No morning wood for 3 years, weak orgasms, little interest in sex, only 1 decent orgasm per week. Have problems getting erections. Slight burning sensation upon ejaculation and urination.
Medications: 25mg/week methotrexate, 400mg/day hydroxychloroquine, 1mg/day finasteride (started this month).
Currently overhauling diet. Can’t exercise due to health problems which I’m currently trying to fix. Sleep deprived due to work schedule. Don’t want to increase calories and get fat since I’m sedentary. Used to be obese, currently overweight. Bodyfat % unknown, probably in upper 20s. If I can fix my musculoskeletal problems, everything else will fall into place, hopefully.
I’d like to see a more complete lab work up, but I’d call this low. I started TRT at 305ng and I don’t think you’d feel any better at 366, regardless of how you got there. Get more labs if this is all you have, but I could see TRT in your future
You should read up on Post Finasteride Syndrome, Finasteride can cause permanent sexual dysfunction that is irreversible. There are more side effects than can be permanent. Finasteride is an endocrine disruptor, it can increase, decrease testosterone.
I’ve had levels higher than this on TRT (397 ng/dL) and symptomatic. I just got a dosage increase a little more than a week ago and already feeling better, more energy, better erections…
Also low-T men carry more fat in the abdominal section, more body fat in general. A lot of your symptoms could be caused by low-T, including the poor sleep. So before you go taking the word of your doctor that your testosterone is normal and healthy, normal doesn’t always mean healthy.
I really don’t want to go bald, so I might try lowering my dose of finasteride to 3 mg per week.
I could fix all of my lifestyle factors once I rehab all of my tendinopathies. They are real bitch to rehab. I am currently restricted to light lifting and can’t walk more than 20 minutes without aggravating my hip. I have joint problems in my wrists so I can barely press anything. I also had to go into a shitty career because of my physical limitations which has probably contributed to wrecking my health (trucking).
You are playing with fire my friend, risking your long term health. I can only imagine what’s going to happen down the road when you are in retirement age as for as brain health after long term finasteride use.
Men and women with rheumatoid arthritis have a higher frequency of hypogonadism.
Well considering your T is low and without knowing the Free T value and not even being able to calculate the Free T using the Total T and SHBG, I wouldn’t be surprised if estrogen was low alongside the Total T.
Together with RA, this wouldn’t do your joints any favors. At the end of the day T is low and TRT is warranted. If you are unable to find a sick care doctor willing to prescribe TRT, you can always seek treatment privately via a clinic.
I would run the following if you want baseline numbers:
Thanks for this info, but I’m willing to sacrifice health in old age for keeping my hair. I don’t want to live past 65, anyways.
Men and women with rheumatoid arthritis have a higher frequency of hypogonadism.
Did not know this. Was going to try sulfasalazine, but apparently long-term use can cause low-T. Might have to pursue biologics.
I will get further labs based on your recommendation. Ideally I’d like to solve this with lifestyle changes, because I don’t think I want to depend on exogenous T for life, especially given my tenuous future economic prospects.
What would explain my lack of libido, plus no morning wood, for the past three years? Just aging? I’ve only been on finasteride for the past month, which has admittedly lowered my libido further.
I am using finasteride at 3.5 mg per week (0.5 mg per day). Your DHT is probably too low though. Get your T numbers up, and I doubt you would have libido issues with finasteride. I think finasteride works well for the guys with high DHT numbers naturally. If you are balding with low DHT numbers, and crush them further with finasteride, I think that is where the side effects come in. I think we need some DHT, but don’t need super high amounts. Just my 2 cents though.
I wouldn’t jump on the fear mongering train of post finasteride syndrome stuff. Data suggests it only happens for a few outliers. If you get sides, maybe don’t use it, but some guys don’t even want to try it because of the fear of sides. IMO, hair plays a big role in most people’s overall looks. So there is risk, but there is also significant reward.
Of course it has, it’s lowering DHT the main driver of libido. DHT is what makes a man a man in the womb.
A lot of men that have PFS report that their DHT levels were never low and yet they have all of the horrible symptoms, so don’t be tricked into thinking DHT levels have to be low to get PFS.
Did you start out at 1mg/day? If so, how long did you take it until you lowered the dose?
I started out @ 1mg/day for 30 days. Wondering if I should continue to see if sexual side effects disappear or reduce to 0.5mg/day now. I really can’t afford to lose my hair. I will look ridiculous bald.
I’d look ridiculous too. I actually started lower. 0.5 EOD. I don’t know how effective that dose is though. A few clinics report good results at 1 mg on m,w,f.