My main issue is: Did all these people experiencing persistent side effects detected that the drug was doing this to them in the first 6 months or 1 year on the drug and stop the drug after, or there are also cases which the side effects slowly build up?
- Where are you from (country)?
UK - 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 - What is your current age, height, weight?
27, 69Kg, 1,74 - Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
yoga, now just started Gym - What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
Veg - Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
hair loss, a quarter of proscar - For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
7 years - How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
20 - How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
27, approx 1.5 months ago - How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
2 weeks doing a one day on, one day off - What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
Proscar - What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
a quarter of a 5mg pill - How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
only this summer, after 7 years - What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
memory loss, depression, loss of concentration and low volume of ejaculate
Put an X beside all that apply:
Sexual
[ ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ ] Loss of Morning Erections
[ x] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ x] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ x] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[x ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[x ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[x ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ x] Slurring of Speech
[x ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ x] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[x ] Depression / Melancholy
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
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[x ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[x ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ x] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[x ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ x] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[ ] Other (please explain)
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What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
none. Now taking Pridana as a mild help for depression -
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)?
-
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
-
Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
I started to take a quarter of proscar 5mg, 7 years ago - never had sexual side effects, perhaps the occasional loss of erection but nothing very worrying, sex drive always ok. This summer i noticed some growth of hair in shoulders and back (weird) and also my mood is always low and a distinct lack of motivation so i started to have some suspicious of depression which lead me to search if proscar could be involved. And apparently it is. Memory loss and loosing train of thought was also present. Stop drug circa 2 months ago. Libido still ok, memory and mood kind of improved, hair is falling a lot, but ejaculation volume is decreasing day by day for the past 2 weeks. Extremely concerned.
Did all these people experiencing persistent side effects detected that the drug was doing this to them in the first 6 months or 1 year on the drug, or there are also cases on which the side effects slowly build up?
Also, i did the one day on one day off for one or two week before quitting the drug, not sure if it was the right thing to do. Waiting for testosterone blood tests next week. My GP is incompetent and does think this is related at all saying that the drug is safe and this is probably just some thing happening on my life that is giving me my bad mood. His suggestion was stop proscar for a while, see if mood gets better then, if it does and your hair starts to fall start proscar again.
My mood and brain capacity has def changed over the past days (dunno if due to Pridana or to quiting proscar) but my ejaculate volume is decreasing day-by-day… dunno if i should stick with this or just assume proscar had nothing to do with it and, since it was ok for the past 7 years, start taking it again. Now i am scared of both having stopped the drug (not just because of hair loss but because it is decreasing ejaculate and prob doing other stuff since my body was used to proscar) and of taking it as well (developping more serious side effects which apparently can be persistent even after quitting). Help anyone? Please…
Many many thanks!
Juan
PS- I am a bioinformatician, so if i can be of any help for the basic research, do contact me. I would be more than happy to contribute to this in my personal time.
PS2- Blood tests done were very basic. I started the drug in 2002 TSH (3rd generation) was 2.44uUI/ml. In 2010 this dropped to 1.46. Waiting for the results of this year atm. Total testosterone in 2010 was 9.92ng/ml. Free PSA 0.092 ng/ml. All normal as far as i can see. Let’s see this new ones. Although my GP only prescribed testosterone… is there any other very crucial one? I can try to get him to prescribe more tests - probably in vain if testosterone comes out normal on these ones…