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How did you find this forum?
google -
What is your current age, height, weight?
25, 90kg, 190cm -
Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
I did actively before this, now my physique is ruined -
What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
Protein based -
Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hairloss -
For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
4 months -
How old were you when you started Finasteride?
24 -
How old were you when you quit?
24 -
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
tapering off -
What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
Generic -
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1.25mg -
How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
One month or so -
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
[ ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[x] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[x] Loss of Morning Erections
[x] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] 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
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[ ] 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
[x] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[x] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[x] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[x] Weight Gain
[x] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[x] Muscle Wastage
[x] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[x] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[x] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[x] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[x] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[ ] Other (please explain)
It seems that my face has taken a big hit, like some of the collagen or fat that gave my face that manly look has disappeared. My skin is dry too.
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What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
Dostinex to lower prolactin -
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)?
Low LH, FSH and testo+ high blood sugar, blood pressure, prolactin and cortisol -
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
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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.
I started fin in march 2007 after reading about it in hairlosstalk.com and decided to give it a try. I had no fears regarding sides as they were supposed to go away after quitting or even if i continued taking it. Soon after starting I noticed black under eyes and hot flashes. I did not think it was anything serious and continued popping the pill. After a few more months (in June) I noticed that my libido had decreased significantly and my jizz was all watery. One month after this I felt that everything was not as it should be: I had unexplainable periods of anxiety (panic attacks?) where my heart started racing and I felt hot all the time and felt like fainting. I even went home from work early and wondered what the hell was wrong. In addition to this, my balls felt weird and there was something odd going on with my hair (it looked shittier than ever and was impossible to manage), my facial features had taken a hit (especially the area around my eyes) and my eyes felt weird and started to hurt. At this point I became extremely worried and called my GP. He took the usual tests and told me that everything was fine, but I should stop taking fin if it made me feel weird. I stopped taking it at that moment and thought everything would go back to normal…how wrong was I.
A week after this I started to feel a tingly sensation in my groin, as If there were two small hooks attached to my boys. At this point I also noticed that in addition to extreme anxiety, my voice had somehow changed and I had trouble speaking. Others noticed these changes too and thought I was hang over and tired all the time. The tingly sensation went away, but the pain did not. I soon moved to another city (beginning of August) and felt a bit better. My vision was although still messed up. After two weeks I woke up after a night of partying and instantly noticed that something was seriously wrong. All of my private parts were numb and shrinking. I felt like they did not get blood/oxygen and my dick was all pale, blue and cold and white stuff was coming off. I was in complete panic and felt pain from the area and noticed two large veins appearing in the shaft. My genital skin had also become extremely dark and wrinkly. I called a urologist instantly and made an appointment. She felt me up and told me that everything was fine and told me that “numbness” issues are related to anxiety and told me to se a psychiatrist specialized in male exhaustion. I was not happy with that as no level of anxiety could not cause such bodily changes and demanded to get my testo tested. One week later she sent me an email telling me that everything was fine (I later found out that my T was 13nmol and free T 230, which is not OK for a formerly fit 25-year-old). My condition became worse and I developed gyno and felt like shit sweating all the time and was completely powerless. I was fit and strong before this, and now I was watching my body and private parts fall down fast. My scalp became extra sensitive and hair was coming off. Soon after this I started to have strong head aches, could not drink alcohol or coffee, my eyes and head (especially my jaw) hurt like hell and I looked like shit, my face looked completely different and my masculine facial features had somehow melted away and I was gaining weight and water like crazy. My hands, chest and feet wobbled when I walked and the gyno was killing me. I could not sleep or train and had gained over 10kg in a matter of a few months. My private parts were still numb and felt like rubber/collagen and looked completely different than before…this was definitely the scariest and lowest point in my life.
The next week I started my new job I had looked forward to for a long time. At this point I also noticed that I could not feel the urge to pee and had to check my pants if I had wet myself. The situation was severely surreal and disturbing. The timing could not have been worse either. At this point I started reading NoMan’s story from this site, which I found from google. I called another uro and printed some studies and member stories as I thought that I must try to correct this before it’s too late or I would regret it for my whole life. I took a day off from work and took a cab to see him with great expectations. I told him the situation and showed him the papers. To my disappointment he refused to read the papers or believe my situation. He told me to calm down and go home and stop reading message boards. I refused to leave before he had taken a look at the papers I brought and assured that I am not crazy and would not be in his office with his finger up my butt or showing my bathing suit area if I did not think something was extremely wrong. He took one glimpse and threw the papers in the trash and gave me an invoice of 90 euro. I told him that I will keep him personally responsible and will sue him for malpractice (I’m a lawyer) if things will be irreversible due to him not giving me the care I needed in time.
I took his advice for a month and when things were not getting any better I made an appointment with an endocrinologist (this was in September, three months after quitting the drug). I explained the situation and told him that I am 99% certain that fin was causing this. He told me that it was unheard of, but would not rule it out completely. He ordered some tests and my prolactin and 24hr cortisol came up high. He suspected that I had a prolactinoma or Cushing’s and ordered a pituitary MRI and a lung X-ray and suspected a pituitary tumor (would have explained the head aches and eye pains). I was scared shitless and my work suffered to the point where I thought about quitting as I was completely unable to concentrate on my work or anything else. To my surprise the tests came back negative. I was actually not relieved, as now I had no idea what the hell was going on with me. I came to the conclusion that I needed to at least fix my testo to feel normal again, so I spoke to another endo who was specialized in men’s health. He did believe my situation and diagnosed me as secondary hypogonadal and gave me some testogel. Knowing that this was a life long commitment and would affect my fertility, I did not begin treatment yet. He told me that he had treated many fin cases where young men came to his office with no libido, erection etc. and are now on TRT. In the train home I got a call from my endo (the one who ordered the MRI) who told me that another similar fin-case has been reported in another city and they are figuring out how to fix it and I should hang in there (this was in October-November).
A few weeks after that I got a prescription for Dostinex from my endo to lower my prolactin. I was not very hopeful of this being a solution to my problems, but to my surprise i started to feel a bit better and gained some sensation back down there and the anxiety was getting milder. I took some blood tests which showed decreased prolactin and an elevated testo of 23nmol. This is the situation now. The gyno is still present, my body is ruined and my member has large veins on it, is shrunken (especially in girth), points to the left and my face has the look of an aids-patient. The eye pain has not gone away, but has improved somewhat.
This episode has left me seriously depressed and emotionally numb and I doubt I’ll ever be the same person I was. I am also extremely sorry for the pain and suffering this episode has brought to the people close to me having to see a loved one in complete panic, worry and suicidal depression,
My life has been complete hell for well over 5 months now and not a day has gone by without thoughts of suicide. I was not aware that the human body was capable of getting so messed up and I regret doing this to myself. I can however not blame myself for this as I had no way of knowing things would end up like this and have taken way more serious drugs in the past with mild or no sides at all.
As a disclaimer, I do understand that fin is generally safe and cases like mine are extremely rare.
After reading the studies I found an explanation for a lot of what has happened, but do not know how to fix things to the way they were before…neither do the doctors. Now that I have gained more knowledge of DHT’s role in the body and the complexity of the endocrine system, I would never mess with it just to save a few hairs.
Cheers