My Story

Member Stories
#1
  1. Where are you from (country)?
    Canada
  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 finasteride brain
  3. What is your current age, height, weight?
    35 6’1 200
  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    only once per week :frowning:
  5. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
    Mostly healthy, occassional fast food
  6. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
    Hair loss
  7. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
    ~10 yrs
  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
    22 yrs
  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
    32 yrs
  10. How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
    CT
  11. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
    Proscar
  12. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
    1 mg/day
  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    Side effects occured in the first year, but did not make the connection until much later.
  14. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
    cognitive, mostly. remnants of other problems exist.
    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
[x ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

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

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

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

[x ] Other (please explain) Spatial Memory loss

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
    Adderall. Diagnosed with ADHD late in life, now questioning it. Adderall is effective for many of the symptoms, though. Surprisingly, not spatial memory.
  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)?
    TSH levels borderlining on lower end of normal
  3. Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
    Spatial Memory
  4. Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.

Finished a science degree without issues, although grades lowered near the end. Decided to do another degree, and started to struggle. Eventually failed out of courses far more introductory than those taken in original degree. Diagnosed with ADHD, took Adderall, was able to pursue academics but still struggled somewhat. Some physical and sexual side effects, but cognitive was the worst.

Quit finasteride 2-3 years ago as more information came out. Saw massive sexual and physical improvement, some cognitive improvement, but no improvement in spatial memory.

Now, most symptoms have subsided 90% or more.

Most cognitive symptoms have only subsided 50%, But Adderall can push this over 100%.

Spatial memory has not improved at all.

Have a heart condition, would rather not be on adderall. But, have no choice.

I believe that my next steps are an extremely healthy died followed by an exercise regimen. any other advice? I would like to get off the adderall.

As for spatial memory, all I can think of is to try and re-train myself. So far, not a lot of luck. I try and avoid GPS aides etc…because I want to exercise whatever spatial memory I have left.

thoughts? anyone else experience this?

#2

Can you provide a better timescale for your recovery?

Did your sexual side effects disappear quickly or was it a process of steady improvements over the 3 years?

More details would be great as you are potentially a long term recovery

#3

Hey,

a healthy died and exercise is a good thing. Just dont exercise to hard.
Some people had good results with ghb, but try the other things first, like Fishoil or ginko. just use the search function. Its good to see, that your sexual sides have improved to 90%

#4

Hello bluecloud87,

My sexual side effects would probably be a bit atypical, having started the drug at such a young age. I was barely 22 (if memory serves me correctly).

Prior to taking the drug, I had extremely high libido, even for that age group. That’s not to say I was always successful with the ladies or anything.

I never had a problem with impotence, or other functions. Stamina was the greatest indicator for me. I was with the same partner for the last 6 of those 10 years, btw.

Over the ten year period I took the drug, my stamina went from about 8 hours (22 yrs old) to 2 minutes (32 yrs old). You can choose to believe my 8 hour claim or discount it…for the record, my experience is that women are just pissed off with it…quite contrary to popular belief.

Right now it is roughly 30 minutes (2.5 years off of the drug).

With a little foreplay and experience, 30 minutes is more than sufficient for a lot of partners (not all, of course).

But, 2 minutes didn’t go over that well. I may have lost a good girlfriend out of that. At the time, I thought I was just getting old. Since going off of the drug, I know that not to be the case.

To answer your question with regards to improvement, it has always been gradual and steady for me. It is still getting better now. I lasted for over an hour last week, but that was with a new partner. It does seem to have gotten firmer and harder over time, but it’s so hard to tell over so many years that I don’t feel it’s a reliable measure for me.

I still have some of the man boobs, but keeping my weight down makes it hardly noticeable.

To summarize: My case was a little atypical, sexually. That’s not to say I didn’t experience sexual side effects.

For me, the greatest impact on my life has been the cognitive effects, particularly with spatial memory.

#5

Both the 5AR2 enzyme and 5AR3 enzyme are inhibited by finasteride and found in heart tissue, not to mention the potential neurological aspect from inhibiting neurosteriods over a long period of time.

Were you diagnosed or did you have issues prior to taking finasteride? What kind of heart condition do you have?

It’s always an individual choice to take medication but please thoroughly review the potential drug side effects if you continue to take adderall. Generally stimulants have not been the answer for PFS and adderall carries serious risks on it’s own.

#6

Funny you mention that, I’m actually taking a break from the adderall right now. The side effects are starting build up. I’ll likely go back on it, but for sure it’s not a perfect answer.

I was diagnosed after taking finasteride. As for my heart, I have an irregular beat but nothing too serious, hopefully. I just had an ECG done and I’ll be reviewing that shortly.