Help in Finland?

Member Stories
#1
  1. Where are you from (country)?

Finland

  1. 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: Finasteride side effects

  1. What is your current age, height, weight?

24
180,5 cm
75 kg

  1. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?

I bike around usually at least 10 km a day

  1. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?

Anything goes, not on any spesific diet

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

Hair loss

  1. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?

about one year and seven months

  1. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?

21

  1. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?

22
march of 2009

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

cold turkey

  1. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?

Don’t know for sure since I don’t have the package left anymore, but prescription says Finasterid Orion 5 mg

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

1/4 of the 5 mg pill every day

  1. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?

I noticed some loss of libido in the first year but the almost complete loss of libido happened about after a year and four months

  1. 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
[x] 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
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[x] Depression / Melancholy

Physical
[x] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[ ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[x] Weight Gain
[x] 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
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature

[ ] Other (please explain)

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?

Nothing, exepct therapy and sex therapy

  1. 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)?

Will post the link as my post gets accepted

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

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

Well, the biggest problem is the loss of libido. I think I’ve gained some of it back, but not too much. I also experienced depression and brain fog, but have recovered somewhat form those. Still being emotionally flat and feeling passive. I can achieve almost full erections almost every day, but usually for just a short time. And sometimes even spontanious erections. But even if I get a erection, I don’t feel almost any sexual excitement. Also on other parts of life the excitement is just gone.

My problem right now is that I’ve already talked about this to three doctors and, you’ve guessed it, the only answer i can get is “There’s no way this can be an effect of Finasteride. No way, I’ve never heard of such, the problem is in your head.”
So It’s now almost two years of the drug and very little improvement has happened. I spent a year going to therapy and sex therapy, but it’s no use. What can I do? Starting to feel that i just have to settle for this destiny.

#2

print out studies on this site and take them to your doctors!!! Many of us had the same problem here, there are only a few doctors who are even open to understanding or treating this in the US. Look up some of the doctors sections here for ideas. Hopefully you can at least get some blood tests to get an idea of what’s going on.

#3

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4808

There are the results I’ve gotten. I think they are maybe in some different units than the ones used in US?

I tried to talk to my doctor about this site and everything, but the he only told me to not read so much. Great, huh?

I’m still kinda new to this site, so could you put me a link on what I should actually print?

#4

viewforum.php?f=8

#5

I was reading a lot of people using these different testosterone boosters and estrogen reducers. So are you guys using these products without the advice of a doctor? I’m pretty desperate trying to convince my doctor about this, but it just seems kinda scary to try those products without any professional guidance. And also how do you know what products to try? Sorry if I’m asking stupid questions :S

#6

Hey! Another finnish user here. Do you know if there is some finnish propecia/gefina/PFS forum? I mean i saw those suomi24 discussions where some Jyrki had a yahoo board but his email is old and i can’t find any links to finnish support forums.

I’m really sorry to hear about that man. I did fin two months ago.

#7

No, I haven’t seen any finnish forums. Though I’m sure there are a lot of people in this same situation here.

#8

Yeah, i’m pretty sure there is. It’s bull and i wish there was a way to be in contact with other sufferers to get doctors conscious about this common condition caused by the same medicine. That way we’d get into bloodtests and medication faster this way.
On the other hand, i don’t really know what kind of doctor to get involved with this! I’m a poor student so the private sector labtests are pretty expensive… i guess you could try to pay for a private good doctor who would rally behind your cause so that you can get public doctors to believe into your case more easily!

#9

Oh wow! There is a finnish recovery story here, the user going by the name Dynaaminen!

Looks like he was really far into his recovery by advanced hormonal treatments! Does anyone has this guy’s email or contact information anymore? I think this is really important as it’s really hard to get doctors behind our case.

#10

finally got some realy bloodtests done:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4808

also could update my side effects list:

[X] Watery Ejaculate
[X] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[X] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[X] Weight Gain
[X] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[X] Muscle Weakness

Not that these effects have come along lately, they’ve been there there from the start, just kinda now realizing it.
This year my energy levels have gotten a bit better and brain fog is pretty rare. There’s still emotional flatness but not
anywhere were it was back in the start. My sexuality hasn’t gone any better ,although i had a period which lasted like
month or two were my sexuality was slighlty better, still not normal, but okay erections daily and even some sense of libido increase.
Lately it’s been so that I can get at least some kind of erections every day and better erections and even sometimes as good as ever erections maybe like couple days in a week or something. And usually i can hold an erection even somehow, which wasn’t happening in the beginning of this shit.

The biggest problem other than the sexuality issue is the daily feeling of confusion and bad memory and feeling still a bit passive, thought motivation has gone a bit better. The confuson’s just really weird, it’s a feeling like i’m floating inside my head and just can’t get a grip or something. But when I do something were i really concentrate i usually get most of that away, or at least i’m not being so aware of it or something so that it’s not bothering at that moment. All comments are welcome!