Hey everyone, I am writing this to share how I got through my finasteride experience. I took 1.25 mg daily for 6 months and started to get a lot of different symptoms so I stopped and like many people here had a terrible experience getting off of it. No capacity for an erection, pounding, racing heart, mood swings, depression, anxiety. Of course reading the website didn't help! I spiraled into a terrible time of fear and terror, just like many of you here.
But I made it though and am now fully able to have erections, good sex, normal heart rate, and feel fully healthy again - in fact more healthy than I ever have in my life. And I want to share a little bit about it in case it might be at all helpful for anyone.
First of all, what I realized is that nothing has to be permanent. No symptoms are necessarily permanent. I truly believe any of you can recover and be able to have erections again, or healthy mind and body. I truly believe this. The fact is that the mind is very powerful and can influence the body and its symptoms. That is the entire premise of how the placebo effect works - if we are convinced we are doomed and can never get healthy again, that actually has a strong impact on our capacity to heal and recover. The mental and psychological factors are huge.
Secondly - listen, finasteride is a powerful substance. It is a chemical/hormone that affects the entire body, but especially the liver and kidneys - the organs of the body that are responsible for cleansing/filtering the body of toxins. If you are someone who is sensitive, this is especially true. And when you detox from Finasteride your whole system goes into a long process of re-equilibrizing, restoring itself and its natural balances. So you need to support that, and support the bodies natural methods of recalibrating, cleansing, and detoxing.
To be honest, I used to be skeptical of simple, holistic methods, I only used medications and strong western methods. But because I became so anxious (I got anti-anxiety medication to help with heart palpitations and anxiety) I finally tried seeing different doctors who helped me understand what actually was happening in my system, and how to help my body detox and start to heal and recover.
I took supplements like Milk Thistle (which helps flush the liver and aids in detoxing all the toxins that got stored up), Dandelion Root (also good for detoxing), and Vitamin D and Magnesium. Most Americans (up to 50% are deficient in both vitamin D and magnesium, and they are essential, crucial for healthy body systems, especially for someone coming off of finasteride and who's body is in serious flux). Magnesium also helped me with my erections. I also started a good multi-vitamin, started taking fish oil, priobiotics, etc...
I also did acupuncture, therapy, and using a sauna to detox. I also read Dave Asprey's book The BulletProof Diet, and David Perlmutter's book Grain Brain, and began a low-carb and high-fat diet. It really helps, I promise! After 6 months I got so much better - I was able to begin having erections, felt calmer, less anxious and much more sane. After 9 months, and then for sure after a year, I was 100% back to my old self. I can have the best erections I have ever had, feel much better.
I am fully convinced that all of you can get better, and reclaim your lives from this terrible drug. I know I did, and I have met others who have. I am telling you, read those books, get on a clean diet, take good care of your bodies, DRINK A LOT OF WATER, with lemon juice in it, which really helps the liver cleanse and detox, take some milk thistle and good supplements, and all of this will help your body naturally re-equilibrize and recover and heal. Also important is to get emotional support from friends, family, therapist, etc.. I needed to reach out and ask for help, and that is ok. In fact it can really help.
I hope this might be helpful to some of you - just remember, it may look dark and bleak, but trust me, it will pass, and there is always light around the corner, and ways forward towards health and healing.
