3 months off, some improvements, will I recover little by little?

Member Stories
#1
  1. Where are you from (country)?
    france
  2. 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
  3. What is your current age, height, weight?
    24
  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    yes, running some work out
  5. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
    difficult to describe, I try to have a balance diet i think
  6. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
    hair loss
  7. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
    3 months
  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
    24
  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
    24
  10. How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
    cold turkey
  11. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
    finasteride alter (1 month) / propecia (2 month)
  12. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
    1.25mg / 1mg
  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    3months
  14. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
    low libido, loss of morning erection, more difficult to have an erection though still really possible
    Put an X beside all that apply:

Sexual
[] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction (harder to get one but now it works more or less)
[ ]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
[ ] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[ ] 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?
    none for the moment

  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)?
    post-Finasterid test : prolactine 17 ug/L (range 4 to 15.2 ug/L)

  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.

I experienced the side effects 3 months after starting and stopped right away after seeing on the internet some scary testimonies. Had I seen this after starting I would have never touched this ridiculous drug…I feel awful
5 minutes on the Internet would have save me from this bad situation.

after quitting the side effects were strong no libido at all, erection nearly impossible, could’nt sleep well, bad depression…

It has been 3 months now and I have made improvements this my state now:

-I sometime feel better: it means i can have intercourse (but not when I want sometime my body just don’t want) I can have erection triggered by my thoughts (forced it is not really spontaneaous), I can have an erection every time of the day if i stimulate strongly.
last time with my girl when I kissed her i felt aroused.
But I don’t have natural strong morning erection, I have one just because I stimulate in the morning to see if it works.

-Sometime I feel my improvements leave: i feel anxious, i can’t ‘force’ my body with my thougts as i can do when i feel better, I can have erection but it costs me.

Overall my situation is not as bad as some of the testimonies I have seen, but still i am worried… when I really remember what I was before, I feel far from it, I can’t have a whole nigth time of sex as before, i don’f feel as passionate and full of love as before, and moreover my body never really ask me for sex i have the feeling I force him to do so because I want to recover so badly.

I phoned to several physicians in France and sexologists know the problem but none of them met an ‘irreversible’ case and they all said that the maximum recovery timeframe they saw was between 3 months and 6 months.

So my main question is: do I still wait and see? it seems that between 3 and 6 months they are some complete recoveries from what I have seen on french forums.

sometime i believe what some physicians said me: I may be depressed now and that is why my recovery is longer, but i don’t feel depressed, i feel different now.

#2

Who were these doctors that were speculating upon 3-6 month recoveries?

#3

There is no way to tell if you will recover over time. Keep your fingers crossed and live healthy. don’t drink, smoke, eat junk food. get lots of rest and moderate exercise. Don’t have too much sexual activity, I would keep it to once every three days given your description. Many on here crash after a period of sexual activity such as too much masturbation.

Also, if able, have intercourse instead of masturbation.

#4

They were sexologits and andrologists. Do you want names?
They seemed to know the problem.

I made testosterone tests because I feel i must have a slight drop in my testo according to that symptoms (but I am not sure):

  • well: low libido and erections more difficult.
  • dry skin! (I saw it could be linked with lower test)
  • a bit less energy, difficulty to concentrate (but also might be linked to my concern over this situation)

My guess is that it will be in the range but I may have a lower test that I used to have…

Could a tribulis terrestris be appropriate for me?

I don’t know what to do. I feel I have lost the wonderful energy sex and libido used to give me.

But i am still wonderong if this might be linked to the psychological shock…?

#5

I just called a sexologist, very understanding, who accepted to give some advices by phone.
He says he when it is difficult for some of his patients to recover, he gives cialis the time
their brain readapt to a sexual life.

But i suppose it is when hormones are in range like some of us.

I am surprised to see that recovery within more than 3 months seem so rare. I am in contact with three young men
who had recovered in 5 months, 12 months, 6 months.

Are they so rare in the forum?

Well just to express myself a bit on the topic:
I am just so disgusted by all of this, it si painstakginly difficul to understand what is happening.

#6

please help I am becoming crazy…
here are my hormones:
total testo 21 nmol/L (8,64 - 29)
free testo 40 pmol/L ( 31-94 for 20 to 39 years old)
DHT 0,72 ug/L (or 2,48 nmol/L) (0,33-1,2 or 1,13-4,13)
FSH 2,8 UI/L (1,5-12,4 UI/L)
LH 3,6 UI/L (1,7-8,6 UI/L)
Estradiol 31,8 pg/ml ( 7,6-42,6 pg/ml)
prolactine 16,9 ug/L (4-15,2 ug/L)

all is in range!! expcept prolactine but every physician told me it was not pathological just a little bit above.

I cried like a child this morning I can’t take anymore some sexologists adviced me to stimulate to recover. I am doing this
for mecanicaly for a a month and an half now and this morning I could’nt even get it up. I am feeling more and more depressed.

I don’t understand I had several short “nearly recoveries” but it has all gone again now…

For me: the only thing which helps me is sunbathing! But my testo is quite well (i was feeling bad when I did theses tests) so why do I need sunbathing? (I read sun-> more vit D -> more testo, but my testo is ok)

I can’t take it anymore, all my projects are ruined now, i was at critical point of my life…

what do you call a crash? I experienced severe drops in my libido an ability to have an erection but my hormones are ok…

#7

A crash is when you feel extremely weak, your muscle tone goes away, you often lose weight 10-20 lbs due to the muscle loss, your libido goes to zero, your penis shrinks to half to a quarter of its size, your penis often times changes shape and becomes bent, you cannot sleep, your testicles shrink and are under acute to immense pain, your penis and scrotum feel like rubber, your beard growth halts, your body hair growth halts, your skin becomes very dry, your complexion changes to a pale gray, your eyes have dry dark circles and then become hollowed out after a few months, you notice the on set of fat deposits in the abdomen and breast areas, general joint aches and pains, loss of body oils in the skin and hair, constant bone creeking and popping, loss of facial structure, prostate pain. And many more items.

This all happens in the time frame of days/weeks. It changed my life forever and should not be used as a colorful metaphor for any random ill feelings as a result of this drug.

#8

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=5076

view this thread. YOU are in France. Greece is not that far from you. See this doc, and see if you have prostate inflammation… Its really that simple, if you want to start feeling better…

#9

Yes I am from this.
I experienced some of this symptoms just after quitting the drug:

  • reduction of my penis size
  • insomnia
  • penile numbness and total disconection from the brain
    It lasted two weeks i feel really better now compare to this state.

It is very intersting. thank you very much.
It has been two month now that my penis recovered its normal size but one week ago the size of the top began clearly to decrease (in erection and at rest ) I have lost sensitivity and it doesn’t help to recover: when I am able to feel aroused I can’t reach a total strong erection because it this area that when stimulated that once gave me the pleasure to get it up strongly.

I fear that I have a bad irrigation in this area and the tissues are going to deteriorate.

#10

Hi Blase,

I’m new here much as you are, and our stories have some similarities (you can read my full story also in “member stories”). If I understand you correctly we also quit more or less at the same time.

It is my feeling that the best approach for us is to be optimistic and to believe that this will indeed go away after a few more weeks or months. Living well seems to be the best treatment, and I really do believe that it’s the best way to wash away the various poisons that our bodies have been accumulating with this drug…

The only other thing that I will start doing (hopefully this week), is to start seeing qualified doctors to try to rule out or diagnose any other condition that may be happening.

The thing is - nobody really knows why and how all this is happening so our best bet is to be optimistic, live as well as we can, and try to treat ourselves as best we can.

I’ve had the privilege to meet someone with cancer a few weeks ago. Basically, he was just told that he only had a few months to live - and this was without any warning. A CT result came in and Bum! The thing that really inspired me about it was his optimism and his approach - to simply try to live as well as he can for as much as he can, even in this very dire situation…

I’m sorry if I sound out of context or a bit confused - I am very confused, but basically I’m trying to encourage you to stay optimistic and to take care of yourself…

I hope to be hearing good news soon!

#11

Ho worried9876,

I already know your story I’ve read it.
I noticed that you had the same symptoms as I have : the libido increasing and dropping.
This drove me crazy.

Unfortunetaly for myself it is not good news: a shrinking of my glans (less blood in it i suppose) began 2 weeks ago.
I now can’t really touch it because it looks fragile.
I may have also some slight pains in the pelvian zone (prostate?)…
this is exhausting.

I think I am pretty much recovered in the hormonal area, I feel the connection with my genitals but it is like the blood flow can’t enter anymore… (well : suppositions).

but for your case stay optimistic: I was in contact with three french young men which had the symptoms you have.
You have to stimulate if you can. for one of them it was difficult it took him more than one year he was followed by a sexologist who gave him cialis to keep him being active sexualy. Now he is still on cialis but with a very low dose and he is going to stop in a few months.
For the other two they recovered in 5 months…

#12

Hmm… I’m not sure if I should be glad after hearing your news, or sad… It sounds that what your going through is more difficult than what I’m currently having… But the story of these 3 men does seem to give some hope… Today I am sort of hanging between hope and despair, but still trying to stay positive. I still believe that this is the only thing to do.

It seems from your story that France has a lot of knowledge about this syndrome. I remember that you described a number of doctors who said they know it, and now you somehow found 3 men who had it… How did you find them? Which doctors did they go to? I’m sure a lot of people here including myself would very much like to hear about this as it seems that any medical experience with this syndrome seems to be priceless.

#13

Hello
Are your hormones in range?
Mine are ok.
Here in France i had some advice: they think that when your hormones are in range it is a psychological vicious cycle that
is causing a difficult recovery.

For the moment I can have erections, I felt a kind of libido yesterday. It is just giving me hope but well
it is not me.
I am going to be believe the psychological theory for one or two month I don’t have the choice ( I don’t feel
that depressed or anxious, I am sometime affraid by the situation but can it be to the point of killing my sexuality ??)

But well may be it is unconscious, i am going to take cialis for one month as they adviced me and I 'll see if it is get me back on track.

Did you check your hormones?

#14

My testosterone is in the lower third of the range. As far as I understand this is not too good…

I don’t know whether this applies to our situation, but I’ve been told by my therapist that testosterone is affected by your psychological state, and especially the “feeling of manhood”.

If you want to try this thing, I would advise trying to do only the things that you are good at and that make you feel good, as much as you can. Also, if you can have sex - this will probably be good too, if you don’t over do it. Being around beautiful women is another thing to do (if it is not too painful).

Also, if you want to feel better you may consider staying out of this site for these next one or two months. We will miss you here, but your health is the most important thing now…

#15

yes
that is waht i ma going to do…
I hope to come back in some months with good news.
I wish you luck.

#16

update.
I failed, my PFS is worse than before. I reached complete impotence and not being able to have an orgasms. I don’t talk about other symptoms.
I managed to get results with several treatment but the bad trend went on anyway. In my case i became very sensitive to orgasms even if i tried not to do it too often and i reached the point where i couldn’t do it at all.

Sad thing is my PFS is almost diagnosed now but i can’t find a way to reverse it:

  • pudendal nerve is ‘trapped’ by inflammation, and may be damaged (exam :specific EMG and ultrasound with docs best in this field)
  • the cause of this inflammation initially at least is a weird reaction to yeast (in my case)…I know how controversial it is but what i did can prove it.
    it : - 2012 took antifungal amphotericinB similar to nystatin inspired by IHP recovery (a hero to me, going this way was really smart) it worked very well for me but with very high doses! Fluconazole worked also alone for me so yeast became the enemy.
    Unfortunately I wanted docs to help me with this new informations and they made me stop…big mistake. I won’t go into details but at one point antifungal didn’t work anymore.
    • 2013-4 I was desperate I thought may be yeast was not problem anymore or I built resistance.
      I also wondered how brain fog could fit in my ‘diagnosis’ doing so I stumbled upon Chronic Fatigue victims (complaining of brain fog) who were followed by an immunologist who had noticed that these patients had some sort of allergy to their own gut flora. So I tried a desentization to yeast and it worked!!! again i won’t enter into details it was chaotic sometime but the point is when I was injected c. albicans allergen it triggered (or soothed at very precise dose) my smptoms withtout the slightest doubt…in allergology it stands as a diagnosis. Moreover all my blood test (legit immunology tests) are positive and showed my immune system was abnormaly triggered against c. albicans.
    • 2016 after 2 years of desensitization…It enabled me to work; some injections were so good (I inject the allergen and hours later everything is good the inflammation was going down, erections came back etc.) that it gave me lot of faith. Unfortunately after one year effects were not as good… again i can enter into details later but 2 things might have played against me: very sensitive to orgams which seemed to flare up my inflammation and another issue with concentration of allergens but again too many details…
    • 2016 I did 3 fasts…all of them yielded results when refeeding…But…i became so sensitive to orgasms that they made me relapse even when nocturnal ones…i still can’t believe it.

To sum up:

  • pudendal nerve is trapped by inflammation. We msut realise the importance of this nerve. It plays a big role in the overall balance of your body as your brain needs to just know your genitals are here and secrete hormones accordingly and then create…emotions.
    I had several level of entrapments and I can defintely feel severe anhedonia settles in if it is blocked too much.
    The doc who diagnosed some of us say his normal patients all have somme degree of loss of identity/motivation etc.

  • Cause of inflammation…the most controversial part. keep in mind that the nerve is not too far from the guts…
    I understand why it makes lot of people cringe when we mention it. Because it is true that from an external point of view when you browse the web it can smells like scam…
    But without a doubt a lot of us have issue with the little bugs living in our guts (antibio worked for some) and for some of us it happens to be c. albicans/yeast. Don’t forget that a lot of medication have been incriminated in front of courts to trigger IBS or Crohn disease (which are in same spectrum of diseases) so it doesn’t make our case less valuable.
    What I have in the balance to be so sure :
    - 2 different antifungal worked/ IgA directed to c. albicans/ CD4 CD8 over activated in presence of candida/ and the most important injection of c. albicans antigene triggered my symptoms. (also a lot of natural antifungals had some impact but less)

The link is not completelly clear:
allergy located in the guts -> inflammation -> impact on the nerve close behind
infection -> bugs infiltrated the gut lining to the region of the nerve -> inflammation blocks the nerve…

Hormonal imbalance can trigger a whole variety of immune diseases, wether it is completely auto-immune or auto allergic which seems to be the case for IBS or Crohns (allergy to one own gut flora), or letting opportunistic infections take over because of the temporary weakened immune system.

I stop here for now I am tired. Please for the opponents of the last point don’t be triggered, i tried my best to recover without prejudice don’t want to push a theory that is what I stumble upon searching a way to get better as weird as it may seem.

1 Like
#17

hopefully all of us will get better.