- Where are you from (country)?
Canada
- 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?)
Google search
- What is your current age, height, weight?
26; 6’0; 190
- Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
Yes, very light exercise
- What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
Organic
- Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hair loss
- For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
1 year
- How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
20; Sep 2008
- How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
21; Aug 2009
- How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Started forgetting to take the pill; went cold turkey at some point
- What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
Propecia
- What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1mg/day
- How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
Not sure, but definitely by the last month I took it
- What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
I’m in the longest recovery I’ve ever had (almost 4 months), so I’m cautiously optimistic that some side effects have resolved given that I have not had them for 6 months. Beside these, I put a ?
Sexual
[?] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[?] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[X] Loss of Morning Erections
[?] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[?] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[?] Watery Ejaculate
[?] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[?] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[?] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[?] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[?] Confusion
[?] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[?] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[?] Slurring of Speech
[?] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[?] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[?] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[?] Suicidal Thoughts
Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[?] Testicular Pain
[?] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[?] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[?] Weight Gain
[X] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[?] Muscle Wastage
[?] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[?] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[?] Prostate pain
[?] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[?] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[?] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[?] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] 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?
I have treated myself 3 times based on things I read on this and perhaps other forums. 1st time, I took milk thistle. This helped for about 2 months and then I crashed. 2nd time, I began to exercise like a beast and I started eating solely organic. This also helped for about 2 months and then I crashed. 3rd time, I took ZMA. This also helped for about 2 months and then I crashed.
Finally, as of December, I have been going to traditional Chinese acupuncture after I finally got some awful bloodwork results back from the previous month.
- If you have pre or post-Finasteride bloodtests, what hormonal changes have you encountered since discontinuing the drug (pls post your test results in the “Blood Tests” section and link to them in your post)?
My blood results from November were high in AST and ALT (liver-associated enzymes) and low Testosterone (120ng/dL, I think). It took a lot of begging to get the doctor to even order these tests, so I’m not sure what else may have been high or low. My acupuncturist told me that my liver, kidneys, and prostate were all very damaged.
- Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
My voice became higher as a consequence of Propecia.
- Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
I started taking Finasteride for no real reason other than to check it out. I was 20 and I had no problem with the fact that I was losing hair. However, I happened to mention to my doctor during a check-up that I was losing my hair and asked if there might be a cure for this “ailment.” He told me that he has never heard of anyone having problems with Propecia and gave me prescription. Alarm bells should have started ringing in my head at that point, since it’s very unusual for doctors to qualify their advice with “I haven’t heard of anyone experiencing side-effects.” Regardless, I didn’t listen and one year later I had gained 30 pounds around my waist and could no longer get a full erection. This fact did not really bother me at the time because, around the same time I started Propecia, I also stopped having sex and masturbating and it therefore never occurred to me that I had become unattractive and unable to perform sexually.
I can’t tell you the reason why I finally stopped. I think I had just grown bored of having to take a pill at the same time every day like it was birth control. After I stopped, the love handles remained as did my soft erections. I didn’t realize there was a problem until I turned 23 and started remembering what kind of stud I used to be. Now I had become completely different. My thinking was hazy; I was forgetful; I cried a lot; I hated sex; and so on. I went through some soul-searching and realized that it must have been the Propecia. My mother had been telling me for years that I had changed after I had started taking it, but I thought she was just mixing up causes and effects; maybe it was my change in personality that had made me take Propecia in the first place. With the help of this forum and some other resources, I realized that it was in fact the effects of Propecia that were making me feel like a woman, as I would later come to describe my predicament.
On a suggestion from what I think was this forum, I bought some milk thistle and took it as the bottle recommended, in order to cleanse my liver. I was convinced my liver was damaged due to my persistent love handles that I just couldn’t get rid of and because my eyes were always a little yellow. This actually helped quite a bit. For the first time in years I was back to what I perceived as my old self. My thinking was sharper then ever, my job performance spiked, I was having sex through the night and, most noticeable of all, the girth of my erect penis had increased noticeably enough that my girlfriend was wondering if I was doing exercises or something to get it bigger. This hit me hard. Until that point I hadn’t realized that my erections had been shrunk! Anyway, this all came crashing in about 2 months as I regained a lot of weight I had lost and again became disinterested in sex. Things took a turn for the worse and I even tried to take my own life a couple of times. I went to some doctors but they were unhelpful to the point of being rude.
Let’s fast forward 2 years. At that point, I had been trying to get my wife pregnant for 11 months with no success. I knew I was damaged because my thinking was hazy again, but there was nothing I could do about it. None of my old tricks worked. I tried the milk thistle, the exercise, eating super-healthily, but to no avail. I read somewhere that some guys had success with ZMA because of the Propecia-Liver-Zinc-Sperm connection. I don’t really remember the reasoning behind it and didn’t care. I’ll would take anything to get better and I did get better, temporarily. I was back to being myself and within a month, a child was on the way. I crashed again about a month later, but I didn’t really care, since I was now a family man and didn’t have time to worry about my own health. Nevertheless, my wife was begging me to go get my blood checked as we might want to have more children in the future. I finally went in November 2014, even though I had promised to myself that I would avoid doctors at all costs.
Explaining to my female doctor that I feel like a woman and that I want to go back to my true self turned out to be impossible. She basically thought I was looking for depression medication, for which she was happy to offer a prescription. I said all I want is a comprehensive blood test. She then told me that she can in good conscience only offer me some hormone tests. I got the results back and my testosterone was all the way at the bottom and my liver enzymes were off the charts. Apart from that, there were other things on the paper that convinced me that I have some serious hormonal problems so I pointed this out to my doctor. I don’t really remember how she replied; I walked out of the office before she could finish. I had given up on the chemistry that doctors package as medicine and I decided to reach out to the Asian community, in which I knew a traditional Chinese acupuncturist was known for solving liver problems. This decision has so far turned out to be very positive.
After an intensive 4 week treatment of needles, soups, and some other voodoo, I have been feeling OK since January. I still have some symptoms as I indicated above with an X, but some of the symptoms that bother me the most, such as a lack of sex drive, are completely gone. Furthermore, my voice dropped about half an octave! My acupuncturist basically told me that my liver, kidney, and prostate were so damaged that my Qi wasn’t flowing like it is supposed to. I don’t know what this means, but for the first time in over 6 years, I have felt like a man for longer than a token period of 2 months. I hope that this recovery lasts. I don’t know if all the issues are resolved, but I’m unsure of what steps to take next. At the very least, I know I need to redo my bloodwork.
I have joined this forum to share my story and to gain some perspective on my very tentative recovery.