My story of this poison

Welcome to our community. Please fill in the following template as a way of introducing yourself, and helping others to understand your background and situation.

Where are you from (country)?US

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

What is your current age, height, weight? 28, 6’, 180

What specific drug did you use (finasteride, dutasteride, saw palmetto, isotretinoin/Accutane, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, leuprorelin, etc…)? finasteride

What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?half mg every other day for the first 3 months, half mg every day for three months then 1 mg daily for 23 days

What condition was being treated with the drug?
Mpb
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)? About 7 months

Date when you started the drug? December 2021

Date when you quit the drug?
June 18th 2022
Age when you quit?28

How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
CT
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects?the usual ball pain right after starting and then fatigue about halfway into my usage then the last month or so severe depression, panic attacks and insomnia

What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? depression, brain fog

Check the boxes that apply. You can save your post first, then interactively check/uncheck the boxes by clicking on them. If your symptoms change, please update your list.

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

Mental
[× ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[× ] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[× ] 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
[ ] 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
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[× ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ×] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[ ] Hearing loss
[ ] Increased hair loss
[× ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature

[ ] Other (please explain)

What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?none

If you have pre or post-drug blood tests, what hormonal changes have you encountered since discontinuing the drug (please post your test results in the “Blood Tests” section and link to them in your post)?
None
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience?

Tell us your story, in your own words, about your usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.Well, as my story says I took finasteride for about seven months, stopping about 3 and half months ago. The first side effects I got were the usual ball pain and maybe slight decrease in libido. Now having been off the drug for 3 and half months I’m kinda worried. The first month and a half off the drug I had severe insomnia, which has thankfully cleared up, and depression. For some reason the depression got worse on August sixth and really hasn’t gone back to baseline. But somewhere along the way the memory loss kicked in as well. I feel so hopeless being off the poison ad long as I have. The depression is so severe sometimes it’s hard to be conscious and full disclosure I have had clinical depression half my life so I know what the abyss is. This is something beyond my comprehension. It feels like it was engineered as a bioweapon in a lab to be unleashed on a unknowing popular with the intent of completely wiping them out. The weird thing is that a couple days ago I felt basically 100% mentally and t was great only to feel horrible the next day again. I don’t know how much longer I can do this, I’m not functional in the least bit. The panic attacks have also subsided, but that doesn’t mean a whole bunch when the depression is as severe as it is. I’m really wondering if finasteride is causing these new symptoms or if the depression is causing the fatigue and memory loss. I can live with everything besides the depression and on and off memory loss.

Self-reporting template - ONLY USE FOR FUTURE POSTS TO REPORT ANY TRIALS OF TREATMENTS, NOT YOUR INITIAL MEMBER STORY

  1. Name of the therapy/substance:
    • Dosage:
    • How often you took it:
  2. Status
    • Still using [ ]
    • Stopped with no lasting change to initial symptoms [ ]
    • Stopped with persistent change to symptoms [ ]
  3. Duration of use: Days [ ] Months [ ] Years [ ]
  4. Response when you started:
    • Greatly improved [ ]
    • Slightly improved [ ]
    • Stayed the same [ ]
    • Slightly worsened [ ]
    • Greatly worsened [ ]
  5. Current response (if you’re still using the therapy/substance) OR Response in the time before you stopped the treatment
    • Greatly improved [ ]
    • Slightly improved [ ]
    • Stayed the same [ ]
    • Slightly worsened [ ]
    • Greatly worsened [ ]
  6. Lasting changes to initial symptoms after cessation (if you have stopped for more than 3 weeks)
    • Greatly improved [ ]
    • Slightly improved [ ]
    • Stayed the same [ ]
    • Slightly worsened [ ]
    • Greatly worsened [ ]

I’ve truly never experienced anything like it. For me I wouldn’t even say “I’m depressed” outside of feeling down about this situation. The main thing that impacts me the most is that I’ll have periods of around 1-2 hours where my brain feels like I’ve got a knife in it, heavy depersonalisation, very foggy thoughts. where I feel a lot of dispair. Again, I wouldn’t say I feel exactly depressed in these moments, it’s like this heavy chemical depression where my brain doesn’t feel like it’s working.

I’ve done a lot of bloodwork and am seeing an endocrinologist and I have elevated FSH & LH bottom end of normal free T, so just started TRT yesterday, so will see if that helps.

I used to have anxiety attacks about pretty much anything when on the drug, and coming off of it, so the good news is that they’re getting less frequent, maybe 1 attack a week on average at the moment & morning depression/anxiety has gotten significantly better.

1 Like

How long have you been off it?

Anyone with any insight? I need some hope. I’ve never been so close to the end

I am sorry you are experiencing this. Fatigue and memory loss are common PFS symptoms.

Here is some more info on our condition, including things you can do to help out.

Feel free to PM me if you would like to chat.

Hey man please DM me