There was a time when I had a lot of questions. Dr. Shippen is one of the doctors I would like to see myself. Anyway, I have some tests that may be of interest.
Thyroid hormone metabolism. Check TSH and the T3/rT3 ratio.
Adrenal hormone metabolism. Check for (late onset) CAH or a hormonal imbalance that mimics the condition.
Insulin tolerance test, to check for growth hormone deficiency.
Honestly, the only questions i have for him are: Can you, as a well known doctor, do anything to help restrict finasteride prescription in USA? Talk to someone in FDA? Talk to dermatologists about this? American Academy of Dermatology? Write an article on why finasteride use should be restricted?
We can’t rely only on PFS foundation, we need doctors to speak out loud against this drug.
Ask him if he accepts cheque or cash
Nice one Danny. Yeah many of us do not have a lot of faith in the doctors who have been trying to treat PFS for years now. Doesn’t mean it isn’t good to look for medical help, but they themselves do not know the route cause of our problems so it makes them no more expert than any of us regarding a proper course of treatment. If couid start over, I would have done a young inquisitive primary care doc willing to experiment with me or just go the natural medicine route with guys willing to give you adrenal and thyroid support. Shippen gratefully has identified the problem unlike most docs still giving out fin, but despite his experience, he is no where closer to solving this mystery or has he developed any ground breaking therapies despite all the patients he has seen. Honestky these PFS docs should not even be collecting money for their combined efforts in all this.
Even if he hasn’t completely cured every patient, he is still known on this site to be one of the only doctors that has been able to help patients feel better/recover through his treatments.
And considering how many patients he’s seen concerning this in the last few years, I imagine he must have some sort of knowledge about what’s going on at this point.
Don’t be so negative.
Yeah sorry we shouldnt squash on any potential hope. Problem is that no doctor knows what causes PFS. So they can’t proclaim to be experts on it. They just acknowledge the problem and have the benefit of having seen lots of patients.
Currently in one of his patient rooms right now.
Looking at what tests he requested, I didn’t see anywhere that he checked for adrenal hormone metabolism or an insulin tolerance, but he did check the first three you mentioned. I’ll keep you all updated.
SOOOOO the good news is, Dr. Shippen believes I am in the 50% of patients he believes will be healed.
Although a lot of my levels seem normal, he realizes that a man’s testosterone levels can fit into “average levels”, but that they may not be normal for that particular man.
So for me, my test. was sitting around 540, and he believes it could really go anwhere from there to 900 something before it’s actually where I’d feel normal again.
So he’s prescribed me HCG, Testosterone PG drops to take (Holy SHIT did my body react IMMEDIATELY when taking these), a generalized version of Viagra, B12, and he also wants me to take some kind of natural supplement but I can’t remember the name of it.
Through these medicines, Shippen truly believes that my skin will heal (I had sagging and dark eyes), that my dick will return to normal, and that my depression and thoughts of suicide will subside. He said he believed it was a really good sign that I still was able to get an erection from messing around with females, and that the only thing that really concerned him were my levels of depression and suicidal thoughts, because even though my levels looked normal, those existing side effects were not.
So I’ll be injecting HCG and B12 into my body about 3 times a week, taking 3-4 test drops once a day (he gave me 5 at first and my eyes dialated and I got hyper as F*CK), taking the general Viagra EVERY day (should be interesting), and taking the supplements everyday.
I can’t honestly remember every single thing we talked about but there was SO much said. He really is great you guys. If you’re suffering hard, he’s worth the fucking money. I dropped at least a grand with the appointment and plane rides to see this guy. He listens. He explains things out in detail, and one of the best things is, HE BELIEVES YOU.
Tank you for your reply. It was interesting to read. I have had every blood test ever recommended and passed the whole lot as normal. Please post up in a few weeks how you are getting on with the treatment he prescribed you. As regards being one of ‘50% of patients’ I assume that means in the long term when enough research is done, root causes are identified, and treatments can be identified in our lifetime? I don’t believe there is a single person who has made a full recovery as of yet. Yes, it gets better I accept that. I am miles and mile better than I was the day I drove towards a local city with the intention of jumping off a huge bridge. I cannot believe today I am that same person. But I certainly haven’t healed.
I mean, yea… I think he believes that I could fully recover, or at least get a WHOLE lot better than I was.
Right now, all the medicine he’s got me on is great.
The HCG and B12 combination-injection seems to help with my sleep, mood, and I think it may even make me more aggressive (which may make sense considering it’s raising my testosterone).
The generic Viagra supplements he gave me for blood flow, libido, and growing my penis size back has worked so-so. Like, my dick hasn’t gone back to hanging like normal… it still kinda stays in this “soft-erect” state, which kinda sucks… but other than that, at least it gets bigger flacid on those pills and HOOOO-A-LEEEEEE HELL does that stuff work for getting an erection xD I got an erection this morning and was just looking at my dick in the mirror like DAMMMMM!!
Lastly, the Testosterone PG drops have been great too. They make me kinda hyper I think and I believe they may even give me better focus temporarily. Like I was playing a video game after taking some today, and I was wrecking EVERYONE and I was just thinking “Why is my aim and intuition so good on this game right now?” They also supposedly seem to be helping with some of the facial sagging I’ve had, although it’s probably barely any progress right now if any… that being said, I’m really only two days into this stuff so I’m ok with that.
What about your Libido?
Libido was definitely back.
Well, it’s weird. Even when my libido was quote on quote “dead”, I would still check out chicks all the time.
Now with the medicine, it’s like I just get a surge of energy throughout a part of the day, and my junk can get hard as hell if the moment strikes.
Haven’t got to use it on any girls yet (one girl is down but our schedule’s never match), but I can tell you the stuff i’m on workkkkkks
Honestly, my libido comes and goes.
My thing with libido though is that I feel I messed up my own libido long ago due to an addiction to porn.
In actuality, I think many of the guys here may be suffering from a drained libido brought about by porn addiction as well (certainly not everyone on this site, but many).
Check this website out:
But anyways, yea, my libido comes and goes. Basically what i’ve noticed so far is that with the new meds, I get boners about every day, but I’ll only get really “in the mood” if I abstain from masturbating for about two days. If I do masturbate, my libido goes back to IDGAF mode and I won’t really be interested in hitting up any girls.
Seriously… there wouldn’t be lawsuits if that were the case, or research studies in progress on men who took Finasteride. Please use some common sense, especially considering men took a drug that have the various reported side effects listed on the label, which continue to persist despite discontinuation.
I am using common sense Mew.
Please notice the fact that I didn’t state anywhere that all men suffering lowered libido after taking Finasteride were suffering because of porn addiction.
I simply believe that porn addiction causes many psychological issues that many men don’t notice until it becomes a problem. Taking into consideration the average amount of pornos many men watch these days, I’m just stating I believe that many men lower their libidos naturally and unconsciously by watching so much porn to begin with. Now throw Finasteride into the mix, and it probably becomes or at least seems that much worse.
For many on here (except perhaps those already with full-blown ED), I honestly believe participating in a no porn, no fap challenge could really help with their libidos and mindsets.
It certainly has helped me before and is something that many, many people have witnessed great results from. Just look into the site if you don’t believe me.
Its just not relevant at all. This forum is about propecia related illness/side effects. If you are that interested in porn addiction then go to a website that discusses that.
Yeah pretty much, since its a waste of time and money.
Yeah it’s the great irony and sadness about this. When we are sixk we naturally want to reach out to doctors to help. Doctors inadvertently pulled us into the propecia trap because of their lack of knowledge of hormone therapy. Now that we are sick we are learning the huge gaps in their knowledge of the basics as it pertains to drugs they pass out. As equally frightening as passing out dangerous drugs are the PFS docs offering treatment for an underlying condition that hasn’t been identified and they sure as hell have no idea what to do. A smart doc for most of us would immediately recommend T, although the literature supports not giving it and results are quite speculative for most therapies. So really a catch 22. We need docs to help us experiment with new protocols and to think outside of their comfort zones, but even then this problem is out of their leagues. The medical scam continues.
Doctors are basically useless, even the research ones are moving at a snails pace and their not approaching it from a treatment standpoint. Their just doing it in the academic sense, they don’t seem to want to discuss the science behind any of it, mostly and probably because they dismiss the opinions and experiences of non-doctors.
You can keep paying to go to these PFS specialists, I wasted a few hundred dollars on them myself, but you probably won’t get very far.
We’d all be better off paying for our own genetic analysis, a few thousand per individual is what I think the cost is… hell knows it would be a lot faster than the studies currently doing these genetic analysis.
WTF is WRONG with you people?!
Seriously, you’re depicting doctor’s help as USELESS?! Even doctors like Shippen who RECOGNIZE what we’re going through?
For your information, I feel a HELL of a lot better after seeing Shippen. I don’t think of killing myself everyday, I’m not depressed everyday, and my dick isn’t the size of a dill pickle everyday.
Seeing him DID help, ALOT. My old self has come back some, and for that I am thankful.
They’re not SCAMMING you, they’re trying to HELP you. FFS, you realize part of the reason people feel like there is no hope on this site is because of the half of you who just immediately shoot down any idea of getting better?
And as for the whole porn topic I brought up, I don’t believe it’s entirely irrelevant considering many of you complain of a lowered libido and I was trying to state a way in which you could increase you libido. Many people who hold off from masturbation experience great benefits, one of them reported often is increased libido.