Another hellish story

Member Stories
#1

  1. Where are you from (country)?

  2. 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?)

  3. What is your current age, height, weight? 25, 5’7, 130

  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of exercise? daily cardio

  5. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)? vegetarian

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

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

  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride? 24

  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 25

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

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

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

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

  14. 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
[x ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[x ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] 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
[ x] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[ x] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ x] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[x ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[x ] 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
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[x ] Testicular Pain
[ x] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[x ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[x ] Muscle Wastage
[x ] Muscle Weakness
[x ] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes

Misc
[ x] Prostate pain
[ x] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[x ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ x] Frequent urination
[ x] 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? none

  2. 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)? none

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

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

After 1 yr of the drug, I noticed my orgasms seemed way less pleasurable and felt that i was producing less ejaculate. I also developed pain in my groin, testicles, penis. Went to the doctor who prescribed it and he told me I had prostatitis, and that I should take antibiotics for two weeks and that it was not linked to the use of propecia. I didn’t believe him - so the day I started taking antibiotics, I stopped taking propecia. this was two weeks ago yesterday. The last two weeks have been absolute HELL. Total confusion/foggy feeling. Can’t keep my thoughts straight. Experiencing full on anxiety attacks and depression. At first I had a hard time getting an erection - and it was impossible for me to sustain it long enough to have an orgasm. Everything just felt different. Now - I feel my sex drive has returned, along with morning erections, and I do have the ability to achieve an orgasm. The sensation is still not as good as it used to be - but it’s getting better. The anxiety and depression are starting to go away ever so slightly. But I am still experiencing joint pain all over, upper and lower back pain, testicular pain and there is some anxiety. I feel I might have gained weight but it’s kinda too soon to tell and I’m pretty small so a few pounds wouldn’t concern me too much (as long as I don’t develop breasts).

One thing I haven’t done during my recovery is cut out soy and caffeine, which I will start doing tomorrow. I do feel that plays a part. I have upped my protein levels entirely over the last few days and I do feel that has helped. With the way side effects are now over the last couple of days, I feel hopeful for recovery. I’ll let you know how it pans out…

Best of luck to you all for a speedy recovery from this poison.

#2

It sounds like you are making a full recovery. You are incredibly lucky.

#3

Good luck, pal. Hope the improvements continue. And oh, dont touch that propecia stuff again.

#4

hey congrat. to your success…
You said “Now - I feel my sex drive has returned”
how much time has gone until you felt betterafter quitting fin?
thanks i hope you can answer it

#5

after a couple of weeks. i feel it comes and goes though and lately my symptoms have been pretty awful. The fog and the anxiety is the worst part. I can handle not feeling like I can have an orgasm sometimes or not having as strong of an erection but its the fog and anxiety that kill me and the general sick feeling. I have been drinking too much lately - I do admit that. I’m sure that doesn’t help but I feel better after a few drinks…

Overall - i feel like my body is just simply dying. Does anyone else feel like this? I worry that my symptoms might not be post-fin syndrome… that they might actually be prostate cancer. I’m gonna get checked soon but all of this is just so scary man. Anyone have insight?

#6

What sort of insight are you after? do you want someone on a forum to clarify whether you might be dying?

The best you can do is persist with doctors. Unfortunately the minute you mention anxiety and cognitive issues, it’s likely to head down the anti depressant route. Still, it’s all you can do.

#7

haha… good point. i think this general fear that i am dying is a direct result of the anxiety. i normally don’t drive very often, but enjoy doing it when i do. and i recently went on a 45 minute drive with a friend and almost had to pull over and ask him to drive… that is how severe the anxiety was.

I don’t know where I’m at in terms of recovery and I try not to worry about it. My doctor believes our theory and said it isn’t exactly uncommon with medications that inhibit hormones for a subset of people to have really crazy reactions to it.

Sexual sides are present, but not horrible. I am able to have orgasms… they just aren’t as pleasurable before. But hey - I’ll take it.

A few days ago, I had one of the best days I’ve had since the whole thing started. The anxiety/mental fog is either present all day - or shows up here and there for a short time on good days.

Today the mental fog has been there but pretty reduced anxiety. If it stays at or around the level it has been for the last week or so - i feel i can handle it. I mean - I’ll handle it either way cuz i have no choice - but I just hope it doesn’t get back to where it was when it was at its worst. We’ll see…