I'm not sure if I have brain fog.

Symptoms Neurological
#1

Hey everybody. I started taking propecia in August. I think I’ve gone through 4 or 5 bottles worth of 30 pills each at 1mg dose (I missed some days in there). I’m a freshman college student. I just stumbled upon this forum and other sites yesterday talking about the horrible effects of propecia on some men. Needless to say, I freaked out and stopped taking the medication.

Anyway, I feel like my personality has changed. It has become somewhat flat, I’m not as energetic as I once was. But I think some of this is adjustment to college life. I was depressed recently, but I snapped out of it after a while. Anyway, I’m really worried that I have this “brain fog” or some sort of brain damage due to propecia. I’m not sure if it’s all in my head or what. Can anyone describe to me the exact symptoms of brain fog?

Also, since I just stopped taking the pill yesterday, I want to take whatever supplements necessary to get my hormones back on track. I believe I suffered some reduced libido, and I want to fix that as soon as possible.

I’m really just worried that I will suffer from permanent side effects. If everything were to return to normal over time then I wouldn’t be stressing at all.

By the way, I exercise regularly, almost too much. I used to do 30 minutes of cardio 6 days a week and lift for 4 days a week at heavy resistence. In november I broke my arm and I only started lifting again yesterday. I read that this can be good for increasing testosterone production, which I am very conserned about.

So any advice on how to cope / what supplements to take would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to everyone.

#2

This is a common experience for those that get brain fog… you’re not alone!

This is likely a symptom of the fin. There are studies correlating depression with Finasteride use in the Finasteride Studies section of this site.

BTW, I also experienced the above (flat personality, depression, loss of “passion” and energy for life).

It varies but as you can read in the other posts on this topic, for most it feels like you are constantly in a “just woke up” kind of state, like you are viewing life through a filter, feel disconnected from reality, passive… you also find you can’t remember things easily (short-term memory in particular), you stumble over words, get tongue tied, and just aren’t as “sharp” as you once were.

At this stage, I would not advise taking anything. Most likely you will recover with no issues!

Remember – out of the men that experience side effects, even less have them continue after they quit the drug… its not as common as you think.

Give yourself at least a few weeks, if not a few months, then evaluate where you are. Your body needs time to adjust after coming off and to re-establish its own balance.

The worrying is understandable but it will only compound your issues if you have any… so no need to worry at this stage… you took the first step and that’s quitting!

Cheers.

#3

Great, thanks for all the info. I’ve been off it for maybe over a week now and I feel like my mood is improving. I think that’s partly due to the weather getting warmer, cold weather makes me very unhappy. Also, I don’t believe I’m suffering from brain fog after that description. Thanks again for the help!