The Story of Saw Palmetto

5th of April 2008

I am a 31 years old male.
First of all, english is not my native langguage so sorry for any grammer
or misspelling error. Unlike all of you who try Finasteride, i never used
it however i used Saw Palmetto standardized extract.

I was 25 years old in 2002 and in my best physical shape. I trained 3 X
a week in the gym and was having the time of my life. I am 178 cm
i weighted 76 kg at that time and was sexually active with no problem
and also i have no gynecomastia what so ever.

Problem at that time i was seeing my girlfriend who is now have
become my wife. She really like the way my hair feels and look.However
i started to noticed that i was having hair loss problem, not much
but enough to caused thining in the front area (above forehead).

So i begin to research on ways to solved this hair fall problem, i found
that there is a drug called Propecia that have been approved by FDA in
USA that is used in treating this problem. I do read the statement that
in can cause breast tenderness and loss of lidibo ect in 2 % of user so
i was afraid and decided i am not going to try this product. Later on my
attention was focused on Saw Palmetto extract which many claim it does
what Finasteride does however with no side effect, hell they even used
it in some formula to increase libido so naturally i think hey this is a
safe thing, it is natural so it causes less side effect.

I WAS DEAD WRONG. I took Saw Palmetto standardized extract 320 mg from GNC (which contain 85% fatty acids and 0.2 % sterols) in beginning
of 2002. At first i took one soft gel once a day in the morning and waited
two months to see the results. nothing happened my hair fall rate remain
the same, no problem what so ever i am still in good shape.
So now i increase the dose to two soft gel per day, one in the morning and one in the evening.

After four months i notice that the hair fall has been reduce, however i started to feel a little bit tired and less focus, not like my usual self
but i thought hey itā€™s ok maybe i am just under stress from my worked.
At the end of 2002 however i started to experience loss of libido and
occasionally erectile dysfunction. I thought this is funny i never have this
problem before but i am still not concern and life goes on. In mid 2003
after 1.5 years on Saw Palmetto (2 x a day) it is where all the problems emerged one at the time namely:

  • Loss of libido (very bad)
  • Erectile dysfunction (very bad)
  • Sleep problem ( i feel as if i am not sleeping)
  • Eye problem ( sensitive to light, difficult in reading)
  • Gynecomastia
  • Very bad case of stomach ulcer
  • lack of concentration (very bad)
  • start having episodes of stress
  • Dark cirlcle under my eyes (i aged very fast until it shocked my mother)
  • mucle twiching (uncontrolable movement in various mucles in the body)
  • loss of weight ( in two months i lost 4 kg, very scarry)
  • Testis size is reduce (become smaller)

This freak me out, my girlfreind and my family, i immediately stooped everthing that i took namely the saw palmetto, multivitamins, protein shakes. However the problems persist for months. I visit our family doctor who suspect that i may have liver or kidney problem (because i lost 4 kg in such a short period of time ) and order a complete blood
test of liver, kidney, red blood cell count, etc and also ultrasound for both
the organ. All come back fine, so she was puzzle and refer me to see
an urologist.

The urologist order a different blood test to check my hormones,
testosterone, LH, FSH, Prolactin, T3, T4 and THs. All the resilt are normal
except for Testosterone, LH and FSH which was on the low end range. So the doctor simply tells me its ok you are just stress and he suggest me to try excercised and prescribe me slepping pill and antidepresant tablets (zoloft). I was not happy neither is my family so we went
to se another urologist who thinks that the problem may lay in the brain and reference me to see a specialist in Andrology (male related issues).

I was happy finally a specialised doctor who understand male problems. He order me to do sperm analysis as well as another blood test for my hormones. i told him i have no libido and that
my penis can not stand for erection and he told me just try no matter
what. All the test comes back just like before, testosterone, LH, FSH, are in low range area. Regarding the sperm i manage to get it out eventhough it is very difficult (it took me about an hour) to get it out
and my penis in only slighly erect when that happened. It turn out that
my sperm volume is slightly below average (1.8 ml, i can swear that before all of this i have a big load and my wife will swear to that) where normal is between 2 - 10 ml. So he told me that everything seems to be in order and that maybe it is my mind (stress) is the main cause.

I was upset and show him my gynecomastia and to my horror he said
ohā€¦ you can get a good plastic surgeon to fix the problem. I was
upset and angry. To short the story my family thinks that it is only
stress related problem. in beginning 2004, my girl friend who is a very
lovely girl and who except me, be it in good or bad health suggest that
we should get married because she was so worry of my condition. I told
her i am very sick i dont think i can satisfied her (both mentaly and physically) nd she said its ok
you will get better and still persist that i should married her. I told my
family and they are happy since they think it is a stress related disease
and marrying my girlfriend could be the solution for my problem. So
withing two months we schedule the timing etc and we were married.

So so far my treatment consist only by sleping pill and zoloft, they help me to get some sleep but still no morning erection untill one day i develop resistant and they no longer worked on me. It was mid 2004 that i was introduced by my family doctor with XANX (0.5 mg) and to my
surprised it severly reduced the MUSCLE TWITCHING and the EYE problem, i also have a much better sleep and in the morning i got a
soft erection. I was puzzled but it is the best thing that ever happaned
to me in along time of coursed i am happy. There is an increase in libido
but only slighly and now i can get an erection but still only 50% of what
i used to have. Sex is like once a month (that is the best i can do, really).

At the end of 2004 i am felling much better, sexual activity can increased
to 2 x a month and also i am having regular morning erection eventhough
it was still soft (50% of what i used to have for morning erection) however
i did not have night erection (untill today i do not know why?).

2005 was the best year for me, had a sperm check again, volume is still
below average but quality of sperm are good (they are moving actively
and very few abnormal sperm present). We decided to try to have baby
and withing three months of trying my wife was pregnant and deliver
a health baby boy.

2006 there is a new problem my gynecomastia become much bigger
so people can noticed it, even my mom notice it (i was wearing thick clothing). Up until now my medication is only XANAX 0.5 MG (i took
every other day) the systoms that still exist:

  • Lack of Libido
  • Soft Penis erection (50 % recover)
  • lack of concentration
  • Bad case Gynecomastia
  • Bad stomach Ulcer
  • Dark circle under my eyes
  • testis size in still small (not yet normal)

Remember up until now i still do not know what causing this problems.

2007 i injured my self while carrying my son, i had terrible back pain
and abdomen hernia. in late 2007 i had my hernia oparated. The dotor
who perform the operation was surprised because the stomach muscle
was very very weak that he was afraid by stiching them up would not
be able to hold the intestine so he placed a nylon plastic to help strengthen the muscle and stich them up together. He only told me about
the nylon untill after the operation which upset me because i do not
want to have any foreign object in my body but he insist that it is for
my benefit since my stomach muscle is really weak (like old man).

Confused about why am i so weak ann felt so old, make me want to research my condition. I first focus my research on gynecomastia
and found gynecomastia org. It is here that i first found alot of information
and realised that i may be hypogonadism and have problem with my
estrogen. Hypo-is-here provide many information useful in there (for that i would like to thank you). From there on i joined hypogonadism group at yahoo (Phil georgian has alot of information) and in one of the threads i read about propecia induced hypogonadism which then lead me to this forum. know i finally understood that it was the Saw Palmetto extract
that did this to me just like finasteride did to all of you.

2008 my symtom that still with me untill today:

  • lack of libido (sex is 2 - 3 times A MONTH)
  • Soft penis erection ( morning erection, no night time erection)
  • lack of concentration
  • bad gynecomastia
  • bad stomach ulcer
  • small testis size
  • i am 31 years old that look like a 45 years old.

sysmtoms that cease to exist:

  • Eye problems
  • muscle twiching
  • lost weight ( i have recover 3 kg from my loss but mostly become
    fat in the stomach)

To those of you who may want to try Saw Palmetto Extract BE CAREFULL
it works and it can induce the same problems like Finasteride to sensitive
person like us.

Hello Keman,

Sorry to hear you have experienced problems related to the usage of Saw Palmetto. You may want to get in touch with the user Terp03 who also took SP extract and is now experiencing problems similar to yours. His story is here.

propeciahelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1202

If you have copies of your bloodwork, please post it in the Hormones section. Hope you continue to improveā€¦ sounds like you may have elevated Estrogens (gynecomastia) that may need to be brought under control.

Hello Mew, thanks for your reply. yes i think i have problem
with estrogen and planning to have a new blood test next month.

The problem is i can only test total Testosteron and Estrogen, the labs here do not provide test for Free testosterone and Estrogen.

If i want to have Free Testosterone and Estrogen tested the lab will send my blood to USA and it cost around US$ 240. That is way above
my budget. I am currently making about US$ 600 a month.

Yes i will post my blood work in the hormone section.

your story is similar to mine
i took saw palmetto october 2006 and after 2 weeks developed a brown skin rash , brain fog and nausea
this went away within a week of stopping the saw palmetto but the brown rash remained

then i went out last july 2007 and got drunk and all symptoms come back
along with digestive problems like im always hungry and have lost 8kgs in the past year

let me tell you people this is no joke , avoid saw palmetto at all costs ; it causes liver damage and screws with your hormones

it-base.ro/2008/06/20/sex-pentru-lenesi/

HI kemangd

        am sorry about your sad story..can you clarify onething,is saw palmetto oil has side effets or oral supliments ?

anyone in the forum can reply thisā€¦I am using palmetto oil(5 drops) along with rosemarry,lavender oils to stop my hair loss thrice a weekā€¦am afraid after read the kemangd storyā€¦

Please help me as soon as possible,quick response will be appriciated

thanks
Sridhar

Hi The_ruffneck

I absolutly agree :smiley: , i think Saw Palmetto products should be banned
everywhere and people should not advertise and label Saw Palmetto as
ā€œSAFE HERBALā€. So far i have encounter two(2) more stories about
Saw Palmetto induced hypogonadism at Hypogonadism group at Yahoo since i joined this forum.

Man it is really scary, My advise for Sridhar is to stop using all Saw Palmetto product eventhough it is only apply to your skin. Better be safe
than sorry.

while it certainly does cause hypogonadism (or at least reduces T) i also believe it damages the liver in some form

iā€™ve done plenty of research but i have yet to figure out how reduced t levels fit in with the digestive problems me and terp03 have been having

i also have the low libido and ā€˜brain fogā€™ symptoms many on here have and am getting my blood results back on monday so i can see where im at with that

kemangd i have decided in a couple of weeks to try a wheatgrass juice fast lasting for a period of 6 days to try and alleviate my digestive problems and give that system a rest

i have tried so many things now and am almost out of ideas

Ruffneck it is interesting that you mentioned about liver damage because early this year i visited one chinese herbal healer, which was recommended by my father in law. He checked for my pulse in both my hands and told me that all my problem is originated in my liver.

Of course this puzzle me i had several blood test on my liver and also
uSG for it and all the test found that there is nothing wrong no chrirosis,
no hepatitis, SGOT and SGPT are within normal range. So i try the herbal
remedy that he made for me, i have to admid that i was felling a little
bit better but after one month on the remedy with no further improvement i stop visiting him, well his medicine is rather expensive.

Then i decided to go to another chinese herbal healer, same thing happend the healer check for my pulse on both hands, looked on my
tounge and my eyes and told me that i have a weak liver. I show him
all my tests and that the result are ok. He simply tells me that my liver
is not damage but very tired so the elimination of toxic takes longer.

By his recomendation i am currently taking Curcuma
Xanthoriza three (3) times a day. Each is 500 mg, to strengthen the liver. I am currently on it
for three (3) months and have found that it helps with my libido (it is
getting better)the fatique felling is still there but there is improvement.
I may have to use it for up to a year according to him before i can see
any huge improvement in my condition. .

Interesting, i also took chinese herbs for a week but discontinued because of the cost.The herbs cost $60 Aussie dollars per week so higher than most all big pharma drugs.

I got drunk last September and that was a big mistake , i felt very ill for a week afterwards with extra symptoms like increased thirst , increased urination , increased ā€˜fogā€™ and so forth.

Ruffneck during your one week treatment with chinese herbs do you feel
any improvement ?

Frequent urination does not sound good, better be careful.
Did you have lab tests for your liver and kidney function, even if the
results are in normal range i would recommend you to do USG for
both the organ. Just to make sure that there is no physical problem
like scarring, fatty liver etc.

it was a short term problem that returns whenever i overindulge in alcohol

i felt slightly better on the herbs and would liked to have remained on them but was already spending money on other protocols and doctor bills so could not run to them along with the rest.i did have a couple of spontaneus erections on the herbs.

my liver tests were ok , in my blood tests the only thing unusual was elevated White blood cell.

does it make sense to you that the body is fighting something and secondary functions (like sex) will not return fully until the body is satisfied it has overcome this problem (whatever it may be)

my point is it may be possible there is no permanent damage to the sexual system and that function will return fully once the Gastro-Intestinal problems have been addressed

Ruffneck i also think that there is no permanent damage to our sexual
system and that the problems are correleted with our liver and gastro intestinal.

I have a big problem with my stomach ulcer, had try so many different
medication prescribe by my doctor to no result. Now i constantly feeling
hungry and have to eat 4 - 5 times a day. I notice that if i consume more
protein (chicken, fish or beef) i dont have to eat that much but if i
consume more grain (rice, bread etc) i feel hungry more often.

A friend of mine recommend me to try Virgin Coconut oil to combat
the ulcer but i have not give it a try, have you heard anything good
about virgin coconut oil? and how is your progress with wheatgrass juice?

well i took virgin coconut oil for around a month because it is anti-fungal and i believed my problem was ā€˜candidaā€™
i donā€™t think it is candida now , i was on that stupid diet for 2 months and didnā€™t feel much better at all

the oil did not have much effect

I have this hunger problem often , i never feel ā€˜fullā€™ even after meals.I think it could be the body signalling to you to eat more to get more minerals/vitamins because it is not absorbing them properly and needs more.That is my theory.

Iā€™ve only had the wheatgrass for a week so itā€™s still growing , the shoots are maybe 4-5cm long so will be ready to harvest in 5-6 days.Iā€™m not doing the wheatgrass fast on itā€™s own now but have decided to do a fruit fast which is just eating raw fruits as they are easy on digestion and do not require the body to make much acid or enzymes to digest.

So along with the fruit im also taking hopefully the fresh wheatgrass , a liver tonic i bought today , dandelion tea and freshly squeezed lemon water.
All these things are good for the liver.

I will let you know my progress when i come back next friday.
Best regards!

1 Like

I skipped the fast , decided it wasnā€™t in the best interest of myself to lose more weight if possible although the loss has been steady regardless at around 1kg/month a fast could bring a loss of up to 2-3 in a week ; something i decided to avoid in the end.

Been doing some experiments though with regards to diet as i wasnā€™t improving on a reasonably healthy diet/moderate exercise regime but was remaining roughly the same.Makes a big difference within a period of only a few days in both physical feeling and also erection strength which was almost passable when i decided to eat relatively healthy and did some rigorous exercise.

Got a few more bloods done on Friday (liver functions , iron , b12 etc) and also having a GI and chest CT scan done tomorrow will let you know how those get on.

You have any luck with chinese herbs? they screwed me over this time , wonā€™t go into much detail but had problems with food remaining in stomach for 24+ hours without being digested (and resultant nausea/bloating/gas).
Problems are improved since i stopped them 4 days ago.

Regards

The Curcuma Xanthoriza does provide some improvement to my body,
i can definately said that my libido has improved, before i start the
treatment i can only have sex 2-3 times a month, but now i have
the urge to do it on weekly basis sometimes even twice a week.But i am still far from my old self i used to have sex 2-3 times a day, so full
recovery is still a long way to go.

Chest CT scan how much does it cost you ? why are you doing this? if you want to check the liver you could simply do USG and i think it is cheaper.
But do tell me of the scan and blood test result.

Ruffneck do you have gyno ? mine is pretty bad i also have fat on my stomach which is so difficult to get rid of.

well the chest and GI CT scans would have cost 400 but i got them on medicare so they were free , like i say there are some LFTs coming through which tested fine back in September , these were all tests recommended by my GP

i donā€™t really have gyno , my hormone results came back pretty normal with the Tā€™s at least.iā€™m having a problem with loss muscle mass but like i say i think that is GI malabsorption related and not hormone related.

iā€™ll post here again when i have the results for the tests , should be on thursday evening

does your brain feel clearer on your new treatment?

Yes i can concentrate better since i am on the herbal, occasionally i still
have difficulty to focus but this has been reduce a lot. I think my
recovery is due from the combination of taking this herbal and taking Gaba and Xanax (every other day) which help me to get better sleep
quality.

Ruffneck have you try digestive and pancreatic enzymes for your Gastro
Intestinal problem? they help my mom GI problem alot but you have to
consume them every time you have a meal.

I tried digestive enzymes , they were slightly helpful but only masked the symptoms a little and did nothing to address the root cause.

CT Scan of chest & GI tract - normal , LFT - normal , B12 & folate - normal , WBC - normal

C Reactive protein (<10) 31

So definitely not normal on C Reactive protein , that was the only test that came out of range.Itā€™s a marker of inflammation or infection in the body.

Doc doesnā€™t know what the problem is so got reffered to a specialistā€¦next available appointmentā€¦ 4th of fucking septemberā€¦ :angry: