- How did you find this forum?
Google. I think I was searching for “finasteride osteopenia”.
- What is your current age, height, weight?
34 years old, 5’9", 153 lbs.
- Do you exercise regularly? If so, what type of exercise?
Off and on. I lift weights a few times a month and bike about 200 miles per month.
- What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
I generally don’t eat red meat and avoid fatty foods for the last 15 years. It is surprising that I have high cholesterol.
- Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hair loss. My hair started falling out pretty fast when I was 18 … When I was around 22-23 my family doctor prescribed me propecia and it worked great! My hair even grew back some.
- For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
About 11 years.
- How old were you when you started Finasteride?
22 or 23.
- How old were you when you quit?
- I quit ~ 5/17/2012.
- How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Cold turkey. I was planning to taper, after I was diagnosed with osteopenia, but when I started to have pain in the surface of my penis, I quit cold turkey.
- What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
For most of the last 8 years I was taking Proscar and cutting it into 4 pieces, since it was cheaper. For the last few months it was generic finasteride as that’s what the pharmacy gave me.
- What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1 - 1.25 mg per day.
- How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
After about 11 years.
- What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
[ ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ ] Loss of Morning Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate - some
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate - some
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Muscle Wastage - triceps so far
Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[ ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
Extra
Decreased acne
Leg muscle pain - especially calves - for 6 -9 months before quitting - still ongoing.
- What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
Nothing so far.
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If you have pre or post-Finasteride bloodtests, what hormonal changes have you encountered since discontinuing the drug (pls post your test results in the “Blood Tests” section and link to them in your post)?
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Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
The surface of my penis has gotten progressively more sensitive in a BAD way (hurts, not pleasurable). This started about 2-3 weeks before I quit (I had first thought it was cycling related) and has continued now 4 weeks after I quit.
My sex drive started wiping out about a month before I quit. It spiked for a few days after I quit, then disappeared, but now seems to be back somewhat.
My leg muscles (especially calves) had been sore for about 6 months but I thought it was exercise related…I even thought I needed to buy new shoes.
- Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
Besides what I said above (#16) I have had a lot of aches and pains, depression, confusion, trouble focusing/remembering, slurred/mixed up speech, low energy, and low body temperature for years, but I just thought it was normal for me. I took a lot of antidepressants and I am not sure that this could all be blamed on finasteride.
I’ve had prostatitis for about 1 year now but it was preceded by urethritis, probably bacterial (though antibiotics can’t treat it now) so I don’t think it’s strictly finasteride related.