my story

  1. Where are you from (country)? austrailia

  2. How did you find this forum ?i came across this forum when i deided to look into side effects that could explain things that were wrong with me that the doctors couldnt give me any answer even after alot of tests

  3. What is your current age, height, weight? my current age is 33years my height is 5 10 and my weight is 83 kg

  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise? i trying to get into more exercise progames its a slow progress but im working on it
    tread mill 30mins and light weights 3 times a week but getting beter

  5. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)? my diet isnt too bad i eat meat fish and most nights i eat steamed veggies with it i dont eat any junk food any more and its something im working on !

  6. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
    i took propocia as a hair loss as the family doctor recomended it to me the side effects that i suffered really wasnt explained or known 8 years ago so i was none the wiser

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

  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
    i was about 25years old

  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
    i stopped about 2 months ago and im now 33

  10. How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? cold turkey after reading all the effects and the explanations to most of the problems i had my health was more important than keeping my hair and keeping my mental state intact

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

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

  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects? i really didnt see the effects right away due to the fact of my mothers death so deppression and the energy levels wernt really noticed for a couple of years even then i didnt really put it down to propica as none of the effects were even known to me at these times. although my mood swings wernt noticed due to working over seas on ships for 4 years and not knowing anyone to being able to notice anything different.
    about me

  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
[ ] 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 to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[ x] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ x] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ x] Confusion
[ x] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[ x] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] 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
[x ] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[ ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ x] Weight Gain flutuating
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[x ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ x] 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) my temp was always was hotter than normal

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

I stopped taking it straight away and i feel much better within the first couple of days most of the side effects that i had a doctor could not explain. I had cat scans due to the memory losses and the brain fogs test all came back clear i had my eyes checked due to the problems focusing which cleared up as soon as i stopped. on my blood test before stopping i had a problem that the doctor said i may have a problem with my thyriod
im now after 2 months off the drug going to have another blood test to see if not taking the drug does have any effect on my blood.i feel so much better now more energy i feel normal once again well i feel male again my libido didnt take that much of a beating but i can tell you now its now a full erection once again. although the drug worked for my hair loss thank you so much for your site because you haved saved a life thats worth living well and not in a dull state that i thought was normal due to not having any support around me for a few years. i now have a beautiful wife thats understanding and supportive that makes life so much more easier to live with . my mood swings arent so dramatic but its something that im working on every day ! but i know these effects could take a while to work out ! thanks for listening to my story and not being alone with the fight with this dangerous drug . the side effects need to be told as they are more common than any studies will -publish
and to all that are thinking about taking it Yes the drug worked for me with hairloss but the side effects arent worth the pain you put your self through whilst on the drug or getting off it

  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?

[quote=“ray_t”]

i feel so much better now more energy i feel normal once again well i feel male again my libido didnt take that much of a beating but i can tell you now its now a full erection once again. quote]

Hi Ray,

Welcome to the forum, thanks for sharing your story. I’m a little confused you took the drug for about 8 years and you mention you are getting full erections again just a couple of months off of the drug; however you listed a whole bunch of sexual sides that you are still experiencing since discontinuing usage.

Are you still suffering sexual side effects? Also, have you had a blood test done? I would be curious to see what your blood work looks like compared to the rest of ours.

hey how ya going sorry if i was a little muddled trying to tell my story
its new for me accually put it into words its not easy sometimes.
within the eight years the sexual problems i had were a decrease of libido
the urges of sex was greatly decreased. on the side of erections i was able to rise to the occassion but on a few times i couldnt so it put me off doing the job. or id lose it while doing the job
for a good amount of time i really didnt have to worry to much as i didnt have a partner to worry about it. about a week after stopping the morning glory started to happen again and im feeling alot better allthough not all the time.errections not a problem now
on my side of things i really only started to look into things only because i want to have a baby with my wife and things are a little slow concieving and i thought id look into things on my side and i found you guys
with the site.
and yes i have had a blood test done and on the 9 of feb
heres my results
haemoglobin 150
rcc 5.14
haematorit 0.454
mcv 88.3
mch 29.2
mchc 330
rdw 13.6
white cells 8.8
neutrophils 6.1
lymphocytes 2.2
monocytes 0.3
eosinophiles 0.1
basophils 0.0
platets 203
blood count normal
on the other test my
cholesterol 5.7 a little high
triglycerides 1.42
hdl-col 1.1
ldl-chol 4.0 a little high
ldl hdl 3.6
chol/hdl 5.2

thyroid funtion test
th 0.05 very low
its been about nine months between blood test and im having another next week i hope ive been a little bit clearer and its good that this group is here so thank you
and with the survey with side effects i red it wrong i thought if you had any of the side effects over time not after coming off the drug so sorry
i will post my new blood test next week so you guys compare
thanks again ray

Ray,

The items you tested for are good to know for overall health, but you seem to be missing the most important components of the blood test in terms of male hormones. There is a short list that many test for that includes more than these but you should at least have these:

Total T
Free T
Estradial
SHBG
LH
FSH
Prolactin
DHEA
ADIOL G

You mentioned you are looking to have kids. Many of us propecia sufferers have a low sperm count and are often infertile. You may need to see a uroligist. Ultimatley IV may become a consideration, while you are recovering.

How are the Dr’s in Australia? I hope they are more caring than the Dr’s here. Most of them don’t believe our problems were caused from Propecia.

take care, Bostonusa