Finasteride = Poison

Member Stories
#1

Welcome to our community. Please fill in the following template as a way of introducing yourself, and helping others to understand your background and situation.

Where are you from (country)? USA

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?) Googled Post Finasteride Syndrome

What is your current age, height, weight? 38, 5’11" 140 lbs

What specific drug did you use (finasteride, dutasteride, saw palmetto, isotretinoin/Accutane, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, leuprorelin, etc…)? Topical Finasteride 0.3% with 6% Minoxidil sold by ForHims.com

What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? 4 sprays once per day

What condition was being treated with the drug? Male Pattern Baldness

For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)? 7 days

Date when you started the drug? March 10th, 2022

Date when you quit the drug? March 17th, 2022

Age when you quit? 38

How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? Cold Turkey

How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects? Shortly after spraying the first night

What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? Insomnia, sexual anhedonia, ejaculatory anhedonia, skeletal muscle joint issues in hips, shoulders, back and neck, dry lips/mouth

Check the boxes that apply. You can save your post first, then interactively check/uncheck the boxes by clicking on them. If your symptoms change, please update your list.

Sexual
[x ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[x ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[x ] Loss of Morning Erections
[x ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[x ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[x ] Reduced Ejaculate
[x ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[x ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[x ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts

Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[x ] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[x ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[x ] Muscle Wastage
[x ] Muscle Weakness
[x ] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[x ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[x ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[ ] Hearing loss
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature

[x ] Other (please explain)
My sexual dysfunction has expanded to include ejaculatory anhedonia (no pleasure with orgasm) along with ongoing back pain, shoulder pain, neck pain, hip joint pain and dry lips that need constant chapstick.

What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug? Nothing specific yet, but exercising more with running and pushups and drinking more water

If you have pre or post-drug blood tests, what hormonal changes have you encountered since discontinuing the drug (please post your test results in the “Blood Tests” section and link to them in your post)? Hope to get blood test work done soon

Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience? ForHims is a terrible company with unprofessional and unknowledgeable doctors and nurses. I asked for help several times during and after my treatment and they brushed me off. I would like to sue them for ruining my body.

Tell us your story, in your own words, about your usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.

I first started the sprays on the night of March 10th, 2022 and had several sleep disturbances during the night. I woke up 4 times, but somehow managed to get myself to work the next day. I had terrible headaches, back pain, fatigue, dizziness, testicle pain and impotence. Symptoms seemed to improve by the end of the day so I continued with the treatment for six days in the hope that my side effects would dissipate over time. Symptoms were not improving after six days, so I stopped as the side effects were getting quite unbearable. I was able to masturbate once during those seven days and it was a very unusual experience with some level of pain, so I decided not to do that again until my body would recover a bit.

After I quit doing the sprays, my insomnia and other symptoms started to worsen. I had a complete “crash” about three days after quitting where my penis shrunk to baby size with zero sensation. I had an emotional breakdown, panic attack and thought my life was ruined with terrible insomnia and a long list of sexual side effects. I was hoping to recover in three months time, but my symptoms have changed and seem to be getting worse. I don’t get debilitating headaches anymore and my testicles don’t ache like they are in a vice, but I still get dizzy and fatigued along with back pain. New symptoms include dry lips/mouth, joint pain in the hips, back, neck and shoulders, muscle weakness and possible atrophy as I didn’t have much muscle mass to begin with. I’m trying to change that with a new exercise regimen that includes walking, running, pushups and yoga. I have always been a lightweight adult male around 140 lbs, but I certainly don’t want to lose the muscles that I have.

After reading as much as possible about this disease, it is my understanding that Finasteride induced some epigenetic changes to my gene expression. Any soft tissue that requires Testosterone or DHT to function properly seems to be failing me. I have not had a full night of rest in months and continue to wake up 3-4 times during the night after every 1-2 hours of sleep. This is a disaster. My impotence has somewhat subsided as I can get an erection with porn or stimulation. I have no sexual partner. I still have zero spontaneous erections, zero nocturnal erections and zero morning erections. My mental libido has improved because I want to have sex, but masturbation leads to ejaculatory anhedonia (no pleasure with orgasm) and my guess is that my androgen receptors in my penis have totally shut down.

Where do I go from here? Can anyone recommend a doctor in this field in the state of Illinois? May God Help Us All.

#2

Hi Nmaster8,

When I saw the rise of companies like Hims, I wondered how many people would eventually cite them as the people that brought them here. I’m sorry to hear of your experience, but it is one that is familiar to many of us, and though none of us want to be here, I’m glad that you found us.

Good news: sleep very commonly improves with time. It has for me gradually. I’m hoping it gets better with more time. There’s not much point putting a time frame on it, as people respond differently and some take more or less time to improve. Some people torture themselves by marking dates on the calendar as being indicative of recovery taking too long or being impossible. Probably not healthy to do that.

Are you a scientist/ medical professional? If not I strongly suggest that you don’t get too embroiled in “the science” - I remember joining up here and seeing people posting journals and papers and talking about epigenetics and only later did I find out how many of them, though they seemed outwardly respectable, were getting it wrong. I wouldn’t waste your time on it.

Sueing Hims sounds great. But, unfortunately, it won’t do much for you as long as we don’t have a test for pfs. So I’d suggest waiting until then, unless you want to accept a couple of thousand and forfeit your right to sue later. Until we can diagnose the condition, the best you can expect is probably being fobbed off with a token gesture.

The thing this condition needs is publicity, recognition and funding. If you can help with either, that is likely to be the most impactful thing you can do. Make sure you report your side effects to you country’s health authority as a minimum.

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#3

ForHims and Keeps (couldn’t think of dumber names for companies if I tried) masquerade behind slimy silicon valley start-up language about how they are pro-health and put people first. It doesn’t surprise me in the slightest to hear they leave you for dead when you inform them their drugs cause damage. They put out propaganda about how safe finasteride is and gaslight people. Truly reprehensible.

#4

Hi bro,

Be sure to aslso report your symptoms of pharmacovigilance

I leave you the link

4 Likes
#5

I don’t know about the disinformation, but given the number of these companies springing up, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that they’re not well resourced and are are all just buying from the same manufacturers and simply putting their own branding on the packaging. Throw some money at a doctor in a lab coat and ask them to parrot the drug safety reports and start advertising - That could well be the entirely of the operation.

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#6

That is pretty much their operation in a nutshell. In this video they claim finasteride has a “very low side effect profile” and they claim if you do experience side effects they are here to help you. Both of these claims are completely laughable and sickening

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU8ciNr0GfY

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#7

I made the same mistake with finasteride for benign prostatic hyperplasia. One year before in Feb 2021. Internet has been full of warnings about finasteride side effects. Like full hair but dead in the trouthers. Or hairloss drug, men should be aware of the risks and so on. I never checked it not even for some seconds (maybe in my personal case some selfharming tendencies and desicions only in emotional overreaction out of mental illness, instead of a critical and logical due diligence process)

But in the last minutes before shut down my life I believed in the information of the gaslighting leaflet, like you and so many others in the malignant information of hims, myspring, keeps and the other companies, who continue the evils marketing of the castration and lobotomizing poison to young inocent men.

All the fin users on this forum seem to be more intelligent than the average. But every stupid guy who read it sucks libido and can make impotent, only for temporary or only for some very very cases, thinks fuck off and kicks the shit into the garbage or pulls the fist in finasteride doctors face.

After all we brain devils lost the basic instinct to survive.

#8

Even being aware of the risks isn’t enough IMO. From our experience there’s no way for a non-sufferer to understand the risk. Nobody should be given the option to choose between their hair and their lives and we’re letting teenagers make that choice. DHT blockers should be illegal the world over, period. There is no safe usage. I hope sometime in the future we find a way to help young people better deal with hairloss, the treatment experiment is a conclusive failure. All the pill, transplant, and wig purveyors should be run out of town with boot prints on their ass.

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#9

Once DHT blockers are forbidden world wide like lobotomizing surgeries, but it is a long period and the evils cartel will go on to create the next generation of perverted drugs like finasteride the mimikry of poor hermaphrodites genetic disorder. Perversion and lying from the beginning will go on.

We need a DEA for pharma criminals!

2 Likes
#10

My gut told me not to take it but I wanted full thick hair so badly. I was so addicted to women liking me and finding me attractive that I was drawn like a moth to the flame. I didn’t google it like I should have. If I had I would never have taken it. The doctor told me what I wanted to hear when I asked about side effects.

4 Likes