New Member Boost's Story

Welcome to our community. Please fill in the following template as a way of introducing yourself, and helping others to understand your background and situation.

Where are you from (country)? Australia

How did you find this forum (Google search – if so, what search terms? Via link from a forum or website – if so, what page? Other?) Reddit

What is your current age, height, weight? 34 - 186cm - 66kg Lost 25kg

What specific drug did you use (finasteride, dutasteride, saw palmetto, isotretinoin/Accutane, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, leuprorelin, etc…)? Ashwagandha

What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? 300mg once

What condition was being treated with the drug? N/A Just tried for Gym

For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)? 300mg Half a tablet Ashwagandha KSM66 Winfarin A

Date when you started the drug? 15/04/2022

Date when you quit the drug? 33

Age when you quit? 33

How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? Cold Turkey

How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects? Once

What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? PSSD
Anhedonia, Emotional Blunting, Numbness over whole body, lack of pain and pleasure and feeling, Numb Genitals, Tinnitus Left ear, Verbal fluency horrible, Lost 25kg muscle, CFS, Loss of Self (ego) Internal voice, ( I have all PSSD Symptoms )

Check the boxes that apply. You can save your post first, then interactively check/uncheck the boxes by clicking on them. If your symptoms change, please update your list.

Sexual
[X] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[X] Erectile Dysfunction
[X] Complete Impotence
[X] Loss of Morning Erections
[X] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[X] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[X] Watery Ejaculate
[X] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[X] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[X] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[X] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[X] Confusion
[X] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[X] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
X] Slurring of Speech
[X] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[X] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[X] Suicidal Thoughts

Physical
[X] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[X] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[X] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[X] Muscle Wastage
[X] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[X] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[X] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[X] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[X] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[ ] Hearing loss
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[X] Lowered body temperature

[ ] Other (please explain)

What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug? I will add this in the future its a long extensive list of things I have tried.

If you have pre or post-drug blood tests, what hormonal changes have you encountered since discontinuing the drug (please post your test results in the “Blood Tests” section and link to them in your post)? No hormonal changes on paper, every blood test comes back in range.

Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience? After ingesting it I lost nicotine cessation in my stomach after 20 minutes and had stroke like symptoms for 3 days. The left side of my face went numb, after 3 months MRI of brain,neck,back all came back OK, normal great and white matter, no stroke and all nerves fine. I had 2-3 months of something feeling like it was stuck in my throat and slowly worsened everyday for 3 months until full PSSD. During this period experienced immense de-realisation and constant panic 24/7. Now I can neither feel Panic or Anxiety or adrenaline.

Tell us your story, in your own words, about your usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.

I just thought it was a good idea to try it to boost test, took half a tablet and now over a year later I’m still stuffering everyday 24/7.

Self-reporting template - ONLY USE FOR FUTURE POSTS TO REPORT ANY TRIALS OF TREATMENTS, NOT YOUR INITIAL MEMBER STORY

  1. Name of the therapy/substance:
    • Dosage:
    • How often you took it:
  2. Status
    • Still using [ ]
    • Stopped with no lasting change to initial symptoms [ ]
    • Stopped with persistent change to symptoms [ ]
  3. Duration of use: Days [ ] Months [ ] Years [ ]
  4. Response when you started:
    • Greatly improved [ ]
    • Slightly improved [ ]
    • Stayed the same [ ]
    • Slightly worsened [ ]
    • Greatly worsened [ ]
  5. Current response (if you’re still using the therapy/substance) OR Response in the time before you stopped the treatment
    • Greatly improved [ ]
    • Slightly improved [ ]
    • Stayed the same [ ]
    • Slightly worsened [ ]
    • Greatly worsened [ ]
  6. Lasting changes to initial symptoms after cessation (if you have stopped for more than 3 weeks)
    • Greatly improved [ ]
    • Slightly improved [ ]
    • Stayed the same [ ]
    • Slightly worsened [ ]
    • Greatly worsened [ ]
1 Like

Hello and welcome to the forum.

It looks as if you have genital tissue changes, but don’t suffer from ED or lowered libido? That seems to be pretty uncommon here.

The loss of “internal voice” you describe went hand in hand with the loss of ability to visualize things for me. It’s just something I never thought worth mentioning among all the other symptoms. It was more like a loss of overall imaginative capacity than any one particular aspect.

It is unusual to see these kinds of persistent problems after taking ashwagandha alone. Has anyone else here had a similar experience? I do know some people report long term effects from other naturally occurring CNS depressants, specifically marijuana.

I cannot feel androgens in my body.

Wow. I haven’t read too much about ashwagandha causing pfs. I totally believe it though. I remember somebody posting about it before in a chat group I was in. Hope you can get better man.