Recovery: Gym, L-Arginine, L-Carnitine Regimen

Member Stories
#1

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)?
Ireland

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?)
Google Search

What is your current age, height, weight?
25, 6ft, 70kg

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

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

What condition was being treated with the drug?
Hair Loss

For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)?
17 months

How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start the drug?
23

How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
24, quit in June 2018

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

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

What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
Felt fine for 3 months after quitting the drug and then started experiencing sexual dysfunction

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

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

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

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

[ ] Other (please explain)

What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
Followed a regimen posted by Abctruck here Do I definitely have PFS?

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 blood tests yet

Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience?
Will explain in next paragraph

Tell us your story, in your own words, about your usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
I came on here before and I came across a regimen posted by a user called Abctruck here Do I definitely have PFS?. I immediately tried his regimen and saw promising results. I have stopped and restarted the regimen several times over the past few months for various reasons and I think I have finally realised exactly what is needed from it.

My current regimen is:

  • 2,000mg’s of L-Carnitine 3x’s daily (morning, afternoon, night)
  • 2,000mg’s of L-Arginine 3x’s daily (morning, afternoon, night)
  • Lifting heavy in the gym every day (this seems very important as I tried the regimen without doing this before and it didnt work)

The timeline of Abctrucks recovery matches mine. 8 days into the regimen, I already feel much better. Similar to abctruck I am now getting nighttime, morning, and spontaneous erections as well as some libido back. I have no brain fog, sleep problems, or any negative cognitive effects to speak of. But when I ejaculate, I don’t get libido / erections back for a solid 36-48 hours. My penis does get thin and cold during this 36-48 hour period. After 4 weeks of this regimen, Abctruck claimed to be back too 100% which I really do believe.

Unfortunately he does not log on to the platform any longer and I cannot ask him whether his recovery was permanent or whether he needed to stay on the regimen for life. Is there any way of getting in contact with a user who has disapeared?

Seperately, does anyone have any idea as to why this regimen works so well? Would anyone be able to speak to whether or not the recovery might be permanent or only while undertaking the regimen?

4 Likes
My official post on my recovery
Weightlifting causing improved and worsened symptoms
Are there people who were cured 100%
#2

Having recovered three weeks after he reported a crash, the user @abctruck did not have Post Finasteride Syndrome. PFS is typically defined as symptoms persistent for three months or more.

However, it’s great to hear that those things you’ve listed have had such a positive effect on you @adaname222. @abctruck hasn’t logged in in years so you’re unlikely to get an answer from him.

2 Likes
#3

Hi @Tzinkman, do you not think that the regimen would have had an effect on his recovery? He said that he 100% had a major crash. From what I have read on this forum, anyone who gets the crash defintely has PFS. In that case, he developed PFS and subsequently beat it by going on the regimen

1 Like
#4

I combined just 250mg of L-Cartinine + PQQ while doing carb backloading… That’s the only time I’ve ever had a full day with an oily skin and lots of libido, positive feelings dopamine, good concentration etc. Felt amazing and I felt like I was a teenager again.

Might try this, I agree that weightlifting is vital to treatment…

2 Likes
#5

Hi @Zonz, yes I would like to get several other people to try it aswell and see how effective it is across the board. For context, I previously went 15 days into the cycle and was able to have sex, having had zero feeling and complete impotence for over 3 weeks before trying the regimen. I ended up botching that cycle because I didnt realise how important the gym was for recovery.

I am now 9 days into the regimen outlined above and am starting to feel really good again. Will post updates as I go.

1 Like
#6

He didn’t really say that. He said he had a number of sexual symptoms but that

As distressing and terrible the symptoms he described are, somebody with “only” those symptoms cannot be described as having a “major crash” in my opinion.

Nobody here will be able to say if they did with any certainty. Even the member in question stated

Given that he used Finasteride for a year with little to no side effects; quit the drug then had one week of serious sexual side effects; another week of (in PFS terms) mild to moderate sexual symptoms; then, a total of three weeks after his crash, he stated

His case could easily be viewed as short term side effects from the endocrine disruption caused by his cessation of the drug and the return of his DHT to their original levels. I’ve personally seen a number of accounts in hair loss forums and YouTube comments of people relaying what they describe as scary experiences of side effects after stopping Finasteride but that they cleared up after some weeks/months. So, people do have bad symptoms following cessation of Finasteride to then go on to make a full recovery; I don’t recall most if any of those people saying they did anything in particular to bring about that recovery. This clip comes to mind when it comes to misattribution for why a recovery happened

As I stated before though, it’s great if some of the things that you listed are having positive effects for you. Please do continue to keep us updated.

3 Likes
#7

I will say that I’ve taken just 250mg if L-Cartinine and seen a temporary positive benefit especially timed with a fast. A large benefit from 2,000 mg 3x a day + hitting the gym would not surprise me.

Probably not a “recovery” though. He may crash. He may stop taking the supplements and return to baseline. Or he just recovered naturally.

Edit: Also he’s been off the drug for about 2 years now.

#8

Thanks for the comments.

The reason I feel as though Abctruck’s recovery is down to his regimen is the fact that I have been trying the regimen and I am seeing incredible results. I quite finasteride in June 2019 and crashed in December 2019. I have been suffering from PFS since then. I began trying this regimen in the new year and after 15 days on the Abctruck regimen I was able to have sex again. As mentioned, I didnt appreciate the importance of the gym to that recovery and therefore I ended up starting again. I am now 11 days into the new cycle and I am feeling great. I would say that I am at 75% sexual function again.

There is zero doubt in my mind that Abctruck’s regmen works for me, because I have been trying it myself. The question in my mind is whether or not the recovery could be permanent or whether it only works while on the regimen.

1 Like
#9

I tried lifting and taking L-Carnitine for a while, did not fix PFS.

1 Like
#10

So you are saying that people who has suffered the “crash” after finas cessation don’t have PFS?
I think maybe you are focussing only in your process, but I can tell you that there a a lot of people who had the problems after finas cessation.

#11

We are all having the same question that you have.
We all hope that you keep in this very good state.

#12

Yeah that’s fair enough this regimen proably won’t work for everyone. I would urge you to give it another go though. Get some high quality L-carnitine and high quality L-arginine and try the regimen with heavy lifting (Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press - I think the idea is to stimulate testosterone production by lifting heavy weights). Bear in mind that I didn’t feel much improvement until day 5 (Abctruck said the same).

I will of course keep updating my progress here :+1:

2 Likes
#13

Did you have brain fog?

#14

Yes I had some brain fog while on Finasteride which got much worse when I crashed, along with pretty severe anxiety. Since about day 5 on the regimen these symptoms have been slowly going back to normal

#15

Adaname how you feeling now. Still going strong?

#16

Did this regime resolve the water semen issue or lack of orgasm?

1 Like
#17

Hey guys, I havent posted an update in a while because I encountered an issue with my regimen.

The orginal poster Abctruck mentioned that he cut out all cardio when doing his regimen, for some reason I didnt take this seriously and it ended up ruining my cycle. I am now 10 days into a new cycle without cardio and am feeling great again. Note that it is important to cut out any extended periods of exercise, I went for a long walk before and it ruined my cycle. My hope is that by following the regimen exactly for 3 weeks or so that my body will naturally fix itself, which is what I think might have happened to Abctruck.

For context, I have been feeling fantastic for the past 3 days once I got past the 6 day mark. My penis is constantly heavy and full of blood when flaccid, I am getting morning and evening erections and I am able to masturbate twice a day. This is the best I have felt in over two years since I started taking finasteride.

2 Likes
#18

Yes it has for me.

#19

Thank you for responding. This seems to lend credence to my theory that finasteride somehow affected our liver function and the production/metabolism of Arginine. There have also been some academic papers on the affects of tryptophan and some of the symptoms we seem to have. All of these amino acids are metabolized in or by the liver. Have you had any liver function tests performed? My initial tested showed minor inpaired liver function, and I’ve have more tests when this Corona/Covid-19 situation is over.

#20

That’s interesting. No I have not had any tests done in fact.

In the past few days I really feel as though I am going back to normal full sexual function. Abctruck posted details about his regimen, saying he felt back to 100% and then disapeared completely from the site. This makes me believe he really might have recovered 100%.

@NewYorker have you read anything that might lend some weight to this?