I’m sorry to hear this. I wish I had my blood test results to hand but I can say for sure that I did not have the out-of-range numbers that you have in certain places; all I had was slightly above normal TSH in my thyroid, which you don’t have at all. If your hormones are currently slightly fucked then I suppose that raises the possibility that over time your body will reset itself to how it should be.
How good and how long was your temporary recovery?
I dont think i really had a full 100% recovery at any point tbh. Things were gradually improving and then i just seemed to hit a wall and now its gotten gradually worse again. What was your temporary recovery like? Can you pinpoint anything that helped ?
@Gord The only thing that I can point to that helped me is direct sunlight – I had one several-hour recovery that came about just from walking about in the sun for the first time in a while, and then my several-day recovery came from being out in the sun for a while during the hot patch we had in late July to early August. Ever since then with the cold miserable weather I have felt worse; I am pretty sure that vitamin D is a big part of recovering and I am going to soon start supplementing at 2000-4000 IU per day.
My recovery was just like, my head cleared up and I had that relaxed feeling when brain fog is gone, my erections were extremely fast, absolutely as hard as pre-fin, my testicular shrinkage disappeared as well. Oh, another thing is that I was sober for this period. I think sobriety, good sleep, fasting and staying away from sugars and starches, alongside vitamin D, are the keys to getting better.
What is the best you’ve recovered? Do you, like me, have variation in symptoms, such that at different times of the day you might have each one individually go back to normal and then get worse later on? And when did things start getting worse again? Was it when the sunny days stopped happening?
I didnt think of that but yeh, definitely my better days do coincide with the summer months and spending days out in the sun. Not full recoveries mind but yh at least at that point i seem to remember thinking i was on the right road to recovery.
Unfortunately in terms of the initial few months i didnt take it all too seriously (wish i’d found this forum a bit earlier) so many nights over the summer were spent with friends and family drinking alchol, junkfood the occasional cigarettes. I wish i’d known more then and given myself more chance to heal cleanly.
I’ll start supplementing vitamin D and see how i feel
Also i’ve managed to book some time off work soon so looking to do a few water fasts
And yh my symptoms can fluctuate and vary day to day. Ball size and shape and feel of penis all seem to change a lot throughout the days and weeks.
Craziest symptom i have right now is the new hair on the receding part of my head… i actually stood in front of the mirror last night shook my head and thought well there you go you idiot, got what you wanted. Both me and the misses were in agreement how much thicker it looked … how the frig can it do that after 3 weeks of pills and 7 months of cessation!? Crazy stuff !
You’re not alone.
I’m almost positive that finasteride is making some hair regrow for me.
The joint and back pain, on the other hand, make it not worth it.
Feel for you man. Isn’t it ironic that i’d happily go bald tomorrow if it meant getting back to pre-fin.
Any other symptoms other than joint and back pain?
Yes, but very mild and I can live with those.
I can’t seem to sleep more than 6-7 hours, though I don’t feel tired at all and have no problems falling asleep.
I also have low libido but no erection problems (Even my veins in my dick returned to normal).
The back pain has been fluctuating. The first time I got it, it lasted for 4 months and then I got 3 weeks of pain relief.
The second time lasted 7 days and then I got another 3 weeks of pain relief.
The third time lasted 4 days and I’m currently in the pain relief period.
I hope to report further improvements soon.
Don’t expect the Vitamin D supplementation to make a difference in symptoms. Vit D is important, but the reason the sun makes you feel better is due to UV light being immunosuppresive.
Really? I’ve heard of people saying they literally could feel their symptoms retreat after taking the vit D pills, though they would return a couple hours later.
Never heard that before, but maybe if they were incredibly deficient it could make a difference.
If it is the immunosuppressant effects that change things, couldn’t taking immunosuppressant drugs be a treatment for the condition?