Michaels story

  1. Where are you from (country)?
    Australia

  2. 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

  3. What is your current age, height, weight?
    25 years old, 80 kg 178 cm

  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    have a physical trade job and do light jogging

  5. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
    regular diet, have started to cut out fast food

  6. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
    hair loss

  7. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
    3 days

  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
    25

  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
    25

  10. How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
    cold turkey

  11. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
    propecia

  12. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
    1 mg, 3 times

  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    after my third pill i new that something was not right

  14. 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
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[x] 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
[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
[x ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] 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)

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
    none so far

  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.
    Ok, so like most men out there i have become a little self conscious of my thinning hair, i joke about it with my hairdresser every time i pop in for a cut.
    Long story short she tells me about a pill called finasteride in which her elderly client has been using for 6 months and has seen intense hair regrowth, so i thought why not.
    without doing too much research into this drug i was off to the docs to get a dose.
    I questioned the Dr about some of the sides i had heard, that “2” % figure of ED etc, knowing that i had a sex drive that was through the roof i thought that i wouldnt be effected by such a problem.
    After taking my third pill i new that something was not right, so i quit straight away and swore off ever touching this shit again.
    That night i could not sustain any type of erection and instantly googled propecia, to my horror found this site and basically my mental state has just been in over drive in the past 5 days reading about the ups and downs of this drug.
    As i type this this is my 5th day off the drug with little to no improvements, i can build up some semi type of erection with my partner but cant get hard by myself, the desire is just not there and my sexual appetitie has decreased significantly, almost like my body has been switched off, i feel like a completely different person.
    Just wanted some advice about what to do , what not to do in the meantime ? should i try some supplements like zinc ? or is it best to wait this ride out a couple of weeks and then try a few methods ?
    any help would be greatly appreciated

Sadly, no one has any real clue what to do, including the MD’s that don’t dispute this is real. It may resolve by itself, one endocrinologist I saw said he had a couple patients where it did. Possibly it may in your case because you took so few doses.

just a quick update, its been almost 4 weeks off the drug and i can happily say i have recovered and returned to normal, i guess my post can be deleted now, i truely feel for everybody suffering on this forum… as i know how real these side effects can be !