My Story (ED nightmare)

  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? 28

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

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

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

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

  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride? 20

  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 27 (October 12)

  10. How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? Tapered off very slowly.

  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.)? Half dose for the last 4 years, quarter dose for the last three months

  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects? Had slight loss of libido a few weeks in, but not enough for oncern

  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
[ ] Loss of Morning Erections
[x ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] 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
[ x] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled) occasional
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[x ] 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

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? Antibiotics prescribed by urologist (thinks it was prostititis).

  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)? n/a but I was checked for bacteria/STDs, etc and all came out negative.

  3. Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride? I never stopped losing my hair, it only slowed down the process.

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

Three days after I stopped using it, after an ejaculation my testicles hurt pretty bad for a few days. Had hard flaccid type symptoms, took some antibiotics for two weeks, (at the end of the two week period, I felt like a 15 year old kid again in terms of libido, but that went away after four days. Oddly enough, I started having strong morning erections again three days after I stopped taking it…and still get them pretty frequently. (Didn’t have them for YEARS while on the drug). I’ve lost pretty much most of my sex drive, and keeping it up is pretty difficult, and I have premature ejaculation (sensation to ejaculate within 30 seconds to a minute). I luckily haven’t experienced any of the major symptoms others have suffered from (brain fog, testicle shrinkage, etc). I still have mild testicle aches on the right side, but they rarely show up anymore. This really sucks, and I can’t believe we all have to suffer from this crap. My next step may be supplements or the ED drugs to see if they help.

you used fin for 7 years. why did you stop it?

I found that my hair was still falling out and I could see myself getting thinner and thinner over time. I also stumbled upon this forum a few months prior and said, oh crap, I gotta stop this stuff. I tapered off VERY slowly. I also noticed some ED issues arising over time.