Hi
I wanted to quickly share my recovery story with you guys as that’s something I was hoping to read while going through this mess.
I started taking Propecia in November 2008 (age 23) and increased to half a proscar (2.5 mg Fin) daily after a while. The success was crazy at first: after around 7 to 9 months I had the best head of hair. Better than when I was 18 when balding started for me.
The side effects didnt come right away, they arrived gradually: loss of libido (I could make out with someone extremely hot and not get horny and/or hard at all) and difficulty achieving and maintaining an erection as they call it. When I jerked off (which would still happen a couple of times a week - in retrospect I think out of habit and not because I was horny) I wouldnt get hard without constant manual stimulation and orgasms would feel rather bland.
And still I wouldnt even think for a second that Fin could be the cause of it. It was kind of normal because it came to gradually after over a year on Fin. I thought it’s stress (which I didnt even really have tbh) or whatever.
Well, things kept getting worse. After 2 years I had absolutely NO morning or spontaneous erections anymore. My dick was small and super limb all the time and sometimes even contant manual stimulation and hot porn wouldn’t even get me semi-hard.
It took me another couple of months before I read about the Post-Fin Syndrome and decided to quit. And that’s when the craziness started. My hormones went crazy, up and down. I was the horniest beast one weekend and completely limb the following week. After 2 weeks I was fine and recovered. But stupid me couldn’t live with the hair loss the started again and so, after like 6 months, I started Fin again, 0.05 mg a day, and that was enough to mess things up. After a week I was back at my worst and even after quitting gain I wouldnt get back to normal. The opposite happened actually: things got worse and worse. That was last February.
(Almost) No erections, no libido. Even Viagra wouldnt get me hard.
I really tried everything from Zinc therapy, test booster, kettle workouts, VitaminD in high doses, …
I got tested for my hormones. Total testosterone was way too low, free testosterone was low but (barely) within range, Estradiol was just a little too high but overall/total Estrogen way too low, SHGB was extremely low (thus the in-range free test despite extremely low total test), Prolactin was ok,…
I tried several post-cycle therapies for bodybuilders to boost hormones. They always gave me a quick boost (with morning erections) for one or two days, with the crash right after.
After 4 months of no progress whatsoever I tried the regimen that saved me - at least that’s the only explanation I have. My hair loss is back full force, but so is my libido and so are my erections.
Here’s my regimen that I did for 6 weeks along with strength training / bulking up 5 x a week
(I was fine after a few days but continued because I simply afraid to stop and I think that was a smart decision):
[list][*]I found one of the very few test boosters that does not have Anti-DHT ingredients like saw palmetto and that is with Avena Sativa: Controlled Labs, Blue Up, Natural Test Booster which I got from iHerb, goo.gl/vNBhW - I took 2 capsules before my daily workout at around 6pm and another 4 capsules 20 minutes before bedtime. That is 3 times the recommended daily dose.
[*]I took a prescription-strength anti-estrogen, Tamoxifen 10mg, twice a day: one at around 3pm and another one together with my test booster before bedtime. After a bit over a week I decreased the dose to 10mg before bedtime and none in the afternoon. I got it from one of the numerous bodybuilding online stores, not sure if I can post the link here?
I hope this helps those of guys who are struggling to find help. I know how messed up this situation feels but I also know that there’s always always always always hope. Any questions you may have, I am more than happy to help!!