17 year old story (need help)

Member Stories
#82

I’m so sorry to hear of your situation mate. Can you do any light exercise? might help with your mental state. At least you’re getting good support from your family? Is there anything that helps take your mind of the situation? seems to help me allot. Its important to remember that none of this is your fault you were prescribed this drug at such a young impressionable age.

I can’t guaranteed you’ll ever be 100% the same but you’re Young and should be optimistic that you can improve with time, and be able to live a good life. There are allot of stories of people improving with time on this site, and rarer but not uncommon full recoveries. I think you should be looking forward to seeing Dr Jacobs he sounds like a great doctor who will take your situation very seriously. You have many treatment options to explore. How are your other symptoms are you sleeping OK? That could be making allot of the mental issues worse which is half the battle.

#83

I still can’t believe a doctor could be that negligent to prescribe finasteride to a 17yr old. I hope you get better man, hopefully some form of hormone therapy helps.

2 Likes
#84

I feel a bit better when I do light exercise and I can sweat from playing some basketball or something. It’s more so a temporary distraction than soemthing that helps me cope. I was optimistic for a while but just seeing myself get worse is really hard. I already had a tough time before pfs with going through life. And the pill thing is my fault, sure I had it prescribed but I read all the side effects and I knew some guys had pfs. It’s all on me and I’ll never be able to live that down.
And yeah my sleep is mostly normal. Sometimes I’ll wake up once in the middle of the night but that’s it.

#85

It’s on me for pushing my parents to find a doctor to prescribe it though. I’ll never live that down. And not sure my parents would be open to any procedures as they want to be natural with things.

#86

just because you were aware of ‘reports’ on the internet, which is treated by many as rubbish spewed by conspiratorial hypochondriacs, doesn’t mean you were properly informed about the risks of taking this drug.

Reading internet stories is a far cry from being properly informed by the medical community about what the exact risks of taking this drug are (which is very unclear thanks to Merk). You should have been clearly informed by professionals that life altering side effects are a possibility, not just some sort of internet mass hysteria. You’re 17 for Christ sake you should never have been prescribed this drug In the first place, let alone disseminate what the real risks of taking finasteride are.

The medical community’s complacency and the outright greed of the pharmaceutical industry is the real culprit here.

1 Like
#87

Started getting pains in my bones around my body, mainly fingers although sometimes wrists, arms, feet. Nothing major but it’s there occasionally. My dad said I can make an appointment to see Dr. Alan jacobs next month, a doctor who recognizes PFS.
Mentally this is all so hard to take. My depression is at an all time high. I struggle to look at my girlfriend these days and not break down thinking about good things could’ve been if I hadn’t taken propecia.

#88

What do you guys think I should do going forward? I’m seeing an endo next month and getting blood work done. Gonna start exercising and eating a bit better. Should I look into any protocols?
Here’s my current symptoms:
-low libido, weaker erections
-changes to penis tissue (curve to left, hourglass, skinnier and smaller flaccid)
-facial changes (loss of fat in cheeks and eyes, smaller chin, smaller face in general, maybe skinnier neck) only noticeable to myself and others if I point it out but still bothersome
-slower hair loss
-loss of fat in butt (hurts when I sit for too long)
-twitches around body (mainly at night)
-mild pain in jaw, hands, wrists, arms, butt, etc sometimes during the day (mostly fingers) (might be bone loss)
-head/ear pressure (might just be from stress)
-depression
Keep in mind everything besides sexual appeared in January, after I had been almost normal after my crash in November.
What do you guys think my chances of recovering are? I know my face fat won’t come back but I just wanna feel normal again, and I don’t wanna lose bone or more fat or penis size or anything. Am I a severe case? I’m bad everywhere except mentally.

#89

Sexual sides are worsening. Was able to maintain decently hard erection from my crash in November up until like January-ish. Now, my erections are getting softer and softer. Don’t know if I can have sex this way

#90

Hi everyone. My erections may be slightly better, although it’s now been like 3 weeks since I masturbated so not sure if that means anything.
-face wasting continues: now have some wrinkles under my eyes and I continue to look more tired and skinny
-neck has gotten skinnier (felt pain at the peak of the muscle loss)
-fatigue has been hitting the past few days, my eyes have felt so heavy and I just want to sleep
-just noticed this last night, my gums are receding! I felt a sensation in my teeth which made me notice. It’s worse on one side but not too bad, it’ll probably get worse though as everything does. Extremely scary.
-muscle twitches remain
-depression is sky-high. Have never felt this low.
The good things (I think) that I can say about my body are that I still sweat, have body odor, have hair fall, and get an oily forehead. Also had morning wood this morning for the first time in a bit. Also no brain fog or anything.
All in all I’m feeling like this will not get better. I’ve gradually worsened in 4 months. I’m not the type of strong person to deal with this kind of thing. I’ve always been weak and my response to a little bit of a receding hairline was proof of that. I feel bad saying this but I can’t help but feel suicidal the past few months. Started seeing a therapist.

#91

It’s insane that I just wanted to stop going bald in high school and be confident in my image and I’m punished with this hell. And not that I care about it anymore, but my hair is still falling out just as a punch to the gut for all of this. I’m watching my body just deteriorate, it would’ve been much easier to deal with sexual sides than this physical bullshit. I’m scared for what the state of my face, mouth, and the rest of my body will be in 6 months.

1 Like
#92

Yeah, I agree. Right now I’m also at the point where my hairloss continues yet my sexual sides are worse than ever. It would honestly be a lot easier if it didn’t but it is what it is. I know how frustrating that is. And you can’t do anything about it as you may feel worse in the end.

#93

Do you have physical sides? I got them in the past couple months and it’s been so painful to see. I’m watching my 17 year old body age 20 years in a a few weeks.

#94

Fortunately no physical side effects that I have noticed. But I have bad sexual dysfunction along with very low exercise tolerance.

#95

You were not weak to opt for the solution that science has put forth to remedy genetic alopecia; a solution which the FDA, a federal agency of the United States of America responsible for protecting consumers from rogue products, deemed appropriate and safe to sell to human beings. Is the President of the US “weak” for using the product? Are the self confessed celebrity users of the drug? Don’t blame yourself for this, most people, male and female, react with dismay at their hair falling out and not growing back.

As you’ve had symptoms persisting for more than three months, please take our Post-Drug Syndrome Patient Survey.

The survey can be accessed through the bar-graph icon at the top of your screen after you have posted a member story, and remember, the survey can be halted at any time and continued at a later time/date.

1 Like
#96

I will do it now.

3 Likes
#97

Chances are you will improve boss. Try to take care of yourself the best you can. The physical symptoms you can get from this bullshit are the absolute worst. Any issues with your skin or muscles thus far?

2 Likes
#98

Hey man. I don’t think I’ve had any muscle/skin issues around my body as of now, but the skin on my face and neck has gotten more loose from loss of fat. I may be losing some weight all around although nothing I can notice besides face/neck/butt.

I’ve seen your posts for some time now, and you’re an absolute trooper for dealing with those awful symptoms you have. I wouldn’t be able to. I really hope you get better man.
And I hope we all get a cure in some years, because I don’t think I’ll improve naturally. I think the only guys who improve are the ed/brain fog guys, not the body deterioration guys.

#99

Yeah man I got absolutely destroyed by this shit. It really blows my mind. Metabolism, muscle activity, and androgen function completely stopped. I’ve been hoping it would improve with time and just trying to balance stress but it hasnt, so that’s why i’m trying Clomid and Cytomel. My whole young adult life i’ve worked so hard to get into PT school and make a good future for myself and now all of it is in jeopardy. Taking a year off to go live with my mom and try to get some improvement. It’s a god damn mess we’re in man, but yes I hope that you get some improvement also, even if just a little.

2 Likes
#100

Hi guys. These are my current sides:
Sexual: -curvature in penis which happened right after crash (stayed the same)
-slight slight ED, doesn’t bother me too much as I can still get hard when I need to
-possible lower libido
Mental: -depression and anxiety which may or may not be induced by the drug. I’ve always had these.
Physical: (this is most of it)
-facial wasting: fat loss under eyes and in cheeks, stretchy skin, wrinkles under eyes and dark circles
-smaller jaw
-gum recession
-fat loss on butt (numb when sitting for too long)
-brand-new, weight gain around my mid section. It isn’t too bad but I don’t know if it’ll progress. Gonna exercise to combat it
-neck might be a bit skinnier although hard to tell
-occasional pains in muscles (hands, face, arms) although nothing bad
Symptoms that have improved or gone away: -brain fog is almost completely gone
-pins and needles in hands and feet were bad in December and are uncommon now
-sleep is better
-ear pains are gone
-erections a lot better than they were a couple weeks ago
-dry eyes gone
-muscle twitches are less common than they were 1-2 months ago

That’s all that I can think of right now. Obviously the physical sides are the worst for me. Everything else is very tolerable. This sudden weight gain in the midsection has me very nervous, as I’ve always been very skinny and it’s been hard for me to gain weight my whole life. I have an endo appointment in June. It’s impossible to get bloodwork done any sooner due to coronavirus.
I know I have it a lot better than some. My days are basically normal and my quality of life is still solid. I’m just very worried about what my body will look like soon. If I didn’t have the physical symptoms I’d be so happy. I’m currently taking probiotics to combat them. I don’t want to take medications like clomid in fear of a stronger crash. Any advice?

#101

What are the things that make you improve?