1mg Finasteride for 6 years, then on 15mg Mirtazapine

  1. Where are you from (country)?
  • Germany
  1. How did you find this forum (Google search – if so, what search terms? Via link from a forum or website – if so, what page? Other?)
  • Google search
  1. What is your current age, height, weight?
  • Age: 28, height: 1,86 cm, weight: 81 kg
  1. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
  • I swim one day per week and play volleyball one day per week. In the next month I will start weight-lifting
  1. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
  • No special diet
  1. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
  • Hairloss
  1. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
  • 6 years
  1. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
  • I was 22 when I started to take finasteride. In Oktober 2010
  1. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
  • I was 28, when I quit. On 30th january 2016
  1. How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
  • taper off
  1. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
  • Finahair by Hexal (Propecia).
  1. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
  • 1mg /day
  1. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
  • After 6 years on finasterid I got a depression
  1. 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
[ ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[x] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ ] Loss of Morning Erections
[ ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[x] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[x] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts

Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[x] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ ] 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 (please explain)

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
  • I take fishoil supplemments und Saint Johns Wort
  1. 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)?
  • My Testosteron levels were very low. Now, 5 months after discontinuation there are normal
  1. Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
  • No
  1. Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.

Hello everyone!

I took finasteride to stop my hairloss for 6 years. After 6 years i lowered the dose of finasteride and became depressive few months later. I stoped taking finasteride but the depression was still there. 4 weeks later i went to a doctor who gave me mirtazapine. After 5 days of taking mirtazapine i had sexual problems, but i thougt that its the post finasteride syndrom. So i took a dose of 15mg mirtazapine for 2 weeks and lowered it. Then i took only 7.5 mg the next week. I noticed that my emotions were not so intensive. Then i lowered the dose and took only 3.5 mg mirtazapin the next week. And once in the morning i woke up and felt anything. My depression was gone but my emotions too. My glans was completely numb and i had no sexual interest. I was only a month on mirtazapine but took 6 years finasteride before. My testosteron levels were very low.

Now, after 4 months, my testosteron levels increased. I can have erectons and orgasms and my libido is normal, as before. But i am suffering from genetal numbness, i have no feelings in my glans. Also the sexuall intensitives towards women are very low. And my emotions are gone. I can laugh but i don’t feel joy… or i can look sad but i don’t feel the sadness intensively.
And now i don`t take any drugs.
After I stoped taking finasteride, i was very depressed. But the other things, sexuall and emotionall problems came definitely when I started mirtazapine 4 weeks after the discontinuation of finasteride. But I was very depressed and couldnt think objective… I was convinced that it is the Post Finasteride Syndrom and didn´t stop taking mirtazapine…But I think antidepressants can do a simillar damage to the body as finasteride…But at the time when I was taking mirtazapine i had a very hard depression and didn´t know about the bad effects of antidepressants…

So my question now is: what can it be? Is it a permanent braindamage? Took someone finasteride or mirtazapine and has a simillar sitaution now? What can I do about this?

It seems to me that all of the hormones associated with good feelings have been reduced --or their receptors do not function normally. All of these became abnormal after Finasteride: https://youtu.be/EY5uIyklIAQ

ie. we no longer feel love even though we may have memories of love and various desires along with the memories of gratification or happiness/fulfillment.