Where are you from (country)? France
What is your current age ? 35
What specific drug did you use ?Finasteride
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? 1 mg/day
What condition was being treated with the drug? Androgenetic alopecia
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)? 8 years.
Date when you started the drug? 2014
Date when you quit the drug? 2022
Age when you quit? 32
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? Taper off at first but as the symptoms kept increasing I ended up stopping completely after three weeks of cutting back.
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects? 8 years
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
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Sexual
[ ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ ] Loss of Morning Erections
[ ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[ ] 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
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[ ] 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
What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
**Alfusozine 10mg/Day
Bocox
****Tadalafil 5mg/day
**Sildenafil 1pill/week
**Tribulus
**Meditation
**Career change
A bit more about me
I started taking Propecia at the age of 24 because I was experiencing diffuse hair loss. When it was prescribed to me by my doctor, I expressed my doubts based on what I had read in the media, but he reassured me by saying that it was more likely to be a placebo effect.
So I started treatment in 2013 and I must say that in my case, it had a very positive effect for many years. My libido even increased and I regained almost all the hair I had lost. The only side effect I noticed was that my semen was more liquid and it took me a little longer to get a new erection after intercourse.
For eight years, there was nothing really to report. My hair loss remained stable and I had no problems with my libido. I wasn’t particularly motivated in my everyday life, but I attribute that more to a career I didn’t enjoy.
Everything changed at the end of 2021 and beginning of 2022. It’s very difficult to know if this has anything to do with COVID, which I had shortly before, but I suddenly started having huge anxiety attacks and panic attacks during the night. I would wake up in the middle of the night clenching my teeth and squeezing my pillow with all my strength. To sleep, I often had to drink a whole bottle of wine. I couldn’t really think straight anymore either. I struggled to find the right words, I was unable to read a page of a magazine, let alone a book, and I felt like I was just a spectator in my own life.
At first, I thought it was purely psychological and didn’t see the connection with Finasteride. During one of my attacks in the middle of the night, I woke up with severe pain in my penis. The next day, I couldn’t feel anything down there. I tried putting a frozen beer on my penis and could barely feel the cold. I tried to have sex with my girlfriend at the time, but I had zero desire, felt absolutely nothing, and it was completely impossible for me to get an erection. With self-stimulation, I was more or less able to get a poor-quality semi-erection, but that was it.
So I decided to reduce the dose and take one dose every three days. Unfortunately, the effects continued to increase, and during another night of crisis, I woke up with a micro-penis. I felt like my penis had lost 70% of its volume. It was just crazy.
I stopped the treatment completely and saw no improvement for many months. I saw doctors in Denmark (the country where I was living at the time), but they didn’t take me seriously and were of no help.
I was unable to work and unhappy in my relationship (even before PFS syndrome). So I decided to leave my job, my girlfriend, and the rain and cold of Denmark 5 months after PFS started.
A trip to Cuba, where I completely disconnected, did me good. First of all, I regained 30% of my penis size and had a real erection one night, which showed me that it was still possible. I also started meditating at that point, which did me a lot of good.
I then moved to Paris and took a job in an industry that I am passionate about and that is much less stressful than my previous job.
This change allowed me to heal my mind. From October/November 2022 onwards, I was able to read books again, I no longer searched for words when I spoke, and I was much more enterprising.
I also had two one-night stands, but unfortunately it was very chaotic, and it wasn’t possible for me to have sex.
A few months later in 2023, I met a woman, who is still my girlfriend today, with whom I have been very open from the start. I confessed my situation to her, and that brought us closer together.
Without putting any pressure on me, she encouraged me to try to find new specialists. After meeting with specialists who didn’t help me at all, I was lucky enough to come across Dr. Sébastien Beley in September 2023.
This doctor took me seriously right away and admitted that he had many patients who came to him with problems related to finasteride.
He was also very reassuring and encouraging, telling me that it was possible to be cured but that the road could be very long. It felt so good to finally meet a doctor who knew something about PFS.
He prescribed me 5/10 mg per day of tadalafil as well as alfuzosin (10 mg/day). He also prescribed me Tribulus for libido.
The results were not immediate. After about six months, I began to see an improvement. I was able to have erection without auto stimulation and also morning erection. It was not constant but it kept being improving with time. In july 2024, I had a bocox injection, which brought back the volume in my penis. The erections kept being better.
I tried on my side to reduce/stop the medical treatments, but unfortunately the erectile problems return instantly. So I know that I have to be consistant with my treatment.
Since 2024, my sexual problems have continued to improve. The downside is that I have started losing my hair again very quickly. If I want to stay positive, this means that finasteride is continuing to leave my body, which is a good sign for the future.
Today, three years after the onset of my PFS, I am far from cured, but thanks to medical treatment, I am more or less able to lead a normal life and even sometimes have satisfying sexual relations.
I am no longer the same person I was before, but since PFS struck, I am much more empathetic towards others, I feel like I am a better person, and I also know that it has allowed me to find the ideal woman to help me overcome this ordeal.