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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?) Googled “propecia side effects”
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What is your current age, height, weight? 30, 6ft, 132lbs,
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Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise? Running/sprinting 5 times a week, for 30 minutes each workout
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What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?No sugar, no processed, mostly organic, lots of veggys, good amount of meat/poultry, juice almost daily.
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Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)? Hair loss and to maintain young hair line
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For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)? Approximately 7 years.
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How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride? 23
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How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 29 when I quit, and it was approximately on the 1st of the new year.
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How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? Cold turkey
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What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic? Cipla Fincar
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What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? 1.25mg each day
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How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects? Saw side effects a month into it, but failed to realize it was Finasteride.
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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
[x ] 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 ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts
Physical
[x ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[ x] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[x ] Muscle Wastage
[x] Muscle Weakness
[x] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[x ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[x ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[x ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[x ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[ ] Other (please explain)
Urination issues that vary
Fat face
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What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?Haven’t done any treatments for the Finasteride YET. I was trying to treat other things for years.
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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)? I will get tests asap.
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Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
I did take Accutane before Finasteride. I believe that made the Finasteride side effects worse. -
Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
I have been on Fin for about 7 years. I dont know the exact time I started, but a real good guess would be 7 years. I did Accutane for about 6 month, for acne. It worked but at what cost. A few laters I kept hearing and seeing the adds for Propecia. I decided to order generics from the internet, as I thought a Dr. wouldn’t prescribe me propecia because my hair wasn’t even that bad at that point.
I ended up going with Cipla Fincar, and I would just split them into 4…So approximately 1.25 per pill…Sometimes they where bigger or smaller depending on the cut.
About one month into using the meds, I started to feel fatigued,brain fog, and my stuttering got much worse. I always stuttered/stammered some from when was a little kid…But the FIN brought it out. I see tripping over words and slurred speech are common symptoms. Now imagine these symptoms affecting someone that already tripped over words. 
I started to develop urinary problems. Those where the most obvious ones as it would affect my sleep. I had to keep on going to pee every 20 minutes when it was bedtime. It was a race with my prostate. I had to go pee, then get to bed and fall asleep before I have to go pee again. If 20 minutes past, I would have to make another trip to the bathroom…But there was end at the light, the urination issues stopped, but right after started bowel problems. . Bad constipation, and was diagnosed with IBS. It all went downhill from there. If two of your main elimination organs aren’t working properly, your health will fail. I just had no idea what the problem was. At the same time, my acne started to come back. I couldn’t figure it out. How come now I had constipation/ibs issues AND acne. The acne still prevails to this day and is a HUGE issue for me. Acne at 30 years old sucks.
I have NO libido. I can still get it hard at times, but deff not from any visual stimulation. I had to fake that I enjoyed the sex with the gf. I would know that I should be loving every minute of sex, but to me it is more of a chore, something that must be done.
Tried LOTS of things. I have done juice fasts/cleanses,lots of different diets, liver flushing, coffee enemas, bowel cleanses,parasite cleanses, tons and tons of vitamins, herbal blends. I was trying to to fix my body, when in fact it seems I was trying to fix the symptoms as I had no idea the FIN was at fault. Now I do, so I am on here to get on the right path.
The main things that have helped me are a clean diet, and getting regular exercise. I will call an endocrinologist tommorow morning and setup and appointment so I can get some bloodwork done.
I will start going through the threads to see what I should start with as far as supplementation. I already take Zinc and Magnesium. I did see those two so far.The other that has caught my eye is DIMM
Something tells me I will test high for estrogen.