my story, still trying to recover, I think its possible...

  1. Where are you from (country)?
    Israel, 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 under Propecia side effects

  3. What is your current age, height, weight? 27 1.84 92k

  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise? running, lifts, pushups

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

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

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

  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride? 26

  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 26

  10. How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? cold turky

  11. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic? fin-propecia

  12. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? 1mg a day with, with a couple of days of delay because side effects started to creep in

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

  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 altough they are back, but soft
[ ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[x] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm decreased ejaculate power…
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[x] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat for all of the below, I had difficulty in all of those fields forever, propecia made my mental state to crash…really hard to comeback…
[x] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[x] Confusion
[x] 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)
[ ] 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
[x] 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)

A week after I started propecia, I am having occsianal urine acke creeping in on my genitals. like a feeling that I want to pee in a minimal dosage, but Its just a feeling…I dont’
really have to pee, I know that this strictly happened due to use of fin.
Im also having a penile shrinkage which made my regular tasks like seating down, and basic
moving just harder to mange, because I feel my penis shrinking inside all the time.
also it feels very numb. by numbness I also feel that I lost libido and my manhood!

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

sleeping a lot, eating healthy, running every day, pushup, weight lifting, trying recover
mentaly, thinkin positive, eating a lot of garlic,honey, grapefruts, celery…

  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)?

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

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

Hello guys,

First let me start by encouraging all of you not to give up, as I am having serious side effects because of this drug, but things are changing all the time, everyday, I don’t know if its for the better, but, listen to your body.

I started taking fin last year, 1 mg a day, for two months, with occasional stops because
I started to notice serious side effects. so to sum up, it was 30 pills for almost two months.

After two days of usage I started to have real pain in my balls. after a week my penis started to feel numb, the skin behind the head of penis started to change, and penis looks
smaller. sorry if this makes you feel uncomfortable reading it.

At those days I hoped those effects would eventually disappear so I did not quit,
but after almost two months everything just got worse, I could feel that my franky
was seriously damaged and I was losing libido for sure, I had a girlfriend at a time, and found my self talking with her about a teddybear for hours over the phone, and I really
enjoyed it. that was when I started noticing the emotional side effects, I was turing
all girly. don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong talking about teddybears but I wasn’t
me…it was something taking a hold of me.

So there was a sign of a serious physical damage in genital area, a bit of blurry feeling overall, and loss of libido.

That was it, I just broke with my girlfriend which wasn’t related to propecia. I took easily
cause I wasn’t in love with her anymore and we are still good friends.
I was shocked that it was happening to me, I really couldn’t feel my penis as I was able
too in the past.
I am always able to get an erection but it’s way softer, and those morning rock hard erections are not there any more. It’s been almost a year since I stopped.
I am having serious numbness in my penis, and a creepy feeling of urine wants to get
out, but it remains just a feeling, also I feel like my penis burns inside, and I lost size.
At first after I started taking care of myself really good, things started to improve but
no way near as it use to be. I am now continuing my exercises, healthy eating, good sleep,
some supplements…I’ve taking care of my self really good for 10 month now, really trying
to awake my penis, running, trying really hard!!! but it progress is such a slow one!
at this point, where after I lift weights and make sprint running, I feel that my penis
reacts to that, but I don’t know if its actually an improvement. by reacting I mean, sometimes I feel the penis is awakening but still very numb, it’s like there are certain
stages of numbness, and I am taking my symptoms to a recovery road where as time goes
by my penis realizes how numb he is and in order to recover he skips to the next level of numbness?

for example:

I think there are several stages of numbness, the worst one is complete numbness,
where minor numbness is a ratio of the “dead arm feeling” so you have a ratio of 1:10.

where every time you make an improvement, the ratio is lowered, but every step is a total
new feeling where the brain need to adjust to it and let the blood flow and all of concerned
organs need to confirm the changes.

I can approve that by seeing how my shrinkage recovery state. At first there was
real bad shrinkage, but as time goes by usually after I am having sex, the head of the penis
is starting to exit the shrinkage mode and get more out, and the skin below the head is itching…again sorry for the realistic description.

So there are many changes to my situation, but as this point I still feel emotionally
blunt, numb shrink ed penis which make my day to day tasks a real hassle!!!
and the loss of size, libido is a real problem too.

I hope that what I am feeling and describing to you is an actual recovery but I don’t know
for certain if its really is a recovery, because it takes so much time…I think If I will be lucky I could recover
on after 2-3 years? or maybe not.

It’s possible that I can cure myself only with a help of medicine. time will tell, but I sure
would like you good people outlet and advise.

I used a healthy young guy, with a just really good sexual health.
Now I have become a sensitive guy un horney guy, which can be a good thing sometimes,
because I dealing with my feminine side and girls seem to like it.
After sex my penis goes soft immediately, and I always ejaculate prematurely…
I feel sexually sick,and I ruined my life!

I will never give up, and I need your help because I went to the doctors who told me
that it’s all in my head after made some visual research on my body knowing for sure
that changes had been made!!! this is absurd.

I was appointed to a endocrine sys specialist and got the answer of: I can’t help you!

here is a minimal blood test I made 2 months ago, and was discouraged to contact
doctors cause they don’t seem to help.

Maybe I need clomid, arimidax, all those viagra stuff? lubricants? anything that would advise would be greatly appreciated, I am very aware to the change being made to my body in the last recent year and would be really happy to share my physical experiences

those are within range numbers according to my doc who told me that everything is in range. I know it’s not.

SHGB 24-180 Mine is 22.8 too low
FREEANDROGEN INDEX 28-80 Mine is 83.8 too high
TSH 0.35 - 4.20 Mine is 3.62
TESTOSTERONE TOTAL 8.40 - 28.70 Mine is 19.10
DHEA SULPATE 2.12 - 15.20 7.25
WBC 4.8 10.8 Mine is 11.7

There are more hormones but I did not have a complete hormone check yet.

Please advise, I hope you all get well soon.

Welcome to the forum.

Nice to see you have a positive attitude. That is very difficult for alot of us but I think its the first and most important step toward recovery.

My side effects also seem to be “dynamic”. Some have gone, some have appeared over the months, some stayed the same. The “shrinkage” was devestating for me too.

Good sign that you can still have sex. I think alot of us, myself included, arn’t able.

Sorry about your experience with doctors in the UK. Unfortunately there is only a handful attempting treatment in the US and I don’t believe any are having any measurable success.

btw - I notice that your DHEA is low. I noticed a marked improvement in mood when began supplementing it.

t is low
dhea is low. You need to get cortisol and other adrenal function indicator tests as well.
tsh is high which may indicate you are hypothyroid or something is causing you to be hypo (poor adrenal function). You need to get free t3 free t4 and reverse t3 tested.

Thanks.

Do you happen to know which med is out there to enhance DHEA? Does this should be taken under serious thought and examanation?
I do feel unstable on the emotional side, but aren’t we all? The penis feels like a dead arm…that my big problem.
It’s improving very slowly but after almost 11 months of trying to recover, I feel that the body as adjusted to the new situation, so Its just might not
be a recovery. I might need med help…

be well man, don’t give up ever!

Do you know how the body reacts to low tsh in reality? Can I think of a relation to any of the side effects im havin because of this low tsh?
I know that probebly people have asked this a million times, but I would appriciate your thoughts again.
I will go get tested, and post for examantion.
so its cortisol t3,t4,reverse t3 and what else?

In reality I assume that time should correct most of this unstable horemone state.
Maybe I should wait? cause I am really kinda exhausted about the medical community.
I’ve been to four docs already, its time consuming and money, but I will not give up.

This forum is my real help.

Look up hypothyroidism symptoms or adrenal fatigue symptoms. REVERSE T3, pregnenolone , progrestrone, LDL cholestorl, IGF-1, DHEA.

In the process of doing so…I found that green hot peppers are usfull for blood flow, also
helping in getting back sensitivity to the penis.

Just took complete hormone profile today will post it soon.

It’s been a year off fin now, penis still feels very numb, I though I was makin recovery but all progress went down the line
the last recent days, this drug is horrible! it’s really hard to manage daily tasks.

I can’t believe this, it’s crazy!!!

I would really appriciate one of you guys tips against numbness…Sometimes when I take a shower and flash the the shower stall around
the penis area I feel like there’s a dead hole.

wish you all feeling better, don’t give up.

I cant help you with the numbness, mine went away after a few months… I only feel it now IF I drink alcohol.

Hello there,

I was advised to use “sabosel” shampoo in order to fight saborea dramatitis on scalp.
I guess many of us are trying to fight it…I’ve heard that using a nizoral shampoo
is not advised for people who are fight pfs’s due to testosterone increase?

I look at the “sabosel” booklet and underlined the Sodium dihydrogen phosphate ingredient,
what is it is it dangerous?

Can I use this shampoo?

Thanks

where the hell did you hear that?

I think I’ve read in this forum, was I misled?

What is your shampoo? Can nizoral have a potential to harm the body as fin have?

I’ve tried nizoral back when I used the posion, It was good but I believe nizoral is
not a shampoo to use on a longterm, because of that, It doesn’t really matter ain’t it?

life pfs, there’s still no cure to saborea…only decreasing negative symptoms are available
for us to learn about.

Goodnight.

I dont think it has anything to do with the side effects you or I have … Ive never used that stuff before…

Hello lovewilltearus,
I also have genital numbness. It is one of the worst side effects. Unfortunately, in my case it is constant and doesn’t change at all. Neither do I feel pain nor pleasure. It’s miserable. However, everybody is different. Maybe it will go away for you within the next months.
Wish you all the best.

Hey guys,

Here are the results of my hormone tests I have done recently:

Androstenedione - blood 2.69 ng/ml 0.60-4.00

Hydroxyprogesterone, 17d - blood 2.60 ng/ml 0.70-3.60

Insulin like growth factor 1 (igf-1) - blood 290.00 ng/ml 117.00 - 329.00

Cortisol, total - blood 11.95 MCG/100ML 2.5-12.5 MCG/100ML EVENING
5-25 MCG/100ML MORNING

Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) - blood 6.59 MAIL: 1-11 MIU.ML

Luteinizing hormone (LH) 5.25 MIU/ML 0.80 - 6.00 MALE: 0.8-6 MIU/ML

Proclactin - blood 8.72 NG/ML 0.00- 15.00
Estradiol, 17beta-blood 32.80 PG/ML MALE:ND 56PG/ML

Growth hormone (GH) blood 0.05 ng/ml 0.06-5.00 LOW!

Progesterone 0.38 ng/ml

Testosterone total - blood 5.55 ng/ml 3.00 - 10.00

Dehydroepiandrotesterone - Sulfate (DHEA-S) 3.62 MCG/ML 0.80 - 5.60

Bio available testosterone 1.71 0.60 - 2.00

Iron - blood 120.0 mcg/dl 40.0 - 150.0

Ferritin - blood 96.70 ng/ml 14.00 - 163

Thyroxine (t4) free - 1.13 ng/dL 0.70 - 1.80

Triiodothyonine (t3) total - blood 159.26 ng/dL 80.00 - 200.00

Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) 2.74 mu/L 0.20 - 5.00

The doctors say I am ok and prescribe me Cialis. which doesn’t help
I am still suffering from shrinkage and burning sensation every day!
Please help, thank you!

lovewilltearus
I read you are from Isreal. Isreal has the best scientists and doctors. Why don’t you to Isreal and try to get help over there?

Well,

I don’t live in Israel anymore. When I first felt the influence of pfs on my body I was in Israel and went to countless endocrinologists and urologists
but they couldn’t help. I did ultrasound, fingers sticking up my ass, everything, no one would recommend any hormonal treatment

I am helpless…

All I can say is that I have tried so much stuff and the only things that hepled were lowing estrogen or increasing testosterone. Both things only helped for a short time. The first time I lowered estrogen I though I recovered. But it did not last. The test helped me 2 times for the first 8 - 11 days after I started it but mostly with strength and well being not libido.