-
How did you find this forum?
Did research online to determine the long term side effects of finasteride -
What is your current age, height, weight?
29, 165 cm, 74 kg -
Do you exercise regularly? If so, what type of exercise?
Typical exercise includes, free weights, running (between 10 and 30 km a week), swimming (between 1.5 and 3 km a week). -
What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
A mostly asian diet. A lot of fresh fruit. Fresh fish. Red Meat. Rice and noodles as the main source of carbohydrates. I avoid fast food if at all possible. -
Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hair Loss -
For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
5 years -
How old were you when you started Finasteride?
23 -
How old were you when you quit?
28 -
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Cold turkey, based on the advice of an endocrinologist. -
What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
Proscar -
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
A ¼ tablet of proscar per day. -
How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
In retrospect, the side effects were immediate, but I didn’t attribute them to the drug. In retrospect the side effects were clearly increasing in severity. It was only when my immune system plummeted, and I did the research into Propecia, that I made the connection. -
What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
I have a clear distinction between symptoms during use, one month after, three months after and current situation and therefore will describe my symptoms as such.
Put an X beside all that apply:
While using Finasteride:
Sexual
[ ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction (sometimes during initial use first time)
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ ] Loss of Morning Erections (loss of morning erection strength became more noticeable towards the end of finasteride useage)
[ ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[X] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[X] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[X] Confusion
[X] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[X] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[X] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks (I would even describe this to my friends. I’d be sitting on a tropical beach with no worries in the world, and would feel extremely anxious, with sweaty palms)
[X] Depression / Melancholy
Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[X] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[X] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[X] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[X] Joint Pain
[X] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[X] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[X] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[X] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[ ] Other (please explain)
[X] Constant Dehydration (I was practically downing water all the time, my thirst was never quenched)
[X] Very Low Immunity
[X] Spotty (pimply) outburst on my chest, and arms
[X] Fat on my hips
[X] Fever
[X] Cold Sweats and Night Sweats
[X] Lower back ( kidney) pain
One Month After:
Sexual
[ ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] 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)
[X] Frequent Erections
[X] Super Horny
[X] Increase in Sex Drive
[X] Strong Night and Morning Erections
3 months after:
Sexual
[X] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive ( I went from daily sex to fortnightly/monthly sex)
[X] Erectile Dysfunction (very soft, weak erections, difficult to maintain an erecton)
[ ] 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
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[X] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[X] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[X] Depression / Melancholy
Physical
[X] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[X] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[X] Testicular Pain
[X] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[X] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[X] Weight Gain
[X] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[X] Muscle Weakness
[X] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[X] Prostate pain
[X] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[X] Tip of Penis very sensitive
[X] Premature Ejaculation (ejaculation while penis still flaccid)
[X] Orgasms weren’t satisfying
[X] Tip of Penis very sensitive
[X] Response to manual stimulation is poor
Currently:
Sexual
[X] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive (not as great as it used to be)
[X] Erectile Dysfunction (sometimes)
[ ] Complete Impotence
[X] Loss of Morning Erections
[X] Loss of Spontaneous Erections (especially after a few beers)
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[X] Watery Ejaculate
[X] 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
[X] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[X] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[ ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[X] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[ ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[X] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[ ] Other (please explain)
[X] Tip of Penis very sensitive
-
What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
I’ve tried juicing and eating a healthy portion of red meat and fatty fish, coupled with intense cardiovascular exercise, intense weights and sprinting. I’ve tried occasionally supplementing with a multivitamin, Zinc Orotate, creatine and CLA to help me lose weight. -
If you have pre or post-Finasteride bloodtests, what hormonal changes have you encountered since discontinuing the drug?
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5920 -
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
I started keeping a diary of my diet and exercise to try and find out what works best for me. -
Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
During use (Approximately May 2005 to April 2010):
My desire was generally normal, sex and masturbation was pleasurable, and on some occasions, I could ejaculate 4 times a day. In retrospect I realized that night time and morning erections started to wain in intensity. As mentioned above I was always physically tired and very thirsty (I’d just stand at the water cooler, downing water), and I always had black rings under my eyes. I picked up weight on my hips and chest. My kidneys would ache constantly. My testicles would ache in the same way they did when I’d had multiple intercourse. I believed all these symptoms to be age related, and due to a lack of exercise. Finding the motivation to exercise was tough mentally. And no matter how hard I pushed, I just couldn’t shift the weight on my hips and chest. So, I’d try my best to get into shape, but always after a couple of months of sustained exercise, I would fall ill. At my worst point, shortly before I searched the net, I had these symptoms:
• Sore Throat
• Dry Viral Cough
• Joint Pain
• Night Sweats
• Small Bumps, all over my body, that I could scratch off with my finger nails, like pimples
• Extreme lethargy.
Research suggested Mono Nucleosis. I would get scared, thinking my immunity was low due to HIV, fueled by the drugs effect on my emotional state. I had no reason to be scared, I was playing it safe.
Mentally I felt hollowed out, mentally slower, and my cognition was impaired. Emotionally, I was depressed, irrational catty and grumpy, but put it down to the pressures in my life. In retrospect, a lot of the poor social decisions I’ve made may have been influenced, at least in part, by this drugs affect on my emotional state.
I now believe most of these symptoms to be due to stress on my testicles and adrenal glands, which might point towards a cure necessary for my recovery.
The Turning Point (May 2010).
After a particularly bad bout of illness I decided to research what the long term side effects of taking this drug were. When I saw all the tragic stories I was shaken. Reading the propecia help website really frightened me, so my girlfriend discouraged my research.
As I was at the end of my prescription I chose to consult an endocrinologist immediately. Based on his advice, and owing to my lack of research, I decided to quit cold turkey.
To check my health I did a batch of blood tests. I requested the full set, but the endocrinologist did not feel he could justify their necessity to the medical insurance company. So I had the tests he felt were necessary. You can see my blood work here: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5920.
For a month after, I felt absolutely fantastic. I was Hornier than dog with 2 dicks. I was having sex twice or three times a day, 3 days of the week. I was getting spontaneous erections all the time. I thought I was going to be ok…
And then it all started going wrong. I had no energy whatsoever. I would masturbate and ejaculate while I was flaccid. My sperm was watery, and I lost all interest in sex and women. Sex was not pleasurable. I wasn’t depressed, I was completely emotionless. I just didn’t care. I didn’t know what to do. I felt that western medicine had let me down, so drugs were out of the question.
I decided to try and do it naturally. My girlfriend really supported me throughout this process. She helped me blend vegetable shakes, and cooked fish and lean red meat for dinner. I focused on doing cardio and pushing weights. I only read the posts on these websites describing recoveries.
In September 2010 I started taking Creatine, because the research I did suggested that there was a link between creatine and DHT. I saw some improvements.
And then for about a month I was under considerable pressure at work, looking for a new place to stay, attempting my professional chartership and carrying this unnecessary burden. I decided to attend a talk that one of the local hospitals was giving on Andropause. They did a free blood test. Unfortunately, I don’t have the blood tests anymore, but I remember that my serum testosterone was 8 nMol/L. Which is probably the lowest I’ve ever recorded. It was extremely low for a 28 year old man.
The stresses on my life lifted, and I decided to focus my spare time and energy on researching and naturally treating andropause.
In October I stopped the creatine and took Tribulus Terestris. In November I saw improvements, such as more body hair, more hair loss, and generally felt hornier.
In December I went home and on holiday to South Africa, ate, drank and made merry. It was good for my psyche, but maybe not the healthiest time for my body. I decided to enjoy my holiday, and put off recovery until the new year.
In January 2011 I started my regime again. One egg and fruit for breakfast, food court or coffee shop food for lunch (anyone that’s lived in Asia, will know what I’m talking about) blending vegetables (especially broccoli and other greens) and fruits and red meat or oily fish for dinner. My typical exercise was a mix of free weights and cardiovascular exercise. For example, Sunday – Legs, Monday – Swim, Tuesday – Upper Body, Wednesday – Run, Thursday – Legs, Friday rest. Saturday Rest.
In February and March 2011 I clearly remember enjoying sex and started having pleasurable orgasms again. Rock hard morning, night time and spontaneous erections, A recovery looked imminent.
In April 2011, 11 months later, things were better, but still not back to normal. I had some spare cash and decided to try out some natural supplements. I bought Maca (Now Foods) to support hormonal balance, CLA (Dymatize Nutrition) to help shift the weight on my hips and Primal Male (Man Sports Products). At the time, the research on body building and health websites suggested that these were the best products money could buy. On the 02/04/2011 my Serum testosterone was 11.8 nMol/L. Higher than before but still low.
In May 2011 after trying those products for 3 weeks, and sticking religiously to my regime things started to deteriorate again. I’m not sure I can exclusively blame any of these products for my setback, and who knows, if all my systems were working properly I may have benefitted from them. As I couldn’t blame one specific part of my lifestyle or these products, I stopped them all. I realized, that I would have to try one at a time to find the beauty and the beast.
I tried to dig deeper to determine the quality of the products I was putting into my body. I contacted the distributor of the products - TSW Singapore. The sales staff couldn’t answer questions about products themselves so they took down my details to reply later. Later a slimy TSW spokesperson returned my phone call. I asked if TSW ever received certificates of quality from their suppliers. His reply was “Sorry Sir, I am unable to answer your question, is there anything else I can help you with?”, shocked I asked if he could recommend any competitors products over any others, to which he replied “Sorry Sir, I am unable to answer your question, is there anything else I can help you with?”. That was his response to all my questions. Glad to see TSW care about their customers well being. I hope reading this will steer Singaporeans clear of those sleazy buggers.
I tried contacting Man Sports, who have this neat little pledge on their website “http://www.mansports.com/about/”. All I can say is, this is some of the best creative writing I’ve ever seen because I never got a reply from them.
My libido was nowhere. I didn’t desire sex or orgasm, and for a month I was abstinent… my girlfriend hated it. Morning erections were absent
A year on without recovery, and this period of degradation, I decided to keep a diary to record everything I was putting into my body, that would hopefully help me find a wonder food, or an optimum regime. I also tried as best as I could to back record everything that I was doing to treat my problems
I also decided to do more detailed blood tests to try and understand what was happening inside my body. The second endocrinologist I consulted was willing to listen to and work with me to understand my problem. He even went so far as to research this website. So to anyone reading this in Singapore, Dr Kevin Tan at Mount Elizabeth hospital is a good doctor. We decided to do some of the blood tests recommended here, and if we found anything outside the normal range we would look into the more detailed hormonal mechanics. Before doing these tests I stopped all supplementing, and tried to maintain a very average lifestyle, without doing any significant activities or eating anything that would affect my blood work. viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5920
We examined the results together. The DHT was above the range presented on the Lab Test page. Testosterone was low for a man my age. Based on these results Dr Tan could see that not everything was working as it should be, but as he put it “…I can only recommend drugs so strong it would be like hitting a walnut with sledgehammer.” He advised me to post my results, consult this forum and attempt a natural recovery. I’d be interested to have your opinions on my blood work.
So since then I’ve been trying to maintain an active lifestyle, push weights and eat as healthy as possible. I take a zinc orotate supplement and a multivitamin. It might not be a revolutionary approach, but day by day, I am positive things will improve, and eventually one day I hope to make a full recovery as others on this forum have.
I rarely wake up with rock hard morning erections that could catapult cashew nuts, but at least I have night time erections. I am fortunate that I’m at least a little horny; I can now maintain an erection and have pleasurable orgasms. I don’t have daily sex like 2 years ago, but at least I can once or twice a week, which is better than it was 6 months ago.
Cheers.