ED

basically i took propecia for about 2 and a half years, just stopped end dec 2006. finding getting erection difficult, still wake up with serious wood every second or third day and i mean serious, daytime erections gone, masturbation is ok, still not ideal. started maca a week ago, thinking of acupuncture, anyone used brocolli treatment to good effect, anyone have any ideas, advice, solutions?? how long are side effects “supposed” to last and how long until it leaves your system? im shitting myself!

would aprreciate any advice.

James,
this is still very early for you - just one month.
Many people recover from drugs’ side effects over a period that can easily last 3 months, and many recover naturally from fin. in a short period.
You have been taking a potent drug that can interfere with the very delicate and complex balance of hormones within the body.

First steps I would say are to do very little - give your body time to get back into balance itself before putting anything else in.
If you must take anything then perhaps low doses of zinc (15mg per day), regular exercise (ideally with some heavy weight training) and good diet (fresh food, vegetables, protein and anything that helps promote good blood flow).

Secondly, try try try not to worry about this - anxiety can be your biggest enemy, especially in the first few months, so try and relax (your body doesnt need any more stress while it is trying to repair itself - get plenty of sleep each night as well!).

Thirdly, I would suggest you avoid all forums and limit research for the next 2 months - try and keep your focus on yourself and avoid further worries. The internet is full of fact and fiction, and generally more bad stories than good ones !!

In the unlikely event someone invents a ‘miracle cure’ for all fin side effects it will still be here, but the best thing you can do first is let your body try and re-establish its own balance. Your body has some good signs already with the morning wood (better than many of us when we first came off) so i wouldnt suggest throwing any more drugs at it.

Thanks for comforting words “reason”

I have been off p for 4 days after I started to feel the sexual side effects + some minor testicular pain.

How long did it take you to recover?

James! Have you made any progress?

I have been off of propecia for 11 months after about 2 1/2 years and I am still suffering from ED, low libido, pain and discomfort in testicles, tingling sensation in testicles and more. The side-effects have decreased but have definitely not dissapeared as Merck claims they should. I am really, really, really pissed and am looking at getting an attorney.

flow,
i am coming up to 16 months off. Always thought it might take 1 to 3 years to recover from what i had read of others stories, so have tried to be patient !!

4 days is nothing - you are probably in the majority who will recover naturally over the next 3 months, so get some rest, eat healthy and dont worry about it.
A small number of us are taking somewhat longer to recover, but in general are making progress - my own situation is that my total T levels are gradually increasing (in the last year - 430, 452, 486 and waiting for results from tests last week). ED almost completely cured, libido starting to climb (but was non-existent for the 1st year off).

i am relieved to say that the side effects are gradually disappearing, they are by no means gone however, the morning wood is still there, daytime wood is slowly returning, not ideal but a vast improvement to a month ago. i never really had a libido problem, didnt notice anything different about my semen and experienced no pain in testicles. i feel that if this progress continues i will be rid of side effects in 2-3 months. i have been using maca but its hard to tell if its worked or if its natural recovery. ill keep you updated.

cheers

I have been taking finasteride on and off for the past 6 years. I definitely did not notice any problems the first 3 years. But over the last year, I’ve noted less rigid erections, lower orgasmic quality and needing much more stimulation to get hard. I hadn’t had sex in a few months and then last week I had an opportunity and couldn’t get hard. I did drink a lot that night but that has never been a problem before. I’ve noticed that even when I’m mastubating it’s more difficult to get and maintain an erection and a lot of times my sensation is almost nil. I started looking on the internet and the horror stories have really scared me. I’m going to immediately stop taking finstasteride. What other advice does anybody have?
Has anybody looked in the website by a Dr. Lin (actionlove) or something like that in which he sells vitamins etc to help with this issue? I don’t want to take any other meds/supplements at all but he make somewhat of a good case.
Help!

“Reason”, when you say “ED almost completely cured”. How did you experience the gradual improvements? Did you feel that your morning erection was getting harder as your ED gradually went away?

I currently get morning erections, but they are a lot less hard then they used to be. This also goes for my erection when I masturbate, except some mornings when I’m able to get a full erection.

I have been off for 16 months now.
for the first 6 to 8 months i had morning wood very rarely, and achieving an erection was difficult.
Since then has become more and more frequent, almost nightly now, and strength increasing (still not what it was). Frequently achieve an erection for sex now without any manual stimulation, although most times it is ‘slow’ to get started.
Libido still relatively low, and spontaneous erections in the day are rare but gradually becoming more frequent.
Recovery painstakingly slow, but definitely improving…

Joshblack, can you let me know how you go with that attorney? You can PM me if you want. I got in touch with a lawyer that specialises in drug companies and he said this case would be too hard to prove. That doesnt mean ive given up though.

Thanks for the feedback “reason”. Have you used any medication, treatment (TRT, brocolli etc) to get to this stage?

BTW my testicular pain is almost completely gone, yesterday I had some pain on top of my penis (strange). However, this seems to have gone away to. This morning and yesterday I’ve had morning erections… today a little bit stronger than yesterday, but not quite as strong as before… Libido wise I’m not quite sure… have been pretty off for the past week due to anxiety about the whole thing. Difficult to tell whether low libido is physical or psycological related… but I’ve definately got less interest in women at this point. Hope this will pick up.

Chilling a bit with the masturbation… I want to build up my desire a bit.

Has any of you felt that the masturbation or sex have an effect on the morning erections? I.e. that you have fewer morning erections if you have a more of sex. Is this linked?

I generally feel that my libido and erection are stronger in the morning… Is this something any of you experience?

The reason your erections/libido are higher in the morning is because Tesosterone levels are at their highest in the morning.

I do find if I don’t get off for a week I do tend to build up a little bit of desire but if I whack it then the next day I feel very fatigued/brain foggish.

Reason,

I find it really difficult to get an erection, when I masturbate, it takes a long time and I have to focus, “visual aid” helps, but still difficult and takes a long time.

How difficult was it for you in the beginning masturbation wise? When did you start to see improvements in this area?

flow,
exactly the same as you for the first 6 months, then slowly got easier.
Libido IMO is both psychological and physical - there is a relationship.
I dont find that having sex increases or decreases any symptoms the next day, although erections are supposed to improve the T:E ratio (‘use it or lose it’).

Havent been on TRT. Tried Broccoli Treatment few times - was less effective each time.
Trying to raise T levels naturally.
Only supplement I am taking is zinc (15 to 30mg a day) as it is well reported to help the male reproductive system, although I take a break from this every couple of weeks. I eat as healthy as possible with a lot of variety (the latest diet news is that they may have got it all wrong about cholesterol and that too little can be bad for you, so I just go for a good all round mix but with reasonable amount of protein), I cut down on caffeine and alcohol and exercise a few times per week (short sessions of heavy weights or intensive swimming). I also try and get more rest than before (min 8 hours per night when i can) and have learned to relax more.

flow, how long did you take it for?
A lot of you guys seem to have progressing positive news btw… so it seems as if the body will naturally restore itself.

I have a question? How many people come on and off of this site with the problem and then they return back to normal? … I know these are a lot of questions… but also, how about someone here right now who has come across, lets see… a heated moment with a new girl lets say, it happens for me only a few times a year, but just hasn’t happened yet so I don’t know if I’ll be fine, but so anyway a situation in which you start making out with her, when normally you’d turn rock hard in a minute right off the bat, but its just limp instead?
See I’m trying to find out this, compared to those that have just been on a down and down, but with no new excitement as a comparison or somethin you know what I mean?? because actually, in hiondsight, i can now think of some times in my life where I was so stressed out and preoccupied that I just couldn’t masterbate either!! so anyway, keep your headz up guys!! Pun intended!

I have been with at least half a dozen girls the past year and I can tell you without a doubt that this is very real. In the heat of the moment you either don’t feel horny/turned on hardly at all, or if you do get hard, it doesn’t last… particularly after you put the condom on or sometimes even as you are fucking the girl, you just end up going limp because you are not mentally stimulated.

Doesn’t matter if it’s porn or a real girl, the effect is the same. I’m no longer horny in my head, I don’t feel the primal urge to bang hot chicks like I used to… in fact most of the time I couldn’t care less about sex. This is in stark contrast when a year and a half ago I couldn’t wait to get laid as much as possible, was constantly horny and thinking about sex, and could get hard instantly… at age 25.

that sucks man! How long did you take it for, did you say 11 months?
Well things are getting better for you a bit though right? Btw are you on other meds?
Also, are you the one who monitors and runs this site or something? I see “administrator”… you’ve seen a lot of people come on with this problem but get better right? Like the majority of them right?
Thanks…

And btw… I just have so many questions. I’m not worryin too too much yet, but its just so many thoughts… I just find it hard to believe there are only 1 or two hundred people on the worlwide web having this problem…!! I’m telling everybody about this now. There must be hundreds of thousands taking this drug.
I feel like this has got to affect almost everybody who takes this in some sort of similar way, wouldn’t you? Maybe just there are so many people out there that just have no sex lives to begin with maybe, or have just never had a great one or something, and so they couldn’t tell the difference anyway, something like that… i can’t understand it!
Thanks, hope to hear from ya!

Yea I took it for 11 months. My story in the Personal Profiles section needs to be updated… I didn’t really post my actual experience, only what I was experiencing after 8 months off… since then nothing has really improved, I’m still having issues in the sex drive/ED department particularly.

Not on any meds yet, it’s been 17 months off. I setup this site after it was decide the Yahoo group needed a new home, something more organized. The Yahoo group still exists as a repository of info for past members… or those from here that want to search old posts. That group had over 1000 members, however most of them never posted so not sure how many of them were actually active. That group also started almost 4 years ago, this one was only setup 6 months ago.

I too find it hard to believe that Merck hasn’t been sued over this yet. But I will be speaking to some lawyers. The only way to win such a case is to be able to prove Finasteride did this to us… without baseline blood tests prior to drug use that may be difficult to prove. Regardless, a class action lawsuit would require a number of guys to participate, it’s been brought up before but nothing has come of it yet…

My guess is maybe 30% of guys taking the drug experience the sides, the other 70% dont and hence never think twice about it. But for those that do get the sides, and then not have them resolve after quitting… it just really sux. There have been guys that have recovered through rebalancing their hormones, but others who have done the same and still not… seems like a crapshoot. Hopefully one day we’ll get the answers we’re in search of.

Hi there. I’m a new member and I[m very interested in this topic. My case is a little different and the reason Im really concerned about the future. I only took 2 pills of Propecia!!!, and still felt the side effects almost immediately (not sure if it’s because I’m over sensitive to Finasteride). It’s been about 3 weeks and I still feel different, very passive, no morning erections, difficult to maintain them even during sex. My case gets a little complicated because I underwent surgery about 20 yrs ago due to epididymitis. Basically only one of my testicles if 100% functional today. Good thing is I haven’t felt any pain as described by some people.
I recently started taking a herb mix called Passion Rx and it has improved libido somewhat. Still no change on erection quality I’d say. Can somebody tell me if this herb mix really works? Should I keep using it? What do you recommend? I’m not taking anything else at this time. I have also scheduled an appointment with a urologist.