just there on autopilot.
Even if I go out I feel the same.
I think my wife is getting tired of taking care of me.
I used to be the rock that holds the family together but now I feel like a burden.
Writting in here actually distracts my brain which is good.
Sorry if I seem negative in my posts.
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Fluctuating symptoms.
I am now back to square one.
Maybe it’s the anxiety? high cortisol?
But yeah I was able to get erections for 5 days. But yesterday I took zinc 50mg and today, no go.
This is getting frustrating.
I have been on cipro for 9 days.
I have crazy anxiety. I don’t know if the anxiety is caused by SP or cipro. I suspect cipro. I will stop the antibiotic.
I don’t like taking drugs.
I feel wired as if I need to go running outside and can’t relax.
This is insane considering that my health was perfect before.
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I stopped Cipro and feel better. I was able to sleep about 6 hours last night.
Nocturnal erections are gone. When I wake up I feel asexual. Hard to explain but it’s like a switch was turned off.
I think I’m screwed really. Anybody have the same experience?
I think I am making progress. I am able to stimulate and get an erection ( not as strong as before and only lying down) but now a new issue is that I cannot climax.
It’s like my brain is not excited enough.
The difficulties continue. Fun times.
Anxiety is getting better and I think it was caused by cirpo.
I can’t imagine living for years like this. I think you have to be a warrior to endure this. My life is on pause and this is mental torture. Like what the heck. I can’t believe those companies sell those products. Even the natural products can mess you up real bad. Incredible.
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Instead of parroting myself, I’ll direct you to posts I made previously that you may enjoy reading:
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Thanks for all the info.
So now I have to force myself to get an erection by watching porn. I’m not very excited and can’t finish. I guess my brain kind of remembers what it was to be excited.
The way it was working before is that I didn’t have to force anything, arousal was just natural and not forced.