My all too typical horror story

Member Stories
#1
  1. Where are you from (country)?

USA

  1. 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

  1. What is your current age, height, weight?

56, 6 foot, 200lbs.

  1. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?

aerobic mainly, jogging and running

  1. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?

very healthy mix of occasional meat with fish; my wife is Japanese

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

Fear of hair loss

  1. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?

2 years and three months

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

54, January 1, 2009

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

56, March 23rd, 2011

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

cold turkey

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

Brand name 1 mg Propecia

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

see above- 1mg Propecia per day

  1. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?

Two years

  1. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?

Loss of libido, infertility ( many more after )

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
[x ] Watery Ejaculate
[x ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ x] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[x ] 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
[x ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[x ] Depression / Melancholy

Physical
[ x] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[x ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[ ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[x ] Weight Gain
[x ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[x ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[x ] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[x ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[x ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[x ] Frequent urination
[x ] Lowered body temperature

[x ] Other (please explain)
hypospermia, almost ZERO ejaculate

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?

Bought herbal remedies: Sarsaparilla, Horny Goat weed, Maca

  1. 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)?

I will attach, but they were mostly metabolic, not hormonal. I DID NOTICE AN EXTREMELY LOW VITAMIN D THAT WAS LESS THAN HALF OF LOW NORMAL!!

  1. Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?

see below

  1. Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.

Sigh… where to begin. I am a three times divorced man, who never looked his age. I look 10-15 years younger than my real age. I maintained myself with rigid workouts, healthy diet, and enjoyed my ten years in NYC, where I had the pleasure of many women. I am vain to a fault, as I routinely dated women 18 years younger or more. My current wife is half my age, 28, while I am 56.

Sex was fabulous up to around December 2010, then started falling precipitously. I had problems with libido and stamina. I was always very potent, fathering three children over three marriages. I became concerned when without protection, my wife never showed signs of pregnancy.

For financial reasons I stopped Propecia, and I don;t think I really needed it anyway, as I had a full head of hair. I wanted to protect my youthful looks.

After discontinuing in March 2011, I noticed almost immediate problems: No INTEREST IN SEX ( I have a beautiful Japanese wife ), NO LIBIDO, DEPRESSION, NO MORNING OR EVENING ERECTIONS, ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION, AND THE MOST TELLING OF ALL: HYPOSERMIA TO THE POINT I HAD BARELY A DROP OF SEMEN WHEN I ALWAYS HAD A FLOOD, AND THE VERY STRANGE METABILIC PANEL WHICH SHOWED HALF OF VITAMIN D 3 NORMAL LOW RANGE, SEVERELY LOW.

I love my wife and feel inadequate and depressed. I fear losing her to another , virile man, what I always was. I had no doubt as my intuition led me to check out Propecia, after stopping, and saw all these horror stories, any one of which could be me. I had to join. I am desperate for a cure, but will not have insurance since changing jobs until July. The herbal supplements do nothing.

#2

Honestly, I don’t know where to begin medically. It seems you people have had a long-time familiarity with the endocrine process, and those systems which shut down from Finasteride.

I feel helpless and hopeless. I haven’t even attempted to make love to my wife in over two months, when sex used to be spectacular.

I don’t seem to care about anything, anymore.

What kind of life, is no life as a man?

I feel lost and want to just end things quickly. I feel responsible to my wife, who at 28 deserves the man she first had, not the lame no sex partner I’ve become.

This is so typical of big Pharma to destroy lives for profit. Exacting revenge is my only reason to go on. My depression worsens every day. I had to tell someone , because if I end it all, let it be known that a harmless pill killed me.

1 Like
#3

Register your contact info at propeciaclassaction.com

#4

I feel terrible for you. I’m not sure why the hell you took this pill at 56 years old though. Most men are taking this pill for BPH at your age at 5 times the dose you were taking. I was terrified of taking the pill at 33, and that was before I even knew PFS was a risk.

#5

I could attach my picture. You wouldn’t think I was even 40. Hard to get a 28 year old, but that was preceded by a 27 year old I was married to for nine years. My vanity was my curse. I probably never needed this poison as I always had great hair. I took it to protect what I had. I had no idea of what this drug could do.

By the way, as to your main point, I don’t think this problem is dose dependent. That is, whether you took 1 mg or 5 mg, your body will shut down by the mere introduction of the chemical into your blood. Poison is poison. Also, I took it for over two years before the cold turkey approach. My body shut down exactly like anyone having any Finesteride in their system. Notice this forum, the research, the lawsuits are about BOTH Propecia and Proscar. Same chemical, same reactions.

It is like a bad dream. I can barely produce a pea-sized watery drop when I come now. It is classic. If you take arsenic in different strengths, the physical symptoms, whether you live or die are the same.

Bottom line: Finasteride, another FDA approved poison that is unsafe at any dose. No one gave me the choice or warning that this could happen. I would never have taken it. I don’t care if 95% are unaffected if 5% are. That is a textbook definition of a blacklist dangerous drug. Do the math. 5% of all men prescribed has to be at least a half million or more in the World.

Profit, profit, profit. Big Pharmacy has been killing for years, whether Vioxx or Seroquel. Right now I cannot get my wife pregnant. I cannot enjoy sex. I worry about losing my wife, because the virile stud she dated has become a mere shadow. Depressed? They can’t pay me enough for what they have taken. Who knows if I will ever be the same again.

#6

Your talking to a veteran buddy. I can write a lecture about this stuff. I was just chiming in to say that I’m sorry for your pain. Unfortunately, I can’t really give you much advice because we really haven’t seen many (if any) who have taken this drug at your age within the walls of this forum. I just thought it was interesting. This and many other drugs (duasteride etc.) are prescribed to millions of older men in your age group at higher doses and we don’t see a lot of men reporting this syndrome. I have not heard of a forum for these guys either. This presumably because man’s sexual health declines in your age group, so they probably chalk it up to old age. Again, I’m sorry for your pain. If your body is in fact as supercharged and youthful as you claim, then eating right, exercising etc. should help you to improve from here. Take it one day at a time.

As to my main point. I know studies have shown finasteride has a relatively flat dose response, however, the trials also show that there is a higher presence of side effects within those who take Proscar. I think it is almost 20 percent vs. 2 percent with propecia. So I disagree that taking finasteride at higher doses does not increase the chances of side effects. I took the drug for almost six months before it started to get really bad. Its like playing with fire, just more fire with Proscar 5mg. The reason Proscar is part of this forum and potential lawsuit is because most of us have broken the Proscar into 1mg pieces to have the equivalent Propecia dose.

But again, I’m not here to argue. Good luck in your recovery.

#7

Dear proscarred, I am not here to argue either. Since you say there is a limited memebership in my age, let me tell you a bit of my story. I don’t deny being a former womanizer. I never had any substance abuse problems, but was a serial womanizer. Looking as young as I do ( think Bob Costas ), I had no problems living in NYC and attracting the 25-35 crowd at 53+. Part of my success was being very good in bed, being able to go hours. You don’t hook 20 somethings for nothing.

Then, I finally settled down with an Asian wife, a petite, beautiful 27 year old Japanese girl, who was everything I wanted. Things were great until the 18 month period of my 26 month use of Propecia. Then, I hit a wall when I stopped cold turkey. Within weeks, I had every classic symptom, repeated by everyone on this site.

The most telling was HYPOSPERMIA. I thought I was a 12 year old again with DRY orgasms, simply nothing coming out. Even with Cialis at 40 mg, two 20 mg tabs, I’m half the rigidity I was only one year ago.

Also, my testosterone level was 350, still in the statistical “normal range” ( not normal for me ) , as one year before it was a healthy 675.

I have no interest in sex, and feel my wife is more a sister than a wife. This is an insidious drug.

I must admit a bias, which my username gives away. I am a plaintiff PI attorney, and have always detested Banks, insurance companies, corporations, and especially BIG PHARMA.

Forget the cost of meds totally unregulated here ( check out overseas prices ) , they push pills which prove lethal. This “death”, my sex life, will not go unpunished.

I have no desire to be part of a class action suit. I want to warn you all, that only lawyers get rich from these claims. Opt out, or bring a singular claim. As there is no approved class now, there is only “MDL”, multi-district legislation. That is a Federal case which goes to one judge in Washington.

Also, do not buy into the hype of any “empathetic” attorney. It is all shill artifice, their only interest being $$$$. Find a good med mal specialist, someone with a proven track record in your community or extended community. The costs are not as egregious as painted by class guys, as the Universities and Docs now exposing these drugs are doing all the free expert work for us.

Just my rest of story, and $.02 about fighting Merck legally.

#8

you have no idea what you are talking about. if you or we have not heared about people having sides from propecia it does not mean it doesn’t exist. if
Mew had not created this website who knew how many of us were sufferning. I still reckon the total number on this forum is not maybe the 1/100 th of the total number of sufferers. On this forum people are mostly from USA, Canada, England and Australia or you can say from English speaking countries. what about other countries?
second thing on this forum people are moslty young who use internet most often. They did not have any health issues before using this poison, did not believe lies from their doctors. How many doctors believe us? hardly few doctors recognise this PFS as being true. Medial commnunity is constantly misled by big farmas. They provide worng data, false and biased research. I tell you, My own brother is a doctor and he doesnot believe PFS syndrome. My GP doenot believe it either. So when people who are in theri fifities complain about thier issues they are blown off by their doctors. poeple at this age group have less time, more responsibilities of life. they can not create websites. Who knows how many of them are suffering or have died.
Another thing about sex decline in men is a myth to me. This is another lie created by pharmas to push their products and hide sides of other medicines. I tell you I am from India and men father children at the age of 60ties and 70ties. As long as you are having good diet you can go well in the bedroom.
Last but not the least. Having sides from propecia and natural loss of interest in sex are two different things. You don’t lose muscles all of a sudden, you don’t get osteoporosis ( I have got it), you don’t get severe depression, you don’t get blurry vision, you don’t get loss of appetite, you don’t get fatigue all the time, you don’t get unknow food alergies, you don’t get teeth and gum problems …list goes on

So if you don’t know what you are talking about, better keep quiet.

To proscarred, many of us are having muscular degeneration too( it is clear from high CK blood test). I lost my muscular body just over night. It is unbelieveable how things changed suddenly. Anyway I would advise you to stay away from any herbal supplements, like saw palmetto, tribulus or Ginko etc.
I was given Badiaga, a homeopathic med for my muscle degeneration, I used it only for my physical issues but I got improvement in other areas too. if you want you can give it a try for few weeks. Vit D3 is the only thing on which every body agrees here for improvements.

SPS

#9

I have to agree with Sriken on this one. This is really an ignorant statement. There’s no proof at all of this. If anything the wide range of guys on this forum indicates this drug has damaging effects to the endocrine system of men of all ages. It seems your comments came merely from emotion.

Many guys try to use this forum as a source for reliable information.

#10

Point well taken. Maybe the response was a little emotional, even though I was not trying to get into an argument. The point of my response was to say that I found it very interesting for someone his age to be in this boat and that I have not seen it much if at all. I did not question or refute his testimony of how he is feeling or if he in fact has PFS. I stated that I felt bad for him and showed my sympathy. The quotes you have called me out on are in no way a distortion of any facts. I don’t see many if any posts from 50 plus men who used an inhibitor for hairloss or BPH on this forum. I just pointed out that it was very unusual. I’d like to find out why myself.

#11

I appreciate those of a certain age who are coming out since I posted my story. Maybe I was scratching my head when proscarred commented because I have always still felt “young at heart”. Truth is, I always felt like the exuberant 12 year old I was.

I lost my virginity late, at least by modern standards at one week past age 20, but made up quickly for lost time. Good sex I felt was part of staying young, so I indulged myself in that respect.

Since Propecia, all that enthusiasm is gone, replaced by severe Depression for which I was prescribed Wellbutrin, the same medicine used to stop smoking. It is not an SSRI, which itself brings sexual side effects, and the dopamine and epinephrine have some beneficial effect. I can’t speak for the other men of my age, but as I said, you would never think I was more than forty. My looks are boyish, and the propecia was admittedly taken as preventive vanity, as I had lots of hair, but just wanted to keep it.

I used to be able to go two hours plus at a time, 2-3 times a day with any young girl. I had no trouble keeping up ( no pun intended… ), and my old standard line, now mocks me, “I just want to meet a girl that can keep up with me”. Well, if she is 80, maybe, not the 27 year old Japanese girl who met and dated a stud, and now has a “best friend”. Angry? As someone who worked literally across the street from World Trade in my 14 years in New York City, I can tell you all about anger from lies. On Day One, while every malleable, easily manipulated American could be whipped into a war for oil frenzy, I turned to my pregnant ex-wife and said, “you know toxic this will be”? That is another story…

As far as propecia or proscar is concerned, it continues a lineage of infamy for drug companies and their profit over safety mentality. Believe me, I’ve seen it many times before in the personal injury side of the coin. I just didn’t think the cessation of my sex life was going to be the result.

By the way, at age 40, I was dating a 22 year old German girl who was a journalist and now lives in Australia. The sex was wild and crazy, and she actually wrote three books about our hedonistic lifestyle. I can only laugh at the ironies now.

Low testosterone, absurdly low vitamin D blood levels, almost no ejaculate at all, no libido, no morning erections, are not some strange coincidence. Just as World Trade cough follows a standard pattern, which I have as well, Finasteride reveals itself in an exact pattern in the endocrine system, resulting in the commonality of symptoms we all share. I’m already a hater of pharmaceuticals from a law practice, now I plan on vengeance, hitting them in the wallet. It will never give me back what I lost, but I want to hurt Merck some way.

I ENCOURAGE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU HERE TO PURSUE A LEGAL CLAIM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

I just want my life back, the one that actually inspired three books.

PS. Just a coincidence Mew, but those are the same initials as my name, MEW. Strange world…

#12

Man,

i dont mean to undermine things for you, but you are 40. You’ve said yourself you’ve been very, very sexually active and obviously enjoyed many years of all of this.

That doesn’t help you right now but surely the sex can get a little less important with age? I mean, constrast that with me - im 25. There’s some 19-21 year olds on here.

Again, i know it doesn’t help you, but this reminds of of the whole hairloss thing. People who lose it late don’t realise how they escaped what many young guys have had to deal with post-pubery practically.

Definately don’t accept this whole thing, fight it to the bitter end for sure, all im saying is for a guy like you maybe a year out, even two, could help you concentrate on other things. It does sound like you were overly focused on vanity and girls for a prolonged period of your life, maybe make some good out of this mess and develop yourself as a person beyond those things? Just a thought.

Even at 25 im thinking, if things never resolve themselves i guess i can mould myself into something else that i otherwise wouldn’t have. Such as a top academic and/or a dedicated athlete or whatever might seem gratifying that isn’t sexual. I kind of imagine somehow that i start pushing myself in other areas and then over a few years make a full recovery. Imagine that. I could have develpoed in ways i otherwise would never have, and even recovered. I would be a better person. The athlete thing might even aid recovery, ironically.

#13

Why there aren’t more guys here in there 50s and 60s who got into trouble using proscar for BPH remains an interesting point. I think I’ve only seen less than five on here out of what now must be nearly a thousand plus accounts. Perhaps because they had some prostate problems to begin with, which the drug addressed, rather than slicing their hormones for no good reason?

I don’t buy the argument that as men age they put down the sides to aging, or would be less inclined to know or care about PFS. The peyronies forum, at least what I can read of it as it’s the worst organised I’ve ever seen, is full of guys in their 70s plus. Prostate cancer forums are full of guys in their 50s and 60s devastated by losing their sexuality above all else. Which obviously makes our situation all the more shameful on Merck. I feel robbed of my adult sexuality; I’ve been with 20-30 women but most of them while on this drug and the sex was below par but I was too fucking slow to connect. I think if I’d had a good sex life prior to fin I would have dropped it straight away, regrettably. So yeah, usjustice, console yourself you got 30+ yrs of good fucking, there’s kids young enough to be your grandson that might be hobbled for life.

#14

My theory about this: Why do old man get pssd/pfs less often? Methylation?