Welcome to our community. Please fill in the following template as a way of introducing yourself, and helping others to understand your background and situation.
Where are you from (country)?
USA
How did you find this forum
Googling persistent finasteride side effects
What is your current age, height, weight?
25, 6 ft, 150lbs
What specific drug did you use
finasteride 1 mg
What dose did you take
1mg/day
What condition was being treated with the drug?
hair loss
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)?
3 weeks
How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start the drug?
25, July 15 2018
How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
25, Aug 10 2018
How did you quit
cold turkey
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects?
3 weeks
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
ED, Gynecomastia, Loss of Libido, delayed orgasm, watery ejaculate, genital numbness, testicular pain, low body odor, Depression, Mood swings,
Check the boxes that apply. You can save your post first, then interactively check/uncheck the boxes by clicking on them. If your symptoms change, please update your list.
Sexual
[x] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[x] Erectile Dysfunction
[x] Complete Impotence
[x] Loss of Morning Erections
[x] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[x] Watery Ejaculate
[x] Reduced Ejaculate
[x] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[x] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[x] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[x] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[x] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts
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
[ ] Weight Gain
[x] 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
[ ] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[ ] Hearing loss
[ ] 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?
Various supplements, vitamin d, zinc, turmeric mostly.
If you have pre or post-drug blood tests, what hormonal changes have you encountered since discontinuing the drug (please post your test results in the “Blood Tests” section and link to them in your post)?
no prefin blood tests, post fin blood tests all normal
Test - 570 ng/dL
Estradiol - 23 pg/ml
FSH - 2.8 mIU/mL
LH - 5.5 mIU/mL
Prolactin - normal
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience?
Tell us your story, in your own words, about your usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
Took the drug for 3 weeks, was dating a new girl around the same time. Noticed big increase in libido, erections all the time from just holding hands. around the third week I noticed intense testicle pain one night after a long date with gf. We were doing intimate but non sexual things for hours, had frequent erections but gf was not comfortable having sex yet, wrote the pain off to blue balls maybe it was or maybe it was related to fin. Next day had sex, very delayed orgasm (for me at least). Has sex again next day with same result. Third day I could not maintain an erection at all. Realized it was probably finasteride and stopped the drug. Next day I noticed chest soreness which eventually became gynecomastia. Week 1 off fin I was impotent, breast pain continued. week 2 off fin I was backpacking for 5 days in mountains, very intense physical exercise, lost 5-7 lbs, was able to get half erections. Week 3 I was back from hiking and was able to get a full erection and masturbate but it was extremely difficult. Week 4-6 I was back to having sex easily, sometimes delayed orgasm, sometimes not. 1 in 5 times I couldn’t maintain an erection but I figured I was improving, some weekends I was having sex 4 times. Week 7 ish I began declining couldn’t get hard to masturbate, couldn’t keep erection with gf, gyno was still getting worse. been this way since, started getting panic attacks, depression, etc. I am hoping these are just from my man boob and limp penis stress but unsure. Currently I have noticed some nocturnal erections, I can get decently hard to masturbate, and I can get hard with my gf but it dies a few seconds into sex, I can orgasm through oral sex however. Anyway it looks like the breif recovery I had didnt last too long and I am back to pretty much sexual dysfunction. I am miles away from my previous sexual feeling. At 25 I was still getting erections like I did in 8th grade for no reason at all, I would get erect the moment girls would touch me and last about 2 seconds in bed.
The thing that I am most curious about is my gyno, it just keeps getting worse and I stopped the drug the exact same day I felt the soreness (before any noticeable growth). The sexual and mental sides seem common around here but not so much increasing gyno after stopping.
Tl;dr
Side hit at 3 weeks, recovered decently in the next 2-3 weeks, then got worse.