Introduction, my own story, my recovery progress

  1. Where are you from (country)?

  2. Living in Ireland since 2004/moved before started finasteride/ but originally from Hungary/white Caucasian/

  3. 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?)

  4. Googled my symptoms.

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

  6. 33/dec.1976/, 6’ or 181cm, 86kg

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

  8. Yes, weight lifting, powertraining, crosstraining/since the age of 19/

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

  10. I used to eat anything before but newer really liked meat/naturally/, lot of raw food in the last 6month/since I quit fin/

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

  12. Hairloss,severe.

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

  14. Just about 3years

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

  16. 30, 15 aug.2007

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

  18. 33, 14 jun.2010

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

  20. Cold turkey

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

  22. I started with Penester/Czeh/ 5mg finasteride and some other ‘stabilisers’ but in the last year I had only access to Prosterid/Hungary/ 5mg finasterid,magnesium-stearate,carboximetil-nitrate,microcristallic cellulose,lactose-monohydrate-stabilisers.

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

  24. 1,25mg/day=1tablet cut to 4pieces

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

  26. After about one-two month but they fluctuated/bad day-good day/

  27. 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
[ ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive X
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction X
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ ] Loss of Morning Erections X
[ ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections X
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections X
[ ] Watery Ejaculate X
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate X
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

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

Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled) X
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness X
[ ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease X
[ ] Weight Gain X
[ ] 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 X

[ ] Other (please explain)
14) dry eyes, dry cough at night, dry throat, difficulty keeping erection, loss of ability to connect thoughts-associate people with names etc., anger-frustration-emotional emptiness, lack of interest in human interaction, ‘seeing through people’ not wanting to be engaged, lack of understanding of others emotions-inability to be emphatic

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

  2. Weight training, row food diet,juicing,eliminating preservatives from my diet, detox teas

  3. 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)?

  4. No, I don’t have

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

  6. Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
    This drug is horrible, it ruined my personality.I had access to a cheaper version of finasteride from the eastern European market where I am originally from. I was so affected so bitter and frustrated that didn’t even had the motivation to kill myself. I was just waiting for a miracle, someone or something to end my sufferings! And of course didn’t know why I feel this way, but my hair did re-grove with the help of 5%minoxidil! I felt that I had grown up/grown old and bitter/ and got to know people and their tricks/seeing through their intentions/-emotional games! I would never guess it was because of finasteride! I also felt very old! As if I had seen so many things that I could die at this age/burnout/. My memory literally ceased to function and I was doing a diploma from marketing advertisement and PR at the time! I didn’t enjoyed speeding on my bike, Parachute jumping become just a hart-racing event without a joy of adrenalin rush!!! And I lost my interest in arts. To be exact I lost the feelings that feed my artistic creativity. The only light through this mess was my wife who was very supportive/had her own problems/ and a freshly adopted puppy! It showed me what is it to be full of life, what I was like before.
    As I mentioned, I did power training, and was always very active sexually. My wife was always chased by my high libido. Imagine the shock she experienced when all of the sudden I was not interested in her anymore! She honestly thought I have a lover! I was able to masturbate and ejaculate but was extreme hard to maintain erection. Had to watch porn in order to do so. Also had some ‘jelly’ish stuff in my ejaculate. Sometimes I had lot of cum, sometimes barely any! On the end I totally lost interest in any form of sex, watching porn didn’t help no more. I literally felt that the fire went off, something broke! That’s when I find this site and quit fin. Of course I got back my hair but only with the help of minoxidil as well. After quitting, hair remained, but the real nightmare just started. As I was doing night duties as well, I was so low on the morning that didn’t even feel to drive home to my beloved wife! Real depression! But I noticed that workout helps, It keeps me going for about a day. With improved diet and detox I had more and more energy left for my daily life. Still had no morning erections until after 4month! At this stage I have to wait three days to be able to perform sex. It isn’t what it used to be, libido is increased, finally I can feel that there is something down there, mind is connected with Dickinson! With the libido I can get it up but can’t get fully hard and can’t maintain long term erection. Still very pleased with the results. One thing I noticed, although I am able most of the time, I am not motivated to do sex anymore. I don’t feel the urge the same way as before.
    Finally It could be a natural recovery process, it has been 6month since I quit, but I believe that the fact that I was training hard all my adult life and gained about 30kg of lean muscle since 19, did squats with 2and half time of my body weight regularly, and never gained fat helped me combat this poison. I had penile and balls shrinkage, but real sides kicked in very late/1-2month/ after starting fin, I was able to masturbate and ejaculate for almost 3years with some difficulties. Thanks to this site I did find cure and motivation and would like to contributor with my recovery story even though it is far from a full success. Keep your heads up lads; we all have our own pat to walk!