4 years off Finasteride , I cant anymore im about to go crazy

Member Stories
#1

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)?
Germany
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
What is your current age, height, weight?
25 yrs 6’4 180 lbs

What specific drug did you use (finasteride, dutasteride, saw palmetto, isotretinoin/Accutane, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, leuprorelin, etc…)?
Finasteride
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1.25 mg/ every 3 days
What condition was being treated with the drug?
Hairloss
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)?
3 yeaes
Date when you started the drug?
03.2015
Date when you quit the drug?
09.2018
Age when you quit?
21
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Cold turkey
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects?
It started after 1 Week on the drug, I still took it 3 years because I didnt want to loose my hair.
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?

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
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ x] Loss of Morning Erections
[X ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ x] Reduced Ejaculate
[X ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[X ] 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)
[ ] 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
[ ] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[ ] Hearing loss
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] 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?
Tribulus since 2 days.
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)?
I have low test (450 ng)
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.

Hello ,
At the age of 16 i noticed I was balding.
It was a shock for me , I didnt want to believe It.

At 18 back in 2015 I started to take Finasteride.
It was horrible , right away i got a pimple in my breasts that Resolved after 1 month.
I went from a Horny 18 year old to a 19 year old who didnt even think of women , who didnt get a boner in weeks. My orgasm was pleasureless , and I still took the drug till I was 21.
In this 3 years I didnt get a boner one time , It was crazy that I didnt stop earlier.
But I didnt want to go bald.
I stopped in September 2018 at the age of 21.
So I didnt get the symptoms right away after Quitting , I had them from the beginning.
Now at 25 , 4 years later It got maybe 10% better.
I have sometimes boners but my orgasm is pleasureless.
I had a women in my bed and couldnt even get It up.
Pre finasteride I got a boner even looking at a women.
I will never know what Real Sex is.
My Penis is numb , and burns on the tip nonstop.

I feel like a 80 year old men.

Now after 4 years I know I will never recover…why live ?
Nothing gives me pleasure , im numb everywhere.
I just want to fuck , I want to feel anything.
I want to have a orgasm with Feelings, when i have a orgasm its like im going to piss…
I cant live like this anymore.

The Thing is my hair isnt even Falling out , im only on Minox since 3 years.
I want to cry , but I cant , my whole body is numb.
My Penis - Brain connection is totally lost.
Finasteride destroyed my life

Self-reporting template - ONLY USE FOR FUTURE POSTS TO REPORT ANY TRIALS OF TREATMENTS, NOT YOUR INITIAL MEMBER STORY

  1. Name of the therapy/substance:
    • Dosage:
    • How often you took it:
  2. Status
    • Still using [ ]
    • Stopped with no lasting change to initial symptoms [ ]
    • Stopped with persistent change to symptoms [ ]
  3. Duration of use: Days [ ] Months [ ] Years [ ]
  4. Response when you started:
    • Greatly improved [ ]
    • Slightly improved [ ]
    • Stayed the same [ ]
    • Slightly worsened [ ]
    • Greatly worsened [ ]
  5. Current response (if you’re still using the therapy/substance) OR Response in the time before you stopped the treatment
    • Greatly improved [ ]
    • Slightly improved [ ]
    • Stayed the same [ ]
    • Slightly worsened [ ]
    • Greatly worsened [ ]
  6. Lasting changes to initial symptoms after cessation (if you have stopped for more than 3 weeks)
    • Greatly improved [ ]
    • Slightly improved [ ]
    • Stayed the same [ ]
    • Slightly worsened [ ]
    • Greatly worsened [ ]
4 Likes
#2

Hey there @ICantAnymore,

I’m sorry to hear you’ve been going through this awful experience all this time. Thank you for reaching out to us and sharing your story with us. It sounds all too familiar, as I’ve been in the same boat for three years now.

If you would like to read more about the current knowledge we have about what is going on, please take a look at these two studies:

I hope that your symptoms may still become milder with more time, but given the timeframes you have provided it is unfortunately very likely that this may not heal on its own.

I wish I was able to give you some kind of effective first-line treatment but sadly we don’t have anything like that, currently. These research results are only pieces to the full puzzle and research efforts are still ongoing. Our hope is that with enough funding and time researchers will be able to figure out a clear etiology and perhaps devise a proposal for a targeted treatment.

Despite all this bad news, you are not alone in this situation and there are things you can do to help the patient community advance in this struggle.

In any case, welcome to the forum, and feel free to reach out if you have any more questions.

1 Like
#3

I’m just a few years older than you so I can understand how you feel.

We’re supposed to be in our prime, but instead we got PFS…

You say you are using Minoxidil, maybe you should try stopping that. A few people got “PFS” from minoxidil alone. Probably won’t heal you completely but might help a little bit at least.

4 Likes
#4

Yes, minoxidil might be holding you back.

#5

I’m from Germany too. There is a German language subforum on propecia help. But not very much traffic there. The majority of them has arranged with the disease to a point of a livible life. Maybe good to read and try to contact them.

Out of this forum there is not much personal or chat group contact because it’s to rare to found a regional meeting group. I know only one German language chat group, maybe there are more. So in our daily life, we are lonley fighters. I know only three cases in Germans biggest federal state called North Rhine Westfalia.

But there are hundreds of PFS cases more, staying in the dark, hidden ashamed with their destroyed lifes. There are hundreds of young man who visited Prof Zitzmann and Dr Höller with their PFS cases. Both located in North Rhine Westfalia.

Yes, dear friend how stupid, we have been. You going on with the poison after recognizing very bad reactions, me taking the poison after reading about ED can hold on after quitting. Something can hold on for two weeks, something can hold on forever. I was a fool not to check this language gaslighting by the pharma war machine making money :money_mouth_face:

For all the young ones here like you, I hope that cancer research and gene editing techniques will once lead to a therapy.

#6

Icant,

I also would like to encourage you to report your symptoms on your national health agency.
This is absolutely an important step to do:

#7

I think it’s the Paul Ehrlich Institute and it’s not easy because they seem to me not interested in side effects reports. But do it, don’t give up. Try to connect the EU regulator agencies too. Fighting against pharma cartel. What can we loose!?

1 Like
#8

My dear friend don’t lose hope for yourself either. You never know if we’ll end up with our own Miracle of the House of Brandenburg :wink: It was very unlikely to end up here yet it happened. Who is to say we couldn’t see breakthroughs in the near future which will save us? We just don’t know. Have faith and hold the line

1 Like
#9

I’m one of the very rare cases here of PFS after treatment with proscar or generic against BPH. Only three of us active here right now. Me, @JimWildman and @Akiyah

If there was a medical reason to take it as a last resort medication instead of a prostate surgery, I would for no reason be the cry baby here, full of self pity and bad thoughts.

But it was not. I have been the garbage basket for a pharma muster package after I denied already and criminal doctor said than better not and leaving he gave it to me just to try. Without any advice to side effects. And I took it with me, without asking, without checking the internet over months. This is what fucks me down.

But reading posts like @ICantAnymore taking the poison for three years although showing so bad reactions, show me I’m not alone with life changing Missmanagement. I’m in regret for one year now, how could this happen?!

For the miracle of the house if Brandenburg I really hope for you all young ones here becoming a therapy and the future victims of the evils Mercks drug, that the worldwide news show the evils face and the evil is nuked to the back side of the sun

2 Likes
#10

I’m the same as you. I just listened to the son of a bitch doctor who told me it was perfectly safe and that I could try it for 30 days.

3 Likes
#11

Ich weiß nicht mehr wie lange ich das durchhalte mein Freund.
Man sollte diese ganzen Pharmalobbyisten hinter Gitter bringen.
Mein ganzes Leben ist durch dieses Medikament zerstört.
Tut mir leid das es dir auch so geht

2 Likes
#12

Auch für die Prostata für deren Schrumpfung das Präparat erfunden wurde, ist es eine archaische Brachial Medication, die erst unmittelbar zur Verhinderung einer OP eingesetzt werden sollte. Wobei eine Prostata OP schon bei meinem Vater im letzten Jahrhundert völlig problemlos verlaufen ist. Und ich nehme im persönlichen Ausnahme Zustand, statt eine Pulle Schnaps zu trinken und vielleicht mein Auto zu Schrott zu fahren oder in der Ausnüchterungs zelle zu landen diesen gefährlichen Wahnsinn ein.

Diesen pervesen Dreck auch noch auf unschuldige junge Männer am Anfang ihres Lebens loszulassen erzeugt bei mir nur Wut und Hass. Jeder Pharma Referent, jeder Doktor sollte den Scheiss erstmal selber schlucken und an seine eigenen Kinder verfüttern bevor er es verkaufen oder Verschreiben dürfte. Und siehe da keiner würde mehr diesen überflüssigen Müll über die Theke schieben. Was interessieren schon junge Leben, aber wenn’s die eigenen Kinder und das eigene Leben sind, dann wären sie auf einmal alle sehr zurück haltend.
Immer wieder ist es verheerend, wie leichtfertig wir uns auf ein gefährliches Medikament einlassen konnte. Auch ich habe die Veränderungen sofort bemerkt und es dann noch sechs Wochen weiter genommen.
Auch ich habe mich von den abartigen und vorsätzlichen Sprachverdrehungen auf dem Mini Beipackzettel blenden lassen. Bei jeder Sonnencreme suche ich nach Octocrylen oder Nanopartikel, in jeder Hausecke nach Asbest, bin Mikrobiologe und Umwelting. Schadstoffe und lasse mich von Dr Pfleger Pharma’s miesen kaum lesbaren Mini Beipackzettel täuschen. In Einzelfällen: ED kann nach dem Absetzen anhalten, statt nach dem Absetzen in Einzelfällen anhaltende ED, das ist klar und eindeutig. Diese Doppelt “Verneinung” in Einzelfällen kann ist Arglist! Denn diese Einzelfälle beschreiben anhaltende ED!! Und kein kann!!
Das einzige was wir für uns tuen können, ist uns gegenseitig unser Leid zu klagen, auf die Forschung oder natürliche Heilung zu hoffen und zu verstehen, dass wir alle in der irren Entscheidung diesen Scheiss zu nehmen und an die Ethik der Kontrollbehörden zu glauben nicht völlig alleine sind.

3 Likes