Can u still have sex?
Yes.
With me it fluctuates so much, it’s crazy, last night I barely got any sleep at all yet this morning I have felt more horny than in the last 3 weeks. I began taking MELATONIN if anyone’s interested, I don’t know if that’s got anything to do with it but it fucked my sleep up last night when i took 6 mg instead of 3 mg.
There’s definitely hope for me, if I could put it on a percentage I would say that when I feel good I feel about 70% of what I used to be, when i feel bad and both the sexual and non sexual symptoms feel worse I would say 30-40%. It’s really hard to say.
I will see how my appointment goes on Monday with my doctor, and hopefully in a few weeks I will have more test results to look at, and hopefully a referral to someone. If my GP isn’t that great I have some money I can use to see a number of people in London directly, I have emailed a few and obviously if it comes down to that I will round it down to the best out of the lot, I’m not bothered about them looking at finasteride specifically, I just want to see someone who will listen to my symptoms and give me a good set of labs. An interesting symptom that I have is yellowish stool (poop), it started very dark when I believe I was feeling the worst and it is now occuring yellow a lot so that could point towards some bacterial infection or possibly something to do with bile, hopefully my GP will have something to say about this.
I am going to list a couple of hormone tests that I am interested in:
LH
Testosterone
SHBG
Estradiol
Dihydrotestosterone (DHT)
Prolactin
Do you think this is enough to begin with? anymore that would be very important?
Bare in mind that this is in the UK and on the NHS, I can’t get anything like Adiol G etc. YET.
JOE,
You need to get TSH, Free T3, Free T4, and Reverse T3 done as well…This is very important that you do this
I agree with what Anonnn1 said,
Definitely add those hormones relative to thyroid and adrenals. It appears as though many of us have an issue with this. I will be seeing a well respected thyroid doctor next week.
Many men who have hypothyroidism also have adrenal gland fatigue. The adreanal glands work hard to compensate for a low functioning thyroid and often become burned out. People with adreanl fatigue often have low cortisol. So add cortisol to your test.
There is a relationship between low Thyroid & IGF-1 as well. Many of us seem to have low IGF-1, I would add this as well.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17666480
FSH
Reverse T3
Free T3
Free T4
Cortisone
Cortisol (24-hour urine sample)
IGF-1
IGF-BP3
Vitamin D
Good luck, please post your blood results when you get them.
bostonusa
I will do my best guys but like i said I’m in the UK and it’s likely I will struggle to get these tests, but touch wood my GP will cooperate and help me out.
I am really stuck on whether to go on about finasteride or just tell my doc that I want a full hormone profile done based on my symptoms. I hate this.
Does anybody know what pains around my abs/ gut could be, left and right side, sharp pains?
The doctor’s appointment went well, but he didn’t agree to give me anymore blood tests yet. I forgot to actually ask for a print out of my original blood tests (damn) but I will get it next time. Either way, he said that my Testosterone levels were high, in the upper ranges which he expects because I am balding. He said that the Finasteride would be flushed out of my system etc and I didn’t need to worry about that, which OK isn’t great because we know it can cause side effects long after quitting but to be honest I’m not angry at him, I don’t expect him to believe that it may have caused me damage.
He once again said that he thinks I have anxiety about it all, thinking that ‘the stuff’ has caused me damage and it’s circulating. But I said ‘ok I can acknowledge that some of my symptoms are hard to diagnose, but the lack of sensitivity/ numbing of my penis at times, and also the different colored stool consistently are clearly things that need to be looked into.’ Anyway, I have came away with a poop sample pot to test for any infections there which should also cover parasites, which is definitely worth it as I did spend 2 months in Egypt and 10 days in Turkey. I can get that in very soon and discuss my next move with him on my next appointment. He really isn’t convinced that I need further hormonal testing but I will approach a referral to a Urologist and once again bring up at least testing the other types of testosterone.
I know that doesn’t sound like an appointment that went well but at least I am in the driving seat somewhat and he is listening. I may also do some blood tests on my own through a lab here, but I don’t want to pay silly money for loads of them yet. Some days I feel like I am really recovering, yesterday I was able to ejaculate 4 times and had hard erections, sex drive was OK. I went for a run and felt extremely fit, and the terrible flu like feeling and aches weren’t there. Sleeping however, things were still bad and my body won’t let me sleep through past 4 hours, I tend to wake up feeling very ran down, but very awake, my dick always feels most numb at these times too.
Honestly, things with me really do fluctuate, I have faith that through regular exercise and appropriate nutrition, I can get back to my old self with time. I am doing my best and being fair with my GP, and like I said I will get some blood/ hormone tests done through a lab. Either way, there is no chance of me being able to get the money together to go and see anyone like Crisler, the very best thing I could probably do if things got really dire is see Hertoghe. So I believe I am doing my best, but it really would be nice if I could get to see a urologist and get more tests done. I am booking a visit to a sexual health clinic here in the UK, just to have one more professional check things out ‘down there’ you never know what they may find.
Anonn1,
I’m not so sure these two are the only good doctors out there. I agree there a ton of very bad doctors 4 of which I have already dealt with. However, I still haven’t seen a single success story of a guy that claims he has recovered and Chrisler or Shippen’s help was the reason why.
I think some of the admiration directed to these guys is due to them being so vocal about the damage that Propecia can cause, rather than their ability to make us guys better.
If we isolate ourselves to these two doctors it will only hurt is in the long run. It’s incredibly difficult to find very good doctors, especially the kind that can help us guys. They are out there. We just need to try seek out the very best doctors. The more very good doctors we have treating us guys the better.
That being said, I will be going to see a new doctor tomorrow. He has a very good reputation and a ton of credentials. I will let you guys know how it goes.
I’m still doing very well sexually, I am hoping things will just keep getting better.
Man, I was just looking back at some photos and the mark/ rash on my head I got from using Finasteride was really pronounced, I’m sure it’s gone now though. In my case, I should of took that mark more seriously!
It’s been 4 days and everything is feeling pretty good sexually, sleep is good, and I am not aching as much and feel more clear headed. I hope I can post in the recoveries section soon, I will give it a while though.
Ok maybe I aren’t recovering. All the bad stuff is back, but I think there is more sensitivity at the penis now. I’m growing really tired of this.
Hang in there joe. 2 steps foward and one step back is alright
Is it?
Isn’t it just a sign that I’m stuck in this terrible fucking hormonal loop? I got a real glimpse of probably 100% again, and it’s just completely gone.
I swear I let my diet slip for a second, and did more exercise, and had a lot of sex, that’s all that happened.
To get a glimpse of 100%…i have been shit since i quit with no improvement
I have my original ‘story’ type thread in the sex and erectile dysfunction thread, but I thought I would make a thread here in the recovery section as I think that I am constantly getting glimpses of progress and last week was my best in 3 months. It came after I hit a real low over all of this one evening and ended up having a very long talk with my Mum and Brother, it was the first time I got truly upset about it in a while. The next morning I suddenly felt a whole lot better, and this carried on until I felt pretty much totally fine for 4 days which I spent with my girlfriend, basically I experienced 6 days of feeling very good indeed. I woke up with morning erections, and had sex and played around a good 5 times per day with no insensitivity or numbness and there was no bad feelings afterwards, the only symptoms still really lingering were random pains by the ribcage/ abs and very poor stool consistency and color, I even seemed slept well. This was all until 2 days ago where it seems all my symptoms just burst back through.
On the whole, I can’t say that everyday is terrible for me, I think there are a few guys on here that describe there situation as a ‘cycle’ and things feel very much like a ‘cycle’ of feeling good one day and bad the next for me.
What could of made me feel great for those few days?
. I started a good diet with fish, chicken, lots of salad, lots of fruit and cut out all processes foods and the last day of feeling fine and afterwards I let that slip, ordering Indian takeaways and having a bit more sugar than usual.
. I was doing regular LIGHT exercise, whereas 3 days ago I tried to really push myself and this has made my aches much worse now, it feels as if my body can’t recover properly
. The distraction of my girlfriend? although I have that a lot and still felt bad previously in her company
I don’t know what else to say really, I am hoping to use this thread as a progress log from now on, but without becoming obsessed. What I envision happening in my head is more of these ‘good periods’ and hopefully one day, and soon, my condition will become stable and I can stop wondering whether I might wake up in a few days and feel terrible again.
What I am doing actively doing to help my condition, and possible recovery:
. 0.25mg zinc, multi vit and fish oil daily
. Regular moderate exercise 3-4 times per week
. Currently seeing my GP who said my Testosterone is in the upper ranges, the next thing I am doing is a stool sample, I am very curious about my stool symptom as it isn’t widely reported on here
If things go back to normal for good, pls consider posting in the Recoveries section at THAT point.
5 days of brief increase in function followed by worsening of symptoms is not a permanent recovery. Consider posting there after 3, 6, or 12 months of sustained, marked improvement to near-normal or normal pre-Finasteride state.
Hence, I have merged this post with your story for now.
But I have seen recoveries in there from more established users where they recovered briefly? I wanted it in there because I am hunting the recovery, and I WILL get it. But fair enough, i was looking through the recoveries actually and some of the replies are so negative.
Seriously kid, go out and live your life. Your hormones have not been damaged, you can still have sex, post back WHEN you fully recover. You are becoming the new fanjeera, making multitudes of posts when you don’t have remotely serious problems. Consider yourself very very lucky.
I am living my life thank you, but I want to know about some of the symptoms I am having and whether others are experiencing similar?
I don’t understand why i am getting a bad reception, my situation seems to be like many on here, not everybody says they can’t have sex! I am really put off this forum because of the attitudes here at times.