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Where are you from (country)? USA
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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?)
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What is your current age, height, weight? 40 5’10’’
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Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise? weights and walking
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What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)? regular food / some junk food too
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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)? 4 years
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How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride? 33
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How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 37
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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? propecia
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What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? 1 mg
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How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects? 3 years
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What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? Sexual disfunction, loss of libido, ED, brain fog, loss of words when speaking
Put an X beside all that apply:
Sexual
[ x] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ x] Erectile Dysfunction
[ x] Complete Impotence
[ x] Loss of Morning Erections
[ x] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ x] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[x ] Watery Ejaculate
[ x] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ?] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[x ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ x] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ x] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[x ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[x ] Slurring of Speech
[ x] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ x] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[x ] 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
[ x] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[x ] 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
[ x] 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? HCG, Clomid, Test cream, synthroid
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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)? Have taken several types of blood test since this ordeal began. Basically my total test is somewhere in the 500 consistently but has been as low as 300 and as high as 900 with using HCG and Clomid mostly, but when I am off these drugs I basically hover around 500’s and estradiol around 37.
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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.
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Went on Propecia for vanity reasons. This was the worst descision I have ever made in my life.
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For 3 years I did not notice any effects, maybe a little puffiness in face and body.
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The last year before any side effects began my sexual performance was probably better than when before I took finasterside. Constant strong erections with lots of staying power(I believe that was the beginning of desenseitivity in the penis, could go over an hour without ejaculation), Libido was very strong, just like a teenager if not better.
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Then it happened, one night out of no where, (but latley I had been drinking more than I usually do socially) impotence, loss of libido,
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Kinda thought Finasterside might have something to do with it because I always new it could mess u up sexually from what the Doctor told me and the warning label said.
-Stayed on Propecia but libido and erections continued to diminsh.
-Quit after 2 months of not beeing able to perform.
- Within a week sexual issues disappear erections are strong and libido good.
-Go back on propecia in about 10 ten days.
- Probably within a month it starts to come back, sexual issues.
-stay on drug because when came off hair starting falling out aggressively and doctor told me it would fix it self. He was firmly against me comming off propecia and strongly recommend I continue use.
-Screw, doctor, finally quit cold turkey about 3 months later.
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Within one week erections are back, in fact best ever and penis is bigger than ever. Hair falling out like crazy. For about a week unbelievably horny and constant strong erections and can have sex multiple times a day.
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within one to two weeks sexual performance declines. loss libido less and less firm if at all erections.
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within one to two months impotence, loss libido, very weak ejaculation when finally can.
-search google for what is going on, find Propecia help. Thank god because I knew I was not crazy.
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Begin seeing local endo’s and urologist. The same old responses. Kinda believe me send me for test but all tell me they can not help me and will not prescribe anything. Goes on for one year.
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Make appointment with Dr. Shippen. Drive out and meet him and do phone conferences for a year. Prescribes, HCG, Clomid, RT3, and test gel for a year. This was done with all different combinations and dosages. Basically the results where a slight increase with erection strength and libido then levels off to no improvement at all. Dr. Shippen if a great doctor but he does not know how to fix this. Kinda disappointed in some of the prescriptions. (I tell you more why I think so in a bit).
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This goes on with Dr. Shippen for a year in a half. Now seeing another endo who has me on synthoid this has been going on for 2 weeks. So far only improvment has been in mood. I am kinda in a fun mood that I have not seen in awhile.
My thoughts, I have seen many doctors including shippen and have been reading many post while at the same time researching bodybuilding forums. I wanted to try synthroid because two people on Propeciahelp.com claimed they have been cured. However they have not been back for a while and no one has seemed to hop on those threads to inquire. I hope to pm them to see what they are up to.
One other possible fix. I do not believe Dr. Shippen ever perfected the correct HPTA shut down fix. One forum member “Trickster” I believe might have done with high doses of HCG and Clomid. I know he mentioned some type of depression drug too, but I think we should forget that and focus on the HCG and Clomid. If synthroid does work I will try this high dosage thing next, I have stocked piled up from when seeing Dr. Shippen.
I firmly believe some of us on here are way off base with our solutions. It has to be a hormone fix with HCG and Clomid or something like synthroid or predisone. If you look a body building forums many have similiar issues we have with the use of “DECA” and fix themselves with HCG, clomid, or synthroid. I believe many of us have been screwed up for so long we either need high doses of HCG and clomid or many cycles with these drugs.
My theory on why we got screwed up. Went on Propecia, Stops DHT from naturally exiting the body as a result are own natural testosterone goes way up. (That is why many of us perform better than ever sexually for a bit) Then body natually has to lower self or maybe releases cortisone(Natural body response to protect itself from foreign substances and harm). Thus body downregulates itself. Then we go off propecia, DHT surges and Testosterone surges (Again body shuts down t production or relases massive amounts of cortisone to prevent harm to body). Somehow we remain with lower T production and clogged receptors with cortisone.
Either that or the prostrate- prostatis thing.
Any thoughts?