Jerk Alert's Info

  1. Where are you from (country)?
    USA
  2. 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
  3. What is your current age, height, weight?
    26 years 5’9 150 lbs
  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    Heavy weight training 2-3x week, run 2-3x week for years
  5. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
    Paleo-ish diet
  6. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
    Hairloss at a young age
  7. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
    Around a year
  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
    23 - 2011
  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
    24 - 2012
  10. How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
    Cold Turkey
  11. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
    Propecia
  12. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
    1/4 tab per day
  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    Around the time I quit, came on suddenly
  14. 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
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

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

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

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

Improved diet - paleo-ish
Improved workout frequency
Tried HCG mono for about a month - brought back the night erections, sex drive, massive ejaculate - effects wore off after discontinuation

  1. 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)?
    Will post older labs soon

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

  3. Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.

Your story?

Started fin around age 23 due to diffuse thinning, runs in my family. Only was taking 1/4 tab per day maximum. Noticed some slight testicle pain the first day, but was symptom free for months afterward. At around a year noticed that I wasn’t having morning erections or desire. Sleep was strange too, no dreams that I could remember in the morning. Was overly fatigued almost always. My whole life I had very strong morning erections, super high libido, and crazy vivid dreams before that. I kinda freaked out when I made the connection of what was happening. I quit fit immediately. Waited for symptoms to dissipate, they did not. Things have gotten mildly better since then. My lifestyle is very health, low carb/paleoish diet. A lot of heavy weight training and sprinting. The period I was on fin was somewhat stressful during my life, changed jobs and moved out of state a couple times. That may have helped push me over the edge.

Currently may dreaming has comeback strong as ever. It feels like I still wake a couple times during the night, but not 10 times per night like in the beginning. Fatigue has improved somewhat, not great, though I did have some fatigue pre-fin. Sexual not much has improved, though I have found pregnenolone to help a bit with erections.

Currently doing;
Lifting/running - one or the other 5ish days a week (have dropped 10+ lbs and 5% body fat since fin)
Low Carb
Vit D 5000 iu - a few times per week
Zinc 50mg/Copper - daily
Multi-vit - daily
B-complex - daily
Pregnenolone 25-50 mg daily
Lugols Iodine - 5 to 10 drops daily

Labs run

My T and DHT were high when last test. T around 800, DHT around 75. E2 slightly high at 30ish. I put on muscle easily and still lose hair, so I don’t think low T is a problem for me. My TSH was above 3 however, and I am getting better thyroid tests soon to see if that may have an impact.

Things I have tried

I once took Biotest Alpha Male (Tribulus) and the first day I was back to normal me. The next day PFS returned.

I tried a trial run of Clomid for a month to see if that would help, though my T level says I don’t need it. Again the first night, crazy hard erections. After that, nothing.

I tried high dose HCG. This seemed to do it for me. I was alpha as can be. Slept well, super hard night erections, horny all the time, normal ejaculate. I stopped after a month to see if the results would stay. They did not.

Story is the most important part! Hope you come back to tell us what happened.

Story updated

For anyone who knows about SNPs I have had the 23andme testing and run it through Genetic Genie below.

For those more familiar with these you will see my methylation sucks. Basically I will have huge problem with folate (MTHFR), B12 (MTRR), Vitamin D (VDR), Breakdown of dopamine (COMT), estrogen detox (COMT CYP1B1), possibly high ammonia/low B6 (CBS).

Genetic Genie results

Methylation
COMT V158M rs4680 AA +/+
COMT H62H rs4633 TT +/+
COMT P199P rs769224 GG -/-
VDR Bsm rs1544410 CC -/-
VDR Taq rs731236 AA +/+
MAO A R297R rs6323 G -/-
ACAT1-02 rs3741049 GG -/-
MTHFR C677T rs1801133 AA +/+
MTHFR 03 P39P rs2066470 GG -/-
MTHFR A1298C rs1801131 TT -/-
MTR A2756G rs1805087 AA -/-
MTRR A66G rs1801394 AG +/-
MTRR H595Y not found
MTRR K350A rs162036 AG +/-
MTRR R415T not found
MTRR A664A rs1802059 GG -/-
BHMT-02 rs567754 CC -/-
BHMT-04 not found
BHMT-08 rs651852 TT +/+
AHCY-01 rs819147 CT +/-
AHCY-02 not found
AHCY-19 rs819171 CT +/-
CBS C699T rs234706 AA +/+
CBS A360A rs1801181 GG -/-
CBS N212N not found
SHMT1 C1420T not found
Profile: Methylation Profile
Generated: 10/22/2014
Download this report as a PDF:

Detox
CYP1A12C A4889G rs1048943 TT -/-
CYP1A1 m3 T3205C rs4986883 TT -/-
CYP1A1 C2453A rs1799814 GG -/-
CYP1A2 164A>C rs762551 AA -/-
CYP1B1 L432V rs1056836 GG +/+
CYP1B1 N453S rs1800440 TT -/-
CYP1B1 R48G rs10012 CC +/+
CYP2A6
2 1799T>A rs1801272 AA -/-
CYP2A620 rs28399444 II -/-
CYP2C9
2 C430T rs1799853 CT +/-
CYP2C93 A1075C rs1057910 AA -/-
CYP2C19
17 rs12248560 CC -/-
CYP2D6 S486T rs1135840 CG +/-
CYP2D6 100C>T rs1065852 GG -/-
CYP2D6 2850C>T rs16947 AG +/-
CYP2E11B 9896C>G rs2070676 CC -/-
CYP2E1
1B 10023G>A rs55897648 GG -/-
CYP2E14 4768G>A rs6413419 GG -/-
CYP3A4
1B rs2740574 TT -/-
CYP3A42 S222P rs55785340 AA -/-
CYP3A4
3 M445T rs4986910 AA -/-
CYP3A4*16 T185S rs12721627 GG -/-
GSTP1 I105V rs1695 AA -/-
GSTP1 A114V rs1138272 CC -/-
SOD2 A16V rs4880 AA -/-
NAT1 R187Q rs4986782 GG -/-
NAT1 R64W rs1805158 CC -/-
NAT2 I114T rs1801280 CT +/-
NAT2 R197Q rs1799930 GG -/-
NAT2 G286E rs1799931 GG -/-
NAT2 R64Q rs1801279 GG -/-
NAT2 K268R rs1208 GG +/+

Bloodwork - about 1 year ago - looks mostly good

RBC 5.16 4.14-5.80 x10E6/uL RN
Hemoglobin 16.3 12.6-17.7 g/dL RN
Hematocrit 48.6 37.5-51.0 % RN
MCV 94 79-97 fL RN
MCH 31.6 26.6-33.0 pg RN
MCHC 33.5 31.5-35.7 g/dL RN
RDW 13.3 12.3-15.4 % RN
Platelets 213 155-379 x10E3/uL RN
Neutrophils 62 40-74 % RN
Lymphs 29 14-46 % RN
Monocytes 7 4-12 % RN
Eos 1 0-5 % RN
Basos 1 0-3 % RN
Neutrophils (Absolute) 3.7 1.4-7.0 x10E3/uL RN
Lymphs (Absolute) 1.7 0.7-3.1 x10E3/uL RN
Monocytes(Absolute) 0.4 0.1-0.9 x10E3/uL RN
Eos (Absolute) 0.1 0.0-0.4 x10E3/uL RN
Baso (Absolute) 0.0 0.0-0.2 x10E3/uL RN
Immature Granulocytes 0 0-2 % RN
Immature Grans (Abs) 0.0 0.0-0.1 x10E3/uL RN
Comp. Metabolic Panel (14)
Glucose, Serum 83 65-99 mg/dL RN
BUN 23 HIGH 6-20 mg/dL RN
Creatinine, Serum 1.20 0.76-1.27 mg/dL RN
eGFR If NonAfricn Am 84 >59 mL/min/1.73 RN
eGFR If Africn Am 97 >59 mL/min/1.73 RN
BUN/Creatinine Ratio 19 8-19 RN
Sodium, Serum 141 134-144 mmol/L RN
Potassium, Serum 4.0 3.5-5.2 mmol/L RN - Too low
Chloride, Serum 102 97-108 mmol/L RN
Carbon Dioxide, Total 24 19-28 mmol/L RN
Calcium, Serum 9.7 8.7-10.2 mg/dL RN
Protein, Total, Serum 7.0 6.0-8.5 g/dL RN
Albumin, Serum 4.7 3.5-5.5 g/dL RN
Globulin, Total 2.3 1.5-4.5 g/dL RN
A/G Ratio 2.0 1.1-2.5 RN
Bilirubin, Total 0.8 0.0-1.2 mg/dL RN
Alkaline Phosphatase, S 49 39-117 IU/L RN - way too low = known causes =low zinc, malnutrition, hypthyroid
AST (SGOT) 27 0-40 IU/L RN
ALT (SGPT) 16 0-44 IU/L RN
Cholesterol, Total 112 100-199 mg/dL RN = very low
Testosterone, Serum
TSH 3.170 0.450-4.500 uIU/mL RN = too high
Testosterone, Serum 976 348-1197 ng/dL RN Test has always been high
Luteinizing Hormone(LH), S
LH 4.8 1.7-8.6 mIU/mL RN mid range LH with high test = BALLS WORK!
FSH, Serum
FSH 1.9 1.5-12.4 mIU/mL RN - concerning, cause of watery semen?
Estradiol
Estradiol 30 7.6-42.6 pg/mL RN - slightly high
DHT was higher end of normal
Free T was flagged high