Story of Spstriken

I applogise I posted on the wrong place. here is my story

  1. How did you find this forum? google

  2. What is your current age, height, weight? 43yrs, 170cm, 150lbs

  3. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise? walk about 3 km

  4. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)? healthy diet, vegs,meat, chicken etc

  5. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)? I took Saw Palmetto for hair loss, thinking it is safe and natural, proscar is dangrous

  6. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)? took SP for 6 months

  7. How old were you when you started Finasteride? 42yrs

  8. How old were you when you quit? 42.5

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

  10. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?

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

  12. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects? I started feeling 2-3 months after but blamed on my office work

  13. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? muscle pain and joint pain, blurry vision and ED

Put an X beside all that apply:

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

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

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

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[ x] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[x ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ x] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ x] Lowered body temperature

[ ] Other (please explain)

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug? noting ,just wait and see

  2. If you have pre or post-Finasteride bloodtests, what hormonal changes have you encountered since discontinuing the drug (pls post your test results in the “Blood Tests” section and link to them in your post)? almost no change after 8 months

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

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

I started taking SP for the hair loss and after 2-3 months satated feeling extremely tired but I kept thinking it is my illusion or office related stress but when I strated noticin my Penis became small, and watery ejuction I panicked. I did some google research and found it was b/c of SP. I took 80-90% SP extract ( what a foolishness). I was suffering from prostat BPH, so I thought I have got magic pill which will cure both baldness and nigh urination. It did cured my nigh urination to a great extent but at a very big price. I have lost weight , my pants are loose around my waist. I indeed became very weak instead of having weight gain. My biggest concern is my fatigue and vision. I am constantly tired.
People think proscar is dangrous , my opinion SP is 1000 times worse. I threw my T level off the range, Doctor put me on TRT (Androgel). My mistake I started using it , untill I got worse.(water in my legs). I stopped it after 2 months though was not easy as my hands and feet had gone extremely extremely cold and numb. I fought with severe depression but Alh now feeling a little bit better may be since I am fasting.I did another free T test now and it is still in low normal range.

4 Likes

I wonder if any one has used HCG for 2-3 months and clomid for 4-6 months.this is what some body builder websites describe for AAs after treatment for low test. I am thinking to go on this,. Can any body give his valuable suggetion or experience.

thanx

I am on the same boat as you are but by taking sawpalmetto. My T level out of range (below normal) it then came back to low normal, mine is 29 (25-80 being normal). My Doctor put me on Adrogel that made me horny as hell. I got my muscles back with in 2 weeks.At work I was not able to control myself and my dick was errcted all the time but slowly errection frequency went less and less as days went by. Doctor told me my body was adjusting. I used Androgell for 6 weeks then discontinued b/c of water retension and I did not want to stay for life on it. Now my questions are
1-if prostate was damaged ,how I got stiff errections?
2-if recetors in the brain was damaged why I was horny?

I think all is related to our low T production. every body has different base line, which alot of us don’t know unfortunately ( no body tested prior to FIN or SawPalmetto usage) now our T production is well below our normal base line. Fin or sawpalmetto suppresses our T leve for such a long time that our body got used to new low T level and whole HTPA has set to new value. if some how we can put back our LH and FSH to our normal base value, we can get well . Same is the case with a lot of body builders, their T is suppressed for few months and theiry Pitutary gland does not go back to normal FSH and LH productioin after the cycle.
Any body can go on Androgel and can see his body muscles, erection, emotion and selfesteem will come back righ away.

I thought you said TRT didn’t help you at all?

If it were this simple everyone would go on Androgel. How much muscle loss did you have and did it all come back? Perhaps it is different for SP users, who don’t experience the post-finasteride crash of mild recovery then magnified symptoms.

when i used testogel (2 years ago) i also had “frequent” erections,but i was still having problems to get them full at all and not pleasure,it was like if down there there is a block and can t go more than some ,my penis wasfeeling like a plastic material…now with time i m really better but still problems,my skin is still damaged,so what i think is that our 5ar is not working well at the periferical organs (penis,prostate and brain,CNS) so we can feel something and be horny somewhat and also we can feel some pleasure or sensivity on the penis,but just some what and same argument is in the nerves of the CNS so i think that receptors after quitting the drug have gone fucked or desensibilized because if it was just for a testosterone problem,most of us are in range .

1 Like

hi spstriken. Thanks for that report about androgel. When you started the gel, how long did it take for you to feel anything? Did you feel anything on the first day, or did it take longer? I am currently on day two of androgel, and so far i feel nothing. Thanks.

Honestly I don’t know who suffers more, one who took fin or one who took SawPalmetto. Both are peiece of sh******.
I lost my thighs and hip muscels.My belts became very loose and too big.
l lost my appetite, developed dudenal ulcer.(which I am still fighting)
I lost my arms muscles, my fore arm became very weak.
SawPalmetto destroyed my right eye, I was very healty with 20/20 eye sight. Now for the right one far sighted and for left one near sighted.
My dick became very small (like 10 year old boy) balls shrank and got deshaped like kidney beans.
but the most horrible side effect was and to some extent is still was severe joint pain in my hand fingers and toes. For some weeks I was barely walking. I have always been walk lover.My skin was feeling very thin, the shoes felt like rocks on my foot skin.

I felt almost normal on Androgel.Huge surge of energy and after 2-3 week of use my arms and thighs became 70-80% normal. But new problems started,I started having water in my ankles. My legs seemed to be very heavy. I started to struggle to move my legs. Also when the effect would go down, especially in the evening all of a sudden I would feel dizzy ,tired and my hands and feet ,legs would become extremely cold.
after I went off the Agel, I had to figh some days. I stopped on 9th July,2009 and still don’ t want to go back.
Now , my arms are 70% back but not as hard as used to be. Thigh and hip muscles are little better. Still some times hands and toes start ach. I fasted one and half month ago and felt a lot better. My dick and nutts got back to better size. nutts are in the middle not like befroe (normal) not like small and kidney shape.
I want to use HCG and then clomid at small dose but for long time. My prob is I live in canada and can not have these meds. I don’t know what to do from here.
Again ,at least for me it is low T problem. I am 100% sure once I get back my T I will be normal again. My libido had vanish completely but now is back but again body does not match with my libido. I don’t have the strength.

1 Like

thanks for your reply. But i still would like to know: how many days on androgel did it take before you felt anything? Did you feel more energy on the first day? Or did it take a few days before you noticed any changes? It would be really helpful to hear about your experience of that. Thanks.

Proviron helps me get boners. :sunglasses:

He states:

“Huge surge of energy and after 2-3 week of use”

Androgel converts to estrogens a lot more no?

yes, and that is interesting, but doesn’t answer my question. He states: huge surge of energy and after two or three weeks my muscles were at 70 percent. I am interested in the amount of time it took to notice the beginining of any effects. So, for example, when did this surge of energy start? First day? After three days? After one week? Muscles were at a certain stage by two or three weeks, but when was muscle improvement first noticed?

Man just keep rubbing the gel and wait for a while to see if anything happens don’t pore over this site for miniscule recovery sign from who guy who might be shittin, and who took SP not propecia. You’re not gonna turn into your old self just like that.

Crisler says he uses injections for propecia guys, wonder if androgel will just convert into E.

SPstriken, sorry if I sounded rude but some of the story doesn’t add up. Have you tired something tio reduce estrogens? Any bloods?

i will keep applying the gel and see what happens. But it is hard to know what this site is for if not to ask there sorts of questions.

Ok cool good luck sorry for jumping on yr story SPstriken. Btw are u saying the fast helped cock/gonad size?

it was within first week of use. why don’t you try it. Try and feel how it looks like. But remember your nuts will shrink and your HTPA will shutdown and who knows when you go off what new values would be?

That’s why you run hcg alongside it. Sounds like you were onto a good thing with androgel sp, maybe you should have taken arimidex alongside it?
Maybe you could restart your HPTA or whatever if you did stop it but it’s maybe not likely if you’re in your 40s. I might be wrong though. Only about two endos in the world seem to have the know how to do it though.

while on Androgel ,through negative feed back your pitutary galnd shuts down LH and FSH. there is no question about it. that is why I got off.
there are other problem as well with Androgel. Some body here said that some member have their T leve in normal range. Yes they are in normal range but not in their base line. Befor starting mine was too in low normal, but Androgel gave bid difference, reason? since it took my T level to my body requirement (my base line). My LH and FSH are in normal range but my nuts are sitll not full size as they used to be. they need a little mor LH and FSH.
Again my opinion is we have to have higher level of LH and FSH to get out balls on ful production

Drugs like Clomid, Tamoxifen or hCG can boost endogenous T/LH production.

Studies to support Clomid & hCG usage are in sticky posts of DRUG THERAPY section.

I am in Canada can not have thes meds. any advice?