Crashed again years after initial recovery

Member Stories
#1

  1. Where are you from (country)? USA

  2. 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 Propecia

  3. What is your current age, height, weight? 37 , 5’8 , 155

  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise? goes in spurts but fairly active and very fit

  5. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)? Meat Eater

  6. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)? hair loss

  7. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)? almost 12 years

  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride? 25 winter of 2002

  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 37 October 2014

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

  11. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic? propecia

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

  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects? never noticed any side effects

  14. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? Didn’t really notice any

Put an X beside all that apply:

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

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

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug? Just noticed crash 3 days ago

  2. 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)? haven’t had blood tests

  3. Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride? Seemed to work well stopping hair loss. Didn’t really grow much new in back but did notice some growth on top.

  4. Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug. The drug seemed to work ok but decided to stop as wanted to start a family someday and didn’t want to take any chances of anything. Thought if I quit without sides that I wouldn’t have any sides after quitting. it’s been about 4 months and although I did notice some changes in the third month like testicular pain, urgent feeling to urniate and morning wood that I didn’t get while on propecia, didn’t experience any crash until a few days ago when I had a really stressful situation thinking I had a disease because I was losing weight. Then noticed the crash with penis shrinkage and feels like losing muscle fast. Lost 3 pounds in 3 days. Have lost 7 pounds the past month and have been trouble sleeping the past month but now seems to be very hard to sleep and stay asleep. I’ve read on the crash and don’t know what to do and if I’m one of the few that have secondary hypogonadism. Any advice and help would be appreciated.

just crashed but thinking about going back on propecia
New crash after many years from initial crash
#2

Stay calm. Get bloodwork, especially for Total and Free Testosterone levels.

propeciahelp.com/testing

#3

what other symptoms you had besides non-existant morning wood.
Please read about Saliva tests as advised by vincentv here. search him and read his posts.

#4

Looks like I’ve had a lot of sides since quitting. can’t sleep and seem to jerk when I start and get enter deep sleep. Penis shrinkage and can’t get erection. My muscles have atrophied fairly quickly which has to be from low testosterone. Also constipated. don’t know if related to not sleeping, extreme stress or effects on dopamine or the thyroid. Right now just worried about sleep and bowel movements.
Have scheduled with a urologist and might look into going to see the Dr. in Michigan that specializes in this. It’s really weird. I never had any symptoms before stopping and took almost 4 months before I noticed the crash. IN month 3 i noticed problems sleeping and pain in testicles and more morning wood but was still able to function until just this Monday. DOn’t think this looks good.

#5

I’m giving back because I received much substantive and emotional help from this board.
Since I quit, I was able to finish my PhD, gain a tenure-track position as an assistant professor at a well-respected university, and return to a life that is largely the same as it was before finesteride (minus hair).
I’m also giving back because many of you, like myself, might be interested in how recovery might happen using methods that don’t involve some other chemical.
Although some have attested to the benefit of various supplements and injections, I found this unattractive – we are, after all, recovering from the effects of one.

Some facts:
I took fin for about 1.5 years and quit cold turkey. For several months after that, I had terrible brain fog, sleeping problems, sexual dysfunction, suicidal tendencies, and depression.

Then, in part because of what I read here, I had no caffeine, alcohol. Daily vitamins and omega 3. Lots of weightlifting and running (some kind of exercise every day). I juiced fresh vegetables at least twice a week.
After about a year, I returned to the caffeine and alcohol (though not much), and kept exercising at least 5 times a week. I still juice twice a week. I’ve cut the vitamins.

3 years after I quit the drug, I feel lucky to be alive. I’ve never had such a physically destructive event, and have vowed not to mess with nature. So that’s the point – in my experience I returned to normal (and perhaps better) shape without more substances. It is possible.

I also had the weird jerkiness with sleep.

All i can say is to retain hope, exercise hard, and, even if it is worse before it gets better, that it will get better.

1 Like
#6

I just crashed a week ago but noticing a lot of muscle wasting fast and can’t sleep. Not even tired. I’m thinking that after 12 years on propecia my body has gotten used to the finasteride. Never had issues before. If I get back on, it may take the place of whatever is causing my lack of sleep and reverse the muscle wasting. What do I have to lose.

#7

If you go back on its likely to make things worse, just check out some of other members who have tried this. Best bet is to get clean.

#8

going back on it will only make things worse,believe me ive tried what your thinking…

#9

It sounds like he’s already crashed badly and it can’t get any worse. I don’t think going back can make things any worse and may help matters, who knows for sure?

#10

First don’t go back but if you want any way then why not try homeopathic solution of it.
I will pm you.

#11

There’s no way anyone should get back on fin after crashing, lots of people made their symptoms much worse by doing that.

#12

Like who? The only one I recall doing it from five years on the forum was bluecloud and he said it helped somewhat.

I’m not advocating it but I don’t think if you’ve had a full scale crash like the OP has then it’s going to fuck you up worse.

#13

What is the homeopathic approach?

#14

I was talking about starting and stopping taking fin in general, seems to have messed a lot of people up.

#15

i tried going back on it for a few weeks around six months after my crash,i was thinking the same thing that it might reverse my symptoms,no such luck im afraid,surely common sense dictates not to touch the poison again that made you ill in the first place,i guess i wasnt using my common sense at the time…

#16

When does the muscle loss stop. It’s only been a month but man. I don’t feel too bad otherwise besides some constipation (usually have at least a small movement a day) and lack of sleep (hard to get 4 hours right now.) can anyone die from this or should I go to the hospital cause it could be something else?

#17

I had 2 severe crashes at 10 and 22 days of quitting, and considered starting the medication again during the first crash.

Currently I am happy I did not start taking it. While I still have some sleep problems and dark circles below the eyes, I seem to get better mentally and physically. If I were you, I would start drinking green tea, cut out fast carbohydrates, get some sun, take long walks and try to relax.

I did not have muscle loss though, so my situation is not totally comparable.

#18

losing 10 pounds of muscle in 3 weeks, does this mean I’m androgen insensitive and can’t put muscle back on?

#19

if any body want to redo fin try homeopathic approach.
take 1/10 fine and dissolve in 1 liter of water and shake it vigrously, then take 1/10 from it and dissolve it another 1 liter, shake it then again take 1/10 of this… do it 4 - 5 times .The final solution will be very dilute so as not to give you any side effects but awake your system to feel fin is in the body.

#20

Have you tried this method your self ?