My story, 4 years later

  1. Where are you from (country)?
    -USA
  2. 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
  3. What is your current age, height, weight?
    -6 ft. 25 years old, 220 lbs muscular build
  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    -6 days a week lifting and cardio
  5. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
    -Very healthy diet all organic, mostly lean meats, veggies, fruits, protein shakes. No fast food at all, cheat meals once a week
  6. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
    -Male pattern baldness
  7. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
    -About 3 months
  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
    -21, 9/1/2009
  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
    -21, 1/1/2010
  10. How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
    -Cold turkey
  11. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
    -Finasteride
  12. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
    -perscribed 5 mg pills. doctor told me to take whole pill for first week and 1/4 a day after that
  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    -3 months, its what caused me to quit
  14. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
    -Total loss of libido, erectile dysfunction, penile shrinkage, testicular pain
    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
[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
[x] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts

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

Misc
[x] 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)

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
    -Tribulus, maca, horny goat weed, hcg, viagra, and cialis
  2. 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)?
    -no blood tests unfortunately
  3. Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
    -F*** finasteride, it has ruined my life.
  4. Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
  • Alright so after starting to go bald at 18 due to genetics I was pretty upset as I was the only person I knew that was experiencing this anywhere near my age. At 21 I decided to see a doctor about propecia after seeing multiple tv ads over the years. He told me sexual side effects were possible but would go away if I stopped taking the drug so I figured why not give it a shot. Everything was fine, never saw any hair growth but no real changes until I was 3 months in and all of a sudden I realized my sex drive was completely gone. No interest in sex, no interest in girls, and erectile dysfunction. Scared the hell out of me so I stopped taking the pills immediately. This was 4 years ago and I still have the problem today, NO sex drive at all, erectile dysfunction, no morning erections, no spontaneous erections, depression (I don’t know if the drug caused this or if it just happened due to the condition), random testicular pain, and I’ve noticed my dick in flacid state is not as big as it used to be. Also reduced velocity when I ejaculate, honestly before finasteride if i hadn’t had sex in awhile it would shoot pretty damn far when i finally did, now, barely anything just kinda drips out (sorry for description). Everything i have done to try and combat this has worked for a short time and stopped working. When i first tried taking Maca i was amazed, honestly i forgot what it was like to have a sex drive and after trying this i felt amazing, for about 3 weeks, then it stopped working and hasn’t had the same affect since. Viagra used to work very well for me but lately hasn’t worked as well. Nothing I have taken has had a lasting effect. Every now and then i get a random day that i can get an erection easily but those are few and far between. Getting an erection requires stimulation and not only are they about 70% of what it used to be but it is very hard to maintain. When it comes to sex, if i can get hard i have to go straight to sex, no foreplay or anything cause if i don’t start the act of intercourse there’s a good chance it will soon be gone. It has ruined my sex life, while i still have one, it is a constant struggle and extremely stressful. I hate this god damn drug and from the looks of it there isn’t much hope and it sucks. I’m now not only the young guy that’s going bald, but i have all these problems thanks to propecia. I have a girlfriend that i just started dating about a month ago and we’ve been able to have sex but there’s been a few times that it wasn’t happening, haven’t told her about my problems yet but that talk is coming. This is horrible, makes me not even want to be in a relationship cause the act of sex has just become a bother rather than a pleasure, i do it more for her than me, i could care less if we ever had sex and for a 25 year old guy to say, that scares the shit out of me. Dont really know what else to do at this point, time doesnt seem to be fixing anything and anything i take only works temporarily and loses effectiveness fast. I’ve been on this forum for years looking for help but this is my first post, finally decided to share. This shit sucks.