PROPECIAHELP: Persistent Finasteride Propecia Proscar side effects info & discussion forum

A friend of mine took propecia for about 8 months. He is utterly defeated. He has symptoms of brain fogs, sever depression, sexual dysfunction, thoughts of suicide, and suffered anxiety attacks. It is so hard to watch him go through this. This man is drastically different from this drug. He has thus since sought out help on forums just like this one, and have even started an anti depressant. Basically, I'm joining this forum to ask questions, about maybe how I can help. Does anyone get recovered totally? Are there different ways to counter act different symptoms? Vitamins.....etc. Is there an anti depressant that works better than the other? I would like to know from someone whom is suffering from this, what can your loved ones do/say to support you? I have a overwhelming amount of unconditional love for this man, and I dont want to see him suffer anymore, and I most certainly dont want to loose him. Any suggestions, and answers would be great appreciated.

Thank you for joining. You seem to be a non-PFS patient who understands this disease--not many people like that out there. Getting the panic attacks under control should be his first priority. He should really get off the anti-depressants; they can aggrevate the problem.

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"Finasteride was well-tolerated." Merck

"DHT does not appear to have any essential physiological role in the adult male." Merck to the FDA, November 1997

Some people have randomly recovered over time. Seems to be a small percent.

I have had some recoveries by reducing estrogen and also inreaseing testosterone. I think high estrogens can cause a lot of probems but most people will tell you our problems are not as simple as that.

I reccomend you test free estrogens and testosterone by doing a siliva test. I think you can order a kit at zrt labs. You should also do the cortisol / dhea silivary test.

I am pretty sure you will find some things are out of range. For me my cortisol is very low. And it seems my estrogen is high. These 2 things can cause lots of big problems.

You can also go to the doctor and do all the blood tests mentioned in the blood test secion here. Also include cortisol and transcortin.

Apart from doing all these blood test you could go to Merk headquaters and take someone responsible for this hostage demanding..... something? maybe money for scientists to research this problem...

There are three things which I feel have brought some improvement and they are all natural and inexpensive ... apple cidar vinegar, a high quality fish oil, and high quality probiotic (my favorite has been complete probiotics from dr. mercola). This will not cure him, but in my case, it has brought some mild relief. You are a good friend. We could all use someone like you in our condition. Good luck.

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Give me justice, or give me death...

Some changes in his diet and lifestyle could help him deal with the anxiety problems and bring some relief to the mental problems and depression:
1. Cut caffeine intake (remember some sodas and teas have it too)
2. Abstain from alchool
3. Reduce white sugar intake for now
4. Moderate regular exercise (bicycle or treadmill 25 min daily)
5. Try to sleep the best he can
6. I would switch the antidepressant to Xanax and take it for a couple of months
7. Try to eat as natural as he can. Cut processed foods, excess fats, etc. Eat lots of fruits and home cooked meals. Paleo diet has helped many here.
8. Everytime he is feeling worse, he should act on it, don´t let things accumulate. This worked for me... I did some exercise or ate something i really enjoy on these moments. Sometimes even a bath would help.
9. Think positive. This is a challenge on a moment like this, but is very important as well. He should understand he is going through the worst phase and things will get better.
10. Stay away from prescription medications for now. He is probably still on the crash phase. He needs to avoid any stress, and right now a medication is a stress to his liver (the only exception i would make is to anxiolytic drugs like Xanax, that will take him out of the crash)
11. he should simplify his life for now, and focus on his recovery. Stress on this period is very hard on the person. I quit my job at the time.

To someone that doesnt know much about PFS.. they would take this as going to a doctor and getting on something like armidex. this hasn't worked at all. reducing estrogen hasn't done anything for anyone except made people normal for like a week or two and then back to square one. this isn't the solution to the problem. and what do you recommend he does with the cortisol and transcortin tests?

@op, tell him to get on a clean diet of veggies, fruit, & grass fed beef/fish. tell him to pay attention to what he eats and how he feels after and eliminate what makes him feel bad. go on potent anti bacterial/fungal/random thing that *ONLY* increase nitric oxide if he is in bad shape (use scholar.google.com to research supplements to see if it increases NO or decreases it). off the top of my head... the cocktail of oregeno oil, wormwood, grapefruit seed extract, black walnut hulls, berberine. do these things 2 or 3 times per day.

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those who say it can not be done should not interrupt the people doing it

We have robocopp who is taking aromasin evey day and seems to be doing good. I have spoken to him via email a bit.

Having a recovery for a week does at least give people hope that their body can still function in a normal fashion.

We have not found the reason why arimidex and other anti estrogens only work for a short time in most. The closest we have come is scared to deaths bloods which show that his estrogen went back up when he got tested.

Well at least if you have test results of cortisol and the other hormones and they are out you will know what are causing some of your symptoms rather than just thinking your whole body is broken.

I confused about the aromasin?? how does this help, and what symptoms does it actually help?

It is not indicated to take this medication unless the man has been tested and his Estrogen level is very high. Propecia may cause estrogen levels to rise in some men, but only a blood test could tell if this is the case for him. Even if it is, sometimes the body balances itself over time and his estrogen level may go down again, since he is not taking Finasteride anymore. I would not take this medication. The root of Post finasteride syndrome seems to be some kind of androgen insensitivity induced by the drug. Although high estrogen levels in men are known to be a libido killer, in men suffering from PFS no kind of hormone treatment has been efficient in restoring one's sex drive yet.

"I would switch the antidepressant to Xanax and take it for a couple of months."

I wouldn't recommend to anyone taking a benzodiazepine regularly. They aren't anti-depressants. They are anxiolytics and are highly addictive. They result in the very symptoms people use them to treat, unless you get ever increasing dosages. Relevant searches; benzo tolerance withdrawal, benzodiazepine addiction, etc.

Blood levels of estrogen confusion. You need to test free estrogens via siliva too.

Robocopp is taking aromasin and thyroid hormones and he has not even joined this forum so he seems to be doing pretty well.

I had a huge wood last night from aromasin.

It worked very well for me, i took it for six months a couple of months after the propecia crash. The withdrawal was not a big deal at all for me. I went from having high anxiety, panick attacks, insomnia, nervousness, penis shrinkage to a much better situation because i took xanax. All these symptoms vanished. I took 1mg for 4 months and lower doses untill quit on the last months. Benzodiazepines increase GABA reuptake in the brain. Propecia blocks the conversion of progesterone into aloprenanolone, which is a GABA modulator. So we all come off Propecia low in GABA. For your statement it seems you ve never taken benzodiazepines. There is no need to increase the dosage. In my case, nothing else worked to take me out of the crash state. And i am very glad i took it, and i would take it again if i had another crash, because it is awful to feel that anxiety, insomnia and lack of safety. We were unfortunate to take an unsafe drug like propecia, but we cant think every drug is unsafe. Benzodiazepines are unsafe if you take them regularly for years (there are people who take it for decades as sleeping pills, that is the situation you build a tolerance to it). Nobody is advocating he uses this drug for a long period of time. But they are very safe and efficient for short periods of time.

I bet his improvement is from the thyroid hormones. Many of us have symptoms that mimic hypothyroidism