What My Doctor Told Me

[lorre]

I am 20 years old, took finasteride for about a month and a half about 4 months ago, and am still suffering side effects (sore balls and weakened erections). I went to my doctor today and told her what I knew about the persistent side effects, testosterone levels, etc. She asked me if I was sexually active. I said yes. She felt around my balls, asking me where it hurt. One particular place hurt, so I said so. She told me that it was likely a urinary infection. She prescribed me antibiotics for me (Ofloxacin). I'm giving them a urine sample tomorrow but she wants me to start taking the antibiotics immediately.

My question is: if my problem is actually a testosterone imbalance (which I still think it is, based on the fact that the pain started after taking finasteride, and based on the fact that exercise and zinc have helped), could taking these antibiotics potentially hurt me more?

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Joe-1991]

Not really. If you think it's hormones then get yourself to an anti ageing specialist, your unlikely to go very far with GP's, although it's worth trying.

I can't understand why you are still asking for advice on this hair loss forum. Try these:

http://www.musclechatroom.com/forum/for ... hings-Male

http://forum.mesomorphosis.com/mens-health-forum/

The top one is Dr Crisler's forum - the guy in the below finasteride side effects video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEGCTMtlgoc

Also consider joining propeciahelp.com - many guys have treated low testosterone on there only to get worse. For those with severe persistent side effects, something else is going on, hence all the research that is going on at the moment.

 

[Joe-1991]

In the meantime i think you should just follow your doctor's advice and take the antibiotics. Funnily enough, a number of propecia victims felt completely better during antibiotic treatment and it has been mentioned to researchers.

 

[Wuffer]

I would personally put no faith into anti-aging doctors such as Dr. Crisler. He admits he has absolutely no idea what causes PFS, yet he still thinks that treating young guys with hormone replacement therapy will cure them. For all anyone knows, this could be making them even worse. From what i've heard, no one has experienced much improvement in symptoms from his treatments. Not to mention he is absolutely insane. I wouldn't trust that guy to treat a hangnail. But i'll admit, that's more of a personal grudge against the guy because of his personality. Regardless, I would stick with your doctors advice before seeking any other opinions.

Off that topic though, if the majority of these long-lasting symptoms do indeed turn out to be caused by Finasteride in the general population of those experiencing them, i'm willing to bet it's prostate related; possibly some sort of infection or something along those lines. A few people are claiming that specialized prostate treatments along with the proper dose of antibiotics has cure them of these symptoms, so i'm interested to hear what comes from that.

 

[lorre]

Thanks for the advice. It is good to hear that some people improve while on antibiotics. I will stick with doctor's orders for now, and if nothing changes in a couple weeks then I'll go back and try to get some blood tests done.

 

[Joe-1991]

In the meantime i think you should just follow your doctor's advice and take the antibiotics. Funnily enough, a number of propecia victims felt completely better during antibiotic treatment and it has been mentioned to researchers.

What are the theoris on how antibiotics might be helping?

Well, there are guys on PH that focus on hormone pathways or something like that being the cause and they argue that antibiotics are doing something in that area. Then there are guys that argue that the antibiotics are genuinely acting on an infection that could be causing the symptoms. This is a very vague overview as the details are quite specific and tedious.

There is a 60+ page thread on prostatitis as one member paid over $15,000 for prostatitis treatment and got better. Others flew over to Greece to get the treatment and experienced no improvements. Personally i think that finasteride may have done something to our prostates but i don't think prostatitis accounts for all PFS victims.

It's all completely crazy to be honest with you. I have personally given up on the hunt for a cure - i will either get better soon or kill myself, hopefully. We started by trying to save our hair and ended up impotent and brain dead. With the hair it was buying 'the big 3', with the new problems it's buying all sorts of MEDS and supplements. Personally, i just wish i never visited these forums and got roped into this online medicine thing. I feel like a complete fool for ordering finastride from inhousepharmacy and treating hair loss myself. Looking at it with a different perspective if strange. I think your all crazy. Although i can still understand why one would do it and also this forum is fantastic for what it's made for.