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Where are you from (country)? Canada - A!
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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 - Finasteride symptoms
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What is your current age, height, weight? 45 , 5’ 5", 135lbs
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Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise? no , just nightly push-ups and bike riding 3x per week
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What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)? Avoid Beef and Pork if possible
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Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)? Hair Loss
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For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)? 7 years or more
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How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride? 37 or 38, 2007ish.
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How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 45 - quit June/1/2014
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How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? Gobble Gobble
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What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
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What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? 5mg tablet cut into 4’s , 1/4 tablet per day so approx 1.25 MG per day.
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How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects? first few months - not 100% sure
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What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? brain fog - some ED still an issue but may now be age related.
Put an X beside all that apply:
Sexual
[ x] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[x ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ ] Loss of Morning Erections
[x ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ x] Confusion
[x ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[x ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ x] 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
[ x] Testicular Pain
[ x] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[ ] 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
[x ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[ ] Other (please explain)
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What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug? See below for my ball pain story.
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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)? N/A
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Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride? So Ironic that us men take this pill to keep our hair and vanity so that we can be attractive to a mate but then when we find the mate we can’t have sex because of this horrible medicine. - It should be banned. Saving a few hairs is not worth it.
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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 to type this out 3 months ago when I got off the drug. I save it as a word file.
I’m giving the first 3 month update now as well.
6/1/2014 - current age 46.
Was going to take propecia for my balding hair but did not as
at the time it was extremely expensive.
Then around 2005-2007 the price must have dropped and Finasteride came
out. the earliest record I have is a prescription of 5 mg back in Feb of 2007.
It is now 6/1/2014 I have now taken my last 1/4 tablet.
In the last 7 plus years I have maintained MOST of my hair at the top.
I knew that it would never really help the hair line.
In the last year I noticed more of my crown starting to be exposed.
side effects over last 7 years.
Lack of morning wood.
nearly zero spontaneous erections.
Never had a wet dream in my life.
Lack of sensitivity of penis glans
Unable to maintain an erection during sex for very long
PALMela HANDerson usually works fine.
Near Impossible to finish via vaginal intercourse.
in last year or so the amount of ejaculate has increased
For many years it was much lower nearly 1/3 to 1/2 of pre-finesteride levels.
Intensity of orgasm when I do have it has never really changed - no problem.
Curved penis but that is from Palmerson as doing it since 5 or 6
No mind fog but have had memory lapses increasing over last 2 years.
No suicide thoughts.
No sleep disorder I just need to go to bed earlier.
No pain in testicles. - legs or penis.
Viagra - generic version works extremely well for full erection but it to has
side effects even in tiny dosage. - Nasal Congestion and dryness.
nearly impossible to climax. - what is the point?
Increase or change of heart rate.
Several years ago I found out that Finesteride can help against certain forms
of prostate cancer but may INCREASE the chance of one of the most
aggressive forms.
Father/Grandfather/Uncles on my father’s side have no known prostate cancer issues that I’m aware of. Fraternal grandfather lived to around 88
As of today I am stopping all finesteride - pills went in the garbage.
I realize that I stand a good chance of losing a lot of hair.
Concern is that side effects will become even WORSE if I stay on it
Plus who knows what other long term effects there might be.
Now that I have stopped I will continue to try to exercise more
even bike riding or elliptical.
Eat better - cut back on ice-cream
i’ve already drastically reduced my pizza intake from
2-3 times per week to 2 to 3 times per month if that.
Cut back on Palmela to give it a rest.
GET MORE SLEEP bed by 10:30 nightly including weekends.
Current weight is 142lbs
To summarize:
Hair is decreasing but no huge bald spot in back YET but I know it’s coming.
I can climax to PALMERA but not with regular intercourse.
erection if manually assisted.
Virtually no other erection with exception of occasional morning bladder wood
which completely disappears after urinating.
No depression to speak of
Brain fog to some degree
Per other sites. Tesostorone Replacement is NOT the answer and can make it worse Do NOT do this.
Will update this every 3 months:
Inform of hair and side effects change.
9/1/2014
First update:
I have changed my diet as mentioned before.
My weight is down from 142 to 133lbs.
It just feels much better. - I’m about 5’5"
Have not had a hamburger in several months.
Cut WAY back on Pork and Beef occasionally some slips through.
Still eat chicken, Turkey and all sea food.
Trying to eat more salads but have been sliding some on this.
Still eat ice-cream nearly every day…oh well.
Biggest diet change is eating LESS of everything.
I drink or add Almond/coconut milk as a dairy replacement.
Have not exercised as much as I would like - my exercise would
mostly be bike riding 4 days a week and near nightly push ups.
Have been slacking on both. My excuse for lack of riding is very unseasonably hot weather. I did ride yesterday however.
Now on to the Viagra about 4 weeks after stopping I had a pain in my left testicle.
It would hurt to the touch. I did some internet research and determined I had
Epididymitis (inflammation of the sack/tubing that is attached to the scrotum.
This was extremely scary from what I was reading on this forum, testicular pain may never go away for some.
I would recommend that anyone with pain in their balls be checked for Epididymitis - Anti-biotics is the cure.
Dr gave treatment of antibiotic shot and 10 days of pills per CDC recommendation.
Fortunately it went away after meds.
I had to research why did this happen.
Well one of the treatments for CRONIC Epididymitis is FINASTERIDE.
So it turns out since I stopped taking the Fin my prostate may have enlarged and
this cuts off flow if urine to the bladder thereby causing a backup and infection.
Just glad now that it has not reoccured.
So this COULD be the reason for some folks getting ache balls.
It was certainly the reason that I was having pain.
I’m losing a bit more hair at the crown as expected.
Oddly enough I seem to be growing more chest hair and new hair is white.
Now for the down stairs report. SEX
Within a few weeks after STOPPING Fin guess what?
Morning wood was back in full force.
It is still there 90 days later but not nearly as strong but at least everything
is working.
My sex life in general has been very lacking especially since the Epididymitis.
But before that showed up I was pounding away on my gal with a full erection it was wonderful.
Erection seems to come and stay around as long as I need it.
Generally I’m still very tired from lack of sleep.
Brain fog has improved some what.
No other issues at this time.
Bottom line is after 90 days of no pill I’ve not had any real loss of erection.
As a matter of fact I would say there is a 40-50% improvement.
I write off a lot of this to age as I’m in my mid to late 40’s.
Will report back in Dec 2014
Good luck to all - hang in there.
If you have questions just ask.
12/1/2014
3/1/2015
6/1/2015
9/1/2015
12/1/2015
etc…