like the handle says - ten year user of Propecia - realizing he's been fckd by Merck

Member Stories
#1

  1. How did you find this forum? - Google alert for ‘prostate cancer’ a topic I follow for prevention hopefully.

  2. What is your current age, height, weight? 50, 6’, 190

  3. Do you exercise regularly? If so, what type of exercise? no

  4. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)? meat but generally low carb, minimal red meat.

  5. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)? hair loss, then switched to proscar for a while recently because of lower cost.

  6. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)? about 10 years. started not long after it was released. maybe '98.

  7. How old were you when you started Finasteride? 37

  8. How old were you when you quit? 50

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

  10. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic? most of the ten years brand Propecia.

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

  12. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects? hard to say but early on, some of the side effects I thought might have been the anti depressant Zoloft, I taken for most of the past decade.

  13. 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
[ ] Loss of Morning Erections
[x] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[x] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[x] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] 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
[ ] Depression / Melancholy

Physical
[x] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[x] Testicular Pain
[x] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[ ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[x] Gynecomastia (male breasts) One side only !
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[x] 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

[ ] Other (please explain)

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

  2. 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)?

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

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

Since around the time I was 40, I thought I was just getting old, and my reduced libido, and E.D. was expected. I haven’t even tried to have sex without viagra since that time. Even with viagra the erection isn’t that hard and it’s pretty much one orgasm and I’m done. I have never had a spontaneous erection guys get every now and then in the last 10 years. Visual stimulation doesn’t produce an erection like it did before Propecia. I’ve basically disengaged in even pursuing sex for this reason in large measure due to the problem. I had a couple relationships/partners in 10 years and masked (as best I was able) the symptoms with with viagra.

#2

Welcome aboard. If you are interested in treating your condition, you should look into the recommended tests available here… http://www.propeciahelp.com/testing. I also recommend you test thyroid and adrenals completely (TSH, Free T3, Free T4, Reverse T3, Thyroid Antibodies, and 4 or 6x Saliva Cortisol + DHEA) because I and many other men on here were given thyroid and adrenal problems since quitting Finasteride (symptoms for me are: brain fog, cold hands/feet, insomnia, rapid/strong heart beat almost randomly, etc).

If you are going through a doctor to get these tests, be prepared that they will NOT believe this was caused by Finasteride. If they are resistant to giving you the above tests, I suggest you punch them in the fucking face (not really, but get all the tests you can out of them and find a new doctor). Once you get the test results, post them on this forum, and also on musclechatroom.com both of which have many knowledgeable members that can identify possible treatment options for you.

Based on everything I have seen, I believe all current treatment options are treating SYMPTOMS. The underlying cause is still unknown. There are research studies in the works that should hopefully, eventually shed light on the actual damage this drug has done. You can find references to these studies on this forum.

I also suggest you join the class action lawsuit which you can find links to on this website.

#3

Thank you for your introduction. From what I’ve read over the past several hours here, things seem pretty bleak presently.
When a Park Ave Neuroendocrinologist is fishing around for ideas on his blog, well there’s a long way to go.

My doctor, I’m pretty certain will follow my lead skeptically. Guess the testing is really just establishing some kind of baseline, right? I’m not inclined to try any kind of hormone replacement therapy. Seems it’s a short lived lift at best for symptoms with IMO big time risks.

Agreed about current options treating symptoms only. 98% of Medicine is content with masking symptoms it seems.

Thank you again.