25y,ma story , what a mistake!

hello everyone i’m new, i’m William.
First, sorry for my very bad english. i’m a french guy and here is my story.

  1. How did you find this forum?
    normally it was my dermatologist who prescribed me propecia… she was in vacation and i demanded to my familly doctor to prescribe propecia, he refused and told me this drug is too dangerous. So i do some research on the web and found this forum.
  2. What is your current age, height, weight?
    24, 5"11’, 206 pounds
  3. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    i run 4 time/week + abdos
  4. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
    i don’t eat very healthy but not very fat too…
  5. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
    hair loss
  6. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
    i’m so scared! i took it during almost 5 years
  7. How old were you when you started Finasteride?
    20
  8. How old were you when you quit?
    almost 25
  9. How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
    sorry i don’t understand very well this question, but i stop the drug totally (no taper off)
  10. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
    Propecia
  11. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
    1mg/day
  12. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    i don’t remember but the side effects are here!!! i believe after the 1st year
  13. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
    i stopped the drug only since 3 weeks but it was enough to see the recovery of my sexual system between day 6 and 12… Now the side effects come back! it was the paradise during 6 days, i don’t exaggerate.
    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
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[x] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

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

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

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[x] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[x] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[x] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature

[x] Other (please explain)
I am a little constrained to speak about that but my testicules and penis was smaller under the drug, when i stopped it was much better(day 6 to 12 after stopped), and now this side effect come back

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
    none

  2. 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)?

  3. Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?

  4. Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.

it’s good to see a forum like that and see i’m not alone in this case. Like i said it’s very hard for me to speak english , so excuses my faults.
i became to loss my hair at 18 years old. at 20 i decided to see the best dermatologist of my town . she told me the hair loss was genetic … She prescribes me propecia ( 1mg/day) + minoxidil 5%, she guaranteed me propecia wasn’t bad for my health and the drug has side effects only for less than 5% of the patients, she told she prescribes this drug since long time with no problems with patients… she reassured me very well.(i’m pretty sure,she has Merck actions !!!)
after the first year i was very happy ,less pilosity under my body, my hair was great and i don’t remember to have side effects …
between the 1st and 3rd years the side effects came slowly, no morning erections , less desires, testicules not full, good but not great erections during sex. i took weight even if i continued the sports , genecoplastia,i was more fat and had less muscles.
mentally it was horrible i saw my character change i was conscient, i changed,i tried to fight against that but i couldn’t…i was depressed , interested in nothing , always tired, no need to have friends.(hoppefully i have my girlfriend since 7 years because i could be worse… she help me alot).at 22 years old the myopia (a little bit) came,i always had great eyes , my familly too, now i have glaces…
these side effects was here during almost 4 years and i tried to know why!!! “why i’m like that !it’s not me!!” . i never thinked it could be this drug.
3 weeks ago i saw my familly doctor, i demanded him to prescribe propecia , he refused to do it, told me it’s very dangerous… i decided to stop it , i prefer loss my hair than the rest…
i did some research and found some french forums and propeciahelp.com.
i read the post finasteride syndrom article and i almost cried, i have many… almost all the symptoms…
all the description is very good because i had a big change and i was great during the first 2 weeks after the stop (mentally and sexually),it’s hard to describe my mentally improvement with my words but it was like paradise. i wanted laugh , go out, dance , see people, i was interested by everything, i felt sensations who was died since years…sexually,my package was bigger, i had a bigger desire,morning erections, all was fine (mentally and sexual side).
unfortunately, it was a short while in paradise (one week). Now the mentals and sexuals side effects are back.Take propecia is the bigger mistake of my life, and i did it during almost 5 years , i think my case is very very bad…i’m more than depressed.
this drug must be retired , the dermatologists who prescribes this poison and Merck should be in jail (or burn in another time).
i hope all the persons on this forum and i, will be better, i plan to passed blood tests and see a good endocrinologist(hard to find a good one in my country) if the side effects don’t disappear.
Thanks for your time, don’t hesitate to post advices.

thanks again

Will.

Will,

Please participate in Dr. Irwig’s study as he is actively requesting participants.

His goal is to publish a report on persistent Finasteride side effects. You can read more and download consent form here:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3497

Hi William, welcome to the forum. Your english is quite good, no need to apologize for it. Unfortunately, many of us know how you feel. Your problems are the same as most of the people here, including myself. I am glad you realized the cause of your problems before you continued to cause damage to yourself. Many people on this forum experienced a short recovery after quitting, before their systems crash, this seems to be the same thing that happened to you. I also took the drug for five years. Try not to worry too much, many of these side effects start getting better months after quitting the drug. I quit Propecia 1 year and 8 months ago, many of my symptoms have slowly improved. I am still not back to normal, but things start getting better over time. Some of the quickest symptoms that seem to resolve for most people are depression and anxiety along with some of the mental side effects.

Mew is right, it is important that you take the opportunity to participate in Dr. Irwig’s study. It only takes a few minutes to write your name on a paper, and put a number next to 5 symptoms, after that, they will schedule a short phone call. It is important we participate in this study, because it may help the rest of the medical community to start to take notice of our problems.

Hi william

Similar story for many of us with the crash, I have heard there’s a French anti-aging doctor called Claude Dalle who claims to have ‘healed’ propecia sufferers, maybe worth calling him.

You might also consider Dr. Hertoghe in Belgium, who has seen a few guys from this forum.

hertoghe.eu

Old post I know but:
I don’t really know what to think of doctor hertoughe.
i called him: he himself take finasteride with supplement of testosterone which seems weird and said that my problems was may
be due to a lack of testo I had prior to my ‘treatment with finasteride’…well weird diagnosis without even knowing me…

I agree. It’s quite strange he would take finasteride and testosterone. I went to an endocrinologist (kind of an older guy), and when I told him there was an Alpha Reductase inhibitor given for hair loss he was incredulous. He thought it ONLY existed for prostate enlargement, I had to make him look it up. I think an endo worth his salt should be able to quickly understand the destructive potential of this drug, as my doctor did. He was shocked they would give such a serious drug for such a non-serious problem.

oh bloody hell,
have you been in contact with the doctor you mentioned: Claude Dalle? Is there somebody in the forum who has claimed to be healed by this doctor?

blasé,
I have heared from a German sufferer who has visited Dr. Hertoghue. He has prescribed the usual stuff such as TRT etc. It seems to be similar to Dr. Shippen’s or Dr. Crisler’s approach. However, the German sufferer has not recovered.
I have been to Dr. Jacobs and he also wanted to prescribe TRT to me. However, I am scared of that as it shuts down your own testosterone production. Furthermore, I have had a bad experience e.g. with Tamoxifen and have not yet “recovered” to the previous state from that.

keepup: I think it was JG who mentioned Dalle had seen and ‘healed’ some guys, but obviously you treat that with some scepticism.
I believe another French guy has seen him, been given DHT cream and not really improved.

blase: Hertoghe said the same to me, I knew instantly the trip to see him was a waste of time. I never had low T signs pre-fin and used to shave twice a day. I asked him why things got so worse after quitting and he mentioned something about DHT, then stared into space and said ‘unless there is something I don’t know going on’. I wouldn’t even label him a PFS doc and wouldn’t advise anyone else to see him unless you are desperate and getting no help whatsoever locally.

oh bloody hell,
I am glad of every new doctor who recognizes permanent side effects from Finasteride. So it’s good news that Dr. Dalle is another doctor that could spread the information to others.