PFS story...what worked

General Discussion
#1

Whats up guys,

I have been a long time lurker here, but never made an account till now. I’m going to share my experience with and off finisteride, my side-effects, recoveries, and ask for advice regarding reflex-hyperandrogenicity (upregulated androgens).

I was on FIN for 3 months, now been off for 12 months.

Side effects:

  • erectile dysfunction
  • ejaculation dysfunction
  • testicular shrinkage
  • fat gain
  • muscle gain
  • acne
  • scalp sebum
  • increased hair loss

So my side-effects have SLOWLY been getting better through various protocols (mainly including: diet, exercise, meditation, supplements).

So, I also experienced Relfex-Hyperandrogenicity. Which I believe is an up-regulation of androgen receptors. Before starting fin I shed maybe 5-10 hairs a day. After 2 months on FIN, I was shedding 200 hairs per day. After stopping FIN my shedding decreased to 50-100 hairs per day, but no where close where I was pre-fin. I’m starting to think my E2 levels are unbalanced, going to get them checked.

Also, here are my blood tests 3 months after I stopped FIN.

Screenshot 2020-04-01 at 12.26.33 PM
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#2

It did the same to me…half my hair shed out in two months…Do Not make the same mistake I made taking it a second time switching to brand name propecia thinking it would slow it down which it did but cause pfs and now I have went over a 100lbs in watery flab can’t breath, cant do nothing.

#3

sorry to hear that man. This shit sucks. How is your diet and exercise?

#4

bump

#5

Which diets have shown positive effects for you? I am also very new to all this but has anything in your diet improved your sexual symptoms?

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#6

I am also interested in what @Wintermoon said.

Can you please elaborate on your meditation, diet, and exercise routine? All of these things can positively affect epigenetics and brain chemistry and I believe are the key to allowing us to achieve a more satisfactory life.

#7

@Sawproblemo @Wintermoon

Meditation: Guided meditation. 5 min a day. This is just good for stress levels, and overall meditation helped me to just accept the situation and live on.

Exercise: I do heavy lifting 3-4x a week. Very high weight, and low rep. (If you wanna know my workout routine let me know). Also I play tennis, basketball, and ride my mountain bike weekly.

Diet: No refined flower, refined sugar, no dairy (very little. Like maybe a cookie). Also been eating many raw shoots of asparagus a night.

Yes, my exercise and diet probably had a big part of my recovery. It takes a while to feel the effects, I would say 3 months into it you start feeling it. If I stop doing this for 3-4 days in a row, my sexual symptoms come back.

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#8

Could you elaborate how much your sexual symptoms improve with your workouts and asparagus-heavy diet? How much do you return to your old self? Like 50%? 100%?

#9

There was a patient on Solve PFS who said he ate asparagus in large amounts for an extended period of time and worsened his situation considerably by doing so. I would err on the side of caution with that particular part of your routine.

2 Likes
#10

Damn thats crazy! It’s been pretty helpful to me, so ima keep going with it.

#11

Yes I can.

So, first off do a lot of exercises to strengthen your pelvic floor muscle. I read somewhere FIN could weaken it. So after doing that for months, when I am having sex, (yes finally was able to start having sex again about 3 months ago), I can feel that muscle being put to work to keep my erection going.

If I don’t work that muscle out for more than 5 days in a row, my erections not as strong during sex :confused:

Also, ever since I switched from doing low weight and high rep at the gym to high weight low reps. That increasingly boosted my erection. I think when you hit those weight hard, you get more blood flow into your body (penis also).

Overall, I would say I am around 70-85% recovered in ED. My ejaculation came back from 20% to about 80%.

#12

@Tzinkman is correct, asparagus can cause problems for us.

It is frequently the case that people feel better with a particular substance before crashing, sometimes resulting in worse symptoms.

#13

I feel better since I stopped going to the gym, not worse. I used to do heavy lifting 4 times a week, then tried more CrossFit kind of thing with more conditioning. Did all that for many years. Just feel better not doing all that crap. Feel best simply getting outside and being reasonably active by walking energetically etc. Used to be into the idea that we should be training all the time and that people need physical training like they are in the army or NFL or something but kind of feel like it’s a bunch of first world nonsense at this point. Sure there are some health benefits with being active but the whole trying to be alpha male hardcore fitness beast seems silly to me at this point. Consumed a lot of time, money, effort without tangible benefit beyond having more muscle mass, which in itself is rather pointless in larger picture. Just because something is a lot of work doesn’t mean it’s actually beneficial. There are better uses of time and effort, to me, than going to gyms and pushing weights around. It’s also sisyphean in the sense that within just a few months of stopping you lose everything you gained.

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#14

Its interesting what works for some and others not. It works for me, but I also have always been pretty athletic and hitting the gym since a kid. Definitely not like NFL players do though. It doesn’t cost me much money, it’s only like $25 a month for a membership, and tbh I like looking fit, it boosts my confidence.

#15

Very true. I have noticed when something helps, then crashes. But when I resurface im slightly above the previous baseline. Lol if that made any sense

#16

Time is money, so is eating more, driving more, buying tubs of protein powder, researching workout programs, having the right gear, etc it’s basically a part-time job that costs money rather than bringing it in. Not trying to be dick just providing other side of argument. If it works for you great. One can also just to one legged squats, pushups, pull-ups, rows under table, etc a quick 10 minutes a day in the morning and probably get 99% of whatever benefit obtained through being a gym rat.