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Member Stories
#1

How did you find this forum?
after months of denial , and reading others…now its time to heal
2) What is your current age, height, weight?
28.6’4.205
3) Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
yes 5 days a week since the age of 16
4) What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
very healthy…as much organic as i can get
5) Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
hairloss and lack of research
6) For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
16 months
7) How old were you when you started Finasteride?
27
8) How old were you when you quit?
28
9) How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
cold
10) What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
proscar quartered
11) What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1.25 every f’n day
12) How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
after a year i noticed anxiety…and then it moved into a retreat of penis and testes and then depression…
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
[ x] 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
[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
[ x] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[x ] Depression / Melancholy

Physical
[ x] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ x] Testicular Pain
[x ] 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
[x ] Prostate pain
[ x] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ x] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[x ] Frequent urination
[x ] 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?
    a vitamin mineral drip for the past 3 weeks by a naturopath…heavy vitamins other minerals
    i’ve been on a cleanse for the past 5 days from a chinese herbalist to remove any remaining reminents of the medication

  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.
    i am an actcor living in vancouver bc canada…After years of working my ass off i finally started to knock down some walls in the industry…i was at a point were i was leading two features at the same time…naturally my sleep was suffering(as well as my immune system)…but when you work your ass off for ten years, its a small price…any way due to lack of sleep or stress of performance i started to notice that my hair was falling out at a very unatural rate…so i went to a naturo path…he put me on a an adrenal supplement and a multi vit complex…no dice…or i should say no immediacy…i simply walked into a clinic one day and he simply wrote a prescription for minoxydil and propecia…and so began my slow decent into hell…my mother even warned me if its too good to be true then it probably is…vanity is a sin after all(not that i’m religious…or do i feel like any single one of us is deserving of this bullshit) but things are cliche for a reason…any way the next year was great, i had an amazing, intelligent, beautiful girl who stood at 5’11(which for a guy who is 6’4…is a treat) and i was falling deeply in love with her…all my hard work was starting to pay off…plus because i had extra testosterone flowing through the body i was at the top of my physical condition, and my libido was even more intense than it was before(which was the first note i ever got from any girl i dated)“your an animal”…i’ve always loved sex and have been very good at it…and downstairs i was above average for sure…and my career was flying…at literally the 12 month mark i had just wrapped an amazing acting gig that had lasted for 2 and half months and had money to burn…it was the summer so i did what you do in the summer get drunk and enjoy the weather…then shit started happening…i would be unable to fall asleep some nights…the nights that i did i would sweat like i had just fucked all night…and the worst was the crippling anxiety attacks …iwould have extreme thoughts of death while riding my motorcycle…and if i was in a small restaurant…i would become claustrophobic and need to lock myself in the washroom and hunch over…i started to get extremely blunted and never got happy about anything…i got a nomination for a best supporting actor award and it was whatevs to me…my girl started commenting on how little i was smiling…i started feeling very extreme…having thoughts of suicide and then very extreme…sex drive was the last thing to go…i started to notice that i would no longer have a throbbing urge to fuck something asap…also my dick started to shrink …confirmed by her…and my balls…cut to a few months later i was miserable…no desire for sex just wanted companionship …she left…my career kept careening forward…we got picked up for a second season of the show and i was still in demand for publicity…now came the real acting…pretending like i wanted to be here, whilst playing a character …as i went out of town for the 2 and a half month shoot things got scary…i started to look like a 12 year old boy downstairs and i was getting at best 2 hour sleeps at night…i managed to use the work as a distraction…everytime i woke and couldn’t sleep i would just put the fear into the work and i studied my ass off…i would crash hard between scenes on set though…the make up girl started to call me on not sleeping as her job got harder by the day…the scariest part about being away and working was that i worked mon to fri 12 to 14 hrs a day and had no way to get to a doc…i found an osteopathic doc that worked sat…so as scary as it was i said i was gonna ride it out till wrap and just see this guy in hopes of a miracle…he immediatly did a blood test and was very surprised by my white blood cell count…he put me on a vitamin mineral drip every sat for the next 3 weeks…he couldn’t figure it out…so now back in vancouver…keeping myself as busy as i can(its funny how fear can push you to make changes in your life)sitting around fucks my head over so i’m writing a film and have a producer and director attached to it already(something i would have never started if i was horny…so thats a plus but not really)…but i have accepted that this is a reality now and am very focused on getting healthy…and after months of fishing around the site its time to contribute…anybody in canada on this thing?any doctors would be a huge help…getting my life back is my full time job now…then i’m gonna sue the shit out of merck…

Also wanna throw a huge thanks out to all the brave souls who started this thing…your strength is a lesson to us all…attached is a saliva test done by the osteo…blood to come(i have a ton of blood work from the start of this to a week ago)

Result Range
Status Range Applied
Hormone Units
< 0.8 0.8 - 6.6 Male estradiol endogenous
Estradiol pg/ml
Below range
153 43 - 135 Endogenous testosterone male <35> 20 years
DHEAS ng/ml
High end of range
4.7 2.0 - 11.0 Sampled within 1 hour of waking
Cortisol AM ng/ml
Within range
1.4 1.0 - 7.0 Noon cortisol
Cortisol Noon ng/ml
Low end of range
0.9 0.5 - 3.5 Sampled prior to evening meal
Cortisol PM ng/ml
Low end of range
0.4 0.2 - 1.3 Bedtime sample
Cortisol HS ng/ml
Low end of range
37 9.0 - 45 Male (all ages)
Dihydrotestosterone pg/ml
Within range

#2

Why wait to make the bastards pay? Some members of this forum have gotten the ball rolling on a class action lawsuit in Canada. It needs 20 men to get off the ground, and since you’re from Vancouver and quit Finasteride recently you should definitely look into it. Here’s the link to the page on this forum, which also links to the website: propeciahelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1771

As far as recovering goes, the simplest advice is to just live healthy. You already said you have a good diet and exercise regularly, but getting good sleep and relaxation is critical as well; it might be hard in your profession, but you really need to try.

This forum is a treasure trove of information about our condition, so just take as much as you can from it. For example, there are a number of doctors mentioned that are willing to try and help. Cirsler, Shippen and Goldstein are probably the most notable.

Unfortunately, you should also come to terms up front with the fact that there are no guarantees in our condition. There are lots of guys who eventually recover, but there are also a lot of guys who have been dealing with some of the side effects for up to a decade or more. Basically, a complete recovery is far from certain, but you can take comfort in the fact that many men have eventually attained it and that our condition generally seems to improve over time. It can be a very long and frustrating road though, so - while seeking treatment and doing everything you can to get better - it’s important to, as Mew said, “compartmentalize the emotional damage” and try to enjoy what life offers.

#3

Thank you for the advice sir…i just sent off my info to mew for the law suit…i do understand that not everyone can bounce back from this crash of our systems…but it took many sleepless nights and worry to get to the point that i’m at now…i have accepted that this is my situation…i’m just trying to stay as positive as possible…as you can see my cortisol levels are fucked…so i’m gonna start there…i’m gonna try to do as much with natural healing and osteopaths as possible…but at the same time…it seems like i need to get on the xyrem, progesterone, hcg and nolva train…which as i say it sounds fucked…i was raised very healthy and am very against western meds…but i’ve been hitting the natural thing now for 6 months and have spent thousands on vitamins and minerals and herbs…they improve my attitude and and energy levels…but my sleep is way off…and i’m dead downstairs…add also in the past month this annoying new prostate thing…which i was given herbs for which did nothing…so…i’m almost at the end of my rope…i could try to hunt for a doc in vancouver…mew mentioned dr bebb…also that others haven’t had success in even convincing him that this medication did this…i don’t think i could handle such ignorance…having said all that…out of crisler, shippen and goldstein…should i just go with whomever i can get an appointment with?..have you seen any of them?..have you been on any of the said meds?..thanks for your time and i hope this finds you well.

#4

go time, I don’t suppose you ever measured yourself down there, before or after fin, did you? I too suffer from severely decreased size down there as well as decreased libido. Luckily all of my non-sexual side effects (anxiety mostly) have nearly disappeared in the last year. I should say I was on fin 18 months, about where you are.

Unfortunately I haven’t heard much about men regaining size here, but some have reported it.

#5

hey default…man i have no idea how big i was to start…the only way i could measure that is by how condoms fit…which i haven’t put on now for about 4 months…its weird because some days at most most relaxed(like watching a flick by myself)i’ll get up to take a piss and…boom i’m back…then i pis and gone again…i got faith that it’ll come back…it must…i’ve only been on this thing since yesterday but i’m going full tilt into this…i can’t live like this…i choose not to…we just gotta re introduce our bodies to the way they are supposed to work…i’ve got this buddy who i’ve been talking to about hgh…hes a strongman…as in the competing type…he and his holme boys swear by it…and most have had a shutdown due to steroids at some point in their career…of course that would be a last resort after i can’t go any further medically…and then of couse that has its own potential sides…have you heard anything about hgh being used…i know hcg and nolva combined and progesterone cream along with xyrem seem to be the big ones…but these guys reset themselves back and feel like 17 year old boys…just food for thought and a ramble…have you taken any course of action to get treatment yet?..i feel like this dick thing is weird…hes in retreat always never ready to fight…my osteo said my white blood cells and cortisol were so low that my body is in panic to repair…so its all a catch 22 i need my cortisol back on track to get sleep to start the repiar…once my adrenals no longer have to work in overtime they can send the message that its ok to work on the reproductive system…i can’t figure out this prostate thing and i have a feeling its got a lot to do with the retreat…it feels like its in a constant seizure…i used to get hard by just pulling my foreskin bak and letting it rub in my underwear…now i have to slam it in a fuckin dresser to feel any thing…ya that sucks

#6

with the adrenals you may like to try a product called isocort , basically a natural product derived from sheep adrenal glands , gives a very small oral dose of cortisol.this may help you to get some sleep , they recommend up to 8 per day but i would start with as little as 2 grains.

i dont recommend some of the other therapies availble for the adrenal fatigue such as licorice root , flax seed oil or morning primrose oil as these have pro-estrogenic properties.

#7

yeah, steroid recovery (PCT) is one of the main things guys have tried here, check around the forum. Personally I have used Diesel Test Hardcore twice, and it gives me a little boost but only sometimes. I got it a second time just because a little boost can be helpful for having a positive attitude. I also tried Sustain Alpha (both of these have been tried here a lot, check Big Softie’s story), but it doesn’t do much.

Concerning the dick shrinkage, one thing I would do if I were you is start taking generic (or real if you want to get ripped off) viagra at night so that your tissues are supplied with nutrient rich oxygen during nocturnal erections. From what I’ve read, this is pretty important and at the very least can help prevent further tissue deterioration.

#8

Sorry you’re going through this horrific unpredictable situation. Hopefully you’ll be among those that have recovered.

You should consider trying.

L-Arginine
L-Carnitine
Zinc/Copper

Regarding Viagra

http://www.propeciahelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2140