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Where are you from (country)?
Malaysia -
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, 5 ft 7 inches, 61kgs
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Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
Yes. I run 3-4 times with an average distance of 5 kilometres -
What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
Regular diet and I do moderate my intake of fast and/or oily foods -
Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hair Loss -
For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
Close to 3 years -
How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
24 -
How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
I haven’t quit yet. I’m thinking of increasing my interval of days between each dose. -
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
See above -
What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
Propecia but since January 2009 I’ve switched to Proscar but splitting it into 4. -
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1mg for Propecia and 1.25mg with Proscar -
How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
When I did not take it for about a week since I ran out of Propecia back in late December 2008 -
What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
See below
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
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[X] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought I’m not sure about if this is due to taking finastride since I think a lot even during speech
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Depression / Melancholy
Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[X] 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
[ ] 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?
A multivitamin daily. -
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)?
Not applicable since I did not do it yet. -
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
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Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
I hope my story won’t bore you guys.
I started taking it back when I was 24 as I’ve noticed throughout the years that the density of my hair was getting lesser. I would count the number of hairs lost everytime during shower which at times would be more than 30. After a few months the hair loss count reduced to about 20 which to me was a thrill. I did not experience any sides right up until late December 2008.
I was on a family vacation for Christmas for 4 days 3 nights. During this time I did not take finastride as I ran out of it. After cold showers in the hotel room I experienced a slight pain my testicles which escalated on the final day of the vacation. The sensation was like I was kicked in the groin. I had to sit down and let the pain subside till I could continue walking.
This had NEVER happened to me before and it only happened during that trip. One of my theories is that I wear slightly tight jeans so that played a part in it after walking the whole day. The other theory I have is the temperature difference from being hot while I was outside walking and the sudden change of being in a cold shower.
After that trip, the pain never occurred again so I was relieved. That is why I did not mark testicular pain as one of the side effects. A few days later into the new year, I went to restock my supply of finastride in the form of splitting Proscar into quarters as it made sense cost wise. Before taking my first dose of thee new supply I noticed my sexual drive was low. Before this I got horny easily especially with my girlfriend. I gave myself a week to see if it got better on its own and if not I would have gone to see an urologist. During that week I took my quarter-a-day dosage. After a week passed, my libido recovered a little but still not as good as it used to be.
I can get an erection but it doesn’t feel as hard as it used to be. I don’t get a hard on easily anymore either by looking at porn and stuff. This made me research more into the side effects. What I am planning to do is to taking my quarter-a-day dose only once a week to see what happens.
What do you guys think? Would other DHT blocking drugs/shampoos have this sort of side effect too?