-
Where are you from (country)?
Live in Dublin and study in The Netherlands -
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 -
What is your current age, height, weight? 24 / 1.70 / 60kg
-
Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise? recently yes - gym and swimming
-
What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)? combination of meat and organic
-
Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)? hair loss
-
For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)? 6 months
-
How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride? 23
-
How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 24
-
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? 3 months on followed by a short 2 week break and another 3 months on
-
What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic? it said Finasteride on the packet i dont have it any more.
-
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? quarter tablet daily = 1.25mg
-
How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects? 3 months
-
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
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ x] Loss of Morning Erections
[ x] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[x ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[x ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ x] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[x ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[x ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[x ] 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
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ x] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[ x] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[x ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ x] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[X] DAILY VERTIGO / DIZZINESS
[X] Sweating of palms and forehead
[x] No more dreams
-
What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
Went to the doc 3 weeks ago. refused any hormonal or high tech drug treatments. most of the stuff below is aminoacids and vitamins:
for tiredness, phisical strenght and concentration : Sun Tonic Forte
For diziness (prescribed by doc) - Betaseric
Mental Stress and Mental Fatigue - Tonotil-n
Sleeping: Persedon
+Phosphorus mondays and fridays i have to take it for 1 month according to the doc -
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)?
all bloods including hormones, testosterone, t3 , free testosterone, etc etc etc (really everything you can think of)
results --> everything within normal range. Although testosterone was in lower limit. i did bloods 1 month after stopping. -
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
no -
Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
for more info my story is very similar to this guy’s :
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9458&p=85866&hilit=vertigo#p85866
Here is my story:
After 3 months on this drug i started having problems. I was and still am doing my MSc degree in finance, its a very difficult course and they really push us to our limits in terms of the study hours we have ti pull in. I wasnt eating right and barely any exercise. I am 24 and in march weighted 55gk. I got a flu, a real bad one and i think that the finasteride side effects kicked in due to my weakened state and flu combined. Mainly i felt very fatigued and had sweats. I started getting real bad anxiety at the time and never had this kind of problems before. I also didnt have health insurance because im too broke so i couldnt go to the doctor. I failed my exams and eventually my parents bought me flight tickets back home and i went into a sort of a rehab for the next 2 or 3 weeks. Sickness went away and i continued to take my quarter tablet of finasteride daily. This is right about the time when i started feeling dizzy. The next 3 months were the worse i ever experienced in my life I found it very hard to remember things, i felt sick and dizzy all the time. Forehead and palms sweating lots, what people describe here as brain fog, fatigue and all that… It was very bad. Most of my exams are math based so i actually managed to do ok since it doesn’t require learning by heart but failed the theoretical exams and am now going back to school in sept. I blame finasteride for this…
I took this drug for 6 months and i developed constant vertigo, dizziness, light headness whatever you want to call it. Every day all day. It peaks in the afternoon around 2-3 PM and then i usually feel better in the evenings. Sometimes i’m not sure if i’m just feeling better or if i’ve been like this for so long that i just learned how to live with the constant feeling in your head. I also experience mild visual distortions such as looking at marble tiles for example and seeing the patters breathe or slightly wave around. And anxiety … oh man… its so bad. It used to be worse but anything can tip me off my calm state into this pit of worrying and thinking about the worse things possible.
I went to the endocrine doctor and he told me its stress based. I am not sure if its entirely true but he has given me some stuff to take and its an ongoing treatment at the moment. It has definitely helped with the anxiety and maybe a little with the dizziness too but there are some days when it’s just pure bad. the stuff i am taking is mentioned above.
2 MONTHS IN
I am today 2 months off the treatment. I have done every blood test known to man and brain scans and everything is OK!! this just makes me worry even more. what if you know… its something much worse. I do think i might be making slightly faster progress than the poor guy who’s link i posted above here and this may be due to the fact that i have only need on this drug for 6 months as opposed to his 2.5 years. I have also gained some weight and am now sitting on 60kg. I am exercising every day and drinking disgusting health smoothies every morning. How am i feeling now? I have days when i can completely ignore the dizziness and work away but it’s still there. Much more bearable than before. Sweating is gone. Rarely i have moments when my palms get wet but not so much. I got my morning boners back and that is a relief. I never experienced any sexual side effects apart from loss of libido and loss of morning and night erections. I am happy to say I am very good in that regard. The dizziness and anxiety is still there and some days worse than others. I do think they are closely related. Diziness seems to kick in more when i have work to do and i feel better in my time off, weekends etc. I was in Greece 2 weeks ago and i felt so good for a few days i couldn’t believe it. But yeah… it was back as soon as holidays were over. I think this vertigo issue is very closely related to your stress levels. I was advised to relieve stress by goign to the gym so for the last few weeks i’ve been doing a lot of that but i am not sure if it helped much. There is definite improvement compared to the hell i went through back in May. I would say that on a scale of 0 to 100 with 0 being the low back in May and 100 being how i felt last year. I am now right around 20-30 with some days around 60 (rare beautiful days).
I will keep you updated