Finasteride Sides 10 Years Later

Pharma / TRT Testosterone Replacement
1

Hi, first post… like the topic says, I’ve been bit by Propecia. On it for 10+ yrs… got sides. Quit for 10+ yrs, sides remain. Some worse, some slightly better.

At 51, I’ve decided that the waiting isn’t working. My recent labs show TT 20 7.6-31.4, bio t 4.6 1.2-10.9, dht 1090 860-3406, tsh 2.3 0.35-5.00, slightly below range wbc, platelets.

Been on a small dose of synthroid a few years. Dropped my tsh from 3.6. Thought it might help with fatigue but nope. Skin is slightly better and it helped with a bit of love handle fat.

My sides are numerous… most irritating are dry eyes, short term memory, blurry vision, no penis or testicle sensitivity, orgasm feeling dull, erections need help, fatigue, no motivation, dry skin, some depression.

I’m looking for a doctor anywhere in the Toronto - Waterloo area. Don’t feel like waiting forever to see an Endo who will say I’m in range or who cannot grasp the idea that finasteride can change life as we know it.

It seems topical creams have a bit of a success on some with propecia sides… if I wanted to go that route I’d need someone who could prescribe it and knows about it being used possibly on the scrotum.

I work shift work also. So that’s maybe another wrinkle in the treatment plan.

I’ve seen some posts about bhrt… not really sure what that is? If it includes testosterone cream prescriptions.

Anyways, I’m new to it all and ideally I can pointed to someone who is knowledgeable and doesn’t have a several month long waiting list.

Thanks for any help.

2

Post Finasteride Syndrome isn’t a diagnosable medication condition using labs, therefore doctors can say it’s all in your head which is what some do because they don’t believe in Post Finasteride Syndrome which makes it even more miserable for the patient.

Your fatigue and all of your symptoms aren’t T related, your hormone labs are good. You have Post Finasteride Syndrome which is the inability to use hormones via gene expression and neuropathy is some cases. I honestly don’t think TRT will do anything for you.

If you’re willing to travel, Dr. Lawrence D. Komer is in Burlington, Ontario and runs a men’s and women’s private hormone clinic.

3

Could someone also explain what bioidentical/ human identical testosterone is compared to whatever is normally prescribed… and if they think it would make a difference in my case. Apologies for my neediness.

4

The testosterone medicine used in TRT is indistinguishable from the natural version of T produced by the body, so your body can’t even tell the difference.

5

@dbossa can point you to some docs in Canada

6

Canada is a big place lol!

The best doc I know of in Canada right now is my own for this stuff… Dr. Barry Breger. He’ll be back in June/July. I also know several people doing well with trubalancehealthcare.com

7

Thanks for the replies. I did notice one of @dbossa 's posts and emailed trubalance. I am seeing my dr in a few days to get his thoughts. I noticed trubalance has a Guelph dr which is close. I will probably do the phone consult with Donna there once I talk to my dr unless he has a better idea or convinces me trt won’t help.

8

I realized that it’s actually a dht topical like andractim that showed promise in a few propecia side guys, not a testosterone topical. It’s our dht we need to raise.

Is there any chance a doctor could prescribe andractim in Canada or is it illegal?

9

Doctor gave me testogel. The trial begins.

10

@bluejays
Man you really should check out other options ASAP. Gel has a horrible rep. Injections or cream if you want this to go well.

11

When someone uses the term “Bioidentical”, he’s a pretentious douchebag is the short answer. Generally it’s used to reference creams or gels as opposed to injectables. Injectables are stigmatized as “Steroids” and drugs. It’s all the same thing. It’s all synthetic. It’s just using something less effective to pretend to be somehow better than guys injecting, as if we’re all a bunch of low life 'roiders. Yeah, bulletproof coffee douche, I’m talking about you.

12

Yeah, I knew it wouldn’t go over great, here. He offered injections first but I asked for a topical. Injections didn’t seem to work as much on the propecia forum. But, I’m sure it may depend on the treatment.

It’s 6 weeks to my next appt. I’ll give it a try until then. I have been accepted by Dr. Jarvi and I’ll have an appt with him at some point. He’s seen multiple propecia guys, so maybe he can figure something out.

I’m not one of the worst cases and it’s been 10 yrs, maybe there’ll be a testogel miracle.

13

Ah ok.

I’d use a cattle prod if it worked.

14

Sorry if that was harsh, it pushes one of my buttons.

15

I don’t care. I was retyping an email response I got that I kinda figured was heavy on the sales pitch. But, who knows down the road they may be my 3rd stop.

Just reading a bit more… hcg, clomid, fsh… I don’t care about my nuts or fertility, but, volume … . .

16

I would ignore the finasteride forums. They’re not well versed in trt protocols and dismiss it outright most of the time. As someone with PFS I was able to make 100% recovery by a well planned and modified injectable protocol. Two injections a week with no aromatase inhibitors or HCG. You’re chasing ghosts with gel.

2 Likes
17

I’ve never met anyone that had continued success in clomid. My view is it’s avoiding admitting you need trt.

18

Thanks for posting. When I get time tomorrow I’ll read some of your posts.

I don’t really know what I’m talking about so I can’t advise my doctor what I need… I guess I have to see how my body doesn’t react before I can tell him to switch my treatment… which I’m willing to do.

19

I was just mentioning clomid, as a way I thought guys were saving their testicles while on trt.

20

At the end of the day trt is a lot of art as well as science. Even an “expert” would admit to that. That being said there are general trends we see but also outliers.

Based on what I’ve read to be the most successful is a 2x a week injection protocol (may differ on shbg levels and personal preference) and incorporating limited HCG if you plan on having children in the next 3 months. I plan to try to have kids in the next 9 months and am still not back on HCG because it made me feel anxious.

It used to be common suggestion here to take an AI, but most seem to do better without one (I’m an over responder and already have low e2 due to high shbg).

A lot of the rest is pretty variable and you can tinker once you’re two months in. I’d scrap the gel before you start it and go back and ask for test cyp.

You’ll be ok.