Deadballs - My story

Member Stories
#1

I took dutasteride for roughly 7 or 8 years. All the while I didn’t feel quite my usual self. I had reduced ejaculate and diminished sex drive and sensation. As the years went by these symptoms became worse and the worst of all was I became depressed and incredibly anxious. No history of depression/ anxiety prior to taking dutasteride. Luckily, I have not suffered depression since taking it and anxiety has also diminished despite feeling worried about my predicament.

My persistent symptom include, loss of sensation, loss of libido, loss of energy/ drive/ lust for life. I know none of this is in my mind or created by my mind because I no longer wake with an erection or have spontaneous or nocturnal erection at all. I have been patronised by numerous doctors and endocrinologists who say stop worrying about things and try to let go of the past. It’s not the past that worries me, it’s the ever perpetuating present that is of concern.

My recent labs and diagnosis of osteopenia. I am 35 years old btw!

BONE DENSITY REPORT
BMD (g/cm2) T Score Z Score Classification
AP Spine L1,L2 1.016 -0.3 -0.3 Normal
Femoral Neck (left) 0.691 -1.8 -1.4 Osteopenic
Femoral Neck (right) 0.664 -2.0 -1.6 Osteopenic

Seman analysis normal apart from the sample was viscous!

Bloods- 18/01/13 09:46AM

FSH - 2.6 iu/L 1.3-19.3

LH - 5.0 iu/L 1.2-8.6

Progesterone 0.9nmol/L

SHBG 29 nmol/L 10-50

Testosterone 13nmol/L 10-27.6

Free Test 0.275nmol/L

Oestradiol 83pmol/L range 73-172

TSH 1.4mu/L 0.34-5.6

FT4 12.3 pmol/L 7.5-21

Glucose 4.6mmol/L 4.0-6.0

Anyway here is my questions answers bit

  1. Where are you from (country)? England

  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?) Comrade in arms in the post finasteride war

  3. What is your current age, height, weight? 35 years, 12 stone, 6ft

  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise? One month ago I started heavy weight lifting. I have noticed considerable strength increases but no changes mentally.

  5. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)? Very healthy meat eater with mainly salads and generally cooking all my own foods with no preservatives. Only use olive oil etc and eat healthy fats and oils

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

  7. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)? 8

  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride? I think I was 23. I can’t remember the date

  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
    Roughly 3 years ago

  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?
    Dutasteride

  12. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? .5mg daily

  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects? Stragely enough I first used finasteride and immediately had side effects of total erection loss, libido loss, depression. This was within hours. It stopped when I stopped. I then experimented with dutasteride and did not have the same side effects at first. It took a year to notice and they gradually built to unbearable levels.

  14. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? Libido loss, sensation, loss of morning, spontaneious and nocturnal erection. General blunting of the mind!

Put an X beside all that apply:

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
[x] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[x] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[x] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[x] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[x] 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
[ ] 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
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[x] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[x] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature

[x] Other (please explain) I have developed osteopenia in my hips

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?

Clomid, proviron, zinc picolinate, every herb imagineable

  1. 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 I wish I had pre blood tests

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

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

Came back to give some hope
#2

OK guys I just want to post some stuff I’m trying. I’ve been training hard now for 7 weeks. Heavy compound weight lifting. Going to add HIIT sprinting this week.

I’m supplementing and I’ve gone kinda balls out. Today is the first time in a years I’ve felt quite normal. No libido but everything else is in check.

I popped 25mg of clomid morning and night a few days running. Got a bit depressed so I am just using 25mgs at night now until my new batch arrives and I may up it to 50mgs.

Today I feel aggressive. Not in a bad way. In a chilled out assertive way. Like if someone caused me grief I’d calmly, confidently tell the person to fuck off and not give it a second emotion. That sort of aggressive.

Other stuff I’m using now is as follows

Vit D - 5000ius
ZMA*
Tribulus*
D- aspartic acid*
N- acetyl cysteine
Creatine*
Gingko biloba
Ginseng

I’ve asterisked the stuff I have added very recently and have noticed a change since incorporation.

I’m just gonna carry on doing what I’m doing.

#3

I also have bought pickled beetroot and I eat a few slices daily. I find this is the only way I can stomach the stuff.

#4

if you get emotional sides from clomid I recommend taking toremifene instead. Lesser side effects and I believe it is supposedly stronger at raising test levels.

#5

The only thing I’m getting from clomid at the moment is reduced libido as my letrozole still hasn’t arrived yet! But generally I don’t seem to get emotional side effects from clomid. However, I haven’t taken the doses I will be taking as soon as my letro arrives before! Only 25mg daily usually. Will be taking 100mg when letro arrives!

#6

Hi guys,

Used this forum for many years and tried all sorts including TRT and herbs and as you can imagine 100s of random things. Stopped trying most things a couple of years ago apart from trying to eat healthy and herbs that are good for you generally. But I don’t take herbs very often apart from in my food.

My advice would be the safest route and that is to remain active but not over active. Listen to your body. Rest as well as you can and eat healthy as possible. Good hydration. Casseroles and things like that filled with pepper and ginger and lots of veg etcetera.

After 10 years I can safely say I’ve 98% recovered.

Started happening over the last 2 years ish. With blips of libido and then troughs and then blips again until I finally levelled out and my libido is now consistently very strong. I am 39 years old and I screw my young wife to be daily. Twice daily if I have the time as she seems to quite enjoy the practice :wink:

Only thing that never recovered was I don’t get morning or spontaneous erections. Well, rarely anyway.

Good luck to you all. The body does VERY slowly seem to find homeostatus. Did in my case anyway. But I did come off TRT after 18 months ish and ran pct with no issues. I say no issues as I felt no different before, during or after TRT which included blasting some high amounts of T now and then

Peace

2 Likes
#7

congratulations. im so happy for you. did you experienced emotional blunting? like u don’t feel strong emotions? how severe it is and how did u recover from that? can u please talk about your emotional blunting symptom? thank you

#8

Thank you for the update. Glad you are feeling better.

#9

appreciate you coming back to give us all an update!

it’s awesome to hear you’re better.

a couple questions if you don’t mind answering:

are you able to tolerate alcohol now?

do you still feel like you could crash if you’re not careful?

any thoughts on the Cd nuts protocol? many members, like myself, have seen a lot of progress on it and believe a holistic approach is the only way to really beat this thing.

#10

can you elaborate what were your symptoms

#11

Great news Deadballs, thanks for sharing. Did you take anything like cialis for libido issues? And how active were you in terms of exercise? Would be interesting to know when libido came back.

Many congrats on your marriage too.