Long time follower first time post-errr. My progress~~

Member Stories
#1

COPY AND PASTE THE FOLLOWING INTO YOUR OWN PERSONAL PROFILE POST, then answer the questions.

  1. How did you find this forum?
    Google

  2. What is your current age, height, weight?
    20, 6ft2, 96kg

  3. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    6x a week. Resistance training.

  4. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
    Clean diet with two fast food meals a week.

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

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

  7. How old were you when you started Finasteride?
    19

  8. How old were you when you quit?
    19

  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?
    Other generic

  11. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
    0.25mg for one day.

  12. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    Immediately - experienced a sensation similar to tunnel vision. Going to bed that night I experienced aesthetic numbness but was still able to get stiff and ejaculate.

  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
[x] Loss of Morning Erections
[x] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[x] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[x] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[x] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

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

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

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[x] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[x] 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?
    I was seeing a naturopath for an extended period where my condition was improving until i had experienced a crash. I was taking metagenics tribulus then mediherb tribulus, 5htp, metigenics g-tox, metagenics metazinc, orthoplex S.F.M, ultra musceleze (magnesium), coq10, liquid herbs, arginine. Cycled all these products until tapering off as symptoms were improving until the crash.

  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)? I had blood tests done after taking it. Nothing was particularly out of range except DHEA which was expectionally high i think 6200/7000. Testosterone was about 22.5 on both times i had my blood tests done. (If you want me to post blood works I can).

  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.

Although I am at a much better state than what I was when I first consumed this product, I am finally at the stage where I am prepared to list the problems I had experienced and what I had done to try and improve my symptoms.

I had seen a hair doctor specialist who told me that I was healthy and that no side effects would come from this drug. I had taken 0.25 as recommended by the doctor on a Sunday night as he said it would reduce chances of side effects. Not long after taking it I had received a euphoric type of experience - a slight sense of tunnel vision and being in the zone as if I were on speed. I had taken it and gone for a drive with friends because I knew I would want my mind taken away from consuming it in case I would be concerned about it later on. When I had come home, however, I had experienced a weird anesthetic tingling in my groin area - concerned I had watched porn but everything was still working fine so wasn’t particularly concerned as I thought it was just the drug working.

The next day from memory (as I am posting about this 6 or 7months down the track) I felt on top of the world like my hairloss was going to stop completely. But, the second day everything had crashed. I was not able to get hard at all, could only produce watery semen, had severe anesthetic numbness and severe depression. I did not know what to do. I have never been so close to suicide as I was the next day after work. I remembered driving in my car trying to assure myself that everything would be fine. I was a complete mess and tried so hard to mask my depression from my family that night. I had thought everything was over, thinking that I was not going to be able to have kids or be able to sustain a relationship due to the sexual impotence.

On the fourth day when none of my symptoms had improved, I called a friend who is a naturopath, thinking if anyone could help me it would be him. I had never cried in front of anyone before until going in to see him. He was even under the impression I was going to commit suicide; texting me that evening to make sure I wasn’t going to do anything rash. He had assured me during the consultation that everything was going to be fine so I had a slight glimmer of hope. I knew if I could trust anyone it would be her as she had gone away reading numerous articles trying to find the best methods of approaching this.

(I won’t list the treatment strategy taken, but I have listed what I had taken above).

In a nutshell, he put me on a lot of tribulus, zinc and other things to get it out of my system. As listed below:
Support adrenal function with adaptogens
Reduce stress and anxiety with anxiolytics.
Detoxification of steroidal compound ( FS) from organ tissues.
Support thyroid function and liver clearance Phase I&II
Remove 5 -aplha reductase inhibitors and stimulate production
-I was told not to workout at all which was hard for me, to stop my consumption of preworkout and coffee, no drinking or drugs etc.

The numbness had extended all the way around to my rectum, which had made pooing hard also. I had also experienced a pain in my left testicle that had eventually moved to my right and would continue to occur in the pattern.

My symptoms had improved over the coming few weeks and I had become happier because of this. I was able to get fully hard, ejaculate and was very aroused from the amount of tribulus I was on. But, the numbness was still there – I remembered reading an article around this time of a man having his penis cut off from his wife because he was cheating thinking I would’ve been able to do it to myself and not have been able to feel a thing.

I remembered trying to have sex and hardly being able to keep a boner. It was the most embarrassing thing ever. So I had avoided sex for a long period.

The numbness in penis had improved tenfold by 2 months, allowing me to be able to feel the head of a pin on certain sections of my penis, while others still remained numb. I was happy with this progress.

At the 3month mark however, I had experienced the crash. Not as bad as the first but still took me back. The anesthetic numbness had just turned into a loss in sensation – there is a sizable difference for me between these two sensations, having had surgery and been under such anesthetic numbness I would know. At this stage having this change in numbness, I was under the impression that this is what would occur if I were to get persistent side effects.

Two weekends later, I had a music festival where I had met a girl and was able to get hard when making out with her, but was very awkward about how hard it was because I hadn’t experienced anything like that in a while. I had also experienced this recently when I made out with someone, but when it comes to sex the hype kills my stiffness and I become bored during sex.

Two weeks after this whenever I would masturbate I would have no orgasm which last for a month after. I also had a severe ache in my right testicle that had lasted for 5 days, which I hadn’t had since I had first taken the pill, but has now dissipated again.

So up to where I am now on this journey, I felt I was at the stage that I should post my experience on this site. I have made all my gains back because I had gotten lazy with the gym and am setting new personal bests, but am still experiencing mass lacks of fatigue which make me feel dissociated. After massive workouts I feel a tingling in my penis that wants me to fap now, but im trying to abstain to see if I can go for a long period without fapping. I can get hard now like I used to but still with a lack of sensitivity but can experience a slight toe tingle and orgasm when cumming now. I am on preworkouts again but once I finish this new batch im going to have a month off to see if the fatigue improves – I don’t drink coffee so I wont have any caffeine during this stage. I have only drunk on a few occasions (maybe 10 times in since taking this pill) but haven’t noticed any big changes in my mood since drinking.

I will be drinking this weekend for a 21st but only drink for special occasions now. I now shave my head with a no blade. I don’t get any morning wood but my ejaculation within the last few days has gotten 2x bigger which I am very happy with. I will be posting here more often if I see massive changes. I posted on here primarily to bump this forum as I don’t see much movement in it recently.

Hope this all made sense - was just doing a verbal diarrhoea to get all my experiences on here so i don’t forget. Hit me up with any questions. Happy to answer anything. I will be going once exams are over to get new blood works. I’m just glad I have meaning in my life with gym and making gains again.

#2

You are going be fine. Give it more time.

#3

Have major thinning all over and a penis that doesn’t work - makes my uni life awesome! Especially when a girl is keen but then it makes it difficult to explain the situation that you can’t (and i would much prefer to avoid explaining that I have a broken penis at all costs). I tried to have sex on the weekend with someone but nothing happened so we both just laid around awkwardly until i left. Classic.

#4

What I beg to question is whether everyone with PFS symptoms have experimented with drugs in their life. I am aware that serotonin receptors all play a role in the cycle that allows excitement and erections to occur and could’ve been damaged due to drug use thus causing this reaction in us. Could it be possible that not everyone on here has used drugs in the past? I just want to rule this out of mind so I can sleep safer at night realising that my earlier years hadn’t prompted this onset of ed, etc.

#5

I didn’t get you.

However if you have taken isotrenionin or antidepressants for months and you have taken just one pill of propecia, your sides are very probably due to.the first treatments.

#6

Was just going on a tangent in relation to recreational drugs - but hadn’t used anything for two months leading up to fin. I haven’t been on any antidepressants or isotrenionin either.

It has been good talking to another person about this though - no one I have explained the situation to can quite fathom PFS or understand why I would’ve taken it in the first place (obviously because i was 18 and going bald when no one else was).

How is your recovery coming along? I read that you used Cialis in the “Do you still approach women” topic. Did that help out your sexual life and move you forward from just kissing?

#7

Dude what the hell do you know? How can you possibly say he is going to be fine?? Why give him false hope? 0.25 of finasteride is enough to cause full blown pfs, we’ve heard countless stories of this happening. OP, it isn’t your fault or your past that is to blame for feeling the way you do, that would be the propecia.

#8

Harrisoff,

First, I did not tell 0,25 mg of finasteride are not able to create long persistent sides, though you have to be extremely unlucky. I have said that he also has to think about other drugs which he has taken longer than finasteride such as isotrenionin or antidepressants (because I didnt understand his last post about drug experiences and serotonin). If he has taken them, in my opinion they would be probably (just probably) responsible of sides. Or maybe finasteride has triggered a previous drug-induced damage. Nobody knows.

Regarding my “you are going to be fine, give it more time”. Sorry for being optimistic. To be fine is not to be 100% recovered, it is to be ok, bearable. I talk from my own experience and lots of old finasteride users who have improved to a bearable condition after time.

I tell you the same. You have to be optimistic. You have quitted recently. I started to really improve at 8 months mark afterquittin. First 6 months were horrible.

#9

I tried weed once. I’ve never used any other recreational drug. I really never had a desire to.

#10

Dude you sound like a finasteride apologist. What is more likely: OP having previous drug-induced damage, or him getting the exact same side effects as everyone on this sub after he took propecia? Bearable? That’s debatable. I’m sure the several KNOWN guys who committed suicide would beg to differ, not to mention the potential hundreds/thousands? of other guys who have taken their own lives without connecting it to propecia (e.g. Robin Williams).

#11

I think you will be surprised how much you will improve mentally over the next few years. So I agree with the above poster, even though im sceptical of any cure claims (as you know).

#12

I was asking more to eliminate my drug use in the past from extracting the sides. So it is closure just to hear that people that have sides didn’t use recreational drugs apart from bud or even any form of drugs.

#13

Cid101,

Aren’t you spanish? Because the Cid was a spanish historical figure. Anyway, regarding recreational drugs I would quit them completely, even avoid alcohol as much as you can (my opinion).

And about Cialis, I have been used it some weeks and it really works at maintaining erections, but it doesn’t create erections itself so I think it is useful at slight-moderate ED. If you decide to take it I would recommend low dosis (1 to 5 mg) once or twice a week. Higher dosis only before having sex.

#14

Nah I’m Australian. I actually have no idea where the idea for Cid came from. I think it came from final fantasy because there was a guy called cid. In saying that, I just searched up El Cid and so I will happily take that claim to name.

When I refer to recreational drugs I’m referring to ecstasy pills - we are the highest consuming drug nation in the world now i believe so it’s pretty openly talked about and consumed here amongst my age. But yeah I haven’t touched anything for i think 4 months now apart from alcohol.

I might go see the doctor about it. Have you still been improving @MEVOYACURAR since you first got sides?

#15

Yes…

You know everybody is different here. While I was on finasteride I dealt with sides for months. Afterquitting I developed very severe sides: severe fatigue, insomnia, bradipsychia, severe ED, onset of Peyronie and more…

Now my life is bearable, normal because I have no longer mental /psycological sides. After 1 year. I already have some persistent sexual and physical sides, but I feel I am still improving month after month. I am very optimistic. However nobody knows if recovery will be 100% and this is too slow.

I have recently talked about this. It is hard to understand why one 0,25 mg pill can develop long and severe persistent sides. While it is easier to understand it can affect a person who took it for months/ years. But in millions of users whatever can happen.

I really believe you are lucky for only having taken 0,25 mg of a pill and realize it affected you. Imagine how you would feel if you had taken a total of 500 mgs in those young-marvelous 20-22 age, 2 years as I did…

I don’t want to be rude with all of this, I just want to motivate you. If I and others have improved after having poisoned ourselves for so long, why wouldn’t it be the same for you? I don’t give you false hope, I give you logical hope (I think). You see there are lots of possibilities: 100% recoveries, 90% recoveries, 80% recoveries, mild improvements, worsenings, suicides, people who took finasteride for 20 years, people who took it for some months of years (most people here), people who took it just some days or weeks, people who took it at different ages… I wouldn’t waste my time reading all of them, this is your real PFS case and only you really can decide, give you hope, treat you and find out if you are able to resolve the situation.

I am not a finasteride apologist as @harrisoff said, in fact I hate it with all my soul, but I try to use the scientific thinking. If we want our condition to be globally accepted it is needed to clear distractings and identify shared causes, possible risk factors… For instance, in my case there is no doubt finasteride is the only responsible of all of my sides, I had never taken any other drug or medicine even I barely took alcohol in my life, I have never been ill nor I have any medical condition in me or along my family. I mean MDMA or ecstacy was a drug discovered by our “friend” Merck and as cocaine is related with ED and other problems because it interferes with neurosteroids and brain chemistry. Hence, In my opinion your sides come from MDMA plus finasteride, I don’t want to underplay your finasteride use, but you should not discount MDMA as a main cause. It may be useful for you to look for information about MDMA.

Anyway, If I were you I would concentrate fully on trying to recover consistently for months and you will possibly feel improvements. That means you have to quit from any drug, control your diet, maybe take supplements, maybe take Cialis, keep patient and optimistic, do sport, sleep as much as you can… You have to try to be your healthiest version. In my opinion that is the first step and see if it works.

#16

Sorry for delayed updates/ response - have been busy with uni.

@MEVOYACURAR, i feel like in the last few weeks my sexual sides have improved markedly but I don’t know what to put it down to. I think i had been overdoing it at the gym with over exercising and overdosing on pre workout - putting a massive strain on my body. I was at the stage where i would workout in the morning come home and all i could do was go to bed and try and recuperate. To improve this, I have quit caffeine and am going on my second week without any. I have also am not pushing myself as hard at gym to try and improve my brain fog and adrenals.

On a side note, I also had coke for the first time. lol. But that’s nothing to do with anything at all. As i remember my naturopath saying, the mass release of serotonin in my system may have offset dopamine somehow,so i figured why the heck not try coke see if that would have any influence on my current condition.

In short, last week I had awoken to morning wood on two occasions - nothing strong enough to brag about, but going without any wood for 6months indicated a sign of hopeful change. Not only this, but I swear sensitivity has increased all around my penis. Although I’m not certain if sensitivity is returning, I am sure of one thing; my ejaculation loads have gotten bigger and aren’t nowhere near as watery which has been the case for the last week. I had also talked to girls on several occasions and gotten slight erections while talking to them - but i have experienced this on several other occasions since taking fin and was embarrassed because i wasn’t used to it. Erections seem harder on the odd day but then the next day it could be flaccid entirely. So not entirely sure if its my own mirage or there is change ahead.

Note: Brain fog is still fucking horrible as shit.

I had blood tests done and am getting them back tomorrow to see my current test levels and if i have allergies to try and further improve brain fog - hopefully.

#17

Erections while talking with girls and morning woods? Those are excellent signs!
Regarding brainfog, I can tell I am 99% cured and almost everybody here improves mental sides over time.

Also, it is a good change go from ecstasy to coke buddy. Seriously, quit that shit forever, do not take anything tricky, keep doing a healthy life and I think you will very probably be great in some months.

Keep in touch. Best regards!

#18

Just an update. brain fog has lifted but sexual sides have worsened. I don’t have the urgency to fall asleep half way through the day and don’t have this constant blanket over my head that makes me feel depersonalised and I actually feel normal. Despite this improvement, I can’t feel orgasms or get hard again. Can however achieve a degree of morning wood on the occasional morning.

Don’t know if the sexual sides is related to the coke that I had taken which had increased dopamine or because I have started taking caffeine again - going into exam season so need to stay alert. Most likely from not doing coke. (I hate openly talking about drug use, but I feel like it is worth noting for others if there is a correlation between improvements and dopamine increase).

Interesting that I read recently that caffeine actually helps with ed. Nevertheless, I will cycle off of caffeine again for a week come end of exams to eliminate the possibilities that caffeine is the reason for my sexual sides hitting me again.

Will report back with any other changes in my condition.