My Finasteride Nightmare

Member Stories
#1

This is so that we can more easily track our symptoms and hopefully find patterns in our syndrome. This will also help others understand your background, and help us try to determine what are the most commonly experienced side effects after discontinuation of Finasteride.

COPY AND PASTE THE FOLLOWING INTO YOUR OWN POST, then answer the questions.

  1. Where are you from (country)?

India.

  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 search “Finasteride side effects”.

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

22 years
180 cm
about 72 kg

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

No, not really.But I walk for 30 min to one hour a day.Sometimes more.
While I was on finasteride I used to do weights daily.But after crashing, I used to get backaches on doing weights(which lasted for 48 hours) so I stopped.

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

Non-veg.Organic mostly.Fast food once or twice a week.

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

Hair loss.

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

Exactly 33 days.I keep a diary.
On one day, I took 2 tablets by mistake, so I took 34 tablets.

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

21 years.I turned 22 during the 33 days I took the drug.

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

22 years.I turned 22 during the 33 days I took the drug.

  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?

Propecia.

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

1 mg a day.I accidentally took 2 tablets one day.

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

About 2 days after taking it, I developed pain in my balls.But my friend who has been taking it for 1 years told me its normal and my body is adjusting to it, so I didn’t stop.

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

I was ok while on the drug, just marginally low libido.All sides developed after quitting and crashing.
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
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility- dont know

Mental
[ x] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[x ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ x] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Depression / Melancholy

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

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

Multi-vitamine supplement
Ginseng-Has viagra like action
Vitamine E
Fish Liver Oil capsules
Pentoxyphylline-Vasodialtor

  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)?

Will get them soon

  1. Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
  1. Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.

Its been one month since I stopped taking the drug and 25 days since I crashed.I feel ED and penile sensitivity are improving slightly, even when I am not taking Ginseng.Hair have also started falling again.

But I have developed Peyronie’s disease which really alarms me.

#2

During your recovery eat healthy!

Don’t ever consume:
-Refined flour/white breads.
-Added sugar/candies
-artificial sweeteners
-caffeine (avoid at all costs)
-alcohol/drugs
-soy
-preservatives: MSG, sodium benzoate, etc.
-junk food (food that’s fatty, oily, fried, etc.)
-too much salt

You may take
-multivitamins
-Vitamin D if you don’t have enough sunlight
-Vitamin B6/B12/Folate if you have concentration/brain fog issues. Play with the dosage for B6, somewhere between 5mg to 200mg/day (10mg-200mg/day is the maximum safe dosage, depending on length of time taken). Doses near the very upper limit should not be taken for more than 9 consecutive days, if you do be aware of side-effects. Consume in mornings or you will have vivid dreams.
-Leafy green vegetables
-Broccoli

You may exercise (you should anyways) but with moderation (you don’t want to put too much stress on your body and burn out). Sleep on a healthy, regular schedule. Don’t masturbate too often. Minimize stress in your life and avoid this forum for a while or you will stress out.

#3

Thanks for the reply bk_.Appreciate it.

Its been 2 months since I crashed.Libido is back about 75% and difficulty in mental function is back by about 85%.But penile curvature is still there.

I have also noticed that I have developed a varicocele on my left testicle for the past 10-15 days.What should I do ?Please someone help me.

#4

You are making an excellent recovery up to yet. Try to forget about things and carry on with life and maybe the rest will come with time. You are very lucky to have recovered so much libido and erectile functioning.

#5

Just wanted to post an update.I have stopped taking multi-vit,ginseng for about 2 months and fish oil capsules for 10 days.And I have decreased my Vit E dose to 200 mg daily.
I also stopped taking vasodilators as I read they could be the reason for my varicocele.

My libido has gone down slightly to about 60% but I think thats because I stopped with Ginseng.Thats stuff used to make me hard in 15 minutes without any stimulus.

Mental effects are the same as when I last posted.

My other complaints peyronie and varicocele are persisting.Varicocele can be corrected surgically but peyronie is the one that scares me the most.
One thing that I have noticed my left nut only hangs lower and pains(tinge of pain) about 10 days a month.Rest of the time its on level with right nut.And about twice a month my right nut hurts for like 2 minutes.

#6

how did you discover your peyronie? do you feel any thing visually or when you touch?

#7

why soy?
i am vegetarian and eat soy producs daily.
i dont think this bad for recovery

#8

Soy contains isoflavones which can act like a weak estrogen. So, if you’re already hypogonadal soy is probably not a step in the right direction. In normal men a bit of soy probably not an issue. Obviously we all here are far from “normal” anymore.

#9

hi all
I just wanted to give an update on how I was doing.I guess my story qualifies as a recovery now as I am almost 100% back to my pre finasteride state.
My advice to other people suffering from post finasteride syndrome would be to stay optimistic and don’t give up.Try to be positive and think about good things in life and how lucky we are to have a life to live.Just don’t give up.You can beat this.You can heal.

I am myself a medical student.I took past one year off to deal with my condition.I feel as well as I have ever felt in my life.Now I am determined to find out why some people suffer these horrible side effects from this drug and how to combat it.

Good luck guys and remember that this is just a transient condition.Enjoy life!

P.S I am just getting back to my life now so I won’t be able to answer your questions now but I will be glad help come January.

#10

Glad you feel better, good luck to you.

Perhaps in your case, not for many here or elsewhere, unfortunately. Hence lawsuits, label warning changes, research papers being published on the problem etc.

#11

wait…you recovered from penile bending/curvature that you reported you had?? I would pay you a lot of money if you tell me how you did this in a year… a lot of money.

#12

He wasn’t badly affected and began recovering very fast after crashing.

#13

he maybe the first person to recover from muscle wasting, penile bending etc. Those are extreme side effects.

#14

i guess i can tell this for him, he was very lucky because his system was able to recover only by time with little help of integrators

so, wher’is my money? :mrgreen: :laughing:

#15

What sort of integrators? and how much? lol

#16

is written on top of thread, but not how much

Multi-vitamine supplement
Ginseng-Has viagra like action
Vitamine E
Fish Liver Oil capsules
Pentoxyphylline-Vasodialtor

imao is only a matter of luck, i have take more r less the same except pentox

#17

I used the things I mentioned before in my post on and off so that my body did not get accustomed to them.I used Vit. E- 200 or 400 mg, 2-6 Fish oil capsules, 1 or rarely 2 tablets of Revital(a multivit supplement containing 42.5 mg of ginseng) daily on and off.
I stopped Pentoxyphylline extended release tablets after 2 months since I suspected it caused my varicocele and its long term use has been reported to cause Liver cancer.

The thing which helped me most with Peyronie was Vit E cream which I used to apply over my penis every night before going to sleep.Before my crash, my penis was straight like an arrow with literally no bend.After crashing it deviated to the left, about 25 degrees.Veins were also prominent.

The angle has been steadily improving since then(2 steps forwards,1 backwards-I 'll come to this later) and no veins are visible now.The angle is about 10 degrees now which is in normal limits(0 to 15).It increases to 15 if i masturbate too much or stop using Vit E cream for 1 month(try this after every month of regular use) but decreases again if I don’t masturbate for 2 days or use the cream.

I have read about this is medical books.Penile bending in Peyronie is due to ectopic collagenisation i.e deposition of collagen where it is not supposed to be present .Collagen is the most important/abundant protein in the body.Its function is to maintain structure.So collagenases, enzymes which break down collagen are extremely slow to act as over activity of these enzymes will literally melt your body into bones and soup.Therefore I am not expecting rapid improvement.But I am optimistic based on my previous recovery that this 10 degree bend will also go by 2 years at the most.

My left sided varicocele also healed by itself.It only hangs lower on extremely how days and I have not felt pain since June 2012.I hope that it will also improve with time.Cold showers helped me a lot with varicocele.

Another thing I noticed was that my recovery was always in a stepwise manner.What I mean by that is that I took 2 or 3 steps forward and then 1 step backward.I improved a lot for a week but then regressed a bit in the next week.In the end, the net result was always positive.
I think its because my body became used to low androgens that whenever my androgen levels increased more towards normal, they decreased a bit due to negative feedback loop.But eventually, the human body reaches the normal equilibrium.
I think the problem is compounded if you take exogenous androgens- they almost completely shut down androgen production capacity of the body.The hormonal balance of the is so very delicate.Our hormones levels are regulated to the degree of pico grams literally.Medical science is not as advanced as yet to regulate hormonal balance.So my advice to others would be to not take exogenous androgens unless tests expressly prove that your androgen production capability is destroyed irreversibly.

I must also mention that I took a sabbatical of about 14 months from my medical studies to get over this problem.I tried to let go of all my worries.I did no work, had atleast 6 hours of sleep,8 on most days, and never exerted myself( although I tried doing light weights 3 times for 1 month each during this 14 month period but that never helped me much).I lost 14 months of my career, but it was worth it as I learnt how to live.Now, I ignore stuff that used to make me angry and just count my blessings.I try to enjoy small things in life which I didn’t notice before, such as rain on a hot day or sight of a child eating ice cream.

Good luck guys!