Not to 'bash' any poster, but I don't know why folks seem to think Saw Palmetto will turn a guy into a woman, or eunuch. It will not. It does have generalized effects; and those can be varied between individuals based upon several personal attributes, and habits.
As a naturalist, I prefer natural to chemical. Americans are growing toward that philosophy, but there are still a vast number of people who would rather 'just take a pill' than govern their own selves. Natural takes effort.
If you use recreational drugs, smoke, drink alcohol, eat genetically modified foods or other commercial big-agricultural products, have a fondness for sweets and pastries, eat ready-made and fast foods, use plastics, wear poly-blend fabrics, and get no exercise; you are already on your way to being a eunuch or at least a 'sexless' man.
Saw Palmetto does not stop hormone production in the testicles.
Saw Palmetto does not shrink the testicles or penis.
Saw Palmetto will not make your penis numb, and I highly doubt it gave the 1st poster brain-fog either. You most certainly took it with something else for those 'results'. (Unless you consider light-headedness to be 'brain-fog'). Saw Palmetto can make some people light-headed or dizzy. BUT, you most definitely have some other ailment going on, and should go see your physician.
Saw Palmetto will shrink the prostate over time, by slowing the absorption of protestosterone, blood thinning, and lowering antigen levels (which can give you a low [or bad, or wrong] score at the doctor's office during a cancer screening).
Your prostate is a filter organ much like the kidneys and liver.
Saw Palmetto is traditionally used as prostate maintenance (purge - clean house). It is also widely used as a sexual enhancement in conjunction with other herbs like; L-arginine, Horny Goat Weed, Tongkat-ali ("Long Jack" Eurycoma longifolia), Tribulus-terrestris, Horsetail grass, Pygeum bark [sterols], Zinc, Copper, Magnesium, Selenium, Ginseng, Fenugreek seed, Ashwaganda, L-citruline (and so many others), because some erectile dysfunction [ED] problems are caused by a clogged / swollen prostate.
The prostate gets clogged with impurities, and swells up or grows around the impurities to protect the body from the antigen action of the impurities. That also can cause urination difficulties. This is a 'life-style' action, and proper function of the prostate. Modify your life-style to have a better prostate. If you don't like sex, and want nothing to do with erections, why bother taking Saw Palmetto? Just go with the flow . . .
Saw Palmetto berries were in use as food, and for several 'ailments' by native peoples prior to European encroachment on North Amarican shores.
The most researched, and scientifically studied 'modern' use for Saw Palmetto is for prostate management. It may be the most 'studied' herb in the world.
Like the flowering plant Fox glove, it was used in America for aliments prior to the pharmaceutical age, where patented products were pushed onto the people in the 1900's like the snake-oil salesmen of the 1800's. Fox glove is a powerful blood pressure medication, and chemical companies tried to patent it. That failed, so the natural was replaced with chemicals that could be patented. Saw palmetto was also a pharmaceutical preparation for a time in America.
Hundreds of research documents show Saw Palmetto can slow the production and spreading of cancers and tumors in the prostate. Studies have also shown that 88% of the men who get prostate cancer [or tumors] die of something else first. M (
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/artic ... rmful.aspx)ost prostatic cancer surgeries are unnecessary. (
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/artic ... rmful.aspx) The average man is diagnosed with cancer around the age of 80. When they are put on Saw Palmetto preparations, they improve, and do not need surgery.
Herb usage needs to be understood, and people don't like to do homework. You can't depend upon one product to make changes without knowing the whole of 'you'.
If you want to use herbs, get a 'standardized' concoction. It's always on the label (so is all the other 'stuff' - like HOW to take it [i.e. with food or water etc.]). OR, if you use wild harvested herbs; process the same way, every time, and at the same season each year.
If you want to grow breasts, study the estrogenic herbs (like soybeans). Many 'fresh' foods we eat today are estrogenic because of the pesticides in agriculture. PBA plastics cause "man-boobs". How much plastic do you use? I've worked with guys who microwave their lunches in plastic bowls every day, and drink water from plastic bottles all day.
If your 'willy' stopped working 'after' taking saw palmetto, I bet it was from something else you were also taking at the same time -- but were so accustomed to taking, you gave it no thought. Or, because you ate too much sugar, corn, wheat, or soy; and got no exercise.
Some men use Vitex agnus-castus (Chaste Tree) to increase their urine flow, for the treatment of benign hyperplasmia of the prostate, and to reduce sexual desire. Historians say that monks used to chew parts of the the chaste tree to make staying 'celibate' easier.
If you want to piss like a racehorse, start taking horsetail grass and pygeum, with the saw palmetto. After about a week, you should notice being able to 'hold your water' better, and not trot to the bathroom all night.
500 mg is the 'typical' herbal base dose for most normal humans of average weight. So, if you are average, start with 500 mg of herb until you notice results. You will not get 'over-night' results. If the bottle says 250 mg on the label, you need two (2) capsules / tablets (gel-capsules are proven to work best). After about a week, increase or decrease dosage(s) to suite your needs.