Welcome to our community. Please fill in the following template as a way of introducing yourself, and helping others to understand your background and situation.
Where are you from (country)?
United States
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?)
Found from pfs foundation website
What is your current age, height, weight?
6’, 210lb
What specific drug did you use (finasteride, dutasteride, saw palmetto, isotretinoin/Accutane, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, leuprorelin, etc…)?
Finesteride
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
0.25% topical finasteride 1 time daily (hard to know the exact dose)
What condition was being treated with the drug?
androgenic alopecia
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)?
5 days
Date when you started the drug?
June 13th 2024
Date when you quit the drug?
June 18, 2024
Age when you quit?
31
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Cold turkey (as cold as can be after 5 days)
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects?
First night the first few side effects showed up but more came over the next few days.
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
Erectile Dysfunction, low libido, and anxiety
Check the boxes that apply. You can save your post first, then interactively check/uncheck the boxes by clicking on them. If your symptoms change, please update your list.
Sexual
[x] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[x] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ ] Loss of Morning Erections
[ ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[x] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[x] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts
Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[x] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[x] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] 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
[ ] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[ ] Hearing loss
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] 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?
None
If you have pre or post-drug blood tests, what hormonal changes have you encountered since discontinuing the drug (please post your test results in the “Blood Tests” section and link to them in your post)?
None
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience?
Tell us your story, in your own words, about your usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
I decided to tackle my balding. I was hoping to improve my physical appearance a bit so I’d have better chances dating. I poked around and learned about Finasteride. I of course heard only a small percentage of people get side effects at all and vanishingly few get Post Finasteride Syndrome.
I started using topical finasteride I got from Hims and within a few hours I felt light headed and got testicular pain so I didn’t use it again the second day. Both went away by the end of the second day. I had heard online that these symptoms can go away so I decided to continue using it on the third day. The pain came back but lesser and I kept going. On the fifth day I got erectile dysfunction and decided to stop entirely. During these days I’d noticed less sensation in my penis, lower semen volume but thought those were tolerable. The testicular pain went away a day after I stopped the drug.
The next week was a rollercoaster. About 3 days after I stopped I got really severe anxiety. This made my life really tough but subsided after a day or two but the Erectile Dysfunction stayed. My erectile function recovered a bit at about the 1 week mark. Around day 8 I was at ~90% of normal feeling great and thought I’d turned the corner but in the next few days the symptoms came back and have oscillated in severity.
My symptoms have been oscillating since then. I’ll have no anxiety one day and think it’s passed then it will come back a few days later then gone a day after that. Same with my erectile function. I’ll have good quality erections one day then the next I’m struggling to get soft ones. On my best days my erectile function is still worse than prior to taking Finasteride. I was able to get some Viagra and found that I can get good erections using that, so maybe not all hope is lost. However, the anxiety sometimes makes it really tough to function.
I’m hoping for some level of recovery. Similar to my symptoms I’m oscillating between hopefulness and a sense of doom. I’m not sure if a normal life is in the cards for me given my lack of consistent sexual potency (and hair) already at age 31 and I might have persistent anxiety to add to that. Maybe the members here have some words of advice.