freeasabird: post-finasteride syndrome, SSRIs and the mold/multiple chemical sensitivity issue - any link?

[freeasabird]

Hello to all
First of all i want to say that i'm not sure i will update this, or that i will update it frequently, even because what i suffer gives me a terrible sense of stress, even when i do simple things. If it's ok for you moderators, then please publish this content.

 

I am writing because I would like to discuss a matter that is causing me many problems. But first I summarize my condition, to give you a picture of the situation:
1. for years I have been taking a drug that has caused me and is still giving me many problems (finasteride), problems of all kinds, both sexual and neurological, physical and psychiatric and perhaps even immune (I began to have itchy throat, cough, but perhaps also movement disorders following exposure to an air conditioner in my room which I discovered some time ago to be filled with a gray junk that I think was mold. I was the only one in the house to suffer from it)...
2. to cope with the horrible depression that the drug was causing me, I started taking an antidepressant, an SSRI, escitalopram (along with benzos and a tryciclic antidepressant to sleep cause finasteride caused insomnia);
3. when I understood what was happening, I stopped taking the finasteride, I started a paleo diet that tended to be raw, I started to improve and therefore also to taper off, as far as I could, everything, including the ssri's; I made it to eliminate both benzos and the tryciclic but i was only able to reduce the escitalopram from 10 mg per day to 5 mg every other day, but no more than this...
4. wanting to improve further, months ago I went on a 100% raw and basically natural hygiene oriented diet and I succeeded, about three months ago, maybe in early August, to eliminate the ssri altogether.

 

This is the story so far, but the problem begins around the second half of August, a few days or weeks after the elimination of the antidepressant. The problem that I exposed in point 1 (itchy throat, cough, asthma, probable neurological disorders when exposed to the room with the offending air conditioner) reappear and this time in any room of the house I am, even on a balcony where there is an awning full of stains that look like mold and yeast! When I am at home I first begin to have the usual symptoms (itchy throat, cough, asthma) and then it seems to me that i have a sense of difficulty in movement, stiffening of the left leg, an anesthetized sense of palate, brain fog, nervousness arrive little by little , wheezing, headaches, anxiety and even something worse ...
I talked to my parents about it but ... guess what? They don't seem to believe me! So I went so far as to ask a chemical laboratory to do some analyzes on samples taken by me from the air conditioner, from the awning and from some other surface and yeasts and / or molds were actually found, although I cannot determine if in quantities considered dangerous ... I did it to show my parents that maybe I'm right, that maybe there is a mold problem at home, but to date I haven't been able to change things much ...
Therefore:
- the problem seems to afflict only me and it happens almost exclusively in my house (I remember having it even in a place so humid that the walls were peeling, but I don't think I have seen molds)
- I am not much believed but I also do not know exactly where to turn my head because I am not able to determine exactly the physical cause (I suspect molds but what if the cause is some other chemical? What if it were the plants on the balcony that give me allergy? dunnow ...)
- because of this post-finasteride syndrome I suffer from a terrible anxiety and this anxiety makes it very difficult for me to communicate to my parents (who in my modest way of seeing, are also very stingy) that I would like to throw away the objects I incriminated (air conditioner/s, awnings, maybe even plants) and do a nice sanitization with ozone, even risking to fail to address the problem and that the cause is not molds but something else ...

 

I think it is me that im not well, but the fact is that at the moment the situation is this. I know it is me the one who should be so healthy to tolerate various environmental substances but im not.
I also wonder what happened, because I seem to be the only one at home to suffer from these problems ... Maybe that finasteride has ruined me to the point of not being able to tolerate and process environmental substances that are not a problem for others? And why does it seem to me that once the antidepressants are removed, this sensitivity is increased? Has anyone here ever faced anything like this? Ideas on how to get out of it?
I am exhausted, I do everything to not stay at home, but it is highly stressful and the stress does not help me to heal. And winter is coming, and spending time on an outdoor bench or on a balcony to avoid staying indoors... i don't find it tempting. On the contrary...

[Onmyway]

Hi @Freeasabird, 

 

welcome to SA. I am sorry you are struggling with your health. 

It is possible to be allergic to mold to which others are not allergic. I used to have asthma as a result of a mold allergy. Testing identified I was allergic to alternaria though I never got the room tested but did not test against lots of other kinds - there are thousands of kinds of mold probably. You don't always see mold in the air. In my case it was not visible. But I am very sensitive to molds even now and can tell when any issue is present. A couple of years ago looking for a new place to rent was shown an apartment that clearly had a mold issue in one room. Told realtor. He said it wasn't possible but emailed me a few days later to say that they had discovered a leak and it was in fact moldy. 

I don't know if it has anything to do with stopping antidepressants, in my case it was many years ago while I was on antidepressants and I simply changed rooms. I have no idea if it has anything to do with finasteride. I know there are support sites for post finasteride syndrome so you should perhaps ask there. You can also do a search on this forum. 

 

Hope you feel better soon. 

OMW

 

[freeasabird]

Hi @Onmyway

and thank you for the answer.

I wonder if you discovered the mold allergy issue after starting the antidepressants, on the timeline.

Also, what kind of allergy tests did you do? I did a simple prick test, tested for only 3 molds, as far as i remember, maybe 4. 

[Onmyway]

Hi @freeasabird

so sorry I did not see your post for two weeks. My mold allergy did not start after starting ADs. Now that I think about it, I was actually off of them for over a year when I had the allergies - I had just moved into a new dorm room at the time. I started the ADs again a few months after, I think. 

 

The allergy test they did was one where they put a whole block of needles with various allergens on your back and then see which ones react. I am not sure what it is called. 

 

How are you feeling now? 

OMW

[freeasabird]

Hi @Onmyway,

emotionally better, maybe the symptoms from the antidepressants elimination are coming to an end...

The allergy is still here though, but it seems to me that at least the asthma symptom is better, or at least i hope so...

so you had allergy in the period after you stopped ad's for the first time, right?

I think that my allergy got very wors after i stopped the ad's... so i wonder if there's a sort of connection...

[Onmyway]

Hi @freeasabird

The allergy symptom were not related to my ADs. The first time I stopped ADs my withdrawal symptoms went away fairly quickly  - a few weeks.

 

OMW

Edited November 15, 2021 by Onmyway

[Wania]

How are You now? I started reacting to chemicals. Its so scary all those neuro symptoms.

[freeasabird]

On 2/16/2022 at 9:21 AM, Wania said:

How are You now? I started reacting to chemicals. Its so scary all those neuro symptoms.

What kind of symptoms do you have? what kind of chemicals do you think you are reacting to?

[Wania]

I was reacting only to hand sanitizers and things that had alcohol. Now I started reacting to soaps, hair shampoo, body cleaners, generaly every chemical. Had to get rid of all of them from house. My symptoms are body burning, brain burning, electricity throughout my body, extreme panic, body jerks, akathisia.