Hi. I used Finasteride for roughly 7-8 months. 0.5 mg / day. I had the usual ball pain and watery semen in the beginning. Although the ball pain went away watery semen did not change through out. I also experienced loss of libido and loss of sensitivity while on finasteride but thought it would go away. At around the 7th month mark i noticed that my right testis was hanging low and felt like my left testis had shrunk. I got very scared and quit cold turkey. It’s been roughly 8 months now, no pain no sides (mental, sexual etc) i had some ball ache when I quit. It all went away except the physical condition of my testes. However 8 months later I am having ball ache again and I notice my right ball still drooping and I still have not recovered the fullness of my testis. On examination i feel a dilated vein on my right testis which could indicate a vericocele. I also notice recently sometimes I get lost mentally , no confusion though. I can still remember stuff and do everything fine. I do not understand what Brain Fog is so I am not sure. And i still have morning wood and can get an erection still. But I am scared that I might be having PFS. Kindly guide me.
8 months later? You should be fine mate… Usually people crash in the second week after the drug is discontinued, apparently this is not your case. About the brain fog… I have it and is is really bad feeling indeed. It feels like you got pressure in the forehead and the scalp, the vision is blurry, feels like you are high and drunk in the same time… When I crashed I wasn’t able to read, I could stare in to the sentence and nothing would get into my head, it is really scary when you get it, now when I have it I just feel like I’ve been drinking a beer let’s say. still not good feeling but at least I can read like I used to, and I am happy because of that. Cheers!
Oh wow, I did not know that brain fog is that bad. I am sorry and I wish you and all others recover from it ASAP. I haven’t had any of those symptoms thankfully. I will get my testes checked out by a urologist to rule out varicocele and will get back to you. Thank you for your comforting words and I hope you recover too brother. Stay strong, eat healthy and stay away from Fin
I don’t think you’re crashing.
I hope not. I have read a lot of the FPS symptoms and I now suddenly imagine how horrible all that is. I wouldn’t want anyone to go through all that.
Well, if you need support, we are here. Just say hi.
If you don’t, a donation to the foundation to help us out would be much appreciated and will help us all get out of this mess.
i don’t think you’re crashing either. from what i understand, ball ache can be from testicular atrophy from reduction of gonadotropins and thus reduction in androgen output. hence why finasteride should not be prescribed regardless if it calls PFS or not. i had this exact feeling when i started testosterone replacement therapy years ago (this is before i got this condition). focus on a good diet, exercise routinely (preferably weight training), reduce stress, aim for 7-9 hours sleep per night if you can. you should be fine eventually
I had ball pain for years after I stopped the poison, and it didn’t start until at least 6-12 months after I stopped. It must have something to do with remodeling of the tissue, shrinkage, etc, as a result of the new androgenic environment. Hopefully in your case it won’t be as bad. I was on the poison for 8 years…
Did you have any other symptoms? Other than ball pain that started 6 months later? Any other physical or mental side effects? And did the pain get better with time?
Yes, I do. I have full blown PFS. I have had it for two years now with no improvement whatsoever. The only improvement is that I stopped having ball/groin pain. The other thing I had that I don’t have any more is heart palpitations and heart pain, which I had for about a year and half after I stopped fin.
So my symptoms are:
- No libido
- Erectile dysfunction (ER)
- Weak orgasms
- Shrunken penis and testicles
- Severe depression secondary to all of the above
- No motivation, desire or ambition to do anything any more (that’s what depression is really so forgive me for repeating myself but that’s the absolute worst symptom, or rather consequence of the symptoms, that’s destroying my life so it bears repeating)
- Dry skin (acne cured)
- Urinary problems (incomplete emptying of bladder, drippling after urination, low urination pressure)
- Joint pain (left hip joint)
- Hair loss that’s much worse than what I ever had before fin or anyone in my family ever had
- Straw hair (dry, thin and damaged appearance)
I never had brain fog I think. I do have depression but I don’t experience that as brain fog and I am not even sure what brain fog means. I do have slurring of speech and forgetting words and my train of thought mid sentence but I don’t know for sure if that’s from finasteride, whereas I have no doubt that the other symptoms are from finasteride.
How about you?
I have a bit of Ball shrinkage but it looks much better now, still have libido and can have sex. I do notice a bit of weak orgasm but no other symptoms. I am worried that i got ball pain after 8 months of stopping. No symptoms before. So i was worried whether i miight be crashing now
How’s your sleep?
My crash was characterized by instant sleep disruption, panic attacks, pumping adrenaline.
Not sure yet. I dont have that. But I am having panic attacks now that I think about it . I can still sleep soundly at times , no worries there. But I do get anxious a bit. I still dont understand how this could happen 8 months after stopping 
Crashes don’t usually happen after 8 months unless you took another 5AR inhibitor drug or any other hormone changer in your daily life. Could be as simple as using any type of cream you normally don’t have problems with, as another user here experienced, that could trigger your already weakened androgens.
Or maybe you are crashing, nobody can tell you for sure but anything’s possible if you took this drug so I wouldn’t rule it out. There’s nothing you can do now though but wait and see what happens, and maybe look at what you’ve been using recently that might have contributed to your problems.
I did use Minoxidil 5% recently twice daily for 2 weeks. That was to combat hair loss… But no hormone altering or systemic drugs
Hi @canabis, although not well known, Minoxidil has in fact been observed to strongly downregulate 5 alpha reductase 2 and inhibit the androgen receptor . We have seen many cases of minoxidil induced problems which present similar symptoms and are likely mechanistically “PFS”. I would personally recommend you avoid minoxidil.
Say no more. I have already stopped. I hope I don’t crash or this is temporary because I used Minoxidil. If not i’ll kill myself. I shoud have not used Minoxidil too fuck hair. i would give anything to just be normal.
I am not familiar but after a brief look, there seems to be talk of coal tar being used as a AGA remedy, including the suggestion that it was given to the “placebo” group in a finasteride trial that for the initial period experienced slowed hair loss. The patent hair loss folks are discussing here seems to suggest potential indirect dht reducing properties. Although it’s old and the mechanism described would be comparably weak, when it comes to ligand reduction in PFS my personal feeling is that if you’re unsure it’s best to avoid it.
Of course, any of us would. However I always believe being unsure is a great sign. It may indeed pass. Take care and try not to stress yourself. If you need support, there are many kind people here.