Hi everyone I’ve lurked this forum for about about a year. My background is in molecular biology and genetics so I hope my presence here can be of some use to you guys. I’ve spent many months researching a wide variety of topics as well as reading almost every post here to try to understand the condition we are dealing with. I will post my thoughts on the cause in a separate topic. Now on to my story.
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Where are you from (country)? USA
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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, “finasteride side effects”
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What is your current age, height, weight?
24, 182cm, 80kg -
Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
Sometimes regularly, sometimes not depending on body state. Pushups, crunches, moderate weightlifting. -
What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
Fairly healthy, more biased towards meat and vegetables than carbohydrates. -
Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hair loss. -
For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
About 2 years and 7 months. -
How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
20 when started. September 2006 -
How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
23 when quit. May 2009 -
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Cold Turkey -
What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
Propecia -
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1 mg -
How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
Over two years. In hindsight some side effects started very early into using the medication. -
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
[ X] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[X ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] 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)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[X ] Testicular Pain
[ X] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[ X] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ X] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[ X] Joint Pain
[X ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[X ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[X ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[X ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ X] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[X ] Other (please explain)
Very serious chronic insomnia. This is by far the worst right now.
Reduced sensation all over body, worse around nipples, genitals, face and lips.
- What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
Many supplements including:
L-Arginine
L-carnitine
Zinc
Magnesium
Niacin
Vitamin D
Vitamin E
Rhodiola
Melatonin
Phenibut
Some medication(for sleep) :
Benzodiazepines
Ambien
Mirtazapine
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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)?
Will post in blood test section. Had one blood test about a year and a month after quitting. Test showed low T, Low FSH, High prolactin. Estrogen and DHT not tested even though I requested it. -
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
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Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
Started using propecia when I was 20 because I was noticing hair loss. At that age something like hairloss becomes problem #1 in your life and a big problem at that. Didn’t notice any sexual problems until much later, but I did experience insomnia, poor quality sleep, and anxiety after a few months of use but of course I did not attribute this to the finasteride. The sleep issues came and went but weren’t bad enough to require seeing a doctor back then. After 2 years I noticed fleeting testicle pain, lack of interest in daily activities, friends, and family, worsening of sleep problems, reduction of libido, and fatigue. I didn’t think too much about it back then though, as is the case for many people here I’ve noticed. It takes the “crash” to fully ruin you and wake up. After 2 and a half years I started noticing greatly reduced testicle size, reduced genital sensitivity, major joint pains and stiffness, and some erectile dysfunction. I stopped the drug shortly thereafter.
My memory of my decline on finasteride is not as good as the memory of time around it. I remember that I felt like shit but didn’t really care that much. After stopping I quickly experienced about three or four weeks of more energy, sex drive, strength, sexual performance, happiness and will power. After that point was the crash of good feelings and a steady decline over several months to severe sleep problems, changes in penis/scrotum/perineal structure, face changes (puffy, feminine), weakness, and of course depression. By tissue changes to the genitals I mean shrinkage, rubbery feeling when flaccid, darker color, and scrotal and perineal emptiness. My symptoms are similar to MartinM in that I am very sensitive to things like caffeine, sugar, temperature, exercise, and stress. Basically a reduced ability to cope. I also had a couple episodes of severe digestive problems, with intestinal pain, diarrhea, bile in stools. Outside of these episodes I am often constipated.
Improvements over time have generally been moderate in the sexual department. I can get erections from physical contact any time. These erections are hard but feel weaker due to the tissue changes (feeling of emptiness around the area). I also don’t feel the erection that much from within. Visual stimulation can produce weaker erections sometimes but definitely not reliable. This kind of thing varies on a day to day basis. Semen is sometimes normal quality, sometimes watery. Overall it could be much worse here, but the lingering changes to the genitals are quite depressing.
The worse part of the post finasteride condition for me is the sleeping problems. I sometimes go many days without any sleep yet I don’t feel “sleepy”. I only feel fatigue or mental exhaustion. Sleep that I do get is poor quality with many awakenings and dreams where I feel I am right on the edge of consciousness or maybe not asleep at all. Sometimes, when trying to fall asleep, I can be completely relaxed but the brain will simply fail to turn off. This has been steadily ruining my life as I have vastly reduced energy or motivation for much of anything. Sleep medications aren’t very effective and tolerance develops quickly.
But enough about me, I don’t really like to talk about myself. I will soon post my hypotheses on the problem from my research over the last half year. I just want to thank the forum master for providing this site as without it we would be in a far worse situation. To the rest of you, thank you for finding the energy and motivation to post your experiences and findings on this site. It takes a great deal from people in our position to do even simple things, but what you have done is amazing.