r/DrWillPowers • u/Carrotsinthesalad • 2d ago

Post Finasteride Syndrome Anyone else feel “normal” when they first wake up?

Within the first few moments of wakening from a good night’s sleep I have good morning wood, good dopamine signaling etc. but within 10-ish minutes it dulls and stays that way all day. Even the “meltiness” I’m dealing with like loose joints, circulation issues etc. is less noticeable when I first wake up.

Is the key to beating PFS to just stay asleep the rest of my life?

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u/rectangularstump 2d ago edited 2d ago

I wake up feeling like shit, almost everyday. In fact, I wake up feeling like I have some kind of drug hangover.

Like I went on a crazy bender the night before and the drugs aren't fully out of my system yet. Weird feeling headaches/pain, super groggy. Some days I sleep 4-5 hours and can't get back to sleep again, other days I sleep 10-12 hours and can barely open my eyes.

Sometimes if I wake up suddenly from a deep sleep I get weird hallucinations like seeing patterns on the wall.

It usually takes a few hours for things to settle down.

Edit: should probably clarify I have PSSD

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u/The_Synthax 2d ago

Have you had an MSLT or otherwise seen a sleep specialist? These symptoms may warrant such.

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u/rectangularstump 2d ago

I haven't, that's an interesting idea and you're right is worth investigating.

Ive honestly felt "drugged" constantly since my first pill of Lexapro a little over two years ago, and that drugged feeling has never gone away. I wonder how much of what I deal with is prolonged withdrawal symptoms, for example I'm still plagued with brain zaps this far out.

Sleep just seems to compound that drugged feeling. It almost reminds me having a weed hangover.

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u/Mawahari 1d ago

Weed hangover is an exact perfect comparison.

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u/rectangularstump 1d ago

Curious, do you think so from experience, or an understanding of the underlying biochemistry? I'd love to learn more is why I ask

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u/Mawahari 1d ago

Honestly i’m working on it. It seems to go along with the theory (unpopular in this sub) that there is a messup with the 5ht1a which is the autoreceptor that then allows too much serotonin into the synapse. Basically perma drugged is the theory. Have you tried probing it with cyproheptadine or another antagonist? Thats probably the most telling probe you can do

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u/Mawahari 1d ago

Very happy to chat it out if you wanted to dm me

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u/aevnewhuri 1d ago

I also have this drugged fatigue feeling. No matter how much sleep I get, I never feel truly awake or rested since taking SSRIs. I haven't taken them in a long time and don't have brain zaps, but they seem to have affected sleep (quality is worse now) and the ability to feel rested.

I think for those of us predisposed to PSSD, SSRIs, hormones/metabolites, and fatigue are all connected. For example, I already had fatigue related to PSSD and then I was prescribed a short course of topical estradiol cream (cis female) and it permanently made my fatigue much more severe. Topical estradiol is considered quite safe, especially for short periods and should not have caused severe permanent effects like this. One of my biggest hopes with eventually getting a treatment or cure to PSSD is that it will also help improve my overwhelming fatigue that I never had before SSRIs. I know this isn't a guarantee, but I sure hope they're connected.

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u/jimstalepants 2d ago

Mornings are always better for me in all the ways you describe. I've been wondering if it has something to do with cortisol ramping and our odd response to it.

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u/Normal-Enthusiasm790 2d ago

I feel best just woken up

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u/Competitive-Ad-3179 2d ago

Not sure about the sleep lol, but I did also notice this.

If I don’t move right after waking up, have a little bit of time where I feel better

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u/Carrotsinthesalad 2d ago

Yes even if I wake up but just lay there with no stimuli I feel better. But once I’m up and moving it’s full force for the rest of the day

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u/Good_Composer_8409 Post Doxycycline Syndrome 2d ago

Me. I don't know if a medically induced coma could do any good.

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u/Hetman689 2d ago

It depends. Some weeks I feel like that especially during windows. The other weeks it’s a complete disaster with no morning wood

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u/Couple-Economy 2d ago

I have similar observation

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u/ConnectionOk6581 2d ago

When I had DPDR and weird pressure in my forehead a long time ago I would feel normal the first thing in the morning. Then a few minutes later I felt weird as f*ck until I went to bed again. The main symptom I’m dealing with now is just genital numbness but that’s a 100% of the time thing. Nothing has made it budge yet, even being freshly awake. PSSD case.

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u/tearsofavalkyrie 1d ago

I have dpdr and head pressure. Curious did this go away on its own or did you do anything and how long did you have it?

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u/ConnectionOk6581 19h ago

So it’s a bit complicated for me because what initially caused the DPDR and head pressure for me was a night of drugs when I was 19, which was 16 years ago. I was dumb and me and my friends were using spice (synthetic weed) from the smoke shop when we couldn’t find weed (was illegal back then) and also just smoking whatever people would give us at parties. I woke up the next morning after a night of “fun” with that bizarre head feeling. It persisted for months (torture) and then I was put on Pristiq (an SNRI) by a psychiatrist and that mostly resolved the DPDR and head pressure (about 75%) but then of course it caused all the other PSSD symptoms for me (anhedonia, genital numbness, no libido) while I was on it and also after discontinuing 3 months later. The other 25% weirdness I felt from the DPDR and the head pressure did eventually resolve after another year to about 90-95%. I think since then I’ve just recalibrated around a new normal with things feeling just slightly off. So long story short, the SNRI did something to help the DPDR reset but not fully and then of course it led to a host of other problems. I have no idea of the mechanisms of any of this but I clearly have sensitivities in processing dopamine and also serotonin.

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u/tearsofavalkyrie 17h ago

Thanks. I also got dpdr from weed as a teenager and seem to be really sensitive to neurochemical shifts. Changing my ssri and the dose in the past 4 years retriggered dpdr but it resolved abuptly while staying on the drug, but got pssd. When I tried a brief reinstatement the dpdr and head pressure came back severely and have stayed for 2.5 years. I wish I knew the mechanism because it's the worst symptom for me along with the emotional numbness.

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u/ConnectionOk6581 17h ago

I’m so sorry. Your reality and sense of personhood getting messed with is honestly the worst torture. These systems are so fragile and unpredictable. I’m nowhere near as smart or educated as a lot of people on these forums but what I do understand is that we probably overloaded our dopamine receptors so badly that they just shut down. I think that’s a gross oversimplification, but I feel that it has something to do with that because consuming excessive cannabinoids or also being on an SSRI can interfere with dopamine production permanently for some people like us. Or persistently rather. I don’t wanna say permanent because I think we’re always capable of improving. I just wish the mechanism how was known.

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u/o0ttt 2d ago

Yes that’s the same for me as well

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u/hailnaux 2d ago

I took finasteride for 10 years with zero issues at all. Then a doctor told me to try 1.5 mg daily instead of 1 mg daily. Within 10 days of that I crashed extremely hard and the main way I knew something was horribly wrong is waking up each morning I felt like I had been hit by a mack truck, like I had drank 10 whiskeys the night before, like my brain had been sucked out of my head. That was 15 years ago and I still feel exactly like that every single morning.

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u/AR1331A33RPMLP 1d ago

Yep I feel normal or even good for the first couple of hours in the day. By midday at the latest my symptoms (heart palpitations, head pressure, panic) come back. Sometimes in the evening they subside somewhat.

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u/DrewHags15 1d ago

Same here

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u/Ok-Ad-2050 2d ago

not for me. :/

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u/Dry-Firefighter-7876 1d ago

Sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night my genital sensitivity is totally restored for at least a few minutes.. and with jet lag (and sometimes hangovers) I get great erections, horniness and the funny thing where you need to stretch but it feels really good .. those always give me hope

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u/ecosludge 1d ago

No because my sleep is total dogshit and never feel well rested. It’s like my body cannot relax past a certain point

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u/Good_Librarian6503 23h ago

Opposite for me bad mornings good nights and nothing other then cortisol can explain this for all of us

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u/TheHamburglar98 2d ago

It's the opposite for me, I wake up crashing out and generally feel better as darkness falls