My story with accutane

Member Stories
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#1

i would like to preface this by saying i took accutane but i think we are all suffering from the same exact illness. i will be donating to the PFS foundation.

  1. Where are you from (country)?
    united states

  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?)
    heard about it on an accutane website

  3. What is your current age, height, weight?
    21, 5’7, 155 lbs

  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    yes, cardio and weights

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

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

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

  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
    18, january 2009

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

  1. february, 2009

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

  2. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
    accutane

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

  4. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    3 weeks

  5. 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
[ ] 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
[X] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[X] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[X] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[X] Slurring of Speech
[X] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[X] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[X] Depression / Melancholy

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

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[X] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature

[X] Other (please explain)

hypothyroidism
low vitamin d
decreased libido but not completely gone

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
    wellbutrin which provided substantial cognitive improvements, increased libido, and better erections for 3 months until it wore off.
    12 day water fast. no long term benefits but i am consider trying a longer one

  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)?
    hypothyroidism
    testosterone hovers in the mid 500s

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

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

#4

hey man, I just saw you post on another thread. Just wondering if youve improved after all this time?

#5

First off, physical improvements aside I’m definitely in a better mental state than I was when I first got this, I try not to dwell on the negative and that has helped decrease the number of “bad days” where everything seems hopeless. Seeing a therapist has been a huge help.

On the physical front I haven’t really improved but I haven’t really tried much other than a naturopath who suggested yohimbe and ginseng. I also tried D-aspartic acid which is supposed to increase testosterone and it did nothing.

However I started a semi - keto diet in January of 2019 but I cheated way too much to really give it a shot. Starting February 12th of 2020 I started the carnivore diet but I’ve been eating pork rinds and hot sauce pretty much every day until literally yesterday when I decided to give the carnivore diet a fair shake without junk like pork rinds or plant products like hot sauce.

One area I have improved is that I occasionally wake up with erections which never happened before this diet. Typically I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and then the second time I wake up is when I’ll have the erection for whatever reason. I feel like not only is the diet promising but HCG sounds promising as well so I’m cautiously optimistic for the future.

I have very low estrogen so the HCG would increase my testosterone and estrogen which I think I need more of both of them. Gonna stick to the diet and see if that is enough to straighten things out and if it’s not then I’ll give the HCG a go

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