dgreene's story

Member Stories
#1

I’m still trying to figure this site out. Could you please tell me where I need to post? I’ll just include a brief story here for now.

Took propecia at 22 for maybe 4 months, on and off. No real major side effects, if there were any, they went away. Nothing to cause alarm. Stop taking because I was preoccupied with other things in my life, didn’t bother to renew prescription, etc. I’m going on with my life etc. then moronically decide to give it a shot again as I notice my hair line receding again. Take half a tablet of propecia (I never took proscar) for about three days, then take a whole pill for two days. I remember this was a friday. That night my penis is limp and I feel nothing. I am FREAKING OUT right now. I cannot sleep and go in shower and try to calm down get an erection. I get one, ejaculate is water. Penis still does not feel normal so I make appointments with endocrinologist and urologist. Endo says everything normal, dont worry propecia cant do this. Urologist basically said the same thing, its “in my head”. I slowly get better over the next couple of days and I would say after about 3 weeks have trouble getting erection. Shit, I thought, its coming back. For the next couple of days I monitor myself. I get very depressed, but I would not attribute this directly to propecia, but to the sexual side effects. I have a very close family friend who is a therapist and is helping me out psychologically (never had therapy in my life before this, btw). Can’t sleep well for a few days because I’m waking up with anxiety attacks. After accepting what has happened, I am able to fall asleep, but I still wake up around 4 I would say. Then fall back so sleep a little later. When I wake up I notice I have a semi nocturnal erection that quickly subsides. I would like to say that I was probably one of the horniest guys on this planet and had raging erections before this catastrophe. One this I forgot to mention was low libido, pretty much non-existent.

Could we also please start a forum for those who have been suffering for a while (couple of months) and have seen at least some slight improvements?

I have accepted my condition and I trying to stay calm, however, I still have a hard time believing that this is permanent. There has to be a way to reverse this. Scientifically it doesn’t make much sense to me for this not to be fixable.

#2

Probably, it is fixable, because some people recovered. Don’t lose hope.

#3

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Welcome to Hell.

For most of us arriving here at first it also seems inconceivable that a drug prescribed for such frivilous purpose could a)cause sever and long lasting damage and b)not be recognised by 99% of the medical establishment that it could, nor anyone be able to understand why.

Unfortunately many men have arrived before you determined to try anything that could possibly rectify this problem, but no one has been particularly successful nor does anyone have any definitive idea what has happened and how to reverse it. It’s better you realise this from the outset rather than wade through all the stories yourself and realise the demoralising truth.

That said, you don’t appear to have been really messed up by this poison, relatively speaking, which perhaps bodes well for seeing improvements. You’ve also arrived at a point where moves are finally being made to attempt to find out what lies at the core of this problem, which at least offers some hope in finding treatments at some point.

#4

I’m a recent victim. I took the pills on and off about 4 months no problem. Stopped for half a year. Took .5 mg for three days and 1 mg for two days. Last day serious impotence and I stop taking it. Slowly get better over 3 weeks, then I crash. Its been two weeks now that I have zero libido, no nocturnal/morning erections. Penis feels numb. I get my blood tests done and my doctor says I have low total testosterone, but free testosterone is fine. Didn’t measure DHT. Am I permamently screwed?

#5

Nobody can say we are ‘permanently screwed’ but unfortunately, the crash means you could be in this for the long haul. There is nothing that you can do apart from to persist with doctors and familiarize yourself with the stuff on this website. If you haven’t already seen; there is lab research in process for which results will be out later this month.

#6

And what did your doctor say about this? What treatment options, if any, were suggested?

#7

She did not suggest taking testosterone supplements, but referred me to a urologist. But this makes sense, I have not been feeling the same. I was a raging horny animal before this mess. Now I’m dull and sex doesn’t interest me. Can my testosterone go back up normally on its own? How long can this take?

#8

In general, anything to do with hormones should probably be dealt with by a ENDOcrinologist (hormone/endocrine specialist), vs a UROlogist (penile/genital/reproductive specialist).

Do you have copies of your bloodwork? Post the results of your tests, with ranges. There are treatments for increasing your own Testosterone production via natural supplements and if that fails, pharmaceuticals like Clomiphene Citrate.

Yes, it can, depending on your body’s ability to recover from androgen deprivation. How long this could take is variable. Without bloodtests to monitor progress over time, you won’t know.