My Story - Advice from those with similar symptons welcome

Member Stories
#1

  1. Where are you from (country)? UK

  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 search for propecia side effects

  3. What is your current age, height, weight? 31, 5’ 7, 120lbs

  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise? running, cycling, swimming, weights

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

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

  7. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)? 2 weeks

  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride? 31

  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 31

  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? Propecia

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

  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects? 2 days

  14. 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
[x] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[x] Loss of Morning Erections
[x] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[x] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[x] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[ ] 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
[ ] Depression / Melancholy

Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[x] Testicular Pain everyday for over 3 months now
[x] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[x] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ ] 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)

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?

Starting going to the gym regularly and taking supplements (muira puama, zinc with copper)

  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)?

I’ve had blood tests but since my GP hasn’t nothing anything unusual I have not seen them. I will see if I can a copy to post online.

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

While I have marked that I have a loss of libido, I still find I have a mental desire for sex but due to my erectile dysfunction my penis does not want to co-operate. The only way I can get an erection is through physical stimulation. Furthermore when I have intercourse or masturbate I now suffer from premature ejaculation. This is not a symptom I see listed in the side effects above and I would like to hear from others who have also suffered from this.

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

[b]After a few days of taking Propecia I started getting an uncomfortable feeling in my testicles (predominantly the right one). I looked at a couple of hairloss forums and it seemed that this was not too uncommon and thought I would continue taking the pills for two weeks to see if my body adjusted. I didn’t want to dwell too much on the side effects as I felt that focusing on them would only make things worse (stupid I know, talk about denial). At this time I felt mentally that I was falling apart but since I had also just quit smoking I reasoned with myself that perhaps it was a combination of introducing Propecia into my system and withdrawal effects from lack of nicotine/marijuana. After two weeks I decided to stop taking Propecia and since then my sexual side effects haven’t shown improvement or gotten worse. Mentally I feel ok, I’ve always suffered from depression and brain fog and so it’s difficult to tell whether Propecia has effected me in this way (I’m sure that in the past my marijuana habit played a large role in this). However what I will say is that my depression has never had any remotely negative effect on my sexual urges or performance, also I think I should point out that I’ve never been on any medication for my depression - as far as society is concerned I function like a normal human being.

I’ve been suffering side effects for just over 3 months now. During these 3 months I’ve started eating healthier and working out. I’m at a loss what to do as seeing my GP is going to be pointless as in the UK the dangers of Finasteride are not recognised so he’ll just say to give it more time. What’s really getting to me most on a day to day basis is the pain I feel around my testicles (especially the right one). It’s a dull ache but a persistent one (some days it’s very mild, other days it slightly more intense) and after 3 months it’s starting to drive me crazy. I’m not even 100% the pain is coming from the testes but it’s in that region, sometimes I feel it is located just behind them - I just can’t seem to pin point the discomfort. I’ve tried masturbating/having intercourse regularly as well as going through periods of not masturbating/having intercourse for a week at a time but it seems to make little difference. Any comments or advice would be greatly appreciated especially concerning the premature ejaculation issue and testicle pain. Sorry for the length of this but I wanted to provide as much detail as possible[/b].

#2

Sorry to hear this man.

There are quite a lot of people who have taken the drug for short periods of time and suffered.

To me this indicateds that the drug is cause some kind of O(epigenetic) changes in the body rather than damaging something as such.

Do you have money for doing tests?

This is really the best thing you can do at this stage.

#3

weird! many complained pain on R.testicle, I too have pain in my R.testicle.

#4

Here is an update of my PFS condition. It’s been approx 1 year and 2 weeks since I came off the poison that is Propecia. This entry is more to act as a personal record than anything else. I have only shared my suffering with one person I know and haven’t even told my family so there is also a cathartic element to this entry.

When I initially joined the forum and outlined my symptoms there were a number of side effects that I was unaware of at the time but now I can say for certain have manifest as a direct result of taking Propecia. Aside from the complete lack of erections of any sort, reduced and weaker ejacualte and the testicle ache that still plagues me I have noticed that my testicles have shrunk, I suffer from extremely bad premature ejaculation, my beard growth is patchy and significantly weaker and I hardly produce any earwax (I have not had to clean my ears once since taking Propecia). I also haven’t had a solid 6-8 hours sleep since taking Propecia and will wake up every few hours throughout the night.

I have seen my GP on three occasions and a urologist twice with a third appointment due in April. My GP listens but has done nothing except prescribe Cialis at my request. The Cialis has done nothing to aid my sexual function. The urologist provided a cream to help with PE and again it had zero effect. I have yet to get the various blood tests done as recommended by this forum since my current view is that many others before me have done the tests and nobody seems any better off as a result. I would rather the money I spend on these tests go to the PFS Foundation.

I have seen zero improvement in all my symptoms over the year and have not even had a short period of recovery like many others have experienced. What scares me even more is that I only took 14 pills and started suffering in only a few days. Many on this forum didn’t show signs of side effects until being on Finasteride for a much longer period, the fact I suffered so quickly concerns me. I would also like to state that while some forums members say they wish that the sexual sides were all they had to be concerned about, I would trade brain fog for a penis that works in a heart beat so please don’t assume the grass is greener. That is not to say my mental state has bee unaffected by my condition. Living with testicle pain most days is enough to make me want to end it all and I am also concerned that this pain may be an indication that I am infertile. My condition has affected my relationship with everyone I know and I no longer take pleasure from anything anymore. I feel like an empty vessel and am a shell of the man I used to be. I know this is a sentiment many will relate to.

Despite the hopelessness of my situation I try to be as positive as I can and have made lifestyle as well as dietary changes to try to combat my condition. Over the last year I have tried eating lots of spinach and the broccoli diet although neither one did enough for me to continue following them. I quit smoking and drinking (around the time I started Propecia) and have progressively started working out more. For the past 8-9 months I have been going to the gym 4 times a week doing an assortment of running, weight lifting and swimming. I have also changed my diet and avoid sugars, caffeine, fast food, ‘bad’ carbs such as white bread, potatoes and pasta. I am pretty much restricted to a diet of chicken, fish, fruit, vegetables and water although now and again I will treat myself. I also take zinc with copper, vitamin d3 and magnesium 5 times a week.

I still find it hard to believe what a living nightmare my life has become. Regardless of the outcome of the PFS Foundation and its initiatives I am grateful for all of AWOR’s effort as well as everyone else working to keep this forum up and running and those working behind the scenes.

#5

This is sounds familiar for me because neither do I shared my suffering almost anyone and it feel so lonely to be in this condition and in fact I am lonely at least for now indeed. It is very hard to tell about this. I would also say don’t worry about short term use and getting sides, I and many in here used that poison even shorter time and then all collapsed.
The worst thing is to lose your hope so keep your head up all will be better some day.

#6

I have the same sleep problem, lack of earwax and terrible changes to my genital area. I have been suffering for 3 years and can tell you that not masturbating makes all symptoms considerably better aside from penile shrinkage. I even develop more nose bogies and eye wax when abstaining.