Where are you from (country)? United States
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?) - a Reddit post that I related to mentioned it under r/anxiety a year ago
What is your current age, height, weight? 25, 6 ft, 180 lbs
What specific drug did you use (finasteride, dutasteride, saw palmetto, isotretinoin/Accutane, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, leuprorelin, etc…)? Finasteride
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? 1mg per day for 3 years
What condition was being treated with the drug? Hair loss
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)? 3 years
How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start the drug? 22 years old
How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 25 (2 weeks ago)
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? Cold Turkey. Skipped 2 days because I felt terrible. Started to feel better and then felt terrible once I took another two pills. Thought it might be the finasteride.
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects? About 1 year I would say symptoms started
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? Dizziness, nausea, anxiety, panic attacks, head pressure, ringing in ears, empty feeling in head, brain fog. General sexual side effects
Check the boxes that apply. You can save your post first, then interactively check/uncheck the boxes by clicking on them. If your symptoms change, please update your list.
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
X Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
X Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
X Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
X Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
X 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
X Weight Gain
X Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] 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 Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[ ] Hearing loss
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
X Other (please explain) - feeling like I’m going to pass out.
What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug? Xanax use to help all my neurological side effects. No longer works that well. I tried Cymbalta and Lexapro one time which made my neurological symptoms 10x worse
If you have pre or post-drug blood tests, what hormonal changes have you encountered since discontinuing the drug (please post your test results in the “Blood Tests” section and link to them in your post)? - no
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience? See below
Tell us your story, in your own words, about your usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
Hair transplant doctor put me on the drug at 22. I took it for 8 months before my hair transplant. Got a hair transplant and first noticed the symptoms present themselves about a year into use. I started getting a weird dizziness/feeling like I’m going to pass out. I would only get it once every couple weeks at first and thought nothing of it. Xanax or alcohol always made it go away. Fast forward three years and I get it once every few days.
About 1 month ago my entire body went numb (like when you lay on your arm too long and it falls asleep). I went to the ER and got dismissed with a clean bill of health. Every day for the next two weeks I felt incredibly dizzy, anxious, and nauseous (they nausea never use to come with the dizziness/panic attacks so this is new) I took .5 mg of Xanax every day during these two weeks which barely helped and made me even more nauseous.
I went to my primary. The doctor was convinced that all of this was caused by anxiety and ruled everything else out. He told me to stop the Xanax cold Turkey and gave me Cymbalta. I took the Cymbalta 1 time and it made me feel 100x worse. I never took it again (the weird thing is that I use to take Cymbalta with no issues).
I quit the Xanax and the first few nights were pretty difficult but I overcame it. The doctor had me try lexapro instead and had a similar experience as with Cymbalta where it made me feel 100x worse so I didn’t take it again.
Out of pure exhaustion and nausea I didn’t take my finasteride for a couple days and started to feel better. Once I felt 80% better I started taking it again and 2 days later I was back to square one.
I talked to my brother (who also takes finasteride) and he weirdly told me that he was having essentially the exact same symptoms as me. He has never had anxiety before. We both decided to stop finasteride as a result.
2 weeks into quitting and as of two days ago I felt about 90% better with my main complaint being dizziness, empty feeling in my head, anxiety, and tinnitus (I never had tinnitus in my life until I stopped finasteride). Today was another story, however, where I began to feel pretty miserable again.
I’m losing my mind. I never had anxiety before finasteride and doctors are convinced it’s anxiety just because the Xanax use to help (even though it barely helps now)
This has been the most miserable month of my life. I’m way behind on work, my friends don’t understand, doctors think I’m crazy, I’m exhausted.
I never really realized how much it effected me sexually until stopping. My sexual side effects have improved quite a bit, however, my anxiety and cognitive effects are worse than they have ever been in my life.
Note that I use to take Cymbalta and Zoloft in my teens with no bad side effects at all, yet for some reason they are making me feel absolutely terrible now.