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Where are you from (country)?
USA, New York -
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 Search -
What is your current age, height, weight?
40, 5’7, 180lbs -
Do you exercise regularly? If so, what type of exercise?
Yes and No. I have months where I do and so months I don’t. I do cycle often outdoors and my cycling increase to 3100 miles last year, my pike of outdoor riding… -
What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
Normal three meal daily, no restriction, I do tend to stay away from junk food. -
Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
maintain Hair, small bold spot. -
For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
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How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
about 6 years I do recall exactly, I need to ask the doc that prescribed it for exact date… -
How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
I have not quit yet fully. I have gone between prescription and missed a few days once in a while 1-5 days at most. -
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Planning to quit cold. -
What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
Propecia 1 mg. -
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1mg -
How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
about 6 years… just an assumption… -
What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
ED, but not given enough time yet after discontinuation to determine.
Put an X beside all that apply:
Sexual
[X ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[X ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[X ] Loss of Morning Erections
[ ] 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
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[X ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] 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
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[ ] 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?
none -
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)?
n\a -
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.
Here is my story. A few months ago, I had a very bad throat infection that took high dosage of antibiotics to resolve. During my illness I lost all libido. After infection cleared, I started to experience continued fatigue from the time of illness but not as severe, and my libido dramatically decreased. I had to go to sleep much earlier at night, and waking up with a full night of sleep still felt extremely tired. My T level during illness was 47 (very very low) and jump to 147 after recovery from illness. This was the first time the doctor ever checked for T levels in my life. I have no clue what the level was before starting Propercia. I may have missed taking Propercia meds for first four days of illness. I restarted it about the fourth or fifth day, I don’t recall. The first T level count of 47 was taken when I was off Propercia mostly likely a few days. I was too sick to take any meds other than antibiotics. My doc prescribed TRT patch after second T level reading of 147 (back on Propercia at this time), and it help to improve my fatigue and libido. I took 30 days worth of patches and stopped. I never got my T level checked during TRT or at the end of 30 day dosage. After three weeks off T patch, I started to feel slowly fatigue coming back and went to the doc for T level check which was 137 with free T level of 0.50. Doc started me back on T patch.
I’m 40 year old male. I never had problems with libido before this event. I did experience some low libido at times but nothing serious. I never thought Proprocia was messing with my libido in any bad way until this event.
Questions:
After you ever seen such a situation occur? Do you think a combination of long term usage of Proprocia and severe infection depleted my T and the ability to produce more natural? Or I should assume the body is still recovering and give it a few months and see if T level improves without TRT (patch)?
In addition, I am serious about having my first child and reading all the info on the net, this low T level does not bold well for fertility. In addition, I read you become less fertile when on TRT. And, there are reports that Proprocia may play a role in low sperm count also. Hence, I have decided to stop both TRT and Proprocia (2 days off at the moment) at the moment. Although I restarted T patch after one day off (on my second 30 day dosage treatment). I restarted because of some anxiety and hot flashes I was experiencing at night. It calm me down when I restarted it :(. I will try to not use it again.
Do you advise on this course of action? Or feel otherwise?
Have you ever seen long term use of Propecia cause very low T level? Or do I point to this due to my age and the illness I had and the increasing bike\cycling riding and decrease weight lifting? I used to weight left often and cut it down entirely since two years ago.
Usually I have read that Propecia results in slight increases in T level from baseline for Men, and the decrease occurs after stopping Propecia and PFS can be seen with very low T level and gradually improves.
Any advise you can give me would be appreciated.
I have setup an appointment with a endocrinoloist and uolog docs in the coming weeks.
As noted, I have changed my exercising habits the pass three years. I do cycle often outdoors and my cycling increase to 3100 miles last year, my pike of outdoor riding…
Regards,
Frank