Hi All,
This is my first post here, and I joined because I wanted to share what’s been helpful for me while battling pfs sides.
My story in a nutshell: Started taking fin back in 2010 and quit cold turkey in 2014 after I consistently couldn’t get hard for a few months. While I did occasionally have trouble remembering things and even forming sentences at times, I would say the brain fog was less of an emotional issue overall for me than the ed. As of this post I’ve been off the drug for 9 months.
After getting a blood test and seeing my testosterone level in the low 400s at age 26, I decided to try some testosterone booster supplements from GNC to see if they would help. I first tried High-T Black (caffeinated and caffeine free versions), Methyl T Ignite, Test Freak, and Cellucor P6 Red. The problem with most of these is that if you read the backs carefully, you’ll notice ingredients thrown in to reduce DHT conversion. Generally it’s saw palmetto, and for Cellucor P6, it was beta sitosterol. Though I did notice an occasional increase in alertness and energy levels with High-T non-caffeinated and Methyl T Ignite, none of these supplements did much of anything for my ed. I believed this might have been linked to those anti-DHT ingredients which have been shown to shrink your prostate the same way Propecia does, so I quit them. I resorted to visiting safemeds4all.com and ordering 45-packs of generic Viagra at about a dollar a pop, and relied completely on these to make me hard enough for sex. If I had been eating fatty foods before taking it though, it sometimes wasn’t even enough.
I started to compare ingredients on most test boosters and noticed only a single one in common: Tribulus Testerris. I read up some more online about supplements that have helped with pfs sides, and found this as well as Maca to be popular choices. I went on Amazon and bought a 1000 mg, 90-count pack of Tribulus by BRI Nutrition, and a 1000 mg, 250 capsule pack of Maca by Now Foods. I took 1 Tribulus pill in the morning and 2-3 Maca pills with meals a day, and I had my sex drive back in about 2 weeks. The Maca specifically aids my arousal mentally, while the Tribulus makes it much easier to get an erection and stay hard. Interestingly, Tribulus is used to increase DHT levels, so it seems in some ways to be an anti-finasteride. The obvious down side to using it is that I have been losing more hair in the mornings than I used to, but hey, I’m just happy to have my sex drive back.
One more supplement I have been taking that may or may not make a difference: Cellucor ZMA. It is a blend of magnesium and zinc in its best absorbable form that also includes 750 mg of tribulus. I take this at night instead of another 1000 mg tribulus tablet because it seems to keep me from losing quite as much hair. You can probably attribute this to either the zinc or the lower tribulus intake.
A few other supplements I used that did NOT help my arousal or erections: L-Arginine, L-Carnitine, and generally anything meant to boost NO levels. In fact, taking too much of this actually dropped my blood pressure to unsafe levels for a day, and I felt like I had the flu. I would not use this, especially if you’re still on Rogaine which lowers your blood pressure already.
Regarding diet and exercise: I wouldn’t say my diet is any better or worse than your average person. I eat some vegetables, some burgers and fries, some desserts, just about anything. I lift heavy weights about once a week aiming for 6-8 reps, and I run for 2 or 3 miles once a week. While it is obviously great for your overall health, I would not say exercise has helped my symptoms that much. Plus, let’s be honest, from reading other people’s exercise- and diet-based recoveries, it sounds like a lot of work. If there’s an easier fix, let’s go with that, right?
Thanks for reading everyone, and I really hope this helps some of you in your recovery. Hopefully it saves you some money on supplements as well. If you have any questions, I will be happy to answer them for you. Cheers!