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How did you find this forum? Internet
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What is your current age, height, weight? 28 y/o, 6’4", 190 lbs.
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Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise? not really, but started an aerobic/weight regimen 2 weeks ago.
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What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)? generally well balanced, but not particularly great.
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Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)? MPB.
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For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)? 5 1/2 months.
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How old were you when you started Finasteride? 27
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How old were you when you quit? 28
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How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? Cold Turkey
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What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic? Propecia
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What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? 1mg/day
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How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects? Not particularly sure to be honest, but retrospectively, probably immediately.
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What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? anxiety, difficulty with erections, emotional problems.
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
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[x] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[x] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[x] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[x] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[x] Slurring of Speech
[x] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[x] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[x] Depression / Melancholy
Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[x] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[ ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[x] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[x] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[x] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[x] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[x] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[x] Other (please explain)
“brain fog,” dehydration, headaches, scalp/nerve issues.
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What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug? staying hydrated, daily vitamin, exercise.
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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 tests yet, doc doesn’t think necessary and part of rebound so far.
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Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride? Experienced, during the last month or so while I was on Propecia, serious sleep problems. This included poor sleep without an REM cycle, and extreme difficulty in “waking up” in the mornings. Also, body was not responding to night impulses and bed wetting if I drank too much liquid before sleep.
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Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
My odyssey with finasteride began in January 2010, when I decided to take the drug (poison) as a means of preventing a further hair-loss. I intended only to stay on the drug until I got married to my girlfriend, because I vainly wanted to have hair in my wedding photos.
Initially after taking the Propecia, I experienced some side-effects almost immediately. The sensitivity in my nipples, light anxiety and very minor testicular pain, however, subsided quickly. I was also recovering from a bout with the flu at the time and I mistakenly attributed these symptoms to the general over-sensitivity I normally experienced when sick.
During the first month or so, I began to have some anxiety, but as a Ph.D. student and under a lot of pressure, I again mistakenly attributed this to general stress, dehydration, and, because I have a fear of flying, trepidation at having to make a flight to NYC in April on small planes. Off and on, I experienced a couple episodes of bed wetting, but I again attributed this to over indulging during a night out with friends.
Around the middle of May 2010, I began to have a terrible problem waking up in the morning. During the first hour or so of being awake, I felt like I was in a fog and extremely lethargic, although this eventually went away. This is about when I began to notice that I really wasn’t sleeping well, as even after 8-10 hours of sleep, I still felt fatigued. I was also becoming emotionally flat and found that my concentration was shot. I could not focus on anything, particularly writing, and even working up the motivation to write a review or conduct research was non-existent.
In June, the anxiety became worse and worse, like I wanted to crawl out of my skin. I finally began to research the possible causes of what might be causing this and, when I could find nothing on the web, decided to empirically deduce what had changed before January and June. The only thing I could think of was the Propecia, and after doing some research and coming across this site, put the two and two together.
On June 22, 2010, I quit Propecia cold turkey. Within three days, the “brain fog” lifted and I felt that the quality of my sleep was improving. Within a week, the fatigue was gone and I began an exercise regimen. However, I also began experiencing terrible anxiety and experienced two severe panic attacks, one of which I went to hospital for. After talking with the doctor there, he told me that finasteride was likely causing all of these symptoms and that the severity was because I had quit cold turkey. The remainder of that weekend was filled with varying degrees of anxiety, but I was able to keep a hold on it without an attack. Around this time, the odd sensations I was feeling on my scalp began to abate as well.
The next two weeks I began to feel better and better, with the scalp sensitivity going away almost completely and the anxiety gone for days at a time. My sexual function returned to normal as well and I was able to achieve full, hard erections.
Currently, this progress seems to have regressed somewhat. Three days ago, the anxiety has returned with a minor panic attack occurring on July 22 and subsequent anxiety that has persisted until this morning (July 24), which has only abated since about an hour before my writing of this post.
I went to the doctor yesterday to ask him some questions about these side-effects etc., and was pleasantly surprised to find a general practitioner who not only had a low opinion of finasteride in general, but aware of these side effects. I didn’t want to go on anything for the anxiety, which he agreed, as he didn’t want to “muddle” anything in trying to find a diagnosis. Pretty much, he told me that, a month out, what I’m going through is not that uncommon, but that anything beyond two months needs to be looked into further.
I haven’t had any hormonal blood work done, but between research on this site and the tests that were done during my hospital visit, it appears I’m having trouble staying hydrated. My metabolism also seems to be slowing down as I haven’t been having full BMs.
After talking with the doctor yesterday, I am also wondering how much of this anxiety and the scalp/head symptoms might be related to environmental conditions, as life is not treating myself nor those around me particularly well at the moment. I feel like this is a possible reason, but am doubtful because they began well before much of this stress in my life appeared.
My question and request for advice is this: given my experience, how should I proceed next? While at the hospital at the beginning of July, I had cardio blood work done as well as a chest x-ray, both of which came back negative for anything unusual. Not sure what else goes into/comes up with cardio blood work and I can get those results if needed. Also, from users here, based on your opinion, is what I’m experiencing “normal” (I hate to use that term, because none of this is normal) and I can reasonably expect recovery, or should I be concerned that I’m having the onset of a crash and should take action now? Should I request the blood work suggested on this site? I’m most concerned because I can’t seem to shake the anxiety and these odd sensations in my scalp.
Thank you all.
Best,
michiganguy28