Help! 1 month on Saw Palmetto = ZERO LIBIDO!

[Alclops]

Hi guys,

Was on Saw Palmetto for about the last 6 weeks, powder capsules of about 500mg of Saw Palmetto to treat a sudden and aggressively receding hairline. Significant shedding on my pillow in the morning. I am 19 years old.

Before taking Saw Palmetto (SP): I used to have very high libido (masturbated twice a day since the seventh grade, apologies for graphic imagery in this post).

First week on SP: No noticeable effects.

Second week: At some point during the week, I realized I hadn't masturbated that day. I didn't feel like masturbating. Never experienced any sort of disinterest in sex like this. I masturbated 3 times in the whole week, the first time wasn't unusual. The second time, I ejaculated quickly, semen was watery. Third time, the ejaculation was painful, felt a throbbing sensation in my prostate area as I was ejaculating. Ejaculation was very short, very small volume, and it didn't 'shoot out', rather it kind of sputtered out. This was my last orgasm.

Third week: Didn't care about my disinterest in sex. It meant I could concentrate on school work and not be distracted. Did not masturbate at all. Had an erection during the day for some reason, but erection was incredibly weak. Shedding on pillow significantly reduced (I count the number of hairs on my pillow each morning, went from 20 hairs to about 1 or 2). Was happy with that result.

Fourth week: No erections whatsoever. No interest in sex whatsoever. I had never gone more than 2 or 3 days without masturbating before SP (I attempted a 'no fap' challenge and could not last more than 3 or so days), and now I have just gone a month without even thinking about it. Was perfectly fine with it.

Fifth week: Now have a weird, chronic discomfort in my penis/gonad region causing my to want to cross my legs all the time. Still not considering stopping SP.

Yesterday (sixth week): I tried to have actual sex. Penis didn't work AT ALL. Now I freaked out, stopped taking the capsules, called my doctor, scoured the internet for answers (none yet). I am seriously scared that I broke my penis permanently. I'm also equally as scared that my hair loss will get more aggressive upon stopping (as someone else on this forum reported). Seriously hating life right now. Yesterday should've been the best day of my life for somehow managing to get laid with a gorgeous woman, instead it was one of the worst days of my life for learning that my penis is broken and that my hair will fall out and I can't do anything about it.

Praying that my penis function will return to normal. Preparing my self for shedding to come back with a vengeance. Also, massively humiliated that I couldn't get it up yesterday, such an awful combination of emotions. Wouldn't mind some reassuring words right now if you have any, cos right now I hate life.

Thanks guys.

[LT56]

Don't know enough to say much except sorry to hear that. I've been on SP for 14 years and had a small decrease in drive. See the doc; I haven't heard of anything permanent with SP. Part of it can be anxiety, so you could be making it worse by worrying too much.
My bet is that all this for you is temporary; I'm no doc but I bet the sexual disfunction will go away and you're also lucky that we're entering a golden age with hairloss: we have stem cell treatment with Dr. Gho, Histogen and Aderans coming down the pipe soon.
I'm 43, and believe me I know what it's like to see your body change. Don't worry, just focus on your studies and get a good job, save and invest your money so you can afford the treatments. This is temporary.

[hellouser]

Some people definitely do experience a drop in libido even with saw palmetto, but these are almost always short side effects. considering that saw palmetto is significantly weaker than finasteride and a lot of men recover from Fin sides, you should be fine.

you're too young to be taking saw palmetto though and meddling with your dht levels. try switching to a topical like RU or CB where systemic effects are non-existent or minimal.

[Alclops]

Update:

Thanks for the reassurance guys, just have a quick update.

It has now been 108 hours since my last dose (4.5 days ago). Don't know if it's just me being paranoid but I noticed a few more hairs than normal on my pillow today.

Over the past few days, I've been trying to masturbate everyday hoping my libido will come back (which admittedly is quite absurd). To recap, my penis has had no feeling in it whatsoever since the 2nd week until now (about 5 or 6 weeks in total, I forgot which day exactly I started SP). I had absolutely zero interest in sex, which is extremely abnormal for me.

(Warning: the following is explicit, but I think this is important for people to know)

However, an hour ago, I (finally) successfully masturbated to orgasm for the first time in 6 weeks after a memory flashed into my head. It's such a bizarre feeling, knowing that these memories had absolutely no effect on my just a few days ago, then suddenly, simply because I have more of some chemical in my blood, I now react to it. It's truly bizarre, after many years of constantly thinking about sex, to suddenly not have a single sexual thought in your mind for several weeks. It's almost like you have a different personality. In many ways, it was actually better because I wasn't distracted by sexual thoughts, and I think I felt somewhat calmer and less awkward around girls, although this could just be confirmation bias. If western society didn't have some stupid over-obsession with sex, then I would consider continuing SP at a reduced dosage, but due to the stigma associated with impotence, I don't want to risk it. It's also bizarre that I can't find a single other report on the internet of similar symptoms to the ones I experienced.

The build-up to the orgasm wasn't pleasurable at all, I barely felt anything. The orgasm was pleasurable for a fraction of a second until I once again felt an extreme throbbing pain in my prostate area which caused me to jerk my hands away from the penis and clutch my prostate-area in pain with both hands. I have no idea why that is occurring. The ejaculation was unimpressive in terms of volume (partly because I stopped masturbating partway through the orgasm due to pain), but very white and smooth in consistency. Also, I don't know what relevance this has, but normally I have a very noticeable refractory period in which I feel relaxed, content, and sometimes tired. I did not experience that at all this time, and I felt like I could continue to masturbate if I wanted.

I'd say my libido has returned to about 1% (out of 100%). It's something. I will continue to update this thread for the next few weeks because I feel like the dangers of Saw Palmetto need to be documented somewhere on the internet. Perhaps if I had read something like this, I never would've taken it. That said, I'm trying to document this as objectively as possible, I don't wish to needlessly scare people away from Saw Palmetto, as I understand not everyone may experience the same side effects that I did.

[PatientlyWaiting]

If it's that serious then just stay off it and try your luck with Rogaine and use 2% Nizoral shampoo 2-3 times a week. Just give it a couple of months, hopefully you'll be back to normal.

I am 24 years old on 1.25mg Finasteride/day and 0.5mg Dutasteride/day. I wank 1-2 times a day and simple thoughts of girls I know give me a boner. My hair loss stopped falling a very long time ago, about 1 month in to using fin a couple of years ago, but it was too late, MPB and Alopecia Areta have hit me hard already and basically i'm just maintaining the pathetic amount of hair that I have left. It's more like slowing down the hair loss, but I added Dut and Rogaine recently so I will see.

[clandestine]

Ease off it, don't stop cold turkey.

Saw palmetto gave me gyno. Just because it's 'organic', doesn't mean it can't bear sides.

I'm super androgen sensitive, though.

[drybone]

Did you know saw palmetto is a form of saw dust?

No wonder you couldnt slam the ham. Pound the pudding. Polish your horn.Beat your Meat. Jerk your chain.

But no biggie. Now that you have stopped chewing on wood chips, you should be able to spooge with little effort.

Good luck, and God bless our weenies.

[StuckInARut]

Did you know saw palmetto is a form of saw dust

Not sure if serious?

It's an extract derived from the berries of the saw palmetto fan palm. Not sure where you get it's saw dust from.

Anyway, I agree with Clandestine just taper off slowly. I used Saw Palmetto 6+ months and slowly reduced dosage to nothing. I had the exact opposite effect though, it sent my libido into overdrive. I'm talking thinking about sex constantly and needing it 2-3 times a day. My orgasms were extremely intense as well (sorry for the specific details.) The only reason why I stopped was because I wasn't convinced it was working to slow my hairloss.

[Alclops]

UPDATE:

It has been exactly a week & 12 hours since my last dose of Saw Palmetto. My situation has not changed at all since my first update (post #4 in this thread). As documented in the first update, my ability to have an erection has returned, but no further improvement in libido at all. Shedding hasn't gotten worse yet either though.

I'm sure the herb would have left my system by now, but dht levels haven't returned. I'm was expecting everything to be back to normal within a month but there has been very little improvement so far. So yeah I'm screwed.

[LT56]

UPDATE:

It has been exactly a week & 12 hours since my last dose of Saw Palmetto. My situation has not changed at all since my first update (post #4 in this thread). As documented in the first update, my ability to have an erection has returned, but no further improvement in libido at all. Shedding hasn't gotten worse yet either though.

I'm sure the herb would have left my system by now, but dht levels haven't returned. I'm was expecting everything to be back to normal within a month but there has been very little improvement so far. So yeah I'm screwed.

Whoa, whoa, Alcops. Give it a chance; hormones are pretty potent chemicals which trigger a whole complex cascade of chemical reactons in your body. So it may take some time for it to return to normal. Plus, haven't you been stressed over this? That's a libido killer too. I'd also bet that you're watching your libido like a hawk so of course you won't get horny under pressure like that. Your reproductive system is pretty resiliant; nature has evolved us that way otherwise our species wouldn't have survived.
Put it out of your mind for a week or so and if it doesn't clear up, go see the doc. I REALLY doubt you're screwed, bro. For your hair, don't forget that Histogen is coming, which is topical and may work better than finasteride. I know it's difficult but the best thing you can do is not panic, concentrate on your studies so you can get a good job. Trust me, having money can solve a whole host of problems.

[Vox]

I had the exact opposite effect though, it sent my libido into overdrive. I'm talking thinking about sex constantly and needing it 2-3 times a day. My orgasms were extremely intense as well (sorry for the specific details.)

If anything, this is what saw palmetto is known for. It is supposed to boost male function. The reports saying that it takes libido away leave me perplexed. Perhaps the effect depends on dosage and individual reaction.

[Vincentv]

Please update - Did you recover?

[Vic]

Anything over 480mg of Saw Plametto can cause libido to drop. I take under 200mg a day along with my other natural DHT blocking agents and have rock hard, hard ons. I'm 34

[Alclops]

Please update - Did you recover?

Yes, from memory (this was quite a long time ago), it took me a few months to be truly 100% confident I was back to normal. Because of the shock from this event, I was never brave enough to try Finasteride, even to this day.

However, I ended up starting RU58841, which I'm still using as of today, at 100mg once per day. I haven't experienced any side effects whatsoever, but I'm unable to confirm if it works, but I think it is. My hair is the same as it was when I made the original post in 2013, so maybe that suggests that it is working? I will confirm this via a trichologist soon.

[wisnon812001]

Yes, from memory (this was quite a long time ago), it took me a few months to be truly 100% confident I was back to normal. Because of the shock from this event, I was never brave enough to try Finasteride, even to this day.

However, I ended up starting RU58841, which I'm still using as of today, at 100mg once per day. I haven't experienced any side effects whatsoever, but I'm unable to confirm if it works, but I think it is. My hair is the same as it was when I made the original post in 2013, so maybe that suggests that it is working? I will confirm this via a trichologist soon.

Do you remember how you can back to normal from SP?
I stopped to take powder capsules of about 480mg a month, i tried to have actual sex, penis suddenly didn't work.