Saw Palmetto Killed My Friend

[mujuro]

I met a young guy through a friend who was going through minor hair loss in his late teens. He was scared straight by the finasteride horror stories, so decided to use saw palmetto instead, only briefly. Beta-sitosterol is the active ingredient - a phytosteroid. He stopped the saw palmetto but the damage was done. What followed was 18 months of gradual deterioration of muscle, bone, collagen, complete baldness, aggressive acne, impotence, no libido, physical weakness, awful sleep, awful digestion, anxiety and depression.

He committed suicide two days ago.

I wasn't in touch with him for long. He was looking to HDAC inhibitors as his last hope. The post-finasteride syndrome boards wrote a joint paper on AR gene silencing by 5-AR inhibitors. I will try to find it. This is his story:

 

[tara]

I'm sorry it came to that Mujuro.

 

[Tarmander]

It is very hard for me to believe that taking Saw Palmetto once could cause such long term damage, but hey maybe it could? I wonder if he ate any of these? These are foods with the highest amounts of beta sitosterol:

 

[mujuro]

He took it daily over 2-3months. The dosage, I have no clue.

 

[Tarmander]

He took it daily over 2-3months.

I meant once as in one period of time. As in, one treatment period. I would think you'd need constant 5-AR inhibition. The levels of beta sitosterol in those alien things above compare pretty well with the amounts found in saw palmetto supplements.

Anyways. I wish he could have found a solution. I am sorry for your friend.

 

[Gl;itch.e]

It's more likely that his initial early onset of hairloss was a warning sign of a disease/problem which got much worse before he commited suicide rather than the supplement

 

[mujuro]

He was a very switched on guy. Many people put the idea forward that it was probably something else, which he adamantly refuted. He is not the only one to experience PFS from saw palmetto, but it is damn rare from saw palmetto alone. He may have just been the 1 in 1million who was destined for a catastrophic reaction.

 

[DaveFoster]

It's more likely that his initial early onset of hairloss was a warning sign of a disease/problem which got much worse before he commited suicide rather than the supplement

I think this is more likely, but it could definitely be the saw palmetto.

 

[sladerunner69]

Ohh man. I abused both saw palmetto and finasteride in my late teens. The resulting crash was a living nightmare for a couple years. I had all of the symptoms mentioned on the PFS boards to a pretty severe degree. It takes dedication and commitment to diet and a stress free lifestyle to see only gradual improvement with time. It is just so horrible that some guys are affected so intensely that they can't weather the climb out. Many of us do get better, but only the most resilient ones who are fully committed to experimenting diet strategies.

 

[Richiebogie]

I bought a mens multivitamin as a cheap way of getting zinc, but it also has 50mg of saw palmetto fruit!

I wonder if that is enough to destroy my DHT absorbing capabilities?

 

[johnwester130]

beta-sitosterol is sold as a supplement, to block DHT.

It is 300 times more potent than a saw palmetto supplement.

How do you recover ? take DHT ? take DHEA ? coconut oil ?

 

[Dawid]

I met a young guy through a friend who was going through minor hair loss in his late teens. He was scared straight by the finasteride horror stories, so decided to use saw palmetto instead, only briefly. Beta-sitosterol is the active ingredient - a phytosteroid. He stopped the saw palmetto but the damage was done. What followed was 18 months of gradual deterioration of muscle, bone, collagen, complete baldness, aggressive acne, impotence, no libido, physical weakness, awful sleep, awful digestion, anxiety and depression.

He committed suicide two days ago.

I wasn't in touch with him for long. He was looking to HDAC inhibitors as his last hope. The post-finasteride syndrome boards wrote a joint paper on AR gene silencing by 5-AR inhibitors. I will try to find it. This is his story:

Saw Palmetto is dangerous when taken in one's youth. Then it messes up the endocrine system. It suposed to be taken in one's fifties and later.

 

[CDT]

is beta sitosterol bad?