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How did you find this forum?
Google2) What is your current age, height, weight? 36 YO, 1.80m, 67Kg 3) Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise? In the past footbal, now to weak and depressed to begin 4) What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)? Variety: fruits, vegies, soaps, dairy, bred, more fish, less meat, rice, don´t like to much fast food 5) Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)? hair loss 6) For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)? 5 years 7) How old were you when you started Finasteride? 31 8) How old were you when you quit? 36 9) How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? cold turkey 10) What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic? Proscar 11) What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? 2.5 every other day, 48 hours 12) How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects? 4 years and a half 13) What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? Put an X beside all that apply: Sexual [ x] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive [ x] Erectile Dysfunction [ ] Complete Impotence [ x] Loss of Morning Erections [ x] Loss of Spontaneous Erections [ x] Loss of Nocturnal Erections [ x] Watery Ejaculate [ x] Reduced Ejaculate [ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm [ x] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility Mental [ x] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat [ x] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating [ x] Confusion [ x] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness [ x] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought [ x] Slurring of Speech [ x] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency [ x] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks [ x] Depression / Melancholy Physical [ x] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled) [ x] Penis curvature / rotation on axis [ x] Testicular Pain [ x] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness [ x] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease [ ] Weight Gain [ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts) [ x] Muscle Wastage [ x] Muscle Weakness [ ] Joint Pain [ x] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes Misc [ ] Prostate pain [ x] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion [ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems [ ] Constipation / "Poo Pellets" [ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness [ ] Increased hair loss [ ] Frequent urination [ x] Lowered body temperature [ x] Other (please explain) liquid retention on legs, but not sure if was finasteride, insonia, dificult to sleep more than 4/5 hours. 14) What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug? Abdominal ecography, Thyroid ecography, peenile ecodopler, peenile rigidometry 15) 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)? only the basics bloodtests, but i will post the relevant results 16) Anything not listed in the above questions you'd like to share about your experience with Finasteride? before and while most the time on fin i was an healthy and happy guy, now i'm a man like "80 years old" 17) Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug. Hi, here is my storie, i'm not a native english speaker, so sorry for the errors in the text. I'm from Portugal, have 36 yo. At the age of 31 (August 2004) i went to a dermatologist because of the hair loss and dermatitis. So he prescribed me Proscar because it was cheaper than propecia and some shampoons. The prescription was half a pill (2.5 mg), in 48 hours, on day i took the pill the other don't took, and so on... (now today, for me that i have much more information of this treatment, it's a weird prescription, because is suposed to take 1mg every day). I followed this regime for almost 5 years (September 2009). It did great for my hair, and the side effects where almost none, i only note that some days i had less interess for sex, but if i had sex i preform with no problems, and still have libido, now i don´t have. In the begining of 2009 i notice some erectile disfuction sometimes when i have sex, forgot things, have suden changes of mood (my Family Notice that), and some other things but don't correlate with finasteride, but now i know it was finasterde. Unfortunently i assume that i was not well informed about this drug at this time, and i was happy for not getting bald. In July had severe liquid retention in the legs, so severe at the day i can't even walk. Went to my doctor, done some exams. Ecography of thyroid - 3 nodals, wohever doc based on blood tests (T3, T4 and I think TSH) says that works well. Abdominal eco - fat liver. Doc said to be carefull whit alcool. Now that i know the whidrawal effect of fin, i can remenber, when i go drink with my friends, they say that i drink more than the others, but don't get so drunk. Now it´s rare drink alchool, if i drink a litle bit, next day i'm trash. Doc hask if i took any meds, i talk about Proscar, and asked me if i'm crazy because of taking that for the hair, said that this med is for old man threat prostate problems. I don't care too much at this point, i just want to keep my hair. I stop drink any kind of alcool and with lasix the retention has gone. September in a forum for hair loss, some guy talk about fin and is dangers,and we knows at he is talking about, some things he said: more then 1 mg per day and at the end of one year impotence. Merkc's lies about side effects, they will only subside after one year and a half in the best chances, a few people will became impotent it´s irreverssible. at last he said "please do not take 2.5, you are killing your will to have sex, you are destroyng yoursel." At this point i became very worried, i have done this for the past 5 years. I search for more information of the drug, and stop taking it. In the beggining i was fine, then in the end of the year.... "crash", i started to get depressed with no reason, just want to sleep, very weak, pennis changes, and so on..... Some docs that i went, prescribed efexor, diazepam, levitra, viagra. I don't take none. Don't want to take more meds. Talking with them about fin, you already know the answers.... it's in your head, fin don't do that, if you have simptoms they manifest while you take the drug not after you stop, etc........ But i continue the search on net to figure wath's appening to my body. Thyroid problems? Causes for ED, etc, And sudenly found this site. Found the root of my problems. After 5 months stoping the drug i'm lost, all days tired, no sleep more than 4 hours, hiding from people, they ask wath's wrong with me, well you know. When i look to my genitals more depressed i went, with the changes. Some days i think the mental, sides are getting better, but the phisical no. While on fin i don't have many appetite for food, now i eat 3x more, but since i stop taken the drug til now i lost 8kg. If i concetrate my self in sex, some times get an erection, but very soft and timeless. I try to induce my brain to think about sex, but it's not a natural thing. Sex don't lives in my brain. No i notice if i get sleep better i awake with an erection, but very week. Honestly i don't have much hope to recover from this, to have my life back, because of transformation of my genitals (death dick, almost don't see him) how i reverse this(?), my age, the long time, how and the high dose i took. I´m always thinking, that i'm became impotent for the rest of my life. I blame my self for my negligence, and let things went to this point (I was anti meds). I don´t no how much time i will suport this shit. I don't no what can i do to figth this. If anyone can tell some things that i can do for start to try some recover (alimentation, suplements, things to avoid, etc..), i will be gratefull. I know it's dificult, i see here that there are things that help some guys and do nothing to others. But any kind of orientation is god. If anyone knows if there is a european site like this please tell me. I will actualise my storie if i remember anything relevant have been forgoten. For now just want to say that you guys are brave, and none of you decerve this suffering.
Sorry for the long text