- Where are you from (country)?
Canada
- 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 search “propecia persisting side effects help”
- What is your current age, height, weight?
Age: 25
Height: 5’8
Weight: 160lbs
- Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
Haven’t been exercising for the past month, but just bought a gym membership and plan to start this weekend
- What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
I eat fairly healthy. Mostly Paleo eating, but sometimes I will each more junk food on weekends.
- Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hair loss
- For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
4 years
- How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
August 2012 at the age of 21
- How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
Quit on September 1st 2016. There was one day on September 21st 2016 that I accidentally took a 1mg propecia tab (that is the only time since quitting). I tried quitting a year before in August 2015 which I did cold turkey and sexual function came back, however I got nervous about hairloss and hopped back on the medication
- How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
First two weeks I quit in August 2015, cold turkey. Most recent time I quit on september 1st 2016, I tapered off throughout all of August.
- What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
I think it was generic. It was prescribed by my physician and the pill bottle says Finasteride, not Propecia.
- What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
I took 1mg daily for most of the 4 years but in the third year I started taking .5mg every day and then for about 4 months before quitting I took .5mg every other day
- How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
They were very gradual so I would say probably about two years in. I didn’t have consistent sex so it was hard to gauge and I was also in school so I never noticed how strange it was for my libido to be as low as it was. I eventually noticed that I wasn’t getting random erections ever and there wasn’t that pulsing sex drive that I had remembered having when I was younger.
- 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 *there has been some improvement in this domain but they are still not very common
[ ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] 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
[x ] Gynecomastia (male breasts) I am not 100% sure if what I have is gyno but I do have weight in my chest with a sort of coning shape towards the nipple. It is not too severe but still embarrassing
[ ] 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
[ ] Other (please explain)
- What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
Zinc, Vitamin D
- 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)?
No I have not had blood work done yet, but I plan to come December when I am back home where my family doc is located
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Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
-
Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
I took the drug for four years and it did work well on my hair as I experienced no loss at all. However, I slowly started to notice that I didn’t feel as sexual as I once was and that there wasn’t that hormonal surge driving me towards sex. I was able to get erections when stimulated and still can, but they never happen on there own and I find that I masturbate more to confirm suspicions than because of any real sex drive. As I had mentioned in my post, I did quit once a year ago for a couple of weeks and felt an instant sexual surge. However, my fears of hair loss got the better of me and I got back on the medication. Fast forward to this more recent time of quitting and I never got that sexual surge when I ceased. This has me worried that potentially I zapped my system that first time quitting cold turkey and did lasting damage. Maybe not though. I am currently 2 months out since quitting minus that one day that I accidentally took a Fin tablet. My vitamin B12 look near identical to my Fin tablets and I accidentally took it. I have since put Fin in the garbage.
At 2 months out, should I start worrying that I am going to fall into a group of permanently affected individuals? Have you ever heard about people having return to normalcy after extended periods of persisting sides?