I’ve been on it for 4 years and just quit. Can I expect more things to happen to me now that I quit (in addition to the brain fog, vision problems, anxiety)? Or did you guys have the sexual side effects while you were on it? Thanks so much for the help.
I think my symptoms initially got a little worse when I got off the drug, but after some time my anxiety went away. Sexual problems remained the same.
JH
My problems started about a week into the drug @ 1.25mg/day with mild ED and loss of penile sensitivity, and loss of ejaculate force. By month 6 I was experiencing beginnings of gyno and becoming extremely tired/fatigued, to the point where it was difficult to wake up in the morning. Also experiencing beginning of brain fog at this stage.
By month 11 gyno was becoming a problem and anxiety, panic attacks and psychotic thoughts were commonplace, total loss of penile sensitivity and major ED at this point. Visual stimulation to porn or girls didn’t do anything for me, I couldn’t get turned on if my life depended on it. If I did, it was only semi-hard like a wet noodle.
I distinctly remember when I quit, my penis/scrotum was totally numb/tingly and shrunken. Still have not recovered pleasureable feeling down there since I took the drug, nor has size returned… its been 17 months off. Still no response to visual stimuli.
When I quit, my libido shot up 2 weeks after and tanked from that point onward. Testosterone dropped significantly (388), and has slowly risen to mid-levels (519 after 8 months off)… so for me the loss of libido happened after I quit, more penile shrinkage also. I believe it has to do with the drop in my T levels. Semen volume decrease is still present, but brain fog has cleared up a lot, thankfully.
I hate Merck for this.
Thanks a lot guys. Is there anything you wish you would have done differently when you initially got off Propecia. Also, should I recommend my brother gets off it? He’s not having the side effects, and I’m worried if he gets off it he’ll have a big drop in Testosterone levels. Thanks again for the help.
Rather than quit abruptly, I’d ween myself off by gradually lowering the dosage over a period of a month and a half or so… and from everyday, to every 2nd day, 3rd day, 5th, 7th… give your system time to adjust… maybe quitting cold turkey is what screwed me up, I don’t know… but looking back if I had the choice I’d ween off slowly.
My story is almost identical to Mew’s. Mew I wonder why you started getting gyno when your E is clearly in range on your blood tests?
Maybe there is some kind of hidden estrogen dominence happening to us, maybe at the receptors or somting or the E is being broken down by the liver, but is still in a harmfull form, enough to cause us problems, but cant be picked up on a blood test? Just thinking out load.
Im sure E has got a big part to play in our problems, even though most have “normal” estrogen levels. Theres too much gyno to ignore it.
My E level is actually a bit high… according to LEF.org’s ranges, optimal for men is 10-30pg/ml… when I convert my results from Canadian to US values, I am at 43pg/ml (8 months off).
So almost 15pg/ml more than it should be, above the recommended optimal zone. The fact I got puffy nips and chest pains, and flabby chest… tells me E2 IS an issue.
I have read of guys taking Adex (Anti-E) and have noticed a return of sexual functioning while on Fin… so I’m sure E has something to do with this… plus the fact that high E keeps T/DHT levels down. Not a good thing.
My side effects started when I stopped the treatment. While I was on it, everything was normal. My libido was fine and my sexdrive was fine.
Hi Folks,
I’m a newbie and have to say I’m greatly appreciative that this
forum exists. It’s a fantastic outlet for those of us who’ve been
suffering in silence such as myself. My story is the typical one
in this forum, I was on Propecia for seven years before I quit last
year and not only have I not noticed any improvement but am in
worse condition at this point. The strangest thing is during the two
weeks following my discontinued use of this drug from hell I was
functioning fairly normal, nowhere near before use ofcourse but I
was atleast experiencing morning erections rather uncontolable at
times which made me think everything was going to be alright. Right
after exactly 2 weeks it all came crashing down, as I had absolutely
no libido, and couldn’t force an erection if my life depended on it, if
one could call this a life, it’s more like a sentence. Why exactly 2 weeks?
I switched to organic meat around the same time and have honestly attributed this decline to that given my body was used to having a steady stream of hormones through my diet until I read Mew’s post regarding a similar scenario. The bottom line is I felt I had a little more libido while on the drug and a few more erections although not many morning ones. I’m guessing our bodies are in a state of transition trying to undo or rebalance our hormones after being on this drug for several years although unfortunately having to bear this in the interim. I wished to God I had never taken this rat poison, I feel absolutely nothing in the presence of beautiful women at age 36, can’t believe this is happening. Mew I must admit I wept when I read your post in the personal section when you mentioned a girl told you hair wasn’t important! I went to an endo a few weeks ago to have blood work done and tested for everything that is on the list Mew has provided. apparently it takes 2 months before my endo has all the results, talk about waiting anxiously. Folks sorry for being rather long winded, I just needed to get this stuff off my chest, I’ll post my results once I have them.
Did you have libido/issues the whole 7 years?
As for labs taking 2 months??? Where do you live? If within US, than your endo is giving you the run around…or your lab/insurance is very ineffective. At most, labs should take no longer than 2 weeks to be rec’d and than another week (at most) for the Dr to review and share with the patient.
Rockin I would say any noticeable sides began roughly after the first
year. I honestly hadn’t attributed these to the Propecia useage and
thought it was probably the excess alcohol consumption back in the
days (I quit drinking 1.5 years ago). The thing is you get caught up
in the improvements it makes to your hairline and don’t think about
quitting even if you suspect if may have an effect on your sexual functioning. I quit a year ago because I simply had reached a stage
where I said to myself, you’re a walking dead man do something about it.
My endo mentioned some tests take much longer than others and wanted
to see me when they were all in, the length of time does seem odd though. I read in another site that someone was found to have a lower one third Testosterone result and that he was placed on Androgel that seemed to have a beneficial effect. I realize there must be more to it although I hope I’m in the same boat so I can atleast be prescibed something that may have a positive effect.