Where are you from (country)?
Israel
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?)
Via link from The Post-Finasteride Syndrome Foundation web site.
What is your current age, height, weight?
42, 180 cm, 77 kg
What specific drug did you use (finasteride, dutasteride, saw palmetto, isotretinoin/Accutane, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, leuprorelin, etc…)?
finasteride - Propecia
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1 Propecia pill a day.
What condition was being treated with the drug?
Hair loss
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)?
6 years
Date when you started the drug?
2016
Date when you quit the drug?
August 2022
Age when you quit?
41
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
cold turkey
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects?
about 4 years into my usage I started to notice something happens but it took me 2 more years to relate it to the Propecia.
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
Severe depression, suicide thoughts, low libido
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
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[X] Loss of Morning Erections
[X] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[X] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[X] 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
[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)
[X] 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”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[ ] Hearing loss
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] 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?
I’ve tried some anti depression drugs - Escitalopram, Mirtazapine, Bupropion.
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?
Tell us your story, in your own words, about your usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
Hi, My name is Daniel.
About 8 years ago I’ve notice that I’m starting losing my hair, only in the crown area, but it was really noticeable. I have the same hair as my father, and he started to get bald in the exact same way in the exact same age, and it took him no more than 5 years to get completely bald in the crown area.
I read about Propecia and it seems to be the right drug for me to stop this hair loss. I also read that Propecia is associate with reduce fertility, I’ve already had 2 kids, we wanted another one, so I decided to wait until my wife get pregnant and right after she did I started to take Propecia. 1 pill a day.
It was 7 years ago. The only warning I got from my Doctor is that it might cause a decrease in my sex drive and if so I can stop and things should go back to normal. In the first years I felt nothing wrong, when I try to look back at that time now, I think that maybe I’ve started to feel more tired and depressed even than, but I thought that it is just me aging and the routine of life, raising kids and etc.
3 years ago my condition starts slowly to get worse to a point that I couldn’t ignore anymore that something is wrong.
It comes in waves, there were weeks that I felt almost normal, had energy, sex drive, felt good, and than there were weeks that I felt really depressed with no sex drive at all. At that point I didn’t relate it to the Propecia, I didn’t know what it was, I thought it is probably a regular depression, I’ve considered start taking anti depressions all that time but than comes few good weeks and I thought that maybe I’m OK. It was keep getting worse slowly, there were more weeks of depression, the depression was getting more severe, but I still had “normal days” in between, so I wasn’t sure what to do. I had a friend who tried telling me to stop using Propecia because he felt the same way when he was using it and it all gone when he stooped, but I didn’t want to listen. I was saying - I prefer being depressed with hair the happy and bald.
A year ago I had a crash. I felt so weak that I couldn’t get out of bad. I felt the depression in such an intense way that it was unbearable, I had constant suicide thoughts. All I wanted is to die.
It lasted 2 weeks, after that I felt much better, but the since than this depression had never gone. At that point I decided to stop using Propecia. The next 2 months was really tough. I had two more crashes like the one I’ve mentioned, lasted around 1 week each, and even between them I felt really bad, I could function at some level and get out of bad but I felt dead inside.
After couple of months my condition started to stable to the state where I’m now. My mood and sex drive still come and go in waves, but I haven’t felt like the normal me since that crash. Some days I feel really depressed with no sex drive at all. Some days I feel a just a little depressed with low sex drive.
It comes and go, and even changes through the day. The things that happens to me throughout the day have absolutely no effect on my mood. I can be on vacation with my family and feel horrible and I can have bad day at the office and feel much better. I can feel so depressed and have suicide thoughts and couples of hours later feel almost normal when nothing happened in between.
I’ve tried some anti depressions in the last 8 months, so far I felt no improvement coming from that.
I can function on a basic level, I go to work, I do my chores at home, but I have absolutely no joy in life. Each day when I wake up the only thing I want is to this day to be over so I can go back to sleep.
I want to believe that maybe I’m getting a little beat better very very slowly over time but I think that it is probably just a wishful thinking.
This is my story to that point. I have some questions that might help me understand my situation and maybe someone had the same experience.
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Anybody else feel the symptoms comes in waves? some worse days and better days without a reason?
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I feel that my depression is not a “normal depression”. There were times in the past that I felt depressed but is was different. I can’t really explain it but what I feel now it is another type of depression. I’m not sad, I just don’t want to live. It is like something deep deep inside is missing, the inherent desire for life just don’t exit in me anymore. Is anybody else feels the same?
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I have almost no libido at all, but I don’t have problem getting an erection when I’m having sex. Is it normal for PFS?
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Should I keep trying anti depressions? I know that they shouldn’t help in PFS case, but how can I be 100% sure that I have PFS and not just “regular depression”?
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Last thing, I’ve stopped taking Propecia a year ago, and since then nothing happened to my hair. I still have all my hair. It make me think that the finasteride is still in my blood system, and maybe when I’ll start losing my hair again I’ll also feel better. Does it make any sense?
Thanks,
Daniel