Hey guys,
Quick update: I’ve just seen Dr. Irwin Goldstein and will give my review of the experience below:
Large in part, I would think long and hard if you want to go to San Diego and spend over $1000 to see the man. He is very friendly, but not the best listener. He’s been doing sexual medicine for a long time, been on trial for Finasteride, and loves to keep telling you that. He doesn’t really respond to hard-hitting questions well and kind of just blows them off, assuring you he’s an expert and whatever your saying is just theory (which is probably true). But in listening and asking questions, he truly doesn’t know any more that what has been on this forum for years. What he likes to do is ask you to rank your symptoms all the time - “What symptoms are your worst, the one’s you’d like to get taken care of first? Rank them 1 -3” This seems to be what he does with everyone and then he attacks them in that order. I told him mine we’re 1. Insomnia (I need to sleep) 2. Libido (i feel nothing towards opposite sex 3. ED and sensitivity. He basically just stopped at insomnia and libido and prescribed me what is called ‘Addyi’ (Flibanserin) Addyi is a drug that is primarily used for post menopasual women who have lost their libido at an older age, but it often has a similar effect on men. You take it at bedtime, it’s supposed to help you sleep, it takes 2-3 months to start working before you start feeling some sexualness again. Apparently a 3rd of people feel nothing, another 3rd start having occasional sexual thoughts that weren’t there before, and another 1/3 feel like they did when they we’re 18, sexual raging all the time. I’m getting mine delivered soon but would love to hear if anyone has had success with this drug.
He also prescribed me some ambien for sleep.
The whole process was relatively rushed, he seemed mostly concerned with just easing my worry, tellingme his stories, and telling me there really isn’t much that can be done for a cure, but we can give you things that will help.
I made sure to ask him about the infamous study at Baylor university, he says he knows all the doctors who are doing the study and has no idea when it will come out. But what was more interesting is when I told him that there are hundreds of men on support forums like these who are holding out hope that this study will finally be the smoking gun that gets us out of this mess, he wasn’t so confident. He said, at best the study will confirm what we already know, whether there’s epigentic changes in some people, or that the enzymes that allow for proper neurosteroid creation have been irreparably damaged. He said, it most likely reveal any kind of cure, but would just provide further proof that there are indeed physical changes that occur from taking finasteride. He didn’t seem to be too curious about what was in play in the study, as he’s tried so many things that really don’t have much of an effect. When I asked him why only certain people get affected and others don’t, he used the metaphor “We’ll a ton of people smoke cigarettes, but only 10% get lung cancer. It doesn’t have a complete blanket effect for some people.”
I also asked him about Andractim DHT treatment, and he said he has had success with patients who have low dht in the past (my DHT to T ratio is off, with T being high and DHT being low). He suspects that conversion mechanism from T to DHT is still damaged, and it may be worth supplementing with DHT. Does anyone know where I can get a link to purchase the Andractim? I’d like to try a very very low dose to see if I have a reaction. I’ve tried looking on the forums but to no avail. It’s supposed to get purchased overseas.
Overall, the experience was just as expected, not much insight or real help, but we’ll see how the Addyi affects me. It’s a shame really, I feel like the whole thing could have been done over the phone honestly. Not sure if its worth it for the price, but I’m desperate and I think they prey on people like that a bit.
Otherwise I’m doing pretty much the same. The Ambien has helped with the constant waking up, and I seem to be getting a much longer sleep now which is nice. I’ve long harbored that it’s been a lack of real sleep that has prevented the body from truly healing itself. So hopefully this extra sleep will have an effect.