Hey guys,
quick short story.
Used Finasteride to treat hair loss: ball ache and shrinkage, penile shrinkage, chest pain, cystic acne.
Stopped after 11 days. One month after woke up in the middle of night with severe palpitations, anxiety, insomnia, depression.
I have experienced a lot of weight gain in abdomen, double chin, pale skin, muscle loss, severe fatigue, impotence, black depression, memory issues, apathy, loss of body hair, beard stop growing, joint pain.
I have done a lot of exams (cortisol, acth, igf-1, dht, prolactin, fasting blood sugar…): they are all fine.
Total Testosterone was 4.0 ng/ml. Estradiol less than 20.0 pg/ml. Endo has refused to make a pfs/hypogonadism diagnosis because he thinks I have only a chronic fatigue syndrome so he prescribed me testosterone gel (trade name Testavan). 46 mg/day. After one year my symptoms have improved.
However due to a drug interaction (I used gemfibrozil to treat hypertriglyceridemia due to testavan) my total testosterone skyrocketed to 9.1 ng/ml and my symptoms almost recovered (no depression, no more fatigue, mental sharpness, erections every day, muscle tone, fat loss, more sebum and body hair) (symptoms not solved are flaccid penile shrinkage and visceral fat).
Removed the drug interaction, my maximum improvements almost disappeared and my last blood exam has revealed a 4.2 ng/ml of total testosterone. Endo however has refused to switch to trt injections.
What can I do? Do you think that my issues are only related to androgen deficiency/estrogen dominance?
Are trt injections (proprionate, cypionate, enanthate) so risky to try?
Now I’m 27 yo, I used finasteride at 22 yo but when I was 19 yo I have already some troubles with memory and erections and my total testosterone was 4.7 ng/ml.
Probably finasteride has messed up my fragile hormonal balance.
If you need more data, ask me.
BMI during the years:
Before finasteride - BMI 16.05
After finasteride (before trt) - BMI 21.91
During trt and gemfibrozil - BMI 17.74
Actually with trt - BMI 18.5
Despite a normal BMI my pot belly has remained.
Every advice is very appreciated.
Thank you.