My Story

Member Stories
#1

  1. Where are you from (country)? US

  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?) When researching side effects before taking the drug

  3. What is your current age, height, weight? 21, 5’ 9", 150lbs

  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of exercise? little to none

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

  6. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)? Male pattern hairloss

  7. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)? 2 months

  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride? 21

  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 21

  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? proscar

  12. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? 1.25 in the beginning then .625

  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects? First day had testicle pain, two months later had impotence, shrinkage of genital, lack of libido

  14. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
    All of the above side effects… they went away after quiting the drug, came back 2 months after quiting
    Put an X beside all that apply:

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

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

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

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[ ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] 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? NONE

  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)? HAVE TAKEN NO TESTS

  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.

After starting the drug, only had testicle pain since day 1. Decided to continue at decreased dosage (.625) every other day). after 2 months had more side effects (look above). Decided to quit then. symtoms went away after a week. 2 months later same side effects have returned. Looking for someone that has advice or similar story that I can talk to. please PM me if you can help me. Thank you everyone. God Bless you all and good luck with you problems.

#2

So i took Fin for 2 months with some testicle ache and then got low sex drive, ED, and some shrinkage at the end where i stopped. stuff got better a week after and was fine until 2 months after quitting I had the side reappear for about a week and stuff got better again for about alittle more then 2 months. I experienced just some slight sides then it went away again. Another 2 months forward (now) I am getting a lot of testicle ache again and some shrinkage with slightly lower sex drive and a little ED?

It feels like im getting sides in cycles of 2ish months? Will it continue ? get better? get worse? any and all help is much appreciate! thank you so much

#3

keep it easy man, you’re still very young and the thing will survive, that you will see. could this two month cycle stand in connexion with your job / college / school? stress acts like a turbo with the side effects, try to make your life easier first. care enough for sleeping and start with light weight training, just not expend too much.
why no blood tests??? side effects can with the right medication mostly, if not entirely eliminated, but attenuated.

try to calm, everything will be fine .

#4

I agree the best thing you can do is try to get some blood work done. On a positive note, at least you sex sides subside a bit. This may be a hint that your body is attempting to normalize.

I took fin for three weeks (1 mg) skipping dosages and cut the pills in half. I have lower libido, morning erections ate softer, spont erections are softer to none. And I am smaller when flacid. However two months ago I had an episode where it took me two hours to get it up for sex and I had an issue staying erect. Now I can at least get it up (albeit with manual stimulate) and can stay erect.

Now I just want my spont erections back and be as hard as pre fin.

It’s best you see a reputable doctor with knowledge of this topic.

#5

Thanks guys, I’m hoping these means my body is trying to somehow normalize, its pretty scary not knowing if it will happen again or worse get worse or stays permanent. (my biggest fear, im trying to figure out most importantly). I will get some blood work done, probably by an endocrinologist . Thanks so much for you help everyone, you words go along way.

#6

Do you get morning or spontaneous erections yet? I have not been able to reclaim my spontaneous erections. If I take cosmos everything.g is back to normal for five days.

#7

UPDATE
Hey everyone, Id thought i’d share my story thus far. I have been a lurker on the site for sometime believing i would hold out until i saw my recovery come along and then id post something to use of others. (also for a long time even looking at the site was panic attack trigger for me) Here is my story up to now.

I started taking proscar when i was 21 for hairless. I took it for roughly 2 months (aug-oct of 2012) and didn’t notice anything besides some occasion testical pain and low hanging balls. I started getting sides (mainly ED) around the 2 month mark and decided to stop right away. my side effects dissipated within a few days and all went back to normal.

fast forward 3 months to december of 2012 i noticed my labido down and have some pre-mature ejaculation. realizing this, it sent me into a panic and went to a doctor and told me everything was fine. I settle down and things went back to normal in a matter of days.

So for the first six months of 2013, i had no sides besides noticing for a good month or two my hair got so incredibly oily and smelly everyday… very weird. (looking back at it, it must have been my DHT soaring through the roof because my hair was also failing out hand over fist, so much it would clog the shower drain everyday)

My story deviates from the norm on this site is that my big wave of sides that have persisted didn’t come till almost 8-9 months after stopping the drug. I started having terrible testical pain. I didn’t think it was related to the drug so i went to a doc who said I physically checked out and all was good. a few weeks after this i noticed i was incredibly drunk and then hung over from only 2 beers one night. I started getting more and more sides shortly after… Testicles became very hot and were constantly moving up and down, I became very anxious (panic attacks all the time and eventually went on benzos) I got ED and lost labido. I went to see doctor irwig in DC and told me I likely had PFS and his advice was not to treat it with anything because we don’t understand it. (had absolutely horrible bedside manners)

After about 2-3 weeks after the my worse period in june, I became less anxious and got my ability to have an erection back. Labido returned slightly. I still was not able to drink alcohol and caffeine made me feel weird as well.

I saw Jacobs and Shippen who ultimately I went with Shippen who currently has me on a very very small dose of clomid and Aromatase inhibitor. He also had me on supplements that follows. phosphatidylserine
, Calcium D-Glucarate, zinc picolonate and pregnenolone and Vit D.

Current Sides:
I had some brain fog but was mostly cleared up once i went on shippens protocol. but I am currently dealing with some ringing in my ears, sensitivity to sound, sugar, alcohol, caffeine . Still have problems with sensitivity in the penis, low labido, occasional ED, blunted emotions/motivation.

High Histamine:
I noticed i had very very high histamine levels in my blood after some bloodwork with a nutritionist
. It gives me a constant sneezing feeling in my nose but I’m just learning about it, and what to make of it/ relevance to everything else. more to come on this.

Improvements/Setbacks/Temporary Recoveries
Im going on almost 2 years now since my major sides began. In some ways i have improved and and others i am worse. Too hard to call what is going on. I have had several short term recoveries were i felt fantastic from 2-6 weeks at a time. this was usually when started a new protocol, but seems to fade away after each period.

Currently Trying:
besides my regular shippen protocol form above, I’m currently trying Airbourne. I had a flu a couple weeks ago and started taking them 3/day. Not sure if it was the flu/more sleep/ or the airborne, but i have felt more sensitivity and labido sense taking it. Im continuing to take 3 a day. It has some interesting supplements in it if anyone cares to check it out. far from 100% but i feel better. Ill update everyone in a few weeks.

My Philosophy:
I Do a lot of thinking about this whole fiasco. I hope/pray for the best for myself and everyone else suffering. I am optimistic for us in the future and look as everyday as 1 day closer to getting back to normal. I am currently working on accepting my present state and making the most of my situation. (aways easier said then done) Best wishes to you all.

i could use 100 pages to write out my full story in full detail but always interested in comments suggestions and any questions.

#8

Also I would like to add that jacobs said I had a slightly hypothyroid. My hands and feet have always been very sweaty so i doubt it was something that happened from the drug. He also said I was either generalized or centralized hypothryroid (you cannot tell with tests alone) . Im trying to do some research on it and on this site but not sure what to make of it. Also forgot to mention that my testicles continue to hang disturbingly low or very tight, usually dependent on temperature. (i know this happens to normal people, mine is just to the extremes) .

Any thoughts on the Thyroid? So i try manage any of this or treat it ?

Tests:
FreeT3: slightly above normal range
Free T4: normal
T3 Uptake: Normal
TSH: Normal

#9

Read stopthethyroidmadness site and book for starters. If Jacobs didn’t see the need to put you on meds, not sure why you would want to treat it. You could start taking some iodine and selenium.