Happened to me too. It is frustrating plus I stay horny; It doesn’t fulfill the need for sex.
Ozeph did you originally have libido issues
At one point sex drive dropped. I was looking at girls and felt nothing. At the same time I had anhedonia and was in a general state of “not caring about anything”. I also felt demotivated, procrastinated a lot instead of doing what I had to do,
That’s after I switched sleeping pills from Alprazolam to clonazepam. With Alprazolam, I was horny all the time, like when I was 20 (I’m 50). After switching, it all felt down. It a weird sensation to not have goals anymore, no drive. Really scary.
But I was pretty fast to go on a ketogenic / carnivore diet (like a month after I crashed) and sex drive came back. especially after taking protein shakes between meals. I still have desensitization issues.
I made several threads describing the different experiments I made:
But I dare not give any suggestions to anyone here. I can only speak of what I did and what it did for me.
Be careful with collagen. It made some people worst and I guess I could say the same for amino acids.
The ketogenic / carnivore diet was a life safer for me.
Thank you… so I’m summary aprazolam and carnivore diet increased libido?
Alprazolam did that for me. It might not do it for others. At one point, I was tempted to go see another doctor with a fake story especially made up to be prescribed Alprazolam so I could get my sex drive back, but I didn’t as it only last while I was taking it. It’s not a cure, just a side effect of Alprazolam.
As for the carnivore diet, you get a very large amount of all kinds of amino acids, including L-Carnitine which increase the density of androgen receptors. May be that’s why it did something to me.
Here’s what I found on Alprazolam: Quote: "Alprazolam or Bromazepam - If you have stopped finasteride recently, and feel that your metabolism is in a state of chronic anxiety (insomnia, poor sleep, panic attacks, irritability, mood swings, extreme anxiety, restlessness, difficult concentration - a set of symptoms known as post-finasteride crash), the use of one of these medications can help. Finasteride blocks the conversion of progesterone to allopregnanolone, which has a calming effect in the brain. Allopregnanolone acts by modulating a neurotransmitter called GABA-A. Therefore, the use of finasteride can affect the level of GABA-A in brain. Since these drugs act on GABA replacement, they are beneficial to these patients. Furthermore, by acting on the anxiety and improving sleep quality, the use of one of these drugs will help reverse another problem common in some men with Post-Finasteride Syndrome. Many complain their penises display a much smaller size and more rigid consistency when flacid than before finasteride (known as shrinkage in Propeciahelp forum). It is a dramatic change and usually patients who are in this state after finasteride usage also present lack of nocturnal erections and smaller erections. It is important to break this cycle, because if a man is not having nocturnal erections for a long time, this can lead to structure problems in the penis. When one of these medication is used to treat the post-finasteride crash, penis returns to normal size and consistency when flacid. The quality of sleep is restored, so this will also favour the reestablishment of normal nocturnal erections. It is really important to stop the crash symptoms and these medications work well in the matter.
It should be used for a short period (few months) and only if necessary, under the supervision of a psychiatrist. The withdrawal has to be gradual. " End quote
Source: http://finasterideeffects.blogspot.com/p/treatments.html
I have since used amino acids to work directly on the production of Allopregnanolone, 5ar and to re-balance my androgen receptors as well as the GABA (A) and Dopamine receptors. I believe the lack of sex drive has multiple origins. Like a table that felt because all four legs were separately and unequally cut down.
Maybe you can share some of that to the guys on Where are all the recovery stories?
Morale is pretty low there…
Yep, can be very frustrating. I mean, I’m glad I’m still good for 2-3x a week at least but even that can be a struggle to get the job done sometimes. Seems I have to be quick or it’s not happening; the loss of sensation gets worse with duration.
I’m still doing the amino acid regime but missed a day so I’m all over the place. Certainly no issues with erecrions. Too early to tell if it’s helping or not.
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Quick update on me
I’ve been doing the amino acid regime regularly the last few days after being slack about it some this weekend. Had sex last night, no issues with numbness (which seems like an improvement!) but still took quite a bit longer than expected for how badly I was in need… which was a weird mix. Libido felt higher, sensitivity felt better than usual, but still took a long time to get from 95% to 100% “finished”… weird.
One weird thing–I haven’t felt sad but feel… needy? If I had to guess it almost feels like maybe estrogen is higher or something? I’m not sure how to explain it. I basically want to cuddle and I’m pretty sure I’d cry if I watched a sad movie, haha.
I’m going to keep up the regime a while longer and see what happens, barring any drastic negative changes of course.
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Glad to hear you’re seeing improvements. Any guess as to which amino acid is helping the most with sensitivity or do you think it’s a synergistic effect of them all? I’m currently doing 500mg of tyrosine and 2g of citrulline daily. No noticed improvement yet
No clue which may be helping (if any even is… it’s so subjective). Tonight I feel like I’m going backwards. Still “want” sex but barely getting hard and not sensitive at all. I’m going to try to give it a full week before judging since the original poster said he had some steps backwards after 2-3 days or so (going from memory) then got better after that, but def not feeling great about it tonight.
I really wish I could get blood tests done like every day. This almost feels like low estrogen now with the going soft and my joints are also super creeky and achy feeling.
I guess we’ll see what happens!
Not sure if this could be related to sensitivity/libido issues but I did go to the urologist today and was told I have prostititis and was prescribed bactrim for the next month. Will let you know if I notice any improvement as I’ve heard stories of others seeing some kind of improvements from antibiotics.
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I get the same sometime. As if the whole sexual mechanic is not complete. I’m horny, I feel I want it, my wife wants too, but naw, it’s too late, I’m going to sleep. And forget about masturbation. It takes time to get an erection and I can’t come ! So basically, I’m just horny and it stops there. If I was normal, I’d be totally frustrated but as it is I’m just frustrated a little. It’s like I can always postpone it whereas before it was a matter of emergency ! Lol…
Plus my balls keeps hurting. They’ve been hurting for a year ans a half. It’s not severe pain but it’s annoying.
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Hi, sometimes that happens to me, I get horn but can’t get off. Its like I have mild ED before I’d neve be too tired to masturbate. But now I am. Also I have the occasional ball pain/ache too
Did it get any better along the road? How’s the ball pain now?
All of those come and goes. I don’t always have ball pain, sometime I’m really horny and can come twice in the same day, but orgasm are not as strong as before I took fin. I used to get a boner just by thinking about sex… That’s long gone. Sometime thinking about sex just feels like some physical activity I’d rather not do. Like it’s too must trouble.
Same with mood. Sometime Im in a good mood, Im motivated, confident and all, other time Im, apathetic and just feel like procrastinating (sometime Im even bored of procrastinating. Im like just standing there and Im asking myself ''Now what ? What am I going to do between now and the time I`ll go to sleep ? ‘’
But I have to say, it feels like the bottoms are not as deep as before and I’m kinda slowly stabilizing in the middle. I think the amino acids are helping. Especially Tryptophan, Tyrosine and L-Dopa (which I’m taking 5 days a week only)
Another update for me.
Have been having some weird results—I’m either not interested and not getting an erection at all or extremely eh… “ready”. I suspect some the amino acids are responsible for the extra hardness.
So yesterday I tried having sex. Erection was no issue at all, but sensation was strange. It’s hard to explain. It is absolutely 100% for sure different than before taking amino acids though. It’s almost like I don’t go “numb” anymore but the feeling still isn’t quite normal (and it has changed from how sex felt before taking amino acids). I can’t explain it. It’s almost like the feeling you get if you keep going right after you finish and it doesn’t feel as good anymore but still feels decent but not quite what it felt like before that. It’s kind of like that but all the time. That’s the only way I can think to describe it.
If I can get the sensation I got before amino acids at the beginning of sex (before numbness kicked in) and keep the lack of going numb that I have now then I think I’ll be pretty happy
So, I’m not sure if that’s better or worse. I’m debating not taking anything for a few days to see what happens. I already missed last nights schedule (wasn’t home) so I’m not sure.
I also have some pine pollen, DOPA and l-valine coming today so may try those instead.
I haven’t been getting on here much the last couple of months because I’ve been busy. We’re buying a house plus we’re right here at the holidays. I still have ups and downs. But I am still better then I was before I started this whole thing. This is just my opinion, but for myself, it seems as though I have to find the right combination of acids. In an earlier post I put that I had added a bottle mixed with quite a few non-essential acids and it seemed to make my symptoms worse or back toward pfs. So, I cut them out altogether and cut back on the amount I’m taking and have actually started rotating them. I may take two today, two different ones the next day, something else the 3rd day and then back to day one. I’m still experimenting. I’ve also added digestion enzymes to my diet. There is one called Protease that actually aids your digestion system in converting to aminos. I take L-Citrulline and L-Arginine which are non-essentials, but I seem to do better when I take essentials. My sex drive is still better than it has been in 18 years. Over all, I thank God I found this regimen.
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Glad you’re doing well, can we get a quick updated regimen? Thanks man
Quick update on me.
Haven’t taken anything since Tuesday evening and still don’t feel quite normal (by normal I mean PFS normal). Still having a hard time getting to sleep and still feel kind of weird. Almost like I’ve taken an anti depressant and it’s making my head buzz kind of weird. I’m getting better, but surprised I’m not totally back to baseline just yet.
I don’t want to discount this idea so I am going to try some other things once I get back to baseline. I don’t think adding more on top of how I already feel is going to tell me much though so I’m hoping I feel normal after sleeping in tomorrow.
@Rmoney96 I don’t have any certain thing I’m doing consistently right now. I take Citrulline and Arginine every two to three days. I’m off of BCAA’s right now, but will add them back at some point. I also rotate Tyrosine, Carnitine, Proline, and Lysine. I plan to buy a bottle of all essentials and just take them for a few weeks and see how my body responds. The digestion capsules that I am taking have definitely helped with the indigestion that I have fought for years. I’ve only been taking them for a week now so I’m going to give them a little more time to see how I continue to respond to them.
Please post your results. I have great results with L-Dopa. It makes me calm, slightly euphoric, and motivated.
It can be addictive so it’s suggested to stop it 2 days a week.
I’m waiting for the pine pollen and L-Valine which should arrive in a few days.