My Story

Member Stories
#1

  1. Where are you from (country)? United States of America

  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?) Propecia Side Effects

  3. What is your current age, height, weight? 35, 5’9”, 200lbs

  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise? I walk 5 miles three times a week.

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

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

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

  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride? About 30

  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? I quit three weeks ago when I heard that there was a 60 Minutes detailing that my symptoms were found in men who were also taking Propecia.

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

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

  12. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? I believe Propecia is 5mg

  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects? I don’t know. I just thought I had developed some post age 30 issues and tried to make the best of it.

  14. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? Watery Semen. Inability to reach full erection.
    Put an X beside all that apply:

Sexual
[ ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[x ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[x ] Loss of Morning Erections
[ ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[x ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[x ] Watery Ejaculate
[x ] Reduced Ejaculate
[x ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[x ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[x ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[] 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
[x ] 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
[x ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[x ] 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
[ ] Increased hair loss
[x ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature

[ ] Other (please explain)

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug? I’m not sure what all to try safely. Before I heard that Propecia had a significant number of people with resulting issues, I previously saw a urologist for ED. He gave me Cialis, Viagra, and Levitra and told me that if those worked then nothing was physically wrong with me and it was psychological somehow. I also tried a penis pump due realizing that Walgreens sells these to help older men reach erection. Suprisingly after two mild uses I regained some functionality but it was only temporary.

  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)? My next blood test is in 2 weeks. I will post after I receive the results.

  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.

It has been extremely embarasing. I haven’t had a relationship in the last 4 years because I thought I had somehow lost the ability to have sex. Some women think I must not be that attracted to them. Others are just turned off by it. The watery semen made me concerned that I may not be able to have kids or that my ability to have the most healthy offspring may have been diminished due to less sperm and thus less possibility of the best to be present. This all has caused a great concern for my general health.

#2

You feeling any better in the last 3 weeks?

The enzyme can take 30 days to regenerate.

When you quit within the following week did you notice any particular changes?

#3

I saw some improvement in a lot of areas very quickly. Not trying to be wierd but sex drive, ability to gain an erection, ability to climax, ejaculation went from water back to how it should be.

Changes since then : anxiety went way down, no more insomnia, cardio improved dramatically, I feel more like a man as far as energized agressive and self assured.

Things that are still way off : difficulty starting to urinate, ejaculation has no force, testicles are constantly sore, erection not 100%.

I should add that I started thinking about how long I’ve been taking Propecia and checked my pharmacy records. I started in 2001 so it has been 11 years not 5.

#4

Huge drop in sex drive this week, something that wasn’t a problem when I was on Propecia. On Propecia the want was always there just not the ability. So I’m curious why it would drop like this. I’m going to completely abstain for a week, excercise, eat well and hopefully give it a boost back on track.

#5

Please review following info:

propeciahelp.com/overview
propeciahelp.com/symptoms

I’m not saying this is what has happened in your case, just that there seems to be a pattern/timeline that may occur within weeks of quitting the drug for some.

#6

A year and a half has gone by. Having read about others who had partial recoveries due to hardcore workout regimens, I hired a personal trainer. After 3 months of extreme physical training my sex drive has returned and I have no problem getting an erection. However I still have no force behind my ejaculations or urination. And though I can get fully erect I do not have the size I had in the past. My anxiety is gone. It’s mind racking that all these years my anxiety and the feelings like I couldn’t control my body and emotions turned out to be just this little pill. But I feel good about myself again all in all. If you haven’t tried it I recommend getting a trainer who will push you to do three times as many reps as you normally would and work you for a whole hour, it changed much of my side effects in only three months.