My story 37 year old guy from Australia

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

Australia

  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, it was a while ago i discovered this website so i can’t really remember. But i’ve joined now.

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

37 yrs old, 183cm tall & 94kg.

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

Power walking once a week and weight training twice a week.

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

organic healthy.

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

Hairloss.

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

2 years.

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

i was 30 years old and started in jan. 2006.

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

i was 32 when i quit and it was in November 2007.

  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?

Proscar and then Propecia.

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

1/4 proscar the first year and then 1 mg propecia a day in the second year.

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

A few weeks after i quit.

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

Put an X beside all that apply:

Sexual
[x ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[x ] Loss of Morning Erections
[x] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

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

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

I have seeked many different doctors, holistic healers and trying to find my own way through resources online. I have to say the best treatment has been from this integrative doctor i have been seeing for the last year which has shown me that propecia could have changed the chemistry in my body and stressing it out where it triggered genetic problems to arise i.e., Undermethalation, Pyroluria. Ths caused a mineral imbalance where i had very toxic levels of copper compared to my zinc levels. This alone causes a big drop in testosterone levels and adrenal fatigue which causes a cascade of many other problems.

  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)?

In Australia our results/measurements differ to other countries but you can work it out in the reference range.

These are earlier results prior to doing a copper detox where my testosterone and progesterone were a bit higher which was on the 7/9/12. On the right hand side 26/11/13 you can see my latest results.I’m only midway through my copper detox which is stressing my body hence lowering certain hormones but oddly my LH skyrocketed.

Date 7/9/12 26/11/13 Units Range
time

FSH 2.5 2.9 IU/L (1.5-9.7)
LH 2.8 6.4 IU/L (1.8-9.2)
Prolactin 140 124 mIU/L (0-500)
Oestradiol <44 61 pmol/L (<160)
Progesterone 2.1 1.3 nmol/L (0.7-4.3)
Testo 16.4 13.5 nmol/L (9.9-27.8)
SHGB 41 44 nmol/L (17-56)
cFreeTesto 279.86 232 pmol/L (170-670)
Dheas 7.9 6.3 umol/L (2.4-15)

There are many other blood, urine scan tests i have done but i thought i will share this which is most relevant.

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

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

Long story short. I want to keep it as simple as possible so people wont get bored of my story. I’ll put it in point form so it’s more easier to read.

  • I remember my overwhelming panic and anxiety started after consuming quite a bit of coffee every now and then. This caused me to be so wired up that i would have very strong staring spells when i looked at people. This made it hard for me where i work in retail and many times i serve customers with the same staring spell and very strong anxiety. I haven’t come across anyones story on this website that has this problem that i have.

  • I suffered from stuttering every now and then. Ive recovered from that.

  • I used to suffer from very low libido & no morning wood. But now i have a stronger libido and nearly wake up everyday to having morning wood. I overcame this by taking pregnenalone and i3c and aromatase inhibitors such as chrysin and passionflower tea. So i do beleive it comes down to our adrenals not producing enough pregnenalone. I mean i’m only taking 100mg pregnenalone orally which is a very low dose and it has boosted my sex drive considerably where i wake up with morning wood.

  • For the first 3-4 years before doing the copper detox i would become very fatigued after a moderate workout. At work i would get fatigued and easily stressed out by doing a mild amount of work. I would be so depressed, had no motivation & not able to recover well after being fatigued. But halfway though my copper detox i have noticed a dramatic turnaround in my symptoms.

  • I have very bad reactions to soy products(especially milk), it makes me extemely depressed, suicidal, very low libido.

    The following vitamins i have had very bad reactions to and i found out these vitamins/supplements detoxify copper:

       Vitamin C, B3, B6, Folate
   N.A.C.
   Methionine
   SAMe
   Molybdenum
   Ox Bile salts
   Chromium at 400mcg and higher
   Zinc

  • Developed food allergies, tinnitus, mood swings and many other problems but i thought i shall share my main problems.