Starting to freak out, need some form of hope

General Discussion
#1

Hi all,

I am posting here out of desperation, but knowing there are others makes me feel a bit better.

I am 25 years old, starting taking .25 mg of fin every other day for a while. Side effects were mild (fatigue) and generally tolerable, but I started to get nervous and decided to discontinue last Saturday (9 days ago). Overall, I believe I took about 3-3.5mg total, spaced out.

Here are my symptoms:

Fatigue and listlessness appeared two days after stopping. It has not gone away, has gotten slightly worse, but hard to tell. The fatigue improves as I wake up and comes back with a vengeance around 1-4pm. I have bad brain fog as well, but this symptom is difficult to describe accurately so I won’t focus on it much. Blurry vision as well, worse at night.
I have a lot of muscle weakness and aches.

Libido is probably at around 100%, penis function/erections at are about 70-80% and vary. Some mornings I wake up with an erection, other mornings I have nothing. Watery semen, but seemingly normal ejaculations.

Testicular pain every once in a while. Not noticeable.

I am grateful that as of yet my sexual symptoms aren’t worse, but the fatigue is causing me to panic. I can’t live with fatigue/fog this bad forever and I just started a very challenging job that I can’t lose.

I am just hoping to hear some members’ experiences with extreme fatigue because I am starting to truly panic - I can barely work and I’ve just started the job. Fatigue seems to improve around 7-8 pm or 10-11 am.

Please let me know anything you have experienced.

#2

Hi man,

Sorry to hear you’re dealing with these symptoms. The fact you’re still functioning sexually at pretty much full capacity is a very favourable sign, as is the fact you’re still only 9 days post cessation.

Fatigue and brain fog are a killer to deal with and can’t be very life inhibiting. The best (and by far the safest) thing you can do at this point is eat well, exercise (as much or as little your fatigue will permit, although don’t force it and listen to your body) and do not take any supplements or medications that aren’t an absolute necessity in regards to your immediate health.

You’re still at such an early point in the post drug period that it’s extremely difficult to determine whether or not you classify as a post drug syndrome patient as of yet - we use the 3 month mark as a rough guide. For that reason it’s of paramount importance that you don’t put your body under any unnecessary stress and instead allow it an adequate opportunity to heal.

Many patients see natural improvements in the early stages of the disease and, as previously mentioned, it’s by no means certain that you are sufferer of said disease at this point. I would hope that it’s simply your body readjusting to life without finasteride.

All the best in the meantime and if you have any further questions for the community don’t hesitate to ask. There will always be someone willing to answer.

Take care, PropeciaHelp Team

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#3

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. Hearing a reasonable, measured take is enough to slightly lessen my anxiety. I will try exercising and practice some caution before freaking out further.

1 Like
#4

Yeah as SD says I would be fairly certain if you’ve escaped sexual sides to any degree it’s looking good. Also you’re going to be “testing” yourself sexually probably which won’t be helping the state of mind there. So stop that, if you are.

You just sound (happily enough) like people who quite because of some of the more common sides and then get better to me. As my doctor described them at least, and he in his whole career never even heard of anyone who DIDN’T get better, so the odds are you’ll be alright.

#5

Hi all,

I think I spoke too soon. Woke up today (Day 10) with some more ED, fatigue, dry eyes, and feverishness. I had a lot of trouble sleeping last night as well, with the back of my neck burning. I know that freaking myself out is not going to help no matter what, but I have been on the verge of tears all day. I feel awful and I can’t imagine feeling like this forever. Can I at least take Advil for my aches?

Any advice or insight helps. I’m really in a dark place right now. I know I need to wait but I am constantly on the edge of complete panic.

#6

youre going to need to allow much more time than this bro

for the first 10 months or so i had brain fog so bad i couldnt get any work done

then one day i woke up and i was 80% back to normal. can work and function again

most people from what ive seen recover many sides a lot quicker

you need to dig deep and gain strength to make it work. you just started a demanding job- figure out how to press on with it even with all of your symptoms. if you can make these adjustments, youll have an advantage over other people

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#7

Have you took your 24h Cortisol test? I would like to see your 24h cortisol curve. That test can be taken trough Saliva or Urine. You need a nutritionist or similar to get that test done. I believe that this general fatigue is mainly because of the cortisol system is broken in our bodies. Or that is my number one suspicion after couple years of investigating and testing.

And it would make sense why we often feel fatigued some certain time of the day. Because of our cortisol curve. When it drops to subzero levels, we are more fatigued. Cortisol curve should spike up in the morning when a healthy person wakes up and then it should steady down little by little when heading to evening and night.

My cortisol curve for example here ->

image
image1260×537 124 KB

So basicly I dont produce cortisol at all in the morning when my body would need it. But when going towards evening and night, my fatigue gets better when I dont need cortisol so much anymore and its gets better and it gets on the right curve. So I think the fatigue is because of the adrenal fatigue. But you only know by taking a test even 24h saliva cortisol or 24h urine cortisol. There are two ways to treat it. Natural way or replacing cortisol.

#8

I feel about the same today (Day 11). Very fatigued and weak. Weird warm flashes across my back and arms. I was able to sleep okay. Dryish skin and very bad under eye bags. No morning erections. It seems like my penis has shrunk some but I think that particular symptom can be heavily influenced by perception/anxiety. I made a doctor’s appointment for Friday. I have no idea what I am going to tell them though.

Big problem right now: I have absolutely zero appetite. I barely ate yesterday which I’m sure is contributing to my poor mood today. Any advice on this?

I’m really, really trying to hang in there. Every time one of you responds, I feel a tiny bit better. This is so scary. I live alone and am scared of fucking up my job.

#9

Thank you Finfina. The fatigue is the most unbearable thing for me, so any possible paths to investigate it are welcome.

#10

welcome bro
brace yourself for atleast a ‘‘lovely’’ 3-4 months of tremor.

your hormones are out of whack and you will experience a rollercoaster of ups and downs.

you just gotta ride the wave.

#11

Day 12. I almost thought I felt normal last night, but this morning is only the same. I had a few weak erections through the night and brain fog seems slightly cleared. Is that a hopeful sign?

Felt like I had to pee all night and could barely get anything out. Still no appetite and my hair has completely stopped shedding, which seems totally impossible and like a sick joke.

I am taking work off day but I don’t have any more sick days. The desperation is growing. I just feel like crying all day.

#12

I’m so sorry to read this @gs1994, you’re in my thoughts. You describe what so many here can relate to. Please try to bear it in mind that you are very early in coming off the drug and that many people have come through this website that have had a similar experience to you in the first weeks/months off the drug to then make a substantial recovery/improvement after that. For some, they have an adverse drug reaction that isn’t necessarily PFS and they have subsequently described themselves as recovered, following more time off the drug. If you do have PFS (which you don’t know yet as it has been such a brief time since you quit), you should also bear it in mind that many, many patients experience improvements in the 6 - 12 month period after quitting the drug. Stay strong and keep us updated.

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#13

dude you have no idea the bullet you’ve dodged. if you want to cry all day, imagine if your penis was totally numb, cold and you had no brain penis connection. the amount of fear and isolation that brings is indescribable. trust me when i tell you, the fact that you started at such a low dose has probably saved you.

i only took 1mg, and that same night i had the worst headache of my life, everything was blurry, especially at night. if i would look at something off center i couldn’t even read it. i had awful muscle aches and pains. ball pain. and then each day after that for about 4 days i improved and then boom it hit me and i crashed on day 5. you still have sexual fuction and it’s been almost 2 weeks. try to dwell on that and the fact that the odds are looking very good for you. nothing kills a boner more than anxiety.

my advice is to not do anything crazy or start taking stuff, you’ve got a few more weeks until your clear of the fin anyway, it’s a 90% protein binding med. you can’t even donate blood for a month after taking it. if you don’t exercise, i’d strongly recommend it. lift weights and try to think aggressively and do some light cardio. nothing extreme. eat normal, just chill. as someone said above, don’t pull up porn and try to “test” yourself or keep going down that rabbit hole. it’s just going to make things worse for you mentally. i know it’s difficult, try to distract yourself as much as possible and go on with life. you need time.

good luck

#14

how long are you off bro and what sides do you still have compared to the very beginning?

#15

13 months. it took a long time and i had to work at it, but i’d say i’m 90% my vision is pretty good, but not quite as good as it was before. penis doesn’t really throb anymore like it did before. pelvic floor can sometimes feel kinda weird, the ball pain is mostly gone but sometimes i can feel it a bit. my skin kinda took a hit too, feel like i aged years from all the stress.

#16

Im sorry that you went through this. I have experienced somewhat similar symptoms like yours (i.e. extreme muscle pains/stiffness, anxiety etc. etc.

Positive news that your 90% back, you are a true warrior for having gone through this hell.
You still have some battlescars so things have changed permanently it seems.

Do you get (mini) crashes every now and then where your symptoms flare up?

#17

No thankfully.

#18

Hi all,

Thank you so much for your replies. Honestly any time any one of you posts something it helps me feel less alone and a bit more grounded. I wanted to give you guys an update. Today is Day 16 off the fin if my count is correct.

My sexual symptoms seem to be on a roller coaster. Libido vacillates wildly between feeling completely normal and pretty diminished. Yesterday was a good day for libido - today? Not so much. Morning erections are still rare and weak. No spontaneous erections but still have seemingly normal ejaculations, slightly less volume of semen.

I still have reduced appetite. The appetite seems to start coming back at night and by morning is gone again. Fatigue and muscle weakness are still the biggest killers but those seem to vacillate too. Some hours its bad, some hours it feels closer to normal. Sunlight seems to help briefly. The afternoons are still the most rough. I feel cold really easily.

I had a blood test on Friday. The doctor seemed receptive to the idea of PFS but she said it’s just not possible with my low dosage, which I don’t agree with, but at least she was open to the idea. My results were normal except for high T4 and high albumin. I’m going back today for more tests.

My sexual symptoms have been annoying and stressful but I’m still vastly more worried about fatigue and weakness. I really hope these clear up soon. It’s been now almost 2.5 weeks of feeling this fatigue.

#19

kc210,

Thank you for your kind words of encouragement and for sharing your story. Your experiences sound really terrifying and your resolve in the face of that is really admirable and helpful for me to hear. My sexual symptoms have not as of yet been that bad. They are still really up and down. I just want this all to end soon.

#20

np. i was where you are but much worse a year ago, so try to hold out hope. get her to test your zinc when you go back for bloodwork. there are case studies from just 1 pill, so yes it’s very possible. a lot of the members of the forum would also attest to that. i’d recommend taking a break from the masturbation, i know you want to keep seeing how you respond, but just take a week off. if you build up a real urge too that would be a good sign, and you might find it improves the libido.