I am trying psilocybin in a couple days hoping it might help me with my symptoms or at least bring my emotions back. Is there anything I should know beforehand? Has anyone noticed long term improvement in PFS symptoms from shrooms? Only positive comments please I wanna be in the right mindset so my trip goes well. Also might try DMT in a few days if the shrooms don’t help I’ll make another post on that if it happens.
Written with ChatGPT because I'm from Germany and my English isn't very good. I wanted to make sure I could explain my experience as clearly as possible.
My experience with Finasteride – side effects disappeared the first time, but became permanent after trying a lower dose. Has anyone experienced something similar?
I wanted to share my experience with finasteride and see if anyone has gone through something similar.
2022–2023: I took 1 mg finasteride, 5 times per week for about a year.
The results were pretty good. My hair loss completely stopped, and my hair looked healthier month after month. I didn't notice any regrowth, but since my hair loss wasn't very advanced, I was happy with the results.
Unfortunately, I also experienced several side effects.
This was by far the worst side effect.
Very early on, I noticed that my sleep quality got significantly worse, and it felt like my body had a hard limit on how much I could sleep.
The best way I can describe it is:
>
That's exactly what it felt like.
Whenever I slept more than 5–6 hours, I'd constantly wake up, toss and turn, and never get deep, restorative sleep.
Before finasteride, I was someone who naturally slept a lot because my job is physically and mentally demanding. On some days, especially after long shifts, I could easily sleep 10–12 hours.
That completely disappeared.
My sex drive decreased noticeably.
I also developed erectile dysfunction and completely lost my morning erections.
With enough foreplay and Viagra (prescribed by my doctor), sex was still possible, but it definitely wasn't the same.
I also noticed that conversations became harder.
I struggled to find the right words and didn't feel as articulate as I had before taking finasteride.
After about one year, I quit cold turkey.
Over the following weeks and months, all of the side effects gradually disappeared.
My sleep returned to normal, my libido recovered, and mentally I felt like myself again.
Of course, my hair loss also started coming back.
About a year later, I decided to try finasteride again.
This time I thought I'd avoid side effects by taking a much lower dose:
Unfortunately, after about three months, all the same side effects came back.
So I stopped again.
It's now been almost two years since stopping, and none of the side effects have gone away.
The same three issues remain:
The sleep issue is by far the hardest part.
I've tried almost everything:
Nothing helps.
Even after a physically exhausting 12-hour shift, I still wake up after around 5–6 hours and can't get the long, restorative sleep I used to have.
Since reducing both the dose and the frequency didn't prevent the side effects—and they never went away after stopping—I've had a strange thought.
I'm considering taking 1 mg, 5 times per week again for a few months, hoping that somehow "fighting fire with fire" might reset whatever changed. Then I'd stop again and hope the side effects disappear like they did the first time.
I know it sounds irrational, and I honestly can't explain why the first time everything returned to normal, but the second time (with a much lower dose) the side effects never resolved.
Has anyone experienced something similar?
I'd especially like to hear from people who had persistent sleep issues after finasteride or who had side effects that lasted long after stopping.
I'd really appreciate any thoughts or experiences.
Greeting to all in this community,
I have been dealing with PFS for 11 months and decided to try HCG 1 month ago. The protocol is 250 IU M/W/F. I have never experimented with HRT previously. Here is my experience.
For reference, I am a 30 year old male, previously very active, healthy, and followed an overall clean diet. I have never had a hormone panel prior to developing PFS but my labs were fully WNL when I checked before starting HCG. My E2 was around 25 and my Test was around 650.
I was using topical finasteride between 11/2024 - 07/2025. I had previously used oral finasteride intermittently for roughly 6-month increments in the past when I was 22 and 23 years old. I developed ED both times but the side effects completely reversed within 1-2 days of stopping. Subsequently, I used topical finasteride for 6-month when I was 27 with a similar experience. Therefore, I was not necessarily concerned about long-term side effects from finasteride and had no idea about PFS. However, there was one key difference between my most recent stint finasteride in 2024-2025 vs previous experiences. I noticed a seemingly small decrease in libido and mood symptoms, whereas previously, I only developed ED. Nonetheless, I wasn’t too concerned and thought these symptoms would stabilize, but they didn’t…
It was only after I stopped using finasteride in 07/2025 did I realize how far my libido had dropped and my mood had blunted. My initial symptoms at that time were as follows:
Anhedonia, inability to sleep, nightmares, emotional blunting (both while awake and in my dreams), completely asexual, rubbery penis, hard flaccid, neuropathic pain in my testicles and pelvic region, no morning wood, no sexual thoughts, thought block (both in terms of sexual thoughts as well as general cognitive ability), brain fog, depersonalization, severe GI issues ( constipation, depressed mood after eating almost anything), decreased motivation, constant death wish/passive suicidal thoughts, etc.
After doing some reading about long-term side effects of finasteride, I learned about PFS and realized I might be completely F’ed. It was a very depressing and scary time, and the stress from learning about PFS long term prognosis made things 10x worse. However, despite my level of despair, I realized nobody can help me but myself, and I needed to do everything I can to try re-creating a normal life.
Initially, I tried supplements like black maca and boron, but this didn’t help. I also began using tadalafil which helped bring my EQ from 0/10 to 3-4/10, but libido was still non-existent. I stopped the maca & boron and focused on allowing my body to heal naturally with positive mentalization, clean diet, semen retention, and edging. I would practice semen retention/edging for 3-4 days at a time, followed by 3-4 days of FAP 3x per day. I added melatonin 5mg and THC/CBD edibles 5 mg roughly 6 months into PFS which helped with sleep and silencing the dysphoric dreams. This protocol allowed me to achieve very slow but noticeable progress prior to HCG. Main improvements were in brain fog and mild improvement in libido/EQ to the point I was no longer completely asexual. Brain fog improved from 8-9/10 severity to 2-3/10 severity. Libido went from 0/10 (10 being my previous normal) to 1-2/10. I also showed improvement in my mood so that I was no longer anhedonic. However, the emotional blunting/flatness, dysphoric dreams and lack of motivation persisted.
After 1-month of HCG mono therapy, my libido is now a 6-7/10, my EQ can be up to 9-10/10 with only minimal stimulation and no tadalafil, mood, motivation, sleep, emotional blunting, and GI issues are still present but improved significantly. Brain fog has fully resolved. I am planning on running this protocol for 6 months, and hopefully, I can be fortunate enough to make a full recovery.
I know this is a long post but the PFS community was so helpful in maintaining my sanity during the toughest times, so I wanted to contribute my progress to encourage others to keep pushing.
P.S. I am a psychiatry resident physician and feel very strongly this is not primarily a psychiatric illness. PFS is a multifactorial illness with both medical and psychiatric contributions, thus making it difficult to treat. HCG felt like it “turned on” a switch in my brain that would have been impossible to do without HRT intervention. I know many people don’t see any benefit from HCG and many suffer indefinitely despite experimenting with every potential therapeutic option available. However, my experience with HCG has been life changing and I hope my progress continues over the next 5-months.
I’ll respond to some questions if my post gains traction and I’ll post once more in 5-months after concluding HCG mono therapy. Wish everybody all the best!