Crash after 9-10 years of recovery

Member Stories
#1

Where are you from (country)?

UK

How did you find this forum?

Google

What is your current age, height, weight?

34, 5’9, 83 kg

What specific drug did you use?

Finasteride

What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?

Mixed dosing of approx 1 mg

What condition was being treated with the drug?

Hair loss

For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)?

30 days on and off

Date when you started the drug?

2010

Date when you quit the drug?

2011

Age when you quit?

21

How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?

Cold turkey

How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects?

Crash after quitting

What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?

Low sex drive

Check the boxes that apply. You can save your post first, then interactively check/uncheck the boxes by clicking on them. If your symptoms change, please update your list.

Sexual
[x ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[x] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[x ] Loss of Morning Erections
[x] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[x] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[x] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[x] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[x] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[x ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts

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
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes

Misc
[x] Prostate pain
[ ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[x ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[ ] Hearing loss
[ ] Increased hair loss
[x ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature

[ ] Other (please explain)

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-drug blood tests, what hormonal changes have you encountered since discontinuing the drug (please post your test results in the “Blood Tests” section and link to them in your post)?

Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience?

I was here many years ago as “bluecloud87”

Tell us your story, in your own words, about your usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.

I took proscar in small doses on and off back in 2010, I was named bluecloud87 in propheciahelp.com

At some point I crashed. Waking up with all of the horrific sexual side effects.

Over the space of approximately 4 years I recovered. I became addicted to exercise, self improvement, I cut out porn and masturbation for long periods and attributed this specifically to my recovery. I thought porn and masturbation were to blame.

I started having sex again at around 4 years, flaccid penis became normal, I had two children.

Just a week ago I completed crashed. I have ED, severely shrunken penis in bad shape, sleep problems and night anxiety.

This has happened after an immensely stressful period of my life where I have been in some chronic back pain and breakdown of my family (ex cheated). My sleep went haywire from the stress and heartbreak.

What can I say… I’m utterly devastated and know my life is ruined again. This time I can’t aggressively exercise because of chronic back pain.

If anybody can give me hope please do. Are any of the long timers still here?

#2

I’ll also add that my nose, eyes and ears are dry and dry skin on scrotum and penis is flared up.

These are exact symptoms I suffered with when I had PFS years ago.

1 Like
#3

I’ve woken up 3 ish hours after initially falling asleep experiencing the following:

Total dead dick

Tinnitus

Hot patches and sensations all over my chest area

Some muscle twitching in arms

Emotionally blunt even though this is terrifying

——

This really is happening, full on PFS crash symptoms…

1 Like
#4

I’m praying that this subsides for you sooner than later. I’m so sorry for what your experiencing right now

2 Likes
#5

Thank you me too. I can tell it won’t though, I’m in it for the long haul here.

The biggest question in my mind now is how do I get the courage and what method do I use to off myself.

#6

Please don’t brother, please hang on :heart:

1 Like
#7

Nobody would blame you. Many of us know what you’re going through. Like you said, long haul. Give it time first. You recovered once, you can recover or improve again. Not too long ago I was making plans for this like you. Last time it took you four years. Give it two and see if you improve. Do what worked for you last time, I know you said you can’t workout aggressively due to back pain, but maybe try to find something you can do? I have chronic back pain also. I can’t lift weights like I used to, but I can do small weights, body weight exercises and cardio. Maybe you can do some of these things?

This is a common thread for our recoveries, both the timeframe and the method (4 years + clean living + exercise). I know it’s not for everyone, but maybe there’s something to it? I also stopped porn/masturbation at some point, but not as a recovery tactic, just stopped forcing my body to do things if I wasn’t feeling it at some point. It helped me better assess how I was feeling/progressing, but maybe another common thread?

Try it again, you can do it. Hang in there. I’m here if it would help you to vent.

Your story is a reminder for all of us to stay vigilant. Even after recovery, our life’s are changed, we will all be at risk for the rest of our lives and have to watch what we put into and into our bodies.

3 Likes
#8

Did you lose your natural mucus henchman? Sweat, bogies, eye goop?

#9

I definitely sweated and stank less, but I did still sweat. I had problems with very dry eyes, like I couldn’t even see when I first woke up and would have to use drops for a bit before things got better. Painfully dry skin sometimes, and so dry my knuckles and feet would crack a lot. Most of this is recovered now except body odor and sweating is still up and down. I didn’t notice much regarding mucus. Pre-fin I did have a lot of issues with nasal swelling (like I would not be able to breathe through my nose at all a lot of the time) and that actually went away after fin and hasn’t returned (not complaining about that one, but mention as it may be relevant).

2 Likes
#10

That is interesting on the nasal thing because that also happened to me, in fact I had clear MCAS and reacted to everything. During the worst of my crash that just about made me chair bound I lost almost all reactions to everything. I would be exposed to the usual cleaning chemicals anywhere and almost nothing would happen. no sexual response, no immune response, no environmental response. There was almost complete anhedonia with this vague feeling of dread and muted anxiety. Now that I have recovered fighting my left nasal passage is back again. My sweating is a bit better now (I can actually manage to get small drops on my head now) but still can’t sweat too much. I never got the skin drying crash or at least the worst of the connective tissue deterioration though but from what people describe it sounds horrifying.

My visions is more or less clear depending on a bunch of conditions and there isn’t much that makes it better besides a very small handful of things. I can’t seem to find any consistent pattern in the more blurry/clear fluctuations across things. It feels more like it’s not specifically my eyes though but how my brain is interpreting visual information.

#11

Are you still doing well with recovery, I can’t even fathom living like this for another month. The insomnia needs to improve.

#12

Thank you

I’m hugely doubtful of recovery from this crash - it has been incredibly intense and shows no sign of letting up aside from some daytime windows where I suppose I feel some joy and clarity. Whether this is technically PSSD now I don’t know, it’s definitely definitely worse than PFS ever was albeit very similar.

How do I send DMs on here, is it possible?

#13

Something you could do is keep some records about your daytime windows. How long they last how good they are from 1-10. Do it for like 6 months and then see if you’re making progress. For a while I think I was improving like 0.5 points a quarter. Progress was slow, but was there. This could help you see if you’re making progress even if you don’t feel it.

I made an excel sheet with ratings for libido, depression, anhedonia, akathisia, sleep time, etc. (although I mainly only cared about the anhedonia and akathisia). Made it easy to fill in and did it before sleep and after waking up.

#14

The person you want to DM, tap the circle with the initial in it, a screen will come up with message in blue. Go from there! Jim Example:

Screenshot_20250504-094130_Chrome
Screenshot_20250504-094130_Chrome938×1173 137 KB