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How did you find this forum?
Google -
What is your current age, height, weight?
Age - 25, Height - 170 cm, Weight - 67 kg -
Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of exercise?
Running 3 times a week , soccer sometimes -
What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
organic / no junk food since 2 months -
Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hair Loss -
For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
5 months, ran out of pills when I was abroad , stopped for 1 month
then continued for 11 more. -
How old were you when you started Finasteride?
23 -
How old were you when you quit?
24 -
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
taper off
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What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
Propecia -
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1 mg/day -
How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
In retrospective, I’ve noticed them when the pills ran out (after 5 months) but didn’t quite connect the pills to the early symptoms. -
What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
Brain fog, altered sense of reality, lack of orgasm, unstable libido
Put an X beside all that apply:
Sexual
[X Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[X] Loss of Morning Erections
[X] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[X] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[X] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[X] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[X] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[X] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] 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
[ ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] 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”
[X] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[X] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[ ] Other (please explain)
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What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
Natural Supllements - Multi-Vitamine, Omega 3, GABA, L-Tyrosine, L-Arginine, L-Carnitine, L-Glutamine, Lutein Esters, Zinc, Rhodiola root. -
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 only have post standard results - nothing unusual -
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
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Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
I did a mistake even by starting taking Propecia without understanding really the reason for my hair loss and without pre-research in the Internet.
During my 3 years army service I started very very slowly losing hair and I think eventually it was more a stress thing and not DHT sensitivity.
After I finished the service and started working I could afford paying for a hair treatment in some hair clinic which was just a fancy name for a beauty saloon so it didn’t really improved much
and after half a year of treatment I’ve stopped it.
I’ve started taking Minoxi 5% and it didn’t work really so after seeing some ads and evidence of Propecia helping some people I’ve decided to try it also.
Back in Autumn 2006 I’ve used it for 5 months and the pills ran out at one point but I was travelling so I couldn’t buy more and a few days after, my alertness and sensory started being a bit off.
I didn’t really connect it to Propecia but to the fact I had infection a few weeks before and I thought it will pass eventually.
When I came back to my country I did some blood tests and nothing was out of the ordinary, and I bought some more pills of Propecia (after a month not using it).
After 4 more months I’ve really started feeling a serious brain fog, trouble looking at screens for more than a few minutes and had lower libido and ejaculating with no orgasms but I didn’t want to stop with the drug so I just started taking it every 2/3 days. I had weird anxiety attacks at some occuations and had weird stabbing stomach pains and at that point I’ve finally decided to quit for good.
I shouldn’t of course continue taking the pills after the first break since I started feeling strange but I psychologically my first desire was to keep my hair…
After I’ve stopped completely, at the near the end of 2007, the brain fog was more weird and my sensory started lacking more frames. It’s what bothering me the most that week mental alertness and altered sense of reality.
Since the start of 2008 I did all sorts of blood tests and nothing looked suspicious to my doctor.
I found this forum very late at mid-May 2008 and was shocked to see more people with exactly the same side effects I have.
Since then I’ve tried to eat healthy and drink only water, juice and tea, no smoking/alcohol and I’ve kept running 3 times of week like I always do.
I’ve started taking supplements like GABA, multi-vitamin, Omega 3, all sorts of amino acids, etc’ (mentioned above). I think they improved my general health but the brain fog is still there.
It’s devastating since my job is computers and I enjoy my movies/video games, but now my mind cannot follow with the pace of frames changing and I feel mentally tired after it.
I have a meeting with an Endocrinologist 2 weeks from now.
Can you recommend me what tests to ask for?