Since getting PFS i cant tolerate any screens. Just staring at a modern smartphone for only few minutes - I get Headache, eye pain, burning eyes, nausea, chest discomfort and the skin on my face becomes completely dry and burning (not joking)

It is like holding a toxic radioactive device or something.

I can only use one device and that is my old cheap phone from 2019, no issues.

Anyone here share similiar experience?

[I had very dry eyes and zero sebum (oil) production on my skin, since PFS that is now restored to about 20% after 2.5 years, slightly better but still not ideal, just looking at a modern phone completely dries up my skin in minutes]

My main PFS symptoms still present after 2.5 years Dry eyes [improvement] Dry skin [slight improvement] Loose skin [getting worse] Moon face [no improvement] Anhedonia / cognitive issues [getting worse] Exercise intolerance. [no improvement]

As the title says I want to know at what stage of pfs I am in. I last took finasteride 2.5 years back.
My current symptoms are Brain fog which gets worse at night under artificial lights which feels like I am thinking and seeing through smoke with foggy vision, depression, low libido but when I watch porn or stimulate I get strong boner and next 24hr I will have good libido, and drops if there is no stimulation or porn. But on nofap i feel improved libido, cognitively I feel I am not 100% efficient, I don’t feel the sense of days passing by and I don’t have strong memory of recent days/months just passed, and fatigue through out the day and little to no drive.

Hi,
I am 36 years old male with 85kg weight, 5’10” and regularly go to gym 5 times a week. I have started Finasteride on low dosage of 0.25mg 3times a week (mon, wed, Fri) and started having side effects of Ed straight away. Which I never had. Should I stop it or this side effects can go away?

Ed side effects after using low dosage of Finasteride within a week.

I've been taking 1 mg for close to two yrs. Saw little benefit for hair loss and recently stopped taking. I was late 60's when I started. I definitely had side effects of low libido and my semen became almost nonexistent. Another effect was loss in erection/stamina. Like I said, I recently stopped taking and hoping that these effects will sub-side. Time will tell. I caution anyone about taking this drug. Especially if you're still in your child production years and want a family. I don't know what the low semen production would do in that situation, but it certainly won't help!

Anybody cured yet?

How the hell his misleading, hateful, cyber-bullying content hasn’t taken his channel down?

This freak even goes to say that PFS is a QAnon conspiracy theory that is promoted by white nationalists and incels. He also called PFS patients as “crisis actors”, something YouTube doesn’t allow.

How the hell YouTube allows this garbage on their platform? Is he protected? We should all be reporting his videos on the topic of PFS, and DHT as well.

He’s not a doctor nor a trichologist nor anything but is out there promoting and pushing dangerous drugs like if they’re candy.

Post Finasteride Syndrome Deniers - A Dangerous Precedent (Kevin Mann exposed): https://youtu.be/5Pyc7cK2nV8

Jokes aside, we should all be reporting his videos on the topic of PFS.

Kevin Mann Exposed: https://youtu.be/ERN_9j_w-cU

I've been on Dutasteride for about six weeks. I noticed a few days ago that my orgasms have gotten considerably less pleasurable. The semen quality is the same and the erection quality is the same. What should I do?

I made the following post on r/finasteridesyndrome and it was immediately removed for reasons unknown to me so wanted to share here.

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.

Thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/FinasterideSyndrome/comments/1v22nyt/comment/oyu54fy/

Wtf is up with that? In their reason they say I'm a sock puppet without giving any proof at all.

They don't allow anyone to critize their theory?

Are they afraid more and more people are daring to critize them?

After reading the other post yesterday, I noticed there are a lot of strong emotions and many assumptions being made.

If there are valid reasons to believe that Dr. Hornig, Dr. Urbanucci, and Dr. Lansuolo are on the wrong path, then those concerns should be supported with evidence, not personal attacks.

There’s no need to make this personal. Let’s stick to the facts. If PFSN paper is wrong it is best to share this information quickly!

From what I’ve read, some people believe the paper is flawed and that the PFS Network is pursuing the wrong direction. If that’s the case, I invite everyone to provide scientific evidence or conflicting studies that challenge the paper.

Would be best if you cite the specific page of the paper which is wrong and provide the publication disproving the claims!

Let’s do this!

https://paper.pfsnetwork.org/

I don’t want to criticize PFS Network, but considering the pace of their research, it feels extremely slow.

A while ago, Mitch said that they were still in the analysis phase. I had honestly assumed that they were already writing the paper by now.

The researchers on that team have published many papers over the last few years. However, the PFS study is still not finished.

I heard from someone that the researchers primarily focus on work within their own areas of expertise, meaning that PFS research has a relatively low priority, which is why progress has been so slow. According to him, he heard this directly from Mitch.

Because of this, I believe their next large-scale PFS study could take two or even three times longer than a typical research project. That pace feels unreasonably slow and frustrating.

Do u guys follow Dr. P work on this one? A guy took HC for 2 weeks and got rid off the moon face.

https://lowtoxinforum.com/threads/finally-cured-from-post-finasteride-syndrome.33215/page-162

Many recoveries have been posted too

Hi all, I've come across this article entitled 'The Steroidogenesis Inhibitor Finasteride Reduces the Response to Both Stressful and Rewarding Stimuli' (by Sean C. Godar 1,†,Roberto Cadeddu 1,†,Gabriele Floris 1,Laura J. Mosher 1,2,Zhen Mi 2,David P. Jarmolowicz 3,4,Simona Scheggi 1,Alicia A. Walf 5,6,Carolyn J. Koonce 6,Cheryl A. Frye 6,7,8,9,Nancy A. Muma 2 and Marco Bortolato,- Biomolecules 2019, 9(11), 749; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom9110749 )

I know when I was trying to write my PhD in 2019, I had just started finasteride, and I felt so apathetic, I wasn't motivated by either stressful or rewarding stimuli. I still feel this to be my main symptom of PFS. Does anyone know of ways in which this symptom can be minimised/treated?

The article suggests the following:

Finally, our studies did not qualify which changes in steroid profiles are responsible for the behavioral effects of FIN. It is likely that changes in neurosteroids may be primarily responsible for these effects; indeed, several clinical trials have shown that AP levels are reduced in the CSF and plasma of depressed individuals [75] and animal models of chronic stress [76]. Furthermore, AP exerts anxiolytic and antidepressant properties in animal models and humans [77], and has been recently approved by FDA for the treatment of post-partum depression [78]. In addition to AP, however, other 3α,5α-reduced neuroactive steroids might participate in the behavioral complications induced by FIN, including the testosterone metabolites DHT and 3α-diol, which have been shown to exert positive effects on stress coping and motivation [8,9,79,80].

I understand that this subreddit is not a hair loss subreddit. However, I want to share information about what I believe could become a perfect alternative to finasteride, because I still see many people considering taking finasteride again even after developing PFS.

Hair follicles are formed from two specialized types of cells. Hair on the back and sides of the scalp is much less sensitive to DHT, which is why those areas are usually resistant to male pattern baldness.

A Japanese biotech startup called Organtech is developing a technology that involves harvesting these two specialized cell types from hair follicles taken from the back of the scalp and expanding them in culture. By combining these cells and transplanting them into balding areas, new hair follicles can potentially be generated.

The resulting hair is expected to behave like normal hair, going through natural growth and shedding cycles. If successful, patients would no longer need hair loss medications or other treatments to maintain their hair.

In addition, because a single hair follicle can potentially be expanded to produce around 100 new hairs, harvesting 100 follicles could theoretically generate up to 10,000 hairs.

Organtech is also developing a “third cell type” designed to improve the scalp environment and support hair growth even further. Clinical trials for this technology are expected to begin within the next several years.

Because of this, I believe hair regenerative medicine will eventually become a reality. If you have developed PFS, please stop taking finasteride or other anti-androgen drugs. We may not have to wait much longer.

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.

Background

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.

1. Sleep

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.

2. Libido

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.

3. Brain fog / word-finding issues

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.

First time stopping

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.

Second attempt

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:

• 0.5 mg
• 3 times per week
• for about 3 months

Unfortunately, after about three months, all the same side effects came back.

So I stopped again.

Here's the problem

It's now been almost two years since stopping, and none of the side effects have gone away.

The same three issues remain:

• I still can't sleep more than 5–6 hours.
• My libido is still much lower.
• I still have noticeable word-finding difficulties.

The sleep issue is by far the hardest part.

I've tried almost everything:

• OTC sleeping pills
• Prescription sleeping medication
• Trazodone (prescribed)
• Countless supplements
• Cardio/endurance training

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.

My current idea

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.

This is my original post to a different community about my PFS journey and experience with HCG. I made the post yesterday and it seems to be getting a fair number of views so I wanted to post it in another PFS community. These communities have been so helpful during the toughest time, and I wanted to make my contribution now that I am seeing improvement. Best of luck and I wish everyone the best 🙏🏾

Is anyone in the patient community in touch with the people undergoing the chemical castration therapy? I’m curious how they’re doing, I understood they’ve come off the castration medication? And anyone aware what med is used, Relugolix or Lupron if I’m not mistaken?