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)? USA
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
What is your current age, height, weight?
33, 5’10, 180lbs
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.)?
1mg/daily
What condition was being treated with the drug?
Hairloss
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)?
1 year
Date when you started the drug?
May 2023
Date when you quit the drug?
May 2024
Age when you quit?
33
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
cold turkey
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects?
7 months
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
genital shrinkage, reduced sensitivity in penis, reduced orgasm pleasure
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
[ ] Loss of Morning Erections
[ ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] 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
[ x] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] 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)
[ ] 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
[ ] 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?
Nothing in particular, just healthy eating
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)?
This is my hormonal profile that I’ve collected from August 2024 - October 2024
Total test: 552 ng/dl
Free test: 10 ng/dl
Bio Avail: 285 ng/dl
DHT: 281.2 pg/mL
SBGH: 36.1 nmol/L
Estradiol: 15 pg/mL
LH 3.14 mIU/mL
FSH 2.04 mIU/mL
Prolactin 5.50 ng/mL
TSH: .3724 mIU/mL (Low)
T3: 147 ng/dl
T4: 10.20 ug/dl
Free T3: 4 pg/dl
Free T4 1.18 ng/dl
DHEA: 207 ug/dl
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.
So I had a standard crash on May 10th 2024. I was taking a combo pill of fin/minox without issue, stopped due to shortness of breath from the minox, took a 1-2 week break, and restarted with just a fin pill from hims (this is probably what screwed me). woke up in a panic, felt like my brain was hijacked by an evil entity, room spinning, pulled down my pants and watched my penis shrivel up right before my eyes. went back to sleep, woke up with brain fog. that subsided. Vain and stupid as I was, I was noticing reduced erectile quality, water retention, and reduced pleasure in orgasm about 5 months into daily fin and didn’t care! I’ve already had erectile dysfunction since 26, so i thought to myself “what else is there to lose, as long as viagra still works” hah! HAH!
From my crash onward, I ate the same stuff daily: chicken thighs/breasts, kale, spinach, onions, avacados, and asparagus. For the first few months I thought I was recovering. I’d pop above the current baseline with more “libidinal electricity”, harder erections, whatever, but then it would slide lower than before. Then I started to lose weight, started getting morning woods (moving above baseline), then id drink wine or something and id slide to a lower baseline.
Unfortunately I didn’t appreciate what i was dealing with so I decided to go test if I could actually have sex by going on a “vacation.” Banged 20 ladies of the evening with the help of cialis and daily 30 minute cardio sessions. I want to emphasize that during this entire saga, I had ZERO organic libido. I had to be pumped up on cialis and actually initiating the act of sex for their to be any arousal. During sex, it felt like I had to try harder to mentally forge the eroticism that makes sex exciting; the story that you play in your mind, if you will. It was like the picture was more distant, and less vivid. First 5-6 girls I boned, I had “delayed orgasm.” Felt like my prostate/urethra was clogged. Felt like the semen couldn’t escape my urethra, and a bit of a pinching sensation. Kept plugging along, trying different procedures such as less cialis, masturbating before sex, doing squats/crunhes. Stuff like that. Orgasms because more smooth and therefore slightly more pleasurable. Around girl #12, decided to smoke weed/drink prior, and had the most pleasurable orgasm to date! Guys, I never wanted that night to end. I went back to my hotel and just stared at the world going by, sipping a beer in complete bliss. The buildup to sex was awesome, the sex was as good as I could remember, the orgasmic release was smooth, and i even had a bit of that dopamanergic afterglow. However, as I stated before, I didn’t know what I was dealing with, so I thought I could just drink heavily everyday and everything would be cool. nope! screwed myself even more. Crippling anxiety reared its head. Took a thyroid test out of curiosity. It showed subclinical hyperthyroidism, and I felt so overwhelmed I couldn’t leave my hotel room. Had suicidal thoughts, intense brainfog/anhedonia, etc. It was terrible.
Realized I was in over my head and had to abandon ship. Came back to my home country. Psychologically, I’m “stable” now, but I still have zero organic libidinal “electric energy.” This symptom has been persistent since the crash, and is the most distressing for me. As I stated before, I already have been dealing with ED since 26, but the loss of libido is stark as hell. I used to get antsy and sexually frustrated after 3-4 days without masturbation. Now, unless i take a glance at porn, I have no urge. Ejaculate volume seems fine, but erections, sensitivity, and orgasms are now ranging in a mediocre baseline that is “ok” but sub-par. I can “endure” my existence but there’s no desire to do anything. I feel like I’m marooned on “anti-dopamine island” watching the world carry on without me. Its frustrating as hell. I used to constantly listen to music, read books, and be in search of stimulus. Now its all subdued. When I drink there’s no euphoric wooziness. I just get this empty tired feeling. Sucks.
Now all this being said, I’ve had a good life up to this point, and I’m a pretty resilient dude, but I’m scared of what path to take in terms of therapeutic efforts, but I’m willing to do whatever is in my power to get back even a semblance of dopamenergic force in my life. Doesn’t have to be 100%, I could settle for 30-40% improvement. If you guys would be willing to add a little input on my theories about therapeutic efforts, I would be grateful. I will make a separate post to talk about what I experienced doing XYZ up to this point
Self-reporting template - ONLY USE FOR FUTURE POSTS TO REPORT ANY TRIALS OF TREATMENTS, NOT YOUR INITIAL MEMBER STORY
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Name of the therapy/substance
- Dosage:
- How often you took it:
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Status
- Still using [ ]
- Stopped with no lasting change to initial symptoms [ ]
- Stopped with persistent change to symptoms [ ]
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Duration of use: Days [ ] Months [ ] Years [ ]
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Response when you started:
- Greatly improved [ ]
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- Stayed the same [ ]
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- Greatly worsened [ ]
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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 [ ]
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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 [ ]