5 years later I hear about the lawsuit...

Member Stories
#1
  1. Where are you from (country)?

USA

  1. 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?)

  2. What is your current age, height, weight? 28 years old, 5’6, 140lbs

  3. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise? I do a lot of pushups and pull ups and play ice hockey several times a week

  4. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)? I dont pay much attention to my diet…I eat all sorts of things.

  5. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?

To try to stop hair loss

  1. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?

About 2-3 months

  1. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?

23…I dont remember exactly, waiting to get my medical records back (around spring 2007)

  1. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?

23…I only took it for a few months

  1. How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?

I started to taper down to half a pill to try to limit sides and then stopped

  1. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?

Propecia

  1. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?

started at 1mg/daily and switched to .5

  1. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?

Immediately

  1. 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
[ ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[X] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[X] Loss of Morning Erections
[X] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[X] 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
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[X] 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
[XXX] Prostate pain
[ ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[X] 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?

For several years I have seen several urologists about my ejaculation issues and prostate issues, I’ve been on several courses of antibiotics…I will fill details in when I get my records back.

  1. 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)?

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

My biggest issue seems to be my prostate inflammation, I believe that is the problem behind everything else.

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

I took the drug for a few months and stopped because of sides. The sides never completely went away but I never thought 5 years later it could still be related…I have tried to have my prostate treated several times by several doctors…I just found out about the class action lawsuit on the radio and it all became clear to me.

#2

Anymore details?

#3

I guess if you have specific questions you can ask…that’s all the details for right now.

#4

Here is a crucial detail/symptom set that I forgot since it wasn’t in the template…

[X] Painful Ejaculation, I mean this has pretty much always been my #1 complaint…and the reason I started seeing urologists before I knew about PFS. I literally feel my prostate cinch up as I’m cumming…it feels like its holding all my semen inside rather than letting it free…and I have extremely low volume. Then my prostate and urethra will itch and burn for quite a while after and it will often bother my urination, not let me piss, give me sharp sensation of having to piss and only a few dribbles will come out.

#5

A few updates guys and then I’m really hoping you can help point me in the right direction in terms of what I have to do next and what will be wastes of time and money neither of which I have very much of.

I got some medical records from my 2nd urologist I saw a few years ago. Obviously the guy writes in complete chicken scratch so I will do my best to decipher the medication courses he had me on.

However, First things first, I’ll try to recount the whole story as best I can before getting to my most recent medical records.

I took azithromycin twice at a free sexual health clinic when I initially thought I had an STI. My tests ran clean both times but they gave me a few pills each time and each time I felt better for about a day before returning to symptoms.

Upon their rec, I then went to a real urologist. The guy basically told me I was orgasming too much and too often and to ease up. I knew this was complete bullshit, but he put me on a week or two of Cipro. It worked for a few days but I returned to symptoms. I went back, he put me back on Cipro for a full month. During the course of that treatment I had ups and downs, felt great for a few days. I also started to take what he said to heart, maybe I was cumming too often, maybe my diet involved too much caffiene, spice, and alcohol? I abstained from all those for spells at a time and never noticed much difference, but I still believed deep down that it was my own fault somehow…I didn’t like that doctor because he was writing me off. He told me I didn’t have an infection and to stop jerking my dick. See ya.

A while later I go to another Urologist, I tell him my history, and from here I will try to recount what I was put on from the paperwork I have here…

really can’t make too much out but it looks like I went levaquin x3weeks, celebrex x 10 days, doxycyclline 10x10 (?)

I think there were more in there listed but I dont recall…the guy also had me on flowmax here and there if I recall and ultimately he told me he did everything he could do and kind of shrugged it off. Gave me a bunch of samples of flowmax as I left and that was it, I believe that last visit was 4/16/09. I went on with my life as best as I could, believing I had a pesky infection and that eventually I would search out a kickass doc and we’d knock it out when I had the time.

Now I ask you, please, where should I go from here, now knowing that it is likely related to Finasteride? Obviously I do not want to waste time or money, I only have insurance coverage until october and then I don’t know where I’ll be at that point…I need to do everything I possibly can between then and now at the very least.

What tests do I NEED to have done immediately? How should I be prepared to move forward with this now knowing what I know? I don’t want to chase my tail…but I know I need to make moves here now. With the news of the lawsuit I have learned of the potential that my issues are PFS related. I plan to see a new primary care phys next week… should I even bother trying to get into this with him? Should I pursue more urologists? For immediate action I want to try to take care of stuff that will be covered by insurance while I do still have coverage.

There is so much great information here but so much of it is very technical abbreviations for tests and testing and stuff, I know some of you are deeper into this than others…but where should I start here?

Any suggestions are highly welcomed, thank you all for reading. ANY questions let me know I will answer to the best of my ability.

My heart goes out to every single person here and I appreciate everyone here who is trying to help eachother.

#6

Review the FAQ:

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=7

Get bloodwork, note the shortlist few posts down:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=92

From there you can evaluate next steps.