Here goes my story:
I started to lose my hair at age of 16. I stressed about it a lot. Didn’t tell anyone, becouse i was too shy to talk about it. I was also losing a lot of sleep becouse of this stress. I really loved my hair.
I started using finasteride at age of 19 in early 2007 and stopped in middle 2008. At the beginning when i started to use it i experienced a little lower libido, but erection remained the same. I had frequent mood changes, lost interest and my hobbies didn’t make me happy anymore. But overall I didn’t change much, I was so happy that my hair didn’t fall out. My sleep actually improved when I was on Fin, maybe becouse i no more stressed about my hair. Once I went to David Lynch movie “Inland Empire” and the movie overstimulated me, it felt overexciting, i barealy could seat. I became emotionally very sensitive. That year i went into depression, that was my unhappiest time in my life. After a year using Fin one day I decided to find some more info about these drugs and discovered this site. Offcourse I was scared to death and stopped taking them.
Nothing bad happened. My erection didn’t change. I gradually become again more motivated. My sleep again started to worsen, but I felt happy, becouse before drugs it was also bad. Started to go to university and worked paralelly and tried to be the best boyfriend for my girl. Everything was almost fine, I wasn’t the same guy as before Fin, but still i could smile, have fun, lough and be more happy than sad. The next 2.5 years after Fin was ok.
Few times I have felt that overstimulating feeling again, for example while watching movies. I remember once i also had that feeling while i was in rollerblading competition, emotions just felt too big for me and my heart was racing.
Now, 3.5 years later i’m here to ask some questions.
Is it possible that, after quitting drug the degrading process continues?
In last winter (2010/2011) i got really ill. I had a swollen lymph node in my armit. (i very rarely get colds) Had a big temperature. I also started to read scary shit about that lymph node and started to image that i have really scary deseases, like HIV or hepatitis. I was so scared that I couldn’t sleep, i panicked a lot. My heart started to hurt bad and all the time i got a rapid heart rate.
Finally i went to doc. She said it’s just a cold, gave me some antibiotics and vitamins. After few weeks I was back to normal.
But then 2 months later i went to cinema with my girlfriend and while watching movie my heart started to race again. When i closed my eyes and didn’t concentrate I felt better. Later when we got home I felt OK.
At this time i also got a sore throat and thought that this is the case.
After this, really often I felt that my heart hurts. I started to research my health more and more. Stopped using alcohol at all. Doc diagnosed me streptococcus in throat, then i started antibiotics course. Then i started to feel even worse.
While using antibiotics in a hot summer day i was going with my friends in a car i experienced really bad shortness of breath. I panicked and thought that there something is really not ok with my heart. That day i stressed so much and next night didn’t sleep at all.
I did echocardiogram to check my heart. Doctor said, that I’m fine.
I did HIV, all Hepatitis tests, and other I don’t know what tests. Everything says, that I’m fine.
I have also developed claustrophobia, I had a Computer tomography and barely could stand having my head inside that big device.
I just continued to live as I am, almost everyday my heart was hurting, in evenings I was scared to fall asleep, becouse it felt that It’s beating too weak. It was usually about 50 beats per minute.
I decided to just live as I am, not read about health on internet and not go to doc’s. But It didn’t help.
I went to acupuncture doc, she told me about Alpha - Stim Stress control system. It’s an eletrical device, that removes anxiety. After 2 weeks using it, I got half head numb, had a hard panick attack and quit. (revealed that i have weak bloodflow on my back of neck on left side) still the left side is strange. But no more numb.
Recently i went to dentist. And it revealed that I have 8 new holes, although I got fixed everything 2 years ago, and my tooth actually were healthy before this…
She told me, that I can take calcium + vitamin D.
Now i remembered about finestiride side effects, that loss of vitamin D is one of the effects. That day I rushed to do blood tests for my vitamin D. And guess what, it’s extremely low. Although i eat milk products everyday and I’m not vegetarian.
Now i’m obsessed with post finasteride symptoms and wan’t to check all of them.
So my question is, what do you guys think. Is it possible that destructive process in my brain was in latent state till now, but last winter i have triggered it to worsen and becouse of all stresses about my health it just worsens. I don’t know what to do. I’m so stressed that also other things except lack of vitamin D are wrong with me, so I can’t accept fact that it’s all in my head.
my stats now:
i have morning erections - thank god, haven’t had problem with that
libido 5/10 : becouse of all stresses
erection 9/10
Sleep 1/10 : In evenings i get extreme fatigue and becouse of that i’m scared to fall asleep. In nights i get horrible nightmares and wake up with hurting and racing heart.
Sorry for my long post, wish you all luck.
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Where are you from (country)? Latvia
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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?) Googled finasteride side effects
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What is your current age, height, weight? 24, 172, 63
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Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise? I’m bycicling to job, rollerblading once a week.
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What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)? Meat eater
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Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)? hair loss
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For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)? little more than a year
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How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride? 19 years old (2007)
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How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 20 years (2008)
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How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? Cold turkey
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What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic? Proscar
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What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? 1mg/day
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How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects? all the time
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What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? Anxiety, not able to enjoy not doing anything
Put an X beside all that apply:
Sexual
[ x] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ ] Loss of Morning Erections
[ x] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ x] Watery Ejaculate
[x ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[x ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[x ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ x] 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
[x ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[ ] 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
[ ] Other (please explain)
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What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug? Nothing, trying to have fun in my life.
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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)?