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Where are you from (country)? Ireland
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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 search
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What is your current age, height, weight? 26, 5’11, 12 stone
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Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise? Yes, training with a football team twice a week involving sprinting, running and jogging. 2/3 times per week in the gym lifting weights.
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What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)? Balanced diet, lots of fruit and vedge, fish, meat, bread(trying to cut down as much as possible), nuts.Some bits of junk food here and there, not much.
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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)? 3 months
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How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride? 26
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How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 26
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How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? Cold turkey
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What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic? Propecia
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What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? 1mg everyday
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How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects? Pretty much from the first pill
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What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? Erections not as hard and small loss of penis size while on the drug. Side affects hit badly when stopped the drug.
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
[ x] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[ x] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] 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)
[x ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[ x] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[ x] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[x ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[x ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[x ] 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
[ ] Other (please explain)
Veins on penis. Facial skin ageing. Decrease in scrotum size and change in scrotum texture
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What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug? Just started to tak many natural supplements: Macca, Multi-vitamen, fish oil, vitamen d3, Silica(for skin), Chlorella for nutrients, vitamen e oil for skin.
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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)? I have just Post Blood work- T= 29.3 (8.8-35.0), FSH= 2.56 (1.37-13.58) and LH= 1.87 (1.14-8.75)
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Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
Just that its the biggest regret of my life and I just hope I can recover from such a shocking mistake. I do take the biggest share of the blame for my situation because at the end of the day I put the pill in my mouth and swallowed it. However, this shoud not be provided to men for the purpose of hair loss restoration. It’s not suitable at all, the risks are just too high. Men are in a vulnerable state when they are experiencing hair loss and for this trap to be sitting there waiting for them to fall into is beyond cruel. This medication should be taken off the market and stop this madness of interupting people’s lives with devastating consequences. It’s a trap that men can fall into but if they manage to avoid it they can live full and happy lives. So why is this trap sitting there for people to fall into?Money is the answer of course but governments need to step in to stop this devastation. It’s all so pointless when you consider how little the people on here care about hairloss having experienced the terror this drug can cause. -
Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
Started experiencing hairloss for a period of about 2 months before I decided to do something about it. It was affecting me as I was panicking about it. I didnt want to loose my hair in my twenties. Contacted a hair loss clinic. I had read about some of the red flags involved with Propecia on the internet but there is also alot of other information about how safe this drug is. The clinic told me they had never dealt with anyone who ended up with irreversible sides from the drug. I ended up getting 3 months suppy of Propecia and Minoxidil. Experienced loss of erection size from 1st pill, that was all the sides I exerienced while on the drug. Contacted the clinic who convinced me to push ahead as sides can clear from continued usage(this is a huge problem with this drug in my opinion, very dangerous to push on under the impression that sides may disappear after continued usage as damage could be being done in this pursuit). Sides stayed pretty stable over the 3 month period. I decided to finish this taking of drugs for my hairloss as I wanted to go back to my old self sexually and the thought of losing my hair as a result no longer concerned me. Having discontinued the drugs I pretty much went back to normal for a period of about 8-10 weeks then experienced a crash and all the sides listed above appeared. Here I am 6 months after stopping and things are ever so gradually getting worse.
Can anyone help interpret these blood results please?
Post Blood work: T= 29.3 (8.8-35.0), FSH= 2.56 (1.37-13.58) and LH= 1.87 (1.14-8.75)