Early stages

Member Stories
#1

I’ve read all the FAQ’s and I realise I’m going over old ground here - just guess I’m looking for some reassurances. I didn’t find this site till after I quit, wish I had.

I took Fin for hairloss from December 2006 to August 24th 2010, so over 3 and a half years. Whilst on it I had the usual watery semen, libido was down a bit. I planned on quitting this year anyway but a couple of months ago noticed my eyebrows shedding, patches of beard loss and my hair at the back and sides shedding massively. I put this down to the drug and decided enough was enough. I quit over 2-3 weeks of tapering down - probably should have done this for longer but it’s done now.

Within a few days there was some colour back in the semen, not so watery but also aching testicles which have continued for the past 2 weeks. I’m not quite at the panic stage but would you suggest doing nothing at the moment and see how things progress or can I be helping myself out in some way? I’ve improved my diet and I’m eating a lot more fruit and cut way back on caffeine and alcohol and trying to get some exercise. Thanks for reading.

#2

You’ll be ok for another week or two then…BOOM YOUR WORLD WILL FALL APART!!! :smiling_imp:

No seriously you should be ok, try and get a lot of the sun. I actually think this will help, I crashed when it was still dark and gloomy, plus we know that vitD is a part of this mess. Load up on vits, eat healthy (loads of fruit and veg) and avoid alcohol/stressors.

#3

Good that you weened off the poison. Most of us didnt.

I really hope you dont have the crash that we all had. Scary as hell when you go from sex on your mind 24/7 one day to depressed, zero libido and shriveled up dead dick the very next.

Luck is right. Take good care of yourself in the next several months. Your body/endocrine system is in a very fragile state right now.

Dont masturbate too much. It takes alot out of you. I did it three times in one day and the next day I crashed and my penis shrunk up to 1/2 its size. I think my hormones were keeping pace until then. Maybe only do it once a week for the next 6 months if you can hold off.

You’d be wise to keep a watchful eye on yourself for a good many months to come. Fin is evil shit and will bite you when you least expect it.

#4

ChrisC,

Both of these are symptoms of thyroid disease. Get a full blood panel done. Be sure to include all thyroid hormones including RT3 (reverse T3)

In the meantime, check out this website. Do the temperature test. Get educated on this stuff, as it’s likely your going to see a doctor who has no idea what the hell he’s doing.

stopthethyroidmadness.com/

#5

Thanks for the replies. Just a scary time that’s all. Started with the multivits, will add vit D to this. Trying to go for a 20 minute run most nights too.

I suppose this forum demonstrates the worst that could happen and I sit there reading the posts praying that it won’t happen to me. I guess there’s no forum out there that has millions of users who have come off Propecia with no real problems to counterbalance this.

#6

Thanks for this. I had my thyroid checked about 2 weeks before I quit and everything came back as fine. I’ve seen plenty of complaints about eyebrow and beard loss whilst on fin. I felt this happened overnight almost but looking at some older pictures realise that it may have been happening for a while and then accelerated towards the end.

#7

I bet a hell of alot more than just the 1500+ of us have had sides since discontinuing Fin. No one knows for sure. I might not have pieced it together without this website. I took Fin for about half the time you did and had no major sides either until after I stopped.

#8

3 weeks off it tomorrow. The aching testicles continue but is now only on the left and seems to be further up. A mild burning discomfort in the prostate are too. No idea on the semen - I’m abstaining for a while.

Improving the diet where I can. Strawberries, bluberries and blackberries with natural yogurt for breakfast, tuna salad for lunch, apples, bananas and nuts during the day, eggs, chicken, salmon, pork, vegetables for later. Drinking water, juice and a lot of milk for Vitamin D. Just a question on the vitamin front - I’m taking a good multivitamin, have just added cod liver oil capsules - anything else? I don’t want to overdo anything that’s not needed ie more zinc or vit d.

#9

If you think vitamins and fruit are going to save you, you are dreaming. Its in gods hands now…

#10

You need to do the research as to how to test thyroid. Most doctors test a very broad marker that will not identify hypothyroidism. RT3 testing is essential. Look at your labs and see what was tested. Did you doctor just run some tests and tell you everything was fine? That happened to most of us, now we are finding the general panel won’t identify many thyroid issues. Do the research as Boston suggests and post your blood tests in the blood tests section and read the treads on TFT, thyroid, etc.

#11

I’m not saying they are, but if I’m in this for the long term - which I may not be anyway - I’d rather be trying to recover with a healthy diet over eating crap. I don’t believe in God either, what will be will be.

#12

Thanks, I’ll look into this.

#13

Chris, I quit the same day as you and although touch wood (pardon the pun), I have not yet had any apparant Testosterone crash, my balls are aching every day as well.

On the subject of vitamins, I have just started taking 1000mg of vitamin C in an effervescent tablet form every day. I first started taking these tablets about 16 years ago, and even back then I noticed that they had the effect of noticeably increasing my libido. I’ve taken them off and on ever since. As over the past few weeks, my libido appears to have reduced(but doesn’t appear to have crashed), I thought that taking the tablets again might help counteract the low libido and help with Testosterone stimulation (which it always appears to have done). Almost straight away I’ve noticed an increase in Libido. For the first time in weeks it was difficult to resist masturbation last night. I also had a sexual dream, and woke up this morning rock hard. If you try them, get the ones from Boots. The cheaper ones from Tesco don’t do anything. They come in a tube of 20 tablets for about £3. Maybe they don’t affect other people this way, but they always have done with me.

#14

Over 3 months since I quit. Little bit of a rollercoaster regarding testicle and prostate pain. The prostate ache seems to have settled down. The ball pain - I go a few days with nothing then have a mild pain for a day or two.

Abstaining from masturbation as much as I can - which at times is difficult - maybe every 5 days. Still taking a multivit and cod liver oil and nothing else. Beard, eyebrows and side of hair which were all patchy have shown no real change. Trying to eat healthier, drink healthier and exercise but slip back too often. Other than that nothing much to report.

#15

The “rollercoaster” of side effects seems to be common. Some even say they have almost complete recoveries. If your only side effect now is testicular pain I think you’re in good shape. For just about everyone this side effect subsides after time. Was very bad for me in the first 4-5 months off Fin and now comes and goes but much milder ache.

Keep up the healthy diet, excerise, sleep, etc indefinately in my opinion. At this point I don’t think we can say there is definate time when you are out of the woods.

#16

Thanks Boston. It’s pretty difficult trying to live like a saint and I’ve slipped a few times - we’re all human. On the whole I’m just doing things better.

I did notice one time a couple of weeks ago my semen came out watery at first and the rest was fine. Gave me a bit of a panic but I’m just trying not to stress too much. I think I’ll just review things mid Feb - that’ll be 6 months off the stuff.

#17

Five months off.

Good things:

Prostate pain has gone.
Testicle pain - one or two mild shots of pain per week.
Semen quality - The watery fluid followed by the lumpy bit has all but gone. It’s not pure white but a lot thicker. The volume is not as much as before but the overall quality is better.
Erections - I force myself to get an erection every day at least once. I manage to think about ‘the things I like’ without any physical touching and can get one fairly easily. I’d say 90% of what it was. I have some nocturnal ones but never quite 100% hard.
Think about sex a fair amount.
The odd spot - returning T?

Bad things

I noticed a few weeks after stopping my left testicle is about half the size of the right. If ever I get a slight pain, it’s in that one. Now and again it increases slightly and gets firmer.

Pretty flacid soon after ejaculating, sometimes not always.

Beard growth still as patchy as ever. Possible very very slight regrowth but hard to tell.

Possibly slightly fatty around breast area.

Other things to mention - when I first quit fin I had a huge panic and anxiety and started on Citalopram 20mg. This helped me to cope but I’m not sure it’s helped my situation. I know now that there’s a link with ssri’s and T levels ie that they lower dopamine, increase prolactin and ultimately lower T. So when I quit Fin I chucked another potential T lowering drug into the equation. My body must be wondering what the hell’s going on. I started lowering my dose to 10mg 3 weeks ago and 2 days ago to 5mg which I’ll stay on for 2 weeks and then gradually stop. Hopefully this will help with the recovery.

What are your thoughts please on the good things/bad things/general situation? Thanks.

#18

Your “good things” look alot like me when I was at 5 months off. The testicular pain has subsided, but I still get some pain that comes directly from my penis.

If your right testicle is 2x’s bigger than you left that seems very odd. I think I would see a competent Urologist ASAP and have an ultrasound to rule out blockage or other mechanical issues.

Lastly, GET OFF THE SSRI’s. Both my PFS docs recommended doing that. Some of us use l-dopa, deplin, or wellbutrin. You are asking for a whole other set of problems with SSRI"s. We ALL understand where you’re coming from, the 1st few months of this is hell. It seems to get a bit easier to deal (although its never easy) as time goes by.

#19

Thanks.

Yes, I will be off them in the next 3 weeks or so, just weaning down.

Is the shrinkage of only one testicle uncommon? Think I’ve read on here of people with shrinkage in one only, but yes I’ll get it checked.

#20

Not with this condition, no. I have also had one look smaller than the other at times. Now, they both look uniformly small together.