Dave20's story - 4 pills

Member Stories
#1

  1. How did you find this forum?
    Google

  2. What is your current age, height, weight?
    Age 29, 5’ 9", 12 stone

  3. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    Go to the gym twice a week

  4. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
    All sorts - prob too many carbs.

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

  6. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
    4 days

  7. How old were you when you started Finasteride?
    29

  8. How old were you when you quit?
    29

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

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

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

  12. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    1-2 days

  13. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
    No libido, ED, testicular ache, numb ‘disconnected’ penis

Put an X beside all that apply:

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
[ ] 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
[ ] Depression / Melancholy

Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[x ] Testicular Pain
[ ] 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
[ ] 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?
    None

  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)?

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

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

Well first of all, I should point out that I only took it for 4 days (last pill on Nov 6th). I guess a lot of you on here took it for a lot longer and I would understand if you kind of roll your eyes a little at my worries. It’s quite possible that, it being just over 2 weeks since I took the last pill, that I just need to wait a little longer before getting really worried.

The only thing is that after 6 days of quitting fin, I did get my libido back and for that weekend all seemed good. But by the following Monday, it sort of went again and by Friday (20th Nov) I was feeling all the symptoms I had felt after immediately quitting fin. So I am wondering if this is a ‘crash’ (due to the body’s reaction to returning DHT levels) that gets spoken of on this forum. Or should I just hold out for the 30 days that is mentioned in the FAQ and then act?

My Doctor has said to wait it out and then he’ll refer me to a urologist or has suggested viagra.

I know it is very early days but I guess the feeling of panic is something everyone on here can identify with. There is so much helpful information on this website that I guess I probably know the answers to my own questions but if any of you do have any comments that would be most appreciated.

Thanks

Dave20

#2

Hey how is it going? I’m asking you this because I am in a very similar situation. I am 28 year old, took 4 pills (last on nov 3), and I have had exactly your symptoms including the crash after 1 week.

I started taking zinc and it is literally doing miracles. I don’t know if I should keep taking it for long though. If you know of any other supplement that worked for you, please let me know.

Hopefully you have already recovered without needing any supplement :slight_smile:

#3

m_81, how much zinc do you use?

#4

I take 25mg of zinc and 1mg of copper a day, plus 1 pill of centrum, which contains 17mg of zinc among other things. So 42mg total.

I decided to take also centrum because I read that too much zinc prevents your body to absorb important minerals (copper and others), which then you need to take separately

#5

Lol, so nice to see such guys just forget this forum with their problems :stuck_out_tongue:. How’s your progress, dave?

#6

iam taking 37 of zinc i dont know if its helping but i will keep taking it, i think it rebalances testosterone and estrogen levels

#7

I have made a conscious effort to not think about any of this so I have stayed away from the site and just tried to distract myself with other things. But I thought it would be useful for others if I gave an update.

I would say there has definitely been an improvement and would even go so far to say as I am 70% back to normal. I still don’t feel as horny as I used to but things have got better. I have been on centrum every too, which I uess might have helped.

I have talked a lot about this with two of my friends who have been on propecia for over 2 years. They have been very sympathetic but they have not experienced any symptoms and have both seen very good results in terms of hair restoration.

They have, in the most tactful way possible, suggested it is totally a psychosomatic reaction and that my research into the possible side effects before taking propecia expalins my reaction to it. They are so happy with their results that they would never give it up. One of them plans to take it for the next 20 years at least. I am genuinely concerned for them but I feel I have done my bit by telling them what happened to me.

#8

You certainly have done your bit. Good on you. I feel sorry for them. Finasteride clearly should be avoided in all situations.

JN