Hello All.
I started taking finasteride a bit over a year ago for hair loss. I had an occasional “foggy” day, but the never lasted so I didn’t worry about it. In fact, some people who claimed to have brian fog on finasteride and hair loss forums were told it was all in their heads.
Then, a little over two weeks ago, I had a rather sudden “attack” of somewhat severe brain fog. I been really tired that morning and, after going to a 9 o’clock meeting, decided to go home and take a nap. I couldn’t figure out why I was so tired – I’d slept well the night before. Anyway, I couldn’t sleep when I got home so I went back into the office.
I started to get dizzy. As I was typing on my computer keyboard, I kept hitting two letters at once – I mean two or three times per word. I started making numerous spelling errors, but I couldn’t figure out why. At one point, I just couldn’t remember where the apostrophe was. I was hungry, and just chalked it up to low blood sugar.
Anyway, 2 o’clock rolled around and I had another meeting. I got up to go to the meeting and was bumping things all over the office. I’d forgotten those things were there. I went to the meeting, where we were supposed to discuss various documents. I was going to discuss the first document…and I couldn’ get the words out. And when they finally did come out, I stumbled all over myself and even slurred my speech a little.
I began to worry that I’d had a stroke, or maybe even the beginnings of a brain tumor, but thought I’d wait the weekend and see if it got better. It did not, so I called my doctor on Monday and set up an appointment for later that week. I’d improved slightly by the time I saw my doctor, but not much. He scheduled a CAT scan and blood test. They came up negative.
The symptoms I’ve had include the usual suspects:
Trouble speaking; I stumble over myself often – it seems like I can’t find the right words. This is very annoying and scary.
Difficulty concentrating and confusion – it seems like I can’t hold a thought in my head for more than a few seconds.
Insomnia.
Irritability.
Lack of motivation.
I’m cold, even when the room temp is in the low 70s.
Lack of coordination. For a week it was difficult to sign my same to anything, and it didn’t look at all like my signature.
I had no idea this was caused by Finasteride until I found this web site. Thank god I found it soon after my problems began. I stopped taking it last Thursday and have improved since, but the symptoms described above are still with me. Two questions:
[b]Did anybody, like me, take finasteride for a while with no problems and then have them come on quite suddenly and rather severely?
How long would you estimate it will take me to recover?[/b]
Thanks for your responses.