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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?)
During my research into hair loss treatment. I knew about the forums before taking the prescription. -
What is your current age, height, weight?
26 years old, 5’ 10, 1651bs -
Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
I exercise once per week following the Body By Science template made by Dr. Doug Mcguff. -
What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
A stress free diet. This means I eat Paleo when I can, and when I can’t, I don’t bother myself about it. -
Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hair Loss -
For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
1 day. A single 1mg dose. Yep, that’s right. -
How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
24, July 2nd, 2011 -
How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
The same day, July 2nd, 2011 -
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Cold turkey, dumped all the pills into the toilet. -
What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
Proscar, a 1mg dose after I split into 5ths. I could barely hold it on my pinky. -
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1mg of a 5mg Proscar dose. -
How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
Immediately, and irrevocably. -
What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
I avg 1 boner on a good day. Used to be anywhere from 5-10. My penis has inconsistent shape in the flaccid state. Sensitivity has improved but still nowhere near where it was before.
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
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[] Reduced Ejaculate (who measures this stuff?)
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[X ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[] Slurring of Speech
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts
Physical
[X ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ X] Testicular Pain (I’ll one up you on this, I had PENIS pain)
[X ] 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
On July 2nd, 2011, a 24 year old version of myself took a 1mg dose of Proscar at around noon. Immediately following the dose, I returned to my room, sat down at my computer, and watched my penis shrink until it resembled an acorn taped to my waist. My penis was on fire. In shock, I quickly tried to bring myself to an erection but found that my sensitivity had completely gone. I went to the bathroom, found my Proscar pills, and dumped them out into the toilet. It’s 2013, and that was the last and only time I took Proscar/Propecia.
The following weeks were the worst weeks of my entire life. I knew about the Propecia Help forums in advance of buying the drug, and quickly went on the forums for encouragement that my side effects would reside. Throughout the course of these weeks, not only did my symptoms not reside, but the shape of my penis went through as many stages as balloon animals being blown up by a circus clown. Long and pencil thin, short and wide, bent to an odd angle, all unnatural girths and sizes were represented, but none of them looked normal.
Months went by. I went through stages of depression, had to stop performing comedy, my true passion, due to stress, and had several failed relationships that ended in me unable to get an erection. I was still as horny as hell, but there was a disconnect between my mind and my penis, like a kid in a candy store wearing cardboard box gloves.
The worst of all of this is the effect it has on your mind. It is simply irrational and impossible to contemplate why something so extreme could occur with no understood reason. This results in depression, increased stress, and self loathing. It’s even worse that this happens due to the pursuit of vanity, which makes our unique situation even more impossible to relate to. That’s why I think it’s important that everyone in this forum works together not only as a research unit, but also as a place of comfort. We’re all going through a lot from this, and we need to be there as brothers for each other, because we’re the only ones who can relate. I’d like to see an increase in positivity on this forum. Now that we’re past all the mopey, woe is me sad stuff, it’s time to tell you how I dealt with all this, and what you should and shouldn’t do.
10 THINGS TO ACTUALLY HELP YOU IMPROVE
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Weight Lifting. The first and BIGGEST by far step in overcoming this issue is instituting a manageable weight lifting program. When I say manageable, this means not overdoing it and lifting 5 times a week. This also means cutting out useless aerobic routines from your regimin, specifically jogging/biking. My first initial way of dealing with this was similar to everyone else in that I believed jogging a shit ton would help. There is no science to back this up. Simply put, when you engage in jogging or running you are participating an exercise of exhaustion. Your cortisol goes up, you put more stress on your adrenals, which is the LAST thing you need, and you’re burning valuable calories which could be used to support your hormonal system. Stay away from aerobics with a ten foot poll. As stated, you wanna start involving yourself in weight lifting as that is proven to benefit your hormones, and can increase your testosterone. I suggest reading “Body By Science” written by Doug McGuff, an excellent workout that I follow that allows me to work out my entire body once a week without stressing my adrenals to shit. After doing this, even in my sorry state, I feel a dramatic increase in my sexual health. You will feel fucking BEAST MODE after this workout. Eat a ton of food afterwards because you fucking can.
amazon.com/Body-Science-Rese … B001NLL38S -
Meditation. As stated prior, it’s important to realize that stress has the biggest negation on the healing process. There are so many great ways to minimize the amount of pain in your life. Learning how to meditate is just one of them, but has made the biggest impact on my mental health. Meditation has been proven to lower blood pressure, increase focus, and even alter the physical makeup of the brain. There’s no reason not to be incorperating this into your daily life. We live with an illness that tends to dominate our thoughts. Meditation gives you the power to avoid that negative thinking.
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Kegels. Gotta be doing this dudes. Your penis is a muscle. If you can’t get a boner it’s time to send your dick to the gym. Do 10 reps holding for 10 seconds every day, squeezing your PC muscle as hard as you can. This has also been proven to increase sensitivity, and lower the refractory period after orgrasm.
4)Natural, testosterone boosting foods and supplements. Not Clomid or any crazy shit like that. You need to heal the natural way. There is a great website called peaktestosterone.com/ that has lots of helpful information on this. I encourage you to swallow this website whole. Drink pomegranate juice, take vitamin D, take Zinc, eat a bowl of shredded carrot with coconut oil to further lower estrogen, and eat a shit ton of cholesterol since cholesterol is the prerequisite to your hormones.
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Sleep. Yes, we’ve all noticed the positive effect this one has. Sleep is LITERALLY a testosterone drip bag. The more you sleep, the more T you have. Simple as that. This is why we get morning erections and then throughout the day our libido goes to shit. The best thing I’ve done for my lovemaking is sleep before going on a date. It’s like taking a boner pill except without the crazy side effects. Do it.
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Stop masterbating. Masterbating with this issue is like having broken legs and joining a soccer league. I know this one is difficult, but if you have a malfunctioning penis, the last thing you wanna do is be reminding yourself of it on a daily basis. As soon as you stop doing this destructive habit, you will notice increased sensitivity and horniness, and you also won’t give a shit about your problem. There are other things in this world besides our boners. Use the free time you gain to help others or develop an art. You will also be able to have sex with most women if you abstain, as your dick will be completely primed. It’s been proven that masterbation has a negative effect on getting an erection. Join me and become a member of nofap on reddit!
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Lose weight. Get to a healthy body fat percentage to negate the estrogen in your adipose tissue. Estrogen competes with your Testosterone. Lower E = More T. Do this slowly. Don’t starve yourself. If you’re not overweight, be content where you are. When you decrease calories, that takes away from your libido.
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EFT, the ultimate coping mechanism. EFT stands for Emotional Freedom Technique, and it involves lightly tapping on the meridians on your body. When you start to tap, you’ll release stress that has built up and is preventing the healing process. I do this whenever I start to feel ashamed, which is often. It’s so easy to do, and it’ll make you feel better easily.
eft.mercola.com/ -
Talk to someone. This one is important. Your pain and guilt will eat you up and destroy you. You need to release that. Find a therapist, find a trustworthy friend, tell your FAMILY. This issue is not our fault. It is a freak accident due to a legal prescription drug. You need extra love from your friends and family to survive this. Talk to them, they’ll understand.
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Think positively. Be grateful for the things you have in life. Start every morning thinking of all the things you are thankful for. Help one another on these forums and be kind.
For the record, I am not fully healed, but I can have sex when I need to and am always improving. I gaurantee you, after doing all of this, you will see an improvement like me. Not only that, but you’ll be a much HAPPIER person. In the end, even if you don’t heal completely, life is about being happy. That is a life decision. Make the choice to be happy right now. A big shout out to David DeLucas who put me on the right path with his finasteride recovery emails. If you have any questions, PLEASE fire away. Send me a message or respond to this thread. We are all here for one another.