- Where are you from (country)?
France
- 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
- What is your current age, height, weight?
Age: 39, height 1.75cm, weight 82kg
- Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
I go 3 times per week to the gym, I do heavy weight lifting
- What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
I try to eat as healthy as possible, I don’t eat:
no sugar, desserts, biscuits, cakes, white bread, white pasta, fast food, french fries, pizza, alcohol, breakfast cereals
I eat:
Brocolli (3 times per week), cauliflower (3 times per week), nuts, fish, eggs, bananas, beef steak, and lots of vegetables and fruits in general
- Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hair loss
- For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
12 years (11.5 years)
- How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
July 2002, I was 27 years old
- How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
I was 39 when I quit, the last pill I took in December 2013
- How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Cold turkey
- What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
Only Propecia
- What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1 mg/day
- How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
In 2011 I started to feel very bad but I ignored the signs
- 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
[ X] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ X] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[X ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ X] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] 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] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts
Physical
[ X] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ X] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[X ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[ X] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ X] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ X] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[ X] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ X] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[ ] Other (please explain)
- What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
I started to eat very health and went to the gym 3 times per week with heavy weight lifting and tried to relax a lot and avoid stress, took different natural supplements such as tongkat ali, horny goat, maca and tribulus, multivitamin tablets, zinc
- 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)?
I have done blood test about my T level and general health and the doctor said they are all ok
- Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
I was wondering after getting the side effects why that it took so long until I felt the side effects. My theory is the following, I think one major reason is, I never smoked and I never drank alcohol since I was very active in sports and wanted to become a professional (which I did not achieve unfortunately) but also I think I had a very healthy diet, so this might be the reason why it took so long until I felt the side effects.
- 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 Propecia 1mg in 2002 after having strong hair loss and my doctor said it would help, unfortunately back than there was no research possible on the side effects.
It felt all good until late 2011 when I first started to see different signs which made me very suspicious, I had nearly no semen, very watery, my testicles shrinked, my libido was very low, erection was very weak, my penis size changed to smaller.This are just the sexual side effects but I also felt mild depression, insomnia, difficulty to focus and no energy at all and some other side effects described above.
I ignored all this signs, I though it will all get better by itself and I continued to take the drug an other 12 months until the end of December 2013 but symptoms became worst and worst. One month prior to that, in November I started to do heavy research on the topic and I found out that I was not alone with this problem and I read within a few days, night and day every information I could find about the topic, that is when I started to stop taking the drug, this was around 15th of December 2013.
I hoped that my side effects would go away within a few weeks or months but now after 8 months I feel still very bad and all the side effects remained, even though I started to go to the gym, became very strict with my diet and tried to sleep a lot and avoid stress. Also, I am taking since 6 months, tongkat ali, horny goat, maca and tribulus, multivitamin tablets, zinc but it helped me just a little bit (here and there erection). Its really hard for me to define how it feels like to be “Normal” again since I am taking this pills for so many years and I forgot to mention that some side effects were very mild through out the years, what I am saying is I had side effects probably starting earlier than 2011 but they were coming in weak so I just ignored them.
My strategy was to try to resolve the issue with the gym, diet, relaxing, no stress and all the natural supplements but I don’t know if they are really going to help, the last 8 months I did not really see a big change or a big improvement. I hope one day I will be normal again before taking Propecia.