Another story

Member Stories
#1

Hi everybody,

Here is my story.

  1. How did you find this forum?

Google search

  1. What is your current age, height, weight?

38 year-old (1m 83, 60kgs) (sorry, don’t know the English measurements)

  1. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?

Bicycle, sometimes workout, walk or swimming

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

vegetarian, meat, fast-food/organic healthy

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

hair loss

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

6 year and a half

  1. How old were you when you started Finasteride?

30

  1. How old were you when you quit?

37

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

cold turkey

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

Propecia 1 mg at first, then proscar 5mg cut in five pieces

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

1mg/day

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

During the first year of use

  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
[X ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive (in fact libido was just slightly diminished while on. As soon as I was off, it totally disappeared.)
[X] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[X] Loss of Morning Erections
[X ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[X ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[X ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[X ] 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
[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
[X ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] 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?

Just natural supplements

  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?

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

I don’t want to write too much emotional stuff. I’m only here in order to exchange facts. During the greater part of the treatment, I just had a slightly decreased libido, but most of all, no more morning wood, and more and more frequent ED. I was a fool not giving it too much attention, because of not having girlfriends, but just going to swingers clubs or seeing professionnals. Since I still felt horny, I thought it was psychological, or the use of the condom, or whatever.

Until the day I couldn’t get it up anymore, or had a very decreased orgasm, or simply couldn’t feel something between my legs anymore! So I decided to stop…and WHAM! after curious up and downs, I’ve been totally robbed of any left libido, penis shrank, balls became little nuts, and the little TV channel called “SEX” in my brain has been totally and incredibly wiped out!

I haven’t felt any improvement since April 09 (when I stopped) in the libido domain (feel chimically castrated), but curiously, morning wood has returned. Not everyday, but from time to time. Masturbation is possible (sometimes it was not, in the last Fin days) but it is not often really pleasurable. It’s even sometimes quite boring. Ejaculate is not really watery anymore.

Interesting fact: in the last year-span, I lost about all the hair I had regained when on Fin, but the libido didn’t return, in fact, it totally disappeared along with the hair…!

Here are my results:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3818

Last year I took Tribulus terrestris and I had some little improvement in libido and better orgasms. However, it disappeared after I stopped taking it. I also went to an acupuncturist. Noticeable improvement the day after, but disappeared soon.

I’m planning to do PCT.

But before, I ordered Avena Sativa, Tongkat Ali and Tribulus, just in order to take a natural pathway…

Update: I started my supplementation about 10 days ago. Big improvement the first day. Slowly disappearance of the effects the following days. Today I woke up feeling like crap, the worst since the weeks that followed my quitting of Fin. I’m removing Tongkat Ali and I’ll just go on with Avena Sativa and Tribulus before stopping the supplements if things stay the same

I don’t know if I must start PCT (with the Testosterone Recovery Stack) or Andro-hard first, and only then, the PCT treatment from PP.

I’m fed up with mainstream medicine and its poisons, so I prefer that kind of stuff.

I’m open to every question you could ask, so don’t hesitate.

Thanks for your support! (I’m writing from France so excuse my English…)

#2

Here is my update after I took during one month a stack of Sustain Alpha, Endoamp and Toco-8.

I definitely felt improvement during the treatment and it disappeared as soon as I stopped it.

I had morning wood everyday, even though not with the same length or girth. It was pretty hard some days.

libido and erections by visual stimulations returned slowly and I felt again something alive inside. (I could be horny and get an erection at the beach looking at some nice bikini). Interestingly, even though the effects were not spectacular, there were quite noticeable and felt way deeper than the Tribulus and co. I felt this stack worked deeply inside. A little, but nice genital sensitivity did return too.

Toco-8 had great effect on my hair and my skin…younger, clearer during the treatment.

However, the effects disappeared as soon as I stopped, and I felt incredibly tired during 2 weeks, before returning at baseline level. Those last days, I have a numb stretchable piece of rubber between my legs and 0 libido again.

I noticed something strange: every time I try a supplement, of course there is the improvement and then the disappearance of the effects, but most of all, I ALWAYS feel worse after quitting the supplements. And it’s not the disappointment of the effects disappearance, it’s really a physical sensation of feeling crappier than during the 6 earliest months after quitting Fin.

Couldn’t it be a bad thing, after all, trying all kinds of supplements, maybe causing the delaying of a natural recovery?

#3

Ever try some sort of cycle… 3 days tribulus, 3 days maca, 3 days yohimbine… and vitamin d daily.

I know what you mean about getting good results from supps then either they stop working or the effects don’t last when you stop the supps.

I guess the supps vs. natural ride out is up for debate… but, I only started the supps because nothing was improving… and they have helped me… still not fully recovered, but, the thought of looking at porn and getting a stiffy, just a little over a year ago, seemed impossible.

#4

Yes I had cycled Tribulus, Avena Sativa, and Tongkat Ali. 1 day each one

By the way, I noticed another side effect, going along with the penile insensitivity: a nervous insensitivity of my skin on arms, legs, back…If i touch or pinch myself, I feel very little sensation. Do you guys have those effects too?

#5

To some extent yes.