I am so happy that i will first jump to the solution. I will brief my story of having side effects from Finastride for last 4 years after I document my regime and would want other members to try and post your experience (believe me it is ZERO cost and I think it is working for me). Please excuse my English as I come from eastern part of the world.
COVID-19 has been seen as an overall dark cloud over the world. However, it has been a blessing in disguise for me. I will be happy if this helps at-least 1 member out there.
My Regime:
A simple answer “SPRINT”. You heard me right “SPRINT” I will go in details down below on how I am doing it.
This started back in Mar’20 where i am lucking few ones where my jobs enables me to work from home as a part of COVID-19 and I was asked to support from home. Prior to that I have been visiting group exercises classes for 6 months but with inconsistent regime which may be 3 days a week. It helped with overall well being but I have all the side effects of Fin as you all have and this always plays on back of your mind (panic attacks, wake up in midnight to touch a cold penis, no nocturnal erection and obviously no spontaneous erections, no sensitivity, no motivations etc).
The blessing in disguise was as a part of lock down announced in the country, all the fitness training centers were shut. And as a lazy person i was just working from home with increased productivity and no exercise to do. By the end of Apr’20 I understood that even though the lockdown is lifted, there is greater risk in going back to fitness training centers but unfortunately the lockdown was anyways extended. So, this made things simpler and I start to walk for 3-4 Kms a day within my community.
I have had experience Sprinting earlier but never continued more than a week and I have read that it increases testosterone (more on this when I brief my history and how long I have been suffering). So, as a part of the daily walk which I do at 9:00 PM after i complete my work (as I am a person who do not wake up early), I have started to Sprint in between and I always followed this routine as below
Brisk walk for 1.5 to 2 Kms as a warm up. Then you start your SPRINT (not jogging or running), you can start of slowly by jogging/running for 20 meters and then you Sprint (as fast as you can) for next 150 -200m which will approximately take 45 sec to 1 minute. At the end of the SPRINT you can no longer breathe and will be out of breath, energy exhausted. At the end of SPRINT, you start to again walk for 200-300m until you get back your breath and energy to start the next SPRINT. This will be repeated 4 to 5 times, as illustrated below
- Walk 1.5 to 2 Kms —>
- 150-200 meters SPRINT —> 200-250m Walk
- 150-200 meters SPRINT —> 200-250m Walk
- 150-200 meters SPRINT —> 200-250m Walk
- 150-200 meters SPRINT —> 200-250m Walk
- 150-200 meters SPRINT —> 200-250m Walk
So, at the max you would do a 4 to 5 Kms based on your ability. Please adjust the distance for SPRINT as it deems fit but the most important is that each SPRINT should take you to point of failure but do not over do it.
When I first did this in Apr’20, I was exhausted and my sleep improved that night but do not expect miracles and the other side effects still persisted. AS a soul lacking motivation, I continued the exercise the second day as well and only sleep improved due to exhaustion. It is always advisable not to run or perform cardio all days in a week (which I think most members in forum advocate), so I skipped the third day and the sleep was good but with nocturnal erection (however no sensation) and the good thing stopped there, when I woke up the sides were the same. Again on 4th day, I skipped the sprints due to work and the sleep was good but the nocturnal erection was not great. Again on 5th day, I skipped the sprints due to work and I am back to my sides with no nocturnal erection.
So, I made a point to follow a 2 day SPRINT (may also do 3) regime explained above and then take two days off and repeat the regime. This started to have good effect on my mood and my sleep as I was exhausted when I did my SPRINTS and allowed my body to recover the next 2 days and some time 3 days. Now I have completed 2 months of this regime and I have something surprising that I wanted to share, my penis structure has changed and looks like it back to pre fin and my penis is always warm and sensation is back although not 100%. Overall I have a great mood and I am spending time with my family, reading books, watching movies and over mood has significantly improved. The most important is my nocturnal erections are very strong after two months (I have had ups and downs through 2 months but for last 10 days they are consistent and I have it everyday). My spontaneous erections are not great but I have sensation due to which I crave for masturbating (which I never felt during 4 years of having side effects)
I forgot to tell you one thing. During the 2 months, I did masturbate and there were MANY times I did not force myself but still I did it only to ensure that blood kept going. There were couple of instances where I over did it due to frustration and it back fired. So, keep your masturbation regime simple to do it on the rest days. But from the last 10 days, I am masturbating everyday and I enjoy it (the reason being that sensation which is more important is back). Post masturbation, my penis do not go back placid (which is side effect of Fin) and I have mood throughout the day. I am worried not to overdo it but I am enjoying it. I was so happy that I wanted to write this and share it to see if it helps anyone.
You might have questions on the food and medicines or supplements I have been using. Simple answer is nothing. No changes to diet, we eat carb heavy diets in this part of the world. For non-veg it is chicken or mutton and would generally be on a weekend. Rest of the week on rice, curry and curd. No specific greens, just ensure a balanced diet with any greens available and fruits as snacks. I drink 1 cup of coffee in the morning and 1 cup of tea in the evening. We do not have access to some of the fruits that the west has and all I had was simple cost effective ones - Banana, Papaya, Watermelon, Sweet Lime which are most had in eastern part of the world. I did not have any regime for the fruits as well but just have a serving of it (any one or two) everyday in any sequence.
One specific thing I read is, watermelon combined with celery will have great effects on testosterone (but do not over do it). As I do not have access to celery, I did have watermelon in the form of juice this summer whenever I had stock in my house as a summer drink. So, I do not recommend overdoing anything but wanted to brief my diet.
Also, as my mood improved I had the guilt to drink alcohol (this was because of improvement of mood), to test if I will be the same after it. I had this within the last week and i did drink 5 pegs of Blended Whiskey (JW) and was out. But to my surprise I had nocturnal erection and my penis structure which improved is the same after 5 days I drank the alcohol in excess.
I am really grateful where I am now and the trauma I have been going through the last 4 years. It feels as if this has been the best 10 days in my life and I am literally crying writing the post. I know the forum rules as this is untested but I do not want to delay and wanted others to test as this is a unique opportunity for you to have healthy home food and exercise. And more importantly, it is 0 cost, 0 medicine, 0 specific food sequence I am suggesting. Please stop all the medicines you are taking slowly during this regime as I did not take any (except that I tested 2.5mg of Cialis for 5 days when I started my regime just to test how this medicine works as I never had this during my 4 years of side effects where i tested numerous other medicines). So, I do not think any medicine will have any impact in my regime. But thats your call as it may not have any negative impact as well (as I did have alcohol remember and that to way out of limit. Please note it was tested once and I am not a heavy drinker)
History of how I was introduced to Fin and the duration of my sides:
I am old and now in my late 30’s. I do not have balding but just thin hair due to hereditary and thought to improve my hair volume. So, I visited a hair specialist who prescribed Finastride and Minoxidil 5%. I knew the side effect before I took the medicine and I thought I will take the risk.
The worst day in my life when I took the tablet : 17th Aug-2016
How long: 4 days
Side Effects : You name it I have it except vision issues.
After 4 days, I felt guilty of taking it, wanted to see if I had sideeffects and I stopped cold turkey. The very next day my penis size was just half and I did not have any sensation. I was worried and I ran to the doctor who prescribed the med (we do not have appointments here and will get an immediate appointment). He asked to stop Fin and I will be normal in 15 days as I read in the forum too as 4 tablets are very less to make any harm. He has prescribed Zinc tablets this 15 days (to be used on alternative days). 15 days has passed but nothing has improved and I gave a week more. This is when things changed and I felt I was back normal. As usual I masturbated a couple of times a day (which I did pre fin on most days). This is when things when wrong and there was crash. I never recovered till date, there were days where I felt great due to various combination of med but overall I was in the same boat as you all are with side effects (except for vision issues). Below are the medicines I used for brief instances as prescribed by doctor (they are inline with what has been suggested in the forum)
– tamoxifen (10mg, 2 times a day for 2 months)
– Clomid (25 mg, 1 time a day for 3 months)
– HCG (4 injections of 5000 IU, weekly once for 1 month)
– Armidex for controlling E2 when I was on Clomid
– Zincovit, D3 tabs, ON Whey protein (for Amino acids as some pointed in forum when I was exercising), Sorgum etc
None of these helped. I also was exercising and to an extent it helped with mood and during rest days I did have nocturnal erections and thats it. Most of the time my penis was placid and can rotate on axis, Very cold to touch. I know my usage of Fin was very less to many who are on the forum but the side effects were the same as others who were extensively on Fin.
I have read some members recovered with Amino acids. I was losing hope and was about to start before COVID-19. These amino acids are costly back here in my country and there no regulations on the QC of them. We get unbranded stuff, I am thankful I did not start it.
I am so thankful to the almighty that I may not be normal yet but I feel normal which in itself is a great feeling.
The only investment you may have to have is a good pair of shoes. As I run on concrete in the long run it may be detrimental to your knees and back and I being in late 30’s should be careful. However, the joy of recovery or improving my mood supersedes any other thoughts as of now. I will continue to Sprint.
I am sharing my journey just to see if it help anyone and if you have already tried it, I am sorry it did not work. But make sure you have done it continuously for significant time (in my case 2 months is where i see it). But the first sign if the regime work after a month or so is the nocturnal erections that you get in the sleep.
I added in hormone replacement therapy with testosterone and I’m better 5 or 6 years later. I think fin wrecked me but I think there is a way out. Sadly some have killed themselves …