15 days off - hi from Old Europe
1) How did you find this forum?
Google & alopezie.de
2) What is your current age, height, weight?
38 year old male, 192cm (6’ 4"), 85 kg (188 lb)
3) Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
No.
4) What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
Balanced.
5) Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hair loss.
6) For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
3 months (mid April - mid July 2008)
7) How old were you when you started Finasteride?
38 years
8) How old were you when you quit?
38 years
9) How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Stopped immediately.
10) What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
Fincar (by Cipla)
11) What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1.25 mg/day
12) How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
10 days
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
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[X] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[X] Slurring of Speech
[X] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[X] Depression / Melancholy
Physical
[X] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[X] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[X] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[X] Muscle Weakness
[X] Joint Pain
[X] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[ ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
Other
[X] Red eyes
[X] Puffy eyes
[X] Less clean skin (face, back)
[X] Increased sweating
[X] Falling asleep less easily
14) What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
At the moment I’m just concerned about my sick look which is caused by the “eye-syndrome” mentioned above.
I expect the typically hormonal side effects (libido, ED, weight) will persist for another 2 or 3 months, after that I will be worried.
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)?
No blood tests made.
16) Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
–
17) Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
I took Cipla Fincar a generic Proscar (1.25 mg/day) for 3 months and stopped taking it some 2 weeks ago; most of all because I have dark circles under my eyes - people really asked me if I was sick. I wasn’t surprised about the other side effects which - after reading a lot before taking it - were expected (to be irreversible).
I definitely got another “deep” wrinkle under both of my eyes - it looks like I’ve aged 5-10 years within 2 or 3 months! It seems to be a loss of fat around the eyes that causes this look - most of all under the eyes and towards the nose.
I tried to make a comparison chart with pictures that were taken within 2 years before I started with finasteride (on the left) and a picture I took yesterday (with the webcam): [URL removed]
I used compresses from Optrex which helped temporarily (8-10 hrs) but you should only apply this for 2-3 days not longer so it’s no permanent relief.
Today I’ll start with Hylexin which is more like a cure so I got no results yet: bremennresearchlabs.com/hylexin/
I fear this so-called “sunken eye” phenomenon is mostly irreversible - at least postings in this forum and on alopezie.de concerning this issue and dark circles made me pessimistic.
I hope my English was understandable enough 
eye_doubt