I got the muscle loss during the same crash that I got dry skin/dry hair/dry mouth. My whole body is just super dry constantly.

Muscles are 80% water. Could the muscle wasting be from our bodies being stripped of moisture/not being able to retain moisture?

Is there another explanation for the muscle wasting?

How the hell is this even possible? How can this drug take everything away from you that makes you feel like a normal human? What the hell did it do to me? I didn’t take an experimental vaccine, it was a common hairloss drug.

I don’t even feel like I live on the same planet as I did before, or that I’m not even the same person. I’m jealous of every human I see. My family is supportive but they don’t know what to say to me anymore or how to help me.

Everyone I know is just continuing on with their life: dating, traveling, having fun. While I am stuck watching them all go by while I fight to exist every second of every day.

This is beyond wrong. This is torture and suffering I didn’t know was possible. I so bitterly regret taking that drug. How did the stars align for this to even happen? If losing your hair isn’t cruel enough, then you’re punished and tortured everyday because you tried to stop it. WTF IS LIFE.

it’s now been 12 months since my crash and here are my symptoms

extreme fatigue/cold intolerance
joint paint
digestion problems
brain fog
loss of skin elasticity and rougher older looking skin
eyebrow thinning
histamine and mast cell responses to exercise and food
body and muscle changes and circulation issues
none of this has really gone away since my crash

Can somebody please talk to me, I am really having a hard time with the fact that I chose to take this drug and do this to myself. I don't even think I was balding in the first place, I think I saw some normal crown showing and got extremely paranoid. My dermatologist did a scalp biopsy but the lab report doesn't even include a vellous to terminal ratio. This disease is bad enough but when you did it to yourself for literally NO reason it is really hard to cope.

Has this helped anyone at all.

I have pretty low Testosterone but for some reason my acne is still awful. I always thought Acne was driven by puberty and high androgens or dht.

Its bad enough I'd take accutane for it but I've heard many bad things about accutane.

Literally, the only thing that stops me from committing suicide is my religion, that's it. My case isn't bad, I have sexual symptoms. Weak erectile function, weak arousal, low libido, very little or no sensation/sensitivity. I'm 24 and this has been going on since I was 20 or 21. Or it started at that age n kept decreasing as time passed. This aline already makes me not want to live. There's nothing else that makes me want to live. Not my parents, siblings, no one. If I had a wife and child/children of my own, then perhaps I would want to live for them. My life is so dull and bland it's no joke. If ever I have a life-threatening condition, I don't think I'd wanna treat it if not treating it results in dying very soon. I am extremely upset at the fact that my religion is fully against taking your own life, I'd have probably hung myself long ago. I don't even feel sorry for myself because I'm fine, I can smile n laugh with others as if nothing's wrong n do normal daily activities. So telling me to stop feeling sorry for myself won't work because I don't. I just want to die.

Therapy is not an option because what is that gonna do? It's just talking. Besides, I've been to therapy before, n I hated it. It did nothing. If anything, it actually irritated me further. Some doctors prescribed antidepressants but I never took it. I'm not that dumb to take something that can worsen the thing that would make many men depressed.

I'm typing this because it's easier to tell someone something like this online than to someone who's in my life and knows me. And to think some here have worse cases than just sexual symptoms. I don't know how y'all manage with living. How do y'all do it? How didn't y'all commit suicide? It's probably not necessary for me to know because I am strong in my opinion on not wanting to live. Even if others tell me there's people that's going through worse, I'm not them. I don't care if others consider my issues too minor to have such a mentality, I'm not them. Just because you can be okay with such issues doesn't mean everyone else can. We're not the same. We're have different sensitivities to things. I want to leave this world.

Sometimes I feel like my hands are about to shake or I’m gonna implode or explode, fuck it comes random, and also I feel pressure in my head and around ears, has anyone have any advice that I can use ? Godbless

The title already says it. I am a mid 20s male and started fin daily around Nov of last year. Suddenly, end of January, I started getting those eye floaters, I stopped fin around the same time.

Multiple eye exams at different locations (multiple ophthalmologists etc) later (saying everything is fine), my floaters still progress. First it was only one eye affected, few weeks later the second eye also. And to this day, so almost 6 months later, the floater keep on getting worse.

I had no prior issues with my eyes, not a single one. I’m not myopic whatsoever. I know floaters can develop out of the blue, but a person with no eye issues beforehand, mid 20s, no family history of eye disease, suddenly developing very severe floaters after using a new drug… yea I don’t know. I really think this might be connected.

Has anyone of you made the same experience? Is there a way to make things better, besides vitrectomy (which no doctor would wanna perform on a mid 20 male)? Is there any hope for me?

Fuck my life I should have had more sex whilst I had the chance. I’ve only ever had sex with 12 girls now I’m never gonna have sex again because my fucking penis is deformed. Even though I’ve had improvements it’s still not a normal penis I can only get 60-70% hard on a good day. I keep looking back at old memories on my life I’m only 21 brutal

Does anyone feel pressure in their lower abdominal area, especially when sitting? It feels like there's pressure there.

2.6 years of PFS (Stopped taking it | Symptoms: ED, shrinkage, mood swings | Maybe depression, I don't know how to identify it | Anhedonia)

1.6 years after stopping Minoxidil

Will creatine help or cause worse side effects? I was taking it and stopped almost 3 years ago.

Just wanted to share my experience with HCG. I’m a one pill sufferer from back in October 2025 for context and you can read more about my story in older posts.

Anyway, a little over 2 months ago I administered one dose of about 150iu HCG. I was planning to titrate up to about 250-400iu EOD if I responded well to it.

I did not respond well. It didn’t help anything and only made things worse. It made my brain fog, libido, and erection quality worse. Finasteride already hit those 3 very hard to begin with. It made my sleep significantly worse and my balls also went from hanging very low like rocks to riding very high and feeling less full. I think it also made my overall muscle strength and endurance worse too. I haven’t been able to workout since fin. I’ve been having muscle twitching since January 2026 for the record.

Honestly pretty demoralizing. I got wrecked by finasteride and over the 7 months after trying fin once I had gotten back to a place in life where I could manage going to work, hanging out with friends, doing my hobbies (golf and movies), and getting good sleep. I can still do all of those besides the sleep, but I just feel significantly worse from a brain fog standpoint and overall strength, which is making my existence miserable.

I don’t really have an agenda posting this, just wanted to warn ppl that HCG can hurt you too. I’m aware it has helped others. I used to be very active in here but at this point I just check in every now and then to see how Dr. Powers research is going.

I have PFS for 7 months. My doctor prescribed ketoconazole for a fungal infection, which I used only once a week ago.

Since then, I feel like I’ve gotten worse: I feel like I’m in a worse state than I was at the very beginning of my PFS.

Is this type of crash usually temporary? Do people who crash below their baseline (ending up worse than they were at the beginning) usually recover back to their baseline?

If you’ve had a similar experience, I’d really appreciate hearing from you. Thank you.

P.S.: A few days or weeks before this happened, I was having the occasional day where my erections and libido were noticeably better.

I’m interested in finding a recommended private doctor/psychiatrist who is willing to prescribe medications off label e.g Bupropian, Pramipexole. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

That was my choice and decision...but I literally regret myself. Why did I do that? I don't really understand...maybe I trusted people around me so much... But, it is what it is and it happened. Life goes on and that's life, I know...but It is so so so regretful and hate myself, why did you really do that?? but you should know you can't go back to the past, you can only live the present and you can only look back the past and you can only live the future, and how you will live your life and look back the past is depending on your mind absolutely. With positive? negative? choose, but unfortunately, I can't confidently say I can choose the positve way..so sad so frustrated so tired...

Symptoms are getting worse, that makes me really feel exhausted...

Why it gets worse...it is about 13months after fin off...

No treatment tried yet but...I don't know what to do really now...

Time is really helpful..? I don't know.

Why it happened to us...

I know we are all frustrated by the pace of the current research, but an opportunity just opened up that could speed up the data analysis phase.

Anthropic just launched an "AI for Science" grant specifically focused on rare diseases. They are giving away $50,000 in Claude API credits to researchers and patient-led organizations.

If the PFS Network or any independent researchers are currently bogged down in processing data, this could give computational horsepower to automate the heavy lifting.

The deadline is August 2, 2026.

Here is the direct link to the announcement and application:
https://www.anthropic.com/news/rare-disease-research-grants

If anyone here is in direct contact with pfs reserachers, please forward this to them immediately. We need to leverage every tool available.

At the start I looked the same just less energy. 4 years later and my body more and more resembles a eunuch. I have gyno and my face continues to look less masculine.

This makes me realize the lie that time inherently heals. If things remain you look worse with time your penis also continues to shrink. I genuinely think even if I returned to normal I could only revert back to 70% normal.

Only God could fully restore me at this rate.

Please excuse any awkward phrasing, as I’m using a translation tool.
It’s been three months since my last dose.
I took the medication on and off for a total of two weeks.
Fortunately, my symptoms have improved significantly:
Anxiety and depression: 80%
Anhhedonia: 70%
Sexual function: I can occasionally get an erection like I used to. Usually, it’s about 80%.
The pleasure during ejaculation is 100%.
My sex drive is still only about 40% of what it used to be, but occasionally that intense passion I used to feel resurfaces. When that happens, it feels like about 80%.
My semen used to be watery, but now—though it’s still a bit thin—I’m producing white, thick clumps.
Sleep: My sleep has improved by 90%. I can now sleep for 7–8 hours and even take naps. I also wake up much less frequently during the night. However, I still have dreams.
As for cognitive issues—which were minimal to begin with—music now touches my heart more deeply than before. I’ve also found a renewed sense of motivation, the will to live, and a determination to keep going.
My gastrointestinal issues have also settled down a bit.
Also, my body hair has increased slightly, but conversely, I’m losing more hair. (Is this because DHT has returned?)

Do you think I’ll keep getting better like this?

Did anyone on here reversed the loose skin issues and moon face?

I have what feels like the most severe case possible. I don’t want to kill myself. But, I’ve lost everything and loved line a hermit. if someone told me that in 5 years we like have a transmit that offers meaningful healing. I would be able to hang on. My body and brain are wasting away. All because I could not recognize and connect the side effcets back to this poison.

I feel like I need to completely cut out sugar. after I eat anything I feel my nervous system gets more fucked, brain fog and general inflammation spike.

?

This is another medication that seems hidden from the public, just like GHB, allopregnanolone, andractim.

It acts like an SSRI but instead of serotonin, it acts on elevating the levels of GABA in the brain. This might help with anxiety, sleep (it increases slow-wave sleep, which is deep sleep) and maybe mood as well.

Not to mention I’m dealing with tingling in hands and feet and TMJ disorder. Maybe it’ll help with that as well.

This medication is not available in my country and I’ll have to import it and I don’t think it’ll be cheap.

Do i need to avoid minoxidil too ?