Urgent Advice Please

General Discussion
#1

My son is 25 y.o and was on fin for 6 months and quit in March 2010. He started having symptoms of PFS 3-4 weeks later, both sexual and non-sexual side effects. His regular doctor did a T level which was in the 400’s and told him it was normal. Since then, he has been up and down - good days and bad days. He lives in another state than I do, and I won’t be visiting him until early September. He told me about this forum, but I don’t know if he has ever joined or posted.
He just saw an endo doc last week and his T level was just over 100. The doc put him on Testim 1% and wants to see him in 2 weeks. The doc did not order any further tests, despite the fact that my son asked for other hormone levels to be checked. He is not on any other medication other than a daily vitamin.
At this point, my son is extremely depressed - perhaps even suicidal, along with all of the other side effects of PFS. From reading your forum I noticed that the use of anti-depressants has not been encouraged. So what else would any one recommend? I am desperate to help him.

Thank you.

#2

Before being put on Testim gel ,the endo should have considered other treatments designed to restore his hypothalamus pituitary axis (HTPA) and re-establish normal endogenous Testosterone production. These treatments include Clomiphene Citrate, human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG), and Tamoxifen.

Taking external Testosterone (Testim) will surpress the HTPA and shut down endogenous Testosterone production, surpress fertility (unless hCG is given in conjunction), and is usually a lifelong commitment as a result.

Studies on the aforementioned treaments are here:

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I recommend you print out the materials and discuss with the endo before having your son placed on lifelong Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT).

If the endo won’t consider this treatment route, you may want to consider seeing Dr. Eugene Shippen (MD, Pennsylvania), Dr. John Crisler (DO, Michigan), Dr. Irwin Goldstein (Uro, San Diego) or Dr. Alan Jacobs (NYC neuroendocrinologist) – these doctors recognize the dangers of Finasteride and have experience treating its victims, and typically only rely on TRT as a last resort (as it should be).

#3

Sydney,

I’m so sorry. I’m 28 myself and have been suffering for 8+ years. Your son needs to see a doctor who has experience dealing with sufferers. As you may know, Merck denies our claims and still promote the safety of their drug. They are not right…

Dr. Crisler, Dr. Shippen,Dr. Goldstein,and Dr. Jacobs is probably your best bet for doctors.

They will do extenstive tests for your son and try to help him feel a bit better.

Extensive tests on Thyroid Function is very important too which include

TSH
Free T3
Reverse T3
Free T4

Vitamin D(alot of us are low on this)

Testosterone
Free Testosterone
Bioavailable Testosterone
Estradiol(E2)
3a Androstandediol Glucoronide(3-Adiol G)
DHT
SHBG
Prolactin
Cortisol
DHEA
Pregnenolone

#4

2000iu+ of vit d3 should improve his mood. He is most likely very low on this.

#5

10,000 IU daily

#6

Thank you gentlemen, I will pass this information along to my son. He is seeing his regular doctor in 2 days as he is not pleased with the endo doctor he saw, nor the fact that he put him on TRT straight away. Hopefully the regular doc can refer him to another endo doc. Unfortunately, with my son’s job, he cannot travel to see those other docs.

#7

Vit D3, A and E are very useful further he has been off only for 4 months he should wait for 6 - 12 months his blood values will change a lot before stablizing. These vits are safe and will safe him from bone pain or damage.His T level may bounce back in 6 - 12 months to a sfer level. TRT will kill his natural recovery chances.

sps

#8

I believe Mew posted earlier that Vit A is a 5AR inhibitor and should be avoided.

#9

Just a quick update on my son. He saw his PMD who was appalled that the Endo put him on Testim without doing any further tests. His PMD is also a specialist in sports medicine and told my son he has had several patients with low T due to steroid abuse (not that he thinks this is the case with my son), and that he would prefer to see this through with my son rather than another endo doc as he said most were “quacks.”

Preliminary tests from him show a severely low Vit D level, and a low thyroid level. He ordered an MRI of his pituitary to rule out any tumor there. I told my son this is merely a “cover your ass” test! He also mentioned treatments that included Clomid, HcG, etc. He did prescribe Vit D and synthroid.

One thing my son has found out when talking to a doctor about all of this - do not mention propecia as a possible causative agent as docs will then just turn you right off. This is very unfortunate as we all know it IS the cause. At this point, my son is just letting his test numbers speak for themselves.

Oh, one last thing. He did see a urologist just before he saw the endo. She said my son was severely depressed, and that his symptoms had nothing to do with Propecia. This was prior to my son knowing his T level was in the gutter. She even sent a report to my son’s PMD. My son asked his PMD “If you had a T level of 100, wouldn’t you feel depressed?” His PMD agreed.

I’ll post more stuff as I find out things from my son. Thank you all for your tremendous support!

#10

vit D and synth, your son should be doing a lot better in coming weeks /months.
yes about propecia side effects ,dotors are brain washed. These farma companies and herb sellers are mafias. we need crusade against these vultures. I did not use propecia , I used Saw palmetto same as propecia and having same problems as propecia users do just to let you know so that your son does not touch this herbal poison in future. A lot of people think it is natural and safer and use for hairloss.

sps

#11

He is already feeling a little better - I can tell from our conversations he is no longer as severely depressed as he was.

To those who sent me pm’s, the system will not yet allow me to reply. I will reply to all of you once that function is enabled for me - apparently I need to post more. :slight_smile: