- Where are you from (country)?
Canada - 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: finasteride back pain - What is your current age, height, weight?
63,5’8, 168 - Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
No - What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
meat / dairy / no carbs - Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
acute urinary retention / BPH - For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
3 months on finasteride, but I previously took dutasteride for about a year 2012-2013 - How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
December 2015 - How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
62, quit on Feb 24, 2016 - How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
cold turkey - What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
generic - What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
5 mg/day - How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
about 1 month - 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
[ ] 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
[ ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts
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
[X ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[X ] Muscle Weakness
[X ] 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
[x ] Other (please explain)
Mid and upper back pain / palpable muscle knots
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What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
In the past week I started Boron 9 mg/day and DHEA 25 mg/day but no improvement yet -
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)?
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Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
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Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
I started with Avodart/dutasteride a few years ago which I took for about a year to reduce my PSA and stop prostate bleeding, despite extreme stomach acid pain (tums and Zantac 150mg helps) and painful feet, hands, and back muscles and general muscle weakness/fatigue and breast enlargement. Stopped because of pain and weakness. I started to take iodine supplements (high dose) which stopped the prostate bleeding. Stopped iodine in Fall of 2015 because of rash.
In Dec of 2015, I started to develop severe urinary retention and had to be catheterized twice. I started finasteride a few days after the first episode of retention thinking it might not be as bad as Avodart. I stopped in Feb 2016 after partial prostatectomy for the urinary retention/BPH. I’ve been finasteride free for 3 and a half months but the back and shoulder pain is constant increasing as the day progresses. I’ve been taking boron, DHEA and magnesium for about a week with no improvement. The boron is giving me more spontaneous and nocturnal erections. I get some relief from the pain with Voltaren (diclofenac) pain killing topical gel and some relief from aspirin or aspirin/codeine. The pain is focussed on areas of my back that have a visible and palpable knot but it extends across into other areas as well.
Like many of you, I hope the side effects will disappear as this has reduced the quality of my life dramatically.