Gregor's story

  1. Where are you from (country)?
    switzerland

  2. 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

  3. What is your current age, height, weight?
    28, 1m86 (6.1), 78 kg (172 pounds)

  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    not anymore - weight lifting (twice a week), running (30 min every other day)

  5. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
    anything - just like before

  6. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
    hair loss

  7. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
    took it for 1 month - stopped one month - took it for another 2 - and fuck

  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
    27, first run: september 2011 / second time: november 2011

  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
    27, january 8, 2012

  10. How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
    cold turkey

  11. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
    finacapil (swiss generic of propecia)

  12. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
    1 mg

  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    noticed side effects after 3 days but dismissed them.
    real fuckin side effects came at the end of the second month

  14. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?

Put an X beside all that apply:

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
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

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

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

Misc
[x] Prostate pain
[x] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[x] Frequent urination
[x] Lowered body temperature

[x] Other (please explain)
goddamn premature ejaculation. as soon as things start to feel sorta ok - boom
i have muscle twitching in my legs, especially when i’m about to fall asleep.
dull pain around the inner right thigh (like a nerve is blocked or something). i had these regularly after sex, right before i quit fin
heavy sweating at the gym (i mean really heavy)
also, my sleep is horrible and i never seem to be refreshed when i wake up.

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
    i started by exercising like a maniac, and taking tribulus and maca - for about 2 months.
    also did a broccoli treatment.
    took temesta (lorazepam) for acute panic attacks.
    currently seeing a psychotherapist for depression.

  2. 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)?
    viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6456&e=0

  3. Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
    fuck finasteride

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

I started taking fin for a month in 2011. 3 days in, i felt my left testicle ache like hell. so i went on one of those hairloss forums
where they said that’s fine, it’s a sign fin is workin blah blah, just give it time. so i did. ball ache went away after a day or two.
my sperm started to look kind of fishy, all transparent.
i couldn’t care less though, cause i was incredibly potent (fin, you sneaky bitch).

after a while, i called the doc though and told him about it.
he said i should drop the medication for a month, to see if it was really the fin that did that. so i did.
everything went back to normal pretty fast.

a month passed and…i started takin it again (way too worried about hairloss - and also conforted by the fact it said everything would resolve once you quit…so, what’s the risk ?)
took it for another 2 months - semen watery again, but mad potent as well (so again, i was thinking - who gives a shit?)
at the time i was seeing a girl i was really attracted to.

one day, i hadn’t seen her in a week, so i was super horny
we started doin it, but suddenly, my erection faded - and so did my libido - right in the middle of it.
we waited a couple of minutes, kissed, i got hard again
but when i penetrated her, i came in like a minute - it was unreal.

i decided right there to stop the medication.
i went on the internet, just to check how long it would take for side effects to resolve and…
HOLY SHIT - they sometimes just don’t disappear…

Spent the next 2 months crying like a baby (physical anxiety), sweating, depressed and so on.
went to too many doctors and, guess what: they don’t know shit.

anxiety has diminished a lot by now, but the erectile dysfunction and absolute lack of libido have persisted.
also started having muscle twitching and my sleep is still fuckin horrible.

been checking this forum for 3 months now, so i decided to share my story as well.
sorry if it was a bit long, but i really had to tell somebody i know understands

We all understand what you’re going through man. This is a bad condition but some of its symptoms can be relieved with treatment. The good news for you is that mental symptoms do tend to improve over time. Many members here have reported that time healed them of brain fog. The bad news is that traditional testosterone replacement therapy often doesn’t do much good or works only for a short time. Members here seem to have had much better success treating their thyroid symptoms (which often come with PFS) and supplementing progesterone and other female hormones. Eating a balanced diet (preferably paleo diet without too much red meat), exercising, and supplementing Vitamin D(when it works) also seem to help.

At least there are currently studies being done to determine the root cause of Post Finasteride Syndrome. As of now they seem to think it is an androgen resistance issue, which explains why T replacement tends to work poorly. But right now all we can do is raise awareness of this condition. Talk to everyone you can about what you are going through and explain why it has happened to you. Keep a log of any symptoms you have and try to see how they are influenced by hormone levels (which you should have measured as often as possible to look for trends). Keep in mind that a lot of PFS sufferers have “periods” where they get a lot more libido and other symptoms subside. Until we have this mess straightened out though all we can do is support each other as best we can.

Huh? Finasteride is a feminizing drug, hence the warnings about gynecomastia/male breast cancer on the label and documented changes in androgen/estrogen ratio to be in favor of estrogens. Suggesting men taking more estrogenic compounds will only cause further imbalances in this direction.

I have heard of men taking low doses of estrogen to ward off osteoporosis. Since many PFS suffers (myself included) suffer from low T and therefore low estrogens, I think it kind of makes sense. Also a lot of guys here also say progesterone gel has helped. I was referring to replacing feminine hormones in PFS men with deficient levels of them, especially since many of our bodies seem to be unable to use and convert testosterone normally.