- Where are you from (country)?
United States
- 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- fortunately this place is becoming more and more linked
- What is your current age, height, weight?
22, 6ft 1in, ~155 pounds
- Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
Yes, walking daily, occasionally running, heavy lifting 3 days a week, occasionally circuits
- What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
meat, nuts, whole-wheat, vegetables, fruit- not much processed or unhealthy
- Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
hair loss
- For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
2 days
- How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
22 years old, May 16th
- How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
May 17th was my last pill
- 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.)?
1mg
- How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
a few hours
- What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
testicular pain (slightly subsiding), prostate pain (slightly intensifying), frequent urination (not sure if this is coffee though- i drink a lot of it)
Put an X beside all that apply:
Sexual
[~] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive (unclear- I feel in some ways I have, but when your nuts hurt its kinda hard to want to do anything. Mentally I still want it- so that part of drive hasn’t disappeared, but I have a decreased urge to masturbate)
[ ] 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
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Depression / Melancholy
Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[x] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[x] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease (right testicle occasionally feels cold/ numb)
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[X] Prostate pain
[ ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[X] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[ ] Other (please explain)
- What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
started taking L-Argenine, vitamin D (2-4000 idu), vitamin E (2000), vitamin C
also horny goat weed once- not continuing with it for now though
-
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)?
-
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
The sexual side effects are something that in my mind could really be there or not. I have some day erections, ive woken up with morning wood, im just not as horny- but I don’t know if that has to do with the fact that I’ve been distracted by my ball/prostate pain. I still have sexual thoughts, and when I look at porn shit goes up without a problem, and I don’t have any problem coming to completion. In fact, the orgasms almost feel more powerful (maybe the pain receptors? lol). Also no change
- Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
I’ve learned from this 2 major things: 1) trust your instincts, and 2) don’t screw around with drugs
I had expressed interest in propecia as early as fall 2009- but after researching the drug, I heard a lot of complaints about the drug and its side effects being persistent. I was kind of concerned about it, and I went to the dermatologist about it. The doctor confirmed my hair loss, and admitted the drug could cause sexual sides, but that it wasn’t going to be persistent. Still, though I bought the bottle, I never took a pill. My procrastination continued until it slipped out of my mind. Life is short, take nioxin, and be done with it.
This past year I was traveling in South America, and at one point shaved my head. I saw how far back my hairline was, and decided if the drug still hadn’t been taken off the market, the people who had long term concerns about them were overreacting. I mean, at one point I had had some performance anxiety issues- surely it could be psychological right?
My new dermatologist only harped upon this further. He basically said it might reduce the prostate a little bit, but people complaining about sexual problems were lying to try to get money out of pharmaceutical companies. He assured me someone of my age would have no problems at all, and of course in the off chance I felt strange, I could always get off it and nothing bad would happen.
First day on the drug, a few hours on I started feeling pressure from my prostate/anus area. The whole area felt like a dull kind of pain to it. I felt a bit strange, but wrote it off- after all its a powerful drug, and of course I’d feel SOMETHING if it was impacting my prostate. Felt anxious about it, but took the next day’s pill. As the day went on, my testicles started acquiring a dull ache, and my nipples also started feeling a little bit tender. I immediately started looking up things, and found sites like these and decided to discontinue. I hoped everything would return to normal.
Wednesday felt a lot like tuesday- it was thursday that sort of freaked me out. My right testicle started hurting severely (7/10), and i felt a burning ache all the way up the ‘nut canal’ or whatever its called, leading up to my prostate. It was like something had been tugging on it. It also felt cold. I left work early, called my dermatologist, who told me there was no way it could be the propecia, but that in the meanwhile i should discontinue the drug, and if it tapers off, challenge myself and take it again. If it still hurt the next day I should see a urologist. In the meanwhile, I also felt less sex drive, but when I tried to masturbate I still fortunately could. Nothing too wrong with ejaculate projection, hardness of penis, or consistency either.
I woke up feeling better, but by the afternoon, it was killing again. I saw my family doctor- he was more understanding, confirmed there was nothing ‘explicitly’ wrong with me, and was intrigued about the class-action law suit against the drug, and admitted Merck and companies of the like hid results. He said if problems continued over the weekend he would send me to the urologist (i will probably be going this week). Friday night, I started taking vitamin D, E, C and L-Argenine. I also worked out again- first time since going off the drug (last previous time was tuesday, and i felt better afterwords). Sure enough, after some heavy lifting i felt the pain subside. Not sure if its the distraction of the testosterone.
Saturday and sunday have been better. Serious nut pain only briefly occurred saturday, and I woke up with a big erection, but the prostate pain seemed tighter so to speak, and there is still coldness of genitals and some testicular pain, particularly on the right side. Still, I got some spontaneous erections (sunlight helps lol). I took some horny goat weed, but I don’t know if that was a good idea. Initially I felt really flushed, and everything hurt more, though that declined within an hour. Today its been mostly a consistent prostate tightness in terms of symptoms. I woke up with an erection, which is relieving. I’ve also been peeing a decent amount (not sure if thats from this or coffee, again).
In general I admit I feel good- and I don’t want to be that guy who’s just off the drug and is panicking his life is ruined because I’m having some early symptoms, which are not unheard of. I know most of you guys have had your lives ruined by the drug, and I sympathize, and my prayers are with you all. I’m just wondering if theres anything you’d recommend me to do- I figure this period is pretty crucial. Should I stop drinking coffee? I heard it’s generally good for your prostate, but is that because it shrinks it? In this case that may not be good obviously. Anything I should expect or do to help my endocrine system? I already exercise, eat healthy (passed up heavy drinking this weekend), get sleep, etc, but maybe theres something else out there?
Thanks to all of you, especially Mew for making this site- if it weren’t for you guys, I’d have kept taking this poison.