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)? 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? 28, 6ft 2, 78kg
What specific drug did you use (finasteride, dutasteride, saw palmetto, isotretinoin/Accutane, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, leuprorelin, etc…)? Propecia
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? 1mg daily (occasionally missed) and reduced to 0.5mg
What condition was being treated with the drug? Male pattern baldness
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)? Approx 10-11 months
How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start the drug? 27. June 2018
How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 28. May 2019
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? Quit from 0.5mg
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects? 8-9 months
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
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
[ ] Loss of Morning Erections
[X] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[X] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[X] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[?] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[?] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[?] 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
[X] 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
[ ] 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
[ ] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[ ] Hearing loss
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[ ] Other (please explain)
(? under mental as not severe and in my opinion likely result of tiredness and stressing. ? by muscle wastage as I was hitting the gym hard and having calorie surplus until this happened which may explain loss of muscle which isnt significant)
What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug? Healthy eating, exercise and multi vitamins
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)? Free T post fin 16.6 nmol/L (normal level: 7.6 - 31.4 nmol /L).
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience?
Tell us your story, in your own words, about your usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
Hello all, I’ve been on this forum for several weeks but this is my first post.
My story is that I was taking propecia 1mg daily for 8-9 months with the only side effect being reduced ejaculate. Beyond this point symptoms started to include ED so I reduced my dose to 0.5mg for about a month or two before quitting due to this continuing.
For a week to 10 days off I had noticeable improvements before a crash making me worse than while on finasteride. This crash lasted about 2 weeks though not as severe as many stories I’ve read as I didn’t have any mental sides.
Following the crash period my symptoms slightly improved and have stabilized at this point for the past 3-4 weeks. In total, I’m about 6-7 weeks off propecia.
My symptoms now include; lack of libido, ED (though when I do get hard erection still comparable to pre-fin), reduced ejaculate (significantly less ejaculate than while on fin), occasional shrinkage and cold penis, broken sleep (3/4 hours at a time) and fatigue (maybe due to lack of sleep).
Based on what I’ve read I’m doing my best to be healthy and exercise. In particular I’m trying to avoid alcohol, caffeine and gluten. I’ve also started taking Vit B, Vit D and Cod Liver Oil tablets.
I have seen a specialist in London listed on the PFS foundation website who prescribed cialis 5mg. He’s certainly more receptive than a standard GP however my thoughts are he’ll likely recommend TRT regardless of situation at a follow up which I’m not sure is the best course of action.
I have had a free T blood test which showed me comfortably in range at 16.6 nmol/L (normal level: 7.6 - 31.4 nmol /L).
Any suggestions on what I’m best doing at this stage? I’m thinking I’ll likely get a wider range of blood tests and perhaps try either a water or juice fast.
Any advise or hearing what’s helped others would be great. I’m not looking to try anything drastic as still fairly recently post fin.