Hello all. I was on finasteride from 2008-2019. I had side effects in 2018 & 2019 (stopped getting random erections, my libido reduced sharply over the course of 6 months, then I couldn’t get an erection even when with a woman and I also had chronic bladder issues, so much so that I thought I had prostate cancer) before realising that they were attributable to the drug and I came off it immediately. My body fell apart when I stopped taking it but things slowly improved after 3 months & 6 months. This is a short update - people disappear on this website but I wanted to share my experience for anyone interested. I log into this website about once a year but will check it over the next 4 weeks in case anyone has questions.
I’ve always been convinced I would at least 90% recover from this. If memory serves me correctly, Noniman took finasteride for about 8 years and it took him about the same amount of time to recover. Eskimojoe took it for 5 years and 100% recovered after 5 years. Those two guys were always my benchmark. I was hoping it wouldn’t take me 11 years to recover but if it does, it does. My current side effects almost fully relate to erections which have been increasing at times and then I seem to go back to square one. This never bothered me as it was something Eskimojoe mentioned happened to him quite a bit. The human body is incredibly powerful and it will fully revert. I am now 41 years old and have had sex twice in the last 2.5 years, both times using 5mg of cialis which works great apart from side effects (I get chronic headaches from it, like a beer hangover).
I have now moved home to Ireland having been a nomad for about 12 years and I think this will help me. I will give dating a go again as I want to feel somewhat normal and be with a woman, even if it only lasts a couple of months. I am confident of settling down and having kids though. I got drops from a homeopath in early December which have had a hugely positive impact on my body. My energy levels have been very low, I’ve had chronic fatigue but this is the best I felt in a long time. I also met a healer about 12 months ago who used a SCENAR device on my back to break stresses in my body. I got a huge lift from this but he is now 150 miles away which makes it difficult to arrange an appointment - as far as I’m aware, he is the only one in the country doing it. My homeopath has also recommended that I do a group class on healing and possibly see a counsellor - I think she is right if I am honest with myself. The situation we are in is extremely stressful and I harbour huge resentment against doctors and the pharmaceutical industry. She said she could prescribe me “drops until the cows come home” but it wouldn’t solve underlying psychological issues that I had, and the body won’t truly heal until I solve them. Ever since I admitted to myself that I need to speak to someone about finasteride and other incidents in my life, my body has been feeling much better. For example, my gut is working much better recently. However, I’m also well aware that speaking to someone isn’t going to magically give me normal erections again, but I feel it will speed up the recovery.
My white blood cell count plummeted to 2.5 recently and I had to meet a haematologist. He didn’t appear too worried and ordered a few more blood tests. My count was over 5 in 2017 but it fell to 3.2 in 2019 when I went downhill and it’s been below 3.5 (usually threshold for low end of a reasonable range) since then. I’m not worried about it. I also see a kinesiologist who has helped prescribe supplements which help me but there’s no silver bullet, although I am very optimistic with the progress I am making with the homeopath and think I can put a huge amount of this behind me over the next 18 months which would be at the end of year 6. My kinesiologist felt there was no leukaemia or cancer in my body and I have a follow up consultation with the haematologist in two weeks.
Any questions or comments?