Issue with low libido/erectile dysfunction

Symptoms Sexual
#1

Hi All,

Firstly, I am a total newbie so apologies as I am not familiar with the forum ettiquette, hopefully this is in the right place.

A little about myself. I am from the United Kingdom and aged 27, and previously have taken propecia/proscar for approximately 7 years, discontinuing its use in December. Until the end of my time taking propecia I noticed no side effects, at least those that were visible. Needless to say that after coming across this site, I will never even contemplate taking the drug again.

Around the beginning of December I noticed a rapid decline in my libido and my erections were not as firm as they were previously. This over the last 2 months has got progressively worse to the point where I now have very little libido and cannot have sexual intercourse without the use of 100mg of viagra. Also, when masterbating I can still ejaculate but the erection strength only seems to be at about 50/60% of what it was.

I work out at the gym a lot and it is also worth noting that I took a testosterone supplement for a period of time, and discontinued it approximately 3 weeks before I started experiencing these issues. Therefore, there is a chance that this is linked to my problem possibly, although i’d have thought that by now any adverse effect on my hormone levels would have begun leveling out as a result of this?

So my questions for you guys are this:

  1. Given that I have took propecia/proscar for almost seven years with no noticeable sexual side effects, am I right in thinking that any sexual side effects would have presented themselves long before now? The reason I ask is that a lot of the people suffering on here seem to have taken the drug for a matter of months. Are there cases whereby people have been fine for years then started to get these sexual side effects?

  2. Given that propecia/proscar acts on DHT, is there any chance that the combination of proscar and the testosterone supplement may have confounded the problem due to reacting with one another?

Any help, advice or info is hugely appreciated guys! I’m really nervous and its starting to get me really depressed.

SWill

#2

Can anyone offer me some advice guys, im really freaking out and starting to have some dark thoughts.

Particularly i’m interested in whether you guys think that should the Propecia/Proscar have caused my problems, the symptoms would have presented themselves earlier as I had taken the drug with no noticeable side effects for approximately 7 years?

Please help, any advice would be a Godsend.

#3

i was taking propecia for 4 years and in all that time i felt only a minute drop in libido and erection strength,which i thought were the side effects mentioned in the paperwork which came with the medication,things were great,i thought it was a good trade off,lose 3% of my libido and erection strength but keep all my hair,then one day everything changed while still on the drug,it felt like a switch had been flipped inside of me,like all the life had been sucked right out of me,in an instant my life had changed,now i know what the real side effects of propecia are,ive had them for over 5 years,its still very early days for you,you could recover anytime soon…

#4

Thanks a lot for replying man, it’s hugely appreciated. Is it common for people to take the drug for years with no issue then suddenly the ‘switch flicks’ as you say?

Have you had any improvement over the last 5 years? Can you still have sexual intercourse and have you found that Viagra/cialis works at all? Are your side effects purely sexual?

Also, have you spoken to any doctors/medical professionals in the UK that have been able to help or are familiar with post finasteride syndrome?

Many thanks,
Swill

#5

Yes, many people took the drug and were fine for years, then developed sides before ultimately quitting. Other people took the drug for years and were fine, but then after quitting sides appeared. Tenure doesn’t seem to make much of a difference. The good news is, people have recovered from those situations. Check out “light at the end’s” profile in the member section. He took it for 6 years, got sides toward the end, recovered in about a year.

Anything is possible but that’s largely irrelevant at this point. If you’re having sides you need to focus on getting better. See below.

The worst thing you can do is get stressed. That only further throws your system out of whack and makes it harder to recover. I know it’s very hard, but do everything you can to chill and keep your mind off of it. Stay off of this forum for a while, stay active, eat right and work out.

#6

I was one of the ‘lucky’ ones who managed to take the drug for over 9 years before side effects kicked in.
After 9 or so years of taking propecia i developed side effects including enlargement of breast (slight gyno), insomnia, reduced libido, testicle pain.

I quit the drug immediately but then all the side effects got twenty times worse.

Mentally i feel like i’m starting to return to my old self but taking the drug has had a major impact on my health.
Low testosterone, Low cortisol (my adrenals are burned out), poor quality of sleep, muscle loss, libido issues, alcohol intolerance, the list goes on …

The drug is well documented to cause side effects (check the small print) so don’t be surprised that you got sides after taking the drug for 7 years.

Cap is right, stay off of the forum for a while, stay active and eat right (google paleo diet)

#7

Well your story sounds a lot like mine. I was on Propecia for years and didn’t think I was having problems. In hindsight however it was clear that I did. I was extremely sexually active prior to taking Propecia. In fact it was a high point of my sexual life. I began to lose my hair line and was upset about it. I started taking Propecia and notice that within three months I stopped having sex. I remember having sex and being somewhat grossed out by it. I also noticed that the smell of women was beginning to repulse me. Fortunately that part went away after I stopped Propecia. Things changed for me once I attempted to increase the dose of Propecia from 1 mg to 1.25 mg. Within five days I had complete disconnection of brain and penis. Though that began to improve once I was off the Propecia for a while at least. Things seem to improve over the next month and then suddenly they were much worse. I have now been off for one year. I’ve had no noticeable improvement. I have no choice but to take Viagra if I want to have any sexual activity. Erection however is still only 50 to 60% of what it was before. Libido and sensation remain very poor. Many of the stories here sound very similar after reading hundreds of them. It’s pretty strong confirmation of the syndrome’s existence.

#8

reply to swill,for me and every other story ive read on here the crash seems to happen overnight so to speak,its not something that gradually happens,something seems to get switched off inside all of a sudden,ive had some improvements over the last 5 year which ill get to in a minute,the first year after the crash was the worst,flu like symptoms on and off for a year,3 weeks ill one week ok then ill again and so on,i just wanted to sleep all the time,very lethargic and ofcourse zero libido,it left me devastated as you can imagine,my energy levels have gradually improved over the years especially in the last two weeks due to using progesterone cream,sexual function has been the worst side effect for me i would say,ive had no improvements since the crash,i have 50% to 60% erection strength,very weak ejaculation,almost no orgasm,no sensitivity and no libido,i can have sex but rarely do,viagra etc will make my dick hard but it wont make me feel anything or give me a libido etc,over the years i have been to local gp docs,urologist,and endocronologist,had 5 lots of blood tests done and they all came back normal and i got told it must all be in my head given some viagra and sent on my way just like many other p.f.s sufferers have,ive tried a few different things to try and get better with no luck,BUT recently after reading about progesterone cream i decided to give it a go and must say im starting to feel better,read (light at the ends) story,hes totally recovered from using it…

#9

Maybe we have got Cachexia from wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cachexia
Cachexia is seen in patients with cancer, AIDS,[2] chronic obstructive lung disease, multiple sclerosis, congestive heart failure, tuberculosis, familial amyloid polyneuropathy, mercury poisoning (acrodynia) and [Size=4]hormonal deficiency.[/size]

and why you feel better on progesterone
urrently, no widely accepted drugs to treat cachexia and no FDA-approved drugs to treat cancer cachexia are available.
Cachexia may be treated by steroids, such as corticosteroids, or [Size=4]drugs that mimic progesterone, [/size]which increase appetite, may reverse weight loss, but have no evidence of reversing muscle loss.[7] Medical marijuana has been allowed for the treatment of cachexia in some US states, such as Delaware, Nevada, Michigan, Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Connecticut.[7][8]
Many have reported to have felt better on marijuana on this forum.