Welcome to our community. Please fill in the following template as a way of introducing yourself, and helping others to understand your background and situation.
Where are you from (country)? UK
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?) Internet or Reddit
What is your current age, height, weight?
22, 5’7, 63kg
What specific drug did you use (finasteride)
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
What condition was being treated with the drug? Hairloss
For how long did you take the drug (6 weeks)
Date when you started the drug?
18th October
Date when you quit the drug?
26th November
Age when you quit?
21
How did you quit (cold turkey)
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects? 3 weeks
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? Tinnitus, headpressure, headaches, vision problems, twitches, low libido, prob more
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
[ x] Complete Impotence
x Loss of Morning Erections
[ x] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[x ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ x] Watery Ejaculate
[ x] Reduced Ejaculate
[x ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ x] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[x ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[x ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[x ] Confusion
[ x] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[x ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ x] Slurring of Speech
[ x] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[x ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[x ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ x] Suicidal Thoughts
Physical
[x ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ x] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[x ] Testicular Pain
[x ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[x ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ x] Weight Gain
[x ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[x ] Muscle Wastage
[ x] Muscle Weakness
[x ] Joint Pain
[x ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[x ] Prostate pain
[ x] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[x ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[x ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[x ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[x ] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[x ] Hearing loss
[x ] Increased hair loss
[ x] Frequent urination
[ x] Lowered body temperature
Other (please explain)
What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
Lite version of CD Nuts
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)?
6 weeks pfs my test was at 801 ngdl. In May’s 5 months later it was 487 ngdl
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.
Mainly lurked as i was hoping to bring some good news recovery wise. but thought I should make a member story and just update as I go as I don’t know how much further I can go. It’s been 8 months since my life was effectively over.
Took finasteride for 6 weeks end of last year 3x a week after reading the bs on tress less reddit by finasteride sychophants, austrailian hairloss doctors and hairlicously, who since stopped taking it, advocating it on youtube and telling myself if I got side effects I could just stop taking it. Got horrible side effects some of the worst I’ve seen felt like an exercism, manhood completely shrivelled up, constant pain in my balls and shrinkage, manhood, groin, lost complete control of my mind, cried everyday when I hadn’t done in years, felt something in my body switch, off muscle wastage couldn’t leave the bed, couldn’t concentrate, I could go on, every nightmare symptom. 6 December 2021 leaving AE with a codeine prescription and pat on the shoulder from the doctor I knew I was gonna die by suicide, only 21. Even after all of this 2 months later I was able to have sex and I thought I could pull through but then the neurological symptoms. Tinnitus 2 months later. Headpressure, brainfog, headaches, vision problems that make it hard to read sometimes.
Promised myself I’d give it a year no matter what but I doubt I’ll see much change in the next four months.
Ive thought about suicide religiously everyday to end this suffering. I tell myself to tough it out but everyday is hell and involves I’d say 2 mental breakdowns.
Everyday the constant suffering chips away at my psyche there isn’t anything left now of the person I was but the thought of doing this forever, I just want to die but I can’t do it to my parents. I think back to when I was a child and contemplate this is how it all ends. I’ve tried everything but sadly there seems little hope for the neurological symptoms.
Visited a bridge that I will plan to jump off as codeine/benzos seems likely to fail and leave me in a worst state. The only thing that keeps me going is the thought of my parents having to bury their child and the scar it will leave on my family.
I want to keep going, I have to, but I’m in so much mental pain everyday is torture. The tinnitus is constant high pitch incredibly intrusive and I’d say worse than the hearing damage type as I can feel it in my mind and I don’t think its the anxiety type either it’s neurological. It feels like I have brain damage of which there will be no cure and just when you think it might drop ever so slightly it goes up again
I don’t think I’ll ever recover from this and though I would like to linger for a few more years to get my masters and do some travelling before giving up, I’m still planning to end things nonetheless.
Every step of the way I have been met with dismissive attitudes in personal life and by doctors who offer nothing more than recommendation to go to a talking therapy which I don’t even need a doctor referral to go to and scowls everytime I say no to ssris as they are convinced it’s just depression though I know it isn’t and not like SSRIs do anything for depression anyways. My mum berates me about how people live in constant suffering all the time and find some other personal fault to blame my behaviour on but well I can’t live like this. I don’t have the guts to tell my dad he warned not to take it as well but I knew better of course.
My physical symptoms which doctors throw back in my face and tell me not to worry about my neurological symptoms as the “groin pain subsided didn’t it?, you can have sex can’t you” Well sorta still got a weird feeling their but again overall and healing the body is one thing the brain is something else.
Sad that pfs has been a catalyst for some more positive changes in my life in terms of wisdom/ knowledge, lifestyle changes, and mental attitudes I wish I had found propeciahelp and been healthy thus website offers so much more insight than a self improvement shill could ever sell to you
Socially I’m stuck in an infinite catch 22. Where I’m socially isolated but I struggle to meet people because I can’t go out and drink/smoke be in loud venues. I don’t have the self control and im also generally socially awkward. On top of suffering from problems that people can’t relate to and that are stigmatised and that people seem to forget immediately after you tell them. All of this leading to a death in quiet desperation.
I’m begging for any advice to help deal with neurological symptoms anybody that’s dealt with tinnitus, headpressure, vision problems, twitching, headaches any advice would be appreciated
Self-reporting template - ONLY USE FOR FUTURE POSTS TO REPORT ANY TRIALS OF TREATMENTS, NOT YOUR INITIAL MEMBER STORY
- Name of the therapy/substance:
- Dosage:
- How often you took it:
- Status
- Still using [ ]
- Stopped with no lasting change to initial symptoms [ ]
- Stopped with persistent change to symptoms [ ]
- Duration of use: Days [ ] Months [ ] Years [ ]
- Response when you started:
- Greatly improved [ ]
- Slightly improved [ ]
- Stayed the same [ ]
- Slightly worsened [ ]
- Greatly worsened [ ]
- Current response (if you’re still using the therapy/substance) OR Response in the time before you stopped the treatment
- Greatly improved [ ]
- Slightly improved [ ]
- Stayed the same [ ]
- Slightly worsened [ ]
- Greatly worsened [ ]
- Lasting changes to initial symptoms after cessation (if you have stopped for more than 3 weeks)
- Greatly improved [ ]
- Slightly improved [ ]
- Stayed the same [ ]
- Slightly worsened [ ]
- Greatly worsened [ ]