Repeated use -used Tropical while having Pfs and now full blown Pfs

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)?UK

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

What is your current age, height, weight?32,158,70

What specific drug did you use (finasteride, dutasteride, saw palmetto, isotretinoin/Accutane, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, leuprorelin, etc…)?Finasteride 1Mg Took around a month in 2015, restarted in 2017 for 6 months, Tropical Finasteride in 2023 Feb

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

What condition was being treated with the drug?MPB

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

Finasteride 1Mg Took around a month in 2015, restarted in 2017 for 6 months, Tropical Finasteride in 2023 Feb

Date when you started the drug?2015

Date when you quit the drug?Feb 2023

Age when you quit?32

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

How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects?1st day in all the usages

What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?

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
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

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

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

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[ x] 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
[x ] 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? Nothing yet, moved to a clean Brocolli based diet

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)?

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

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

Hi ,this is my first post on this forum.I hope many would forgive me for the mistake that I have done. I took Finasteride first in 2015 ( age 25) for one month and had horrible side effects due to fear of loosing hair.Quit it after a month.Then in 2017 I had a hair transplant and used Finasteride (1mg) and used it for more than 6 months.My doc told me that the side effects will wear off after 6 months and the body will get used to it.Unfortunately that was not the case and I quit the drug for good.It took a long time for me for the side effects to wear off.The main side effects were insomnia and Ed(although erection was only 70% strong) .So I guess my body was recovering still.Last month I got really concerned about my hair loss and the doctor advices me a tropical version which is known to have less side effects. I took just 4 sprays of it .It was from Hims. Woke up next day with a dead dick ,one week after i felt things were getting back much better after a week and back and my libido surged to 200% and masturbated and the next day it was worse I have ever faced.Dead dick, wrinkled and numb , chronic insomnia.don’t know what to do.I feel like a complete idiot to believe that tropical will give less side effects.I never remember the crash happening before my first 2 usages . It’s been 2 weeks since since I crashed.Feeling suicidal seeing my dead dick which is numb as well and for what I have done to my body.Could someone tell me what should be my next steps? I have started a clean diet and stopped drinking

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1 Like
#2

Hey man how long have you off topical now? Stay away from the drug forever it’s terrible. Stay strong though we are making head way and more and more people are becoming aware of pfs. Do you have a what’s app so we can chat?

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#3

You crashed 2 weeks ago and you got insomnia and ED.

If you check the website, SSRI’s and antipsychotic drugs are not recommended. I would try to have a natural recovery if possible.

I know that it’s difficult to cope with insomnia (I had periods of 5 days with no sleep). There are natural things that may help you get sleep. I think meditation is important.

As I said also have severe insomnia and taking benzos regularly is a decision that I regret.

I would also avoid taking alcohol for ever or at least for a lot of time. Benzodiazepines and alcohol act similar on CNS.

You could try a natural recovery, getting all essential nutrients and vitamins from food.

In my case, I’m trying to recover without taking supplements. But if you mind taking one, please check first info in this forum. Don’t ever eat a supplement or drug without being sure. Check first risk/benefits. A lot of people worsened for.ever after taking wrong supplements.

I would prioritize Diet - Exercise (don’t stress your body hard if you have insomnia atm) - Sleep

3 Likes
#4

My main advice is to not kill yourself early on. If you’d just gotten shot with a bullet you’d know it would take time to heal. You just got shot in the penis, from the inside. That is going to take time to heal. Also, it’s okay to be really angry and hurt and sad while you go through this. You don’t have to pretend to be okay. My first 30 days were hell. I couldn’t rub anything close to hardness out of my penis for 25 days. And my brain’s reaction to having my penis removed was sharply suicidal pain.

I discussed it right away with my prescribing doctor. She was less than zero help. I went to a Urologist right away. He was less than zero help. Some people say they go to an Endocrinologist. If I were to do a third doctor, that’s what I’d try. But, after being here and talking to the doctors I’ve talked to, it really sounds like drinking water, eating healthy, exercising even though there are no results, and sleeping as much as I can are the best things I can do. I’m just coming up on five months off. For me the recovery is really long and pretty shallow. But I definitely am better than I was at only two weeks. Way, way better than two weeks.

So, you’re in recovery from really awful trauma. It’s okay to treat it like that. Don’t rush yourself. Know you have some sucky months ahead, but lots of future days will be better.

3 Likes
#5

The fact that you got mostly back to normal after your first experience with finasteride side effects is a good sign. It’s not a guarantee that you’ll get back to that but I feel like you have a decent shot of rebounding again with time.

Just be extremely careful with what you put into your body going forward and obviously don’t go anywhere near other 5ari’s.

Besides that there’s also research looking into PFS which is starting to pick up steam as the study in Germany looking into the epigenetics of PFS has recently gotten underway.

That is also something I would look into as it provides hope for a real treatment for all of suffering from this devastating condition.

2 Likes
#6

Thanks you so much guys for the support , it means a lot at this time.

Tbh it’s kind of hard to see a loose hanging dick every time .Absolutely 0 libido.Never expected this tropical to give this side effect from the first usage.It’s devastating .The fact that I crashed this time is what horrifies me , which I don’t recall having in my past usages.

1 Like
#7

Thanks @PeaceHugs these kind words are much needed now.Not sure how long will I be able to hang in there though.How stupid I was! Did you crash too? I have been reading in these forums that crash means no recovery😰

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#8

Do you want to join our efforts? We’re trying to find solutions for everyone not just the lucky ones who escape. Toughluck24 is a good man to connect with to discuss all this, apart from being a solid guy in general.

2 Likes
#9

@Erik happy to be part of any effort that can help us out

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#10

Awesome man

2 Likes
#11

When I hear people say “crash,” I assume it means 100% loss of erectile function. I “crashed” in that one day I could get erections, and the next my penis felt like it had detached and was in the turtled / cold-pool form at all times. For 25 days my penis had zero hardness potential. It was shriveled up into my body and that was it, no matter what I did. My understanding is that people do recover to some degree. I am certainly not that destroyed anymore. It’s still super life changing, but I have some recovery.

It sounds like it takes a long time to know where people level out. Some people say they have improvements still at a year or more. I’m hopeful that it takes that long to see where things level out. Maybe it doesn’t, but I’m at five months and I still have some days that are tiny improvements and some weeks that feel worse than the week before. So I don’t think “crashing” implies a never-recovery, because there isn’t a way to know while it’s happening what parts come back by a year later.

I do generally think that crashes are a physiological event that isn’t understood yet. Like, is it the death of enough cells so that the electrical signals stop happening? Is it some kind of rupture of erectile tissue? Or is it maybe a connection that dies, or a brain situation that gets damaged? I don’t know. I do know it was a clear event for me. I felt my penis detach. What I have now is WAY less than before that day, but it’s more than I had for 25 days after it detached.

It wouldn’t be surprising if there are lots of definitions for “crash” here. The moment my penis detached is clear in my mind. That’s when the suicidal pain started. That’s when I stopped being able to sleep. The whole world changed for me in that moment. But, also, it’s five months later and I do have a life. I do have pleasant moments sometimes. So my life didn’t end. It’s just a sharply different one than I thought I was heading toward the day before.

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#12

Thanks @PeaceHugs , your motivation to go through this is amazing.it gives me some courage to fight this .I was supposed to be married this year and this has ruined everything for me, and now I don’t know what the future holds for me… have to back out from everything.I can get an erection by manual stimulation though but it’s not hard and takes quite a good minute or so to do this, was hoping to get a prescription for Cialis, but not sure if that also would help?

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#13

It would be almost a month now since I am off the tropical , the crash happened 2 weeks back , so now on the third week post crash and counting days in hell :confused:

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#14

From what I hear if you only have one crash your chances of recovering are a lot higher. Either way we have to fund studies to figure out why this happens

2 Likes
#15

The cheapest, easiest way I know to get a Cialis prescription is telemedicine online, like:

https://www.goodrx.com/care

Just be sure to go to a national chain to pick up the prescription, because GoodRX in particular gets bad info from small pharmacies, so your price might be WAY higher when you get there than they said online.

But, also, if you’re SO close to your crash, your penis might need more recovery time. With that said, Cialis helps me quite a bit. I kind of hate it because I’m still upset about how easy and huge erections were before Fin, compared to how pathetic they are now even with Cialis. But, if I were going to have sex now, there is zero doubt that I’d use Cialis.

1 Like
#16

So its been a month since my crash , no major improvements in any area , although sleep is improved somewhat i feel , but waking up every 4 hours or so and a zombie like sleep state . Erections are better with Cialis 5 mg(Bit Scared of building tolerance! , but it is what it is) , i am taking it every 3 days or so to keep blood flow to my penis . Also i have started noticing flaking of skins in the Glans , have any one had these symptoms? , penis skins is really dry as well , as if i had put some powder on top of it :confused:

Blood test @ 4 weeks post the crash have arrived although i don’t have a baseline to compare against
Here are the key results.

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image751×391 44.9 KB

Not sure what to make of it , but will try to speak to my GP about all these , if any one has some guidelines , let me know what to make of it and some things that i could do to improve on these elevated hormone profiles?

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