Post Finasteride - Seeking Advice

fever257

Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2019
Messages
101
Hey everyone,

So I just joined the forum after doing some research treating post-finasteride syndrome. Side note: I'm not sure if this thread is in the right place, feel free to move it.

Anyway, so Just over a year ago I started taking finasteride; which was the single biggest mistake of my whole life. I took it for a course of 7 months before the side effects got to be so bad that I had to get off of it.

I started peating as soon as I got off the drug. I incorporated dairy, OJ, aspirin, K2, gelatin, marmalade, eggs, raw carrots and more. I essentially completed overhauled my diet. This provided visible benefits.

Later on, I incorporated red light, donated blood to reduce excess iron, and tweaked the carrot salad to avoid Vitamin A toxicity(my hands, feet and face turned orange from eating too many).

In the near future, I will be incorporating Niacinamide, Cascara, the intestinal decontaminant minocycline, and methylene blue. I need to research dosing for all of these methods. Additionally, I cannot find a source to buy methylene blue from.

In the later future, I need to incorporate T3, Progesterone/Pregnenalone (still don't know which), and some kind of endocrine therapy to restore my male hormones to normal. Maybe there are more strategies to use but I don't even know what they are yet. Research brought up 5a-dhp, tb500, bcaa's, and taurine. With that being said, one of my main questions is: Does anyone have (a) strateg(y)(ies) that worked to alleviate their symptoms?

The use of the drug left me with many negative side effects including:

-very low thyroid, my pulse is ~60 and my temperature was 97.1 last time I checked - I don't think that's normal for a 21 y/o male.

Sexual:
-ED
-low libido
-reduced sperm counts

Mental:
-severe depression
-poor memory
-trouble with speech
-anxiety
-falling asleep, waking up

Physical:
-a lot of trouble with strength training and especially putting on muscle.
-stubborn fat
-fatigue

These are my specific side effects. I understand that not everyone has these side effects. I'm completely uninterested in having a debate about the effects of finasteride; I just want to seek out advice from people who have already navigated this situation.

I want to be very clear: I know that everyone's situations are different and I need to get bloodwork and various tests done in order to get an overall picture of my hormone & androgen profiles. One of my main questions is: Which tests are best for my post-finasteride situation? Specifically: which are most reliable in getting a picture of male hormones, youth associated hormones(PROG, PREG, DHEA), and androgen profiles? I plan on meeting with an endocrinologist in order to get tests done and prescriptions for therapies.

Any and all advice regarding these things would be appreicated!
 
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yeah the vitamin A thing is interesting, i notice the same thing. if i ever eat liver, i notice my sleep will go to complete crap, then i feel absolutely horrible the day after not sleeping, then cycle will reset the next night if i sleep decently. it really does seem like low thyroid. the hardest thing with pfs is finding food u can eat that hits the nutrition groups. only parmesean reggiano has been the only calcium i can eat at this point i have found, nothing else agrees. i notice fat is kind of important to get in every meal too. and the whole eating enough protein. probably your cholesterol will be low, and your vitamin D will be low. and endo i would take with a grain of salt on what they say, i mean it could be interesting to hear what they say, but i would not take testosterone or something, i don't know, what will they even prescribe to you?

pfs imo is really just super slow digestion, so your libido comes back if your digestion goes back to normal. worse case scenario is to do nofap/noporn for 30 days and you hit some kind of baseline where you react better to stuff. anyway, let me know how u do, pm me in future if u can.
 
OP
fever257

fever257

Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2019
Messages
101
yeah the vitamin A thing is interesting, i notice the same thing. if i ever eat liver, i notice my sleep will go to complete crap, then i feel absolutely horrible the day after not sleeping, then cycle will reset the next night if i sleep decently. it really does seem like low thyroid. the hardest thing with pfs is finding food u can eat that hits the nutrition groups. only parmesean reggiano has been the only calcium i can eat at this point i have found, nothing else agrees. i notice fat is kind of important to get in every meal too. and the whole eating enough protein. probably your cholesterol will be low, and your vitamin D will be low. and endo i would take with a grain of salt on what they say, i mean it could be interesting to hear what they say, but i would not take testosterone or something, i don't know, what will they even prescribe to you?

pfs imo is really just super slow digestion, so your libido comes back if your digestion goes back to normal. worse case scenario is to do nofap/noporn for 30 days and you hit some kind of baseline where you react better to stuff. anyway, let me know how u do, pm me in future if u can.

For me, the jury is still out on Vitamin A. I read somewhere that you need 10x the amount of Vitamin A as another, I can't remember which. I just don't want to overdo it so i stick to 1 orange/white/yellow carrot, alternating days.

As for the calcium, I drink plenty of milk daily even after having gut issues like IBS in the past.

Anyway, yeah, I want to move forward with much more aggressive forms of treatment involving thyroid, the youth associated hormones (DHEA, PROG, PREG), various metabolic boosters like methylene blue, cascara, & niacinamide; and most importantly - androgen and hormone therapy. DHT's role in overall health is essential and having low DHT/low androgens puts you at risk for countless complications in countless body systems, as DHT isn't very tissue selective.

I'll send you a PM to follow up on some strategies we can discuss! thanks for your reply.
 

Hans

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Although I have never used finasteride or had PFS, here are some things I've read that helped others. Mainly things that increase 5-alpha reduced steroids work, with emphasis on allopregnanolone instead of DHT, although I think they can interconvert to some degree.
Things that can help with that:
  • High dose pregnenolone (which converts to progesterone and allopregnanolone. Progesterone itself might be too feminizing, unless maybe combined with DHEA and androsterone/11-keto DHT)
  • Topical progesterone and DHEA will rapidly convert to 5-alpha reduced steroids due to high 5-AR in the skin
  • 11-keto-DHT
  • 5-alpha DHP
  • High dose glycine
  • Caffeine pills
  • PEA (increases allopregnanlone)
  • Niacinamide
  • Phosphatidylserine
In terms of energy and strength gains, what's does your diet look like? Are you getting enough protein, calories, carbs, etc?

For tests, maybe thyroid, testosterone, DHEA-S, cortisol, estrogen, prolactin and DHT.
 
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fever257

fever257

Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2019
Messages
101
Although I have never used finasteride or had PFS, here are some things I've read that helped others. Mainly things that increase 5-alpha reduced steroids work, with emphasis on allopregnanolone instead of DHT, although I think they can interconvert to some degree.
Things that can help with that:
  • High dose pregnenolone (which converts to progesterone and allopregnanolone. Progesterone itself might be too feminizing, unless maybe combined with DHEA and androsterone/11-keto DHT)
  • Topical progesterone and DHEA will rapidly convert to 5-alpha reduced steroids due to high 5-AR in the skin
  • 11-keto-DHT
  • 5-alpha DHP
  • High dose glycine
  • Caffeine pills
  • PEA (increases allopregnanlone)
  • Niacinamide
  • Phosphatidylserine
In terms of energy and strength gains, what's does your diet look like? Are you getting enough protein, calories, carbs, etc?

For tests, maybe thyroid, testosterone, DHEA-S, cortisol, estrogen, prolactin and DHT.


Thanks for getting back to me, @Hans.

In regards to pregnenalone, that should be supplemented in powder form, right?

Also, I think I understand what you;re saying... 5-alpha reductase is an enzyme which has more functions than just the conversion of T to DHT. That's where the separate issues with neuroprotective steroids involving allopregnenalone and other metabolites of 5AR come in, right? Not entirely sure I'm grasping it.

Regarding my energy and strength gains, I've recently realized that my diet is too high in fats in order to be perfectly metabolically supportive. Additionally, my protein intake of ~90g's per day is likely not enough. Needless to say I'll be using chronometer the next few days to come up with meal plans that decrease fats and increase carbs and proteins. I read from another user who is a 5'0 female that she regularly consumes 2,500+ calories per day. I'm positive I'm not reaching that benchmark so that should probably be another goal.

Thanks so much for your feedback and reminder on the macros!
 

Hans

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Forum Supporter
Joined
Aug 24, 2017
Messages
5,856
In regards to pregnenalone, that should be supplemented in powder form, right?
Yes oral absorption is very good.
Also, I think I understand what you;re saying... 5-alpha reductase is an enzyme which has more functions than just the conversion of T to DHT. That's where the separate issues with neuroprotective steroids involving allopregnenalone and other metabolites of 5AR come in, right?
Correct. 5AR type 2 is mostly expressed in the skin, genitals, etc, whereas 5-AR type 1 is mostly expressed in the brain where it creates allopregnanolone.

I think about 3k calories is a good goal, with about 150g protein (depending on the tolerance of the individual), 250g+ carbs and 60-100g fats.
It will take some experimentation to find out on what macros you do best on as well as what kinds of foods.
 
Joined
Aug 18, 2015
Messages
1,817
For me, the jury is still out on Vitamin A. I read somewhere that you need 10x the amount of Vitamin A as another, I can't remember which. I just don't want to overdo it so i stick to 1 orange/white/yellow carrot, alternating days.

As for the calcium, I drink plenty of milk daily even after having gut issues like IBS in the past.

Anyway, yeah, I want to move forward with much more aggressive forms of treatment involving thyroid, the youth associated hormones (DHEA, PROG, PREG), various metabolic boosters like methylene blue, cascara, & niacinamide; and most importantly - androgen and hormone therapy. DHT's role in overall health is essential and having low DHT/low androgens puts you at risk for countless complications in countless body systems, as DHT isn't very tissue selective.

I'll send you a PM to follow up on some strategies we can discuss! thanks for your reply.

yeah i saw that too. haidut puts some kind of amount like that into his vit D mix. but i don't think it is necessary. what's interesting about vitamin A is that it is the precursor to make pregnenlone and testosterone and all that. thyroid + a + cholsterol = preg pathway. preg is low in PFS for sure. i know because 1, i got it tested and saw it was low, and 2 you can see how it effects you when you take it. all the dull and nothing feelings you get from PFS leave with preg. so it's funny you know, how vit A is iffy in being handled, and then preg is low, maybe that is PFS in a nutshell, just low thyroid leads you to unable to produce more preg, and since thyroid and preg are all ready low, the vit A hits you harder than normal.

another interesting tidbit on pfs, is that progesterone is high, maybe you could try testing progesterone and preg in your bloodwork and see if it is similar. my progesterone was high and preg was low, and progesterone is very chemically similar to finasteride.
 
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SunGoddess

New Member
Joined
Nov 5, 2018
Messages
2
I just listened to the Danny Roddy podcast with Georgi regarding prostate cancer. I believe Georgi recommended testing Prolactin, Estradiol (E2) and Estrone (E1). That's the plan with my husband to monitor and avoid going the Finasteride route. Hope that helps.

More info here:
Test For Estrogenic Activity And Prostate Cancer
 

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