Hello all,
First, I must confess something: Before I started taking finasteride just over a week ago, I came across this forum while researching the drug. I had read the clinical trial information and believed the drug was safe, and because I wanted it to work for me, I dismissed most of these stories as being exaggerations or very rare circumstances that would never happen to me. I was wrong.
Before I get to my experience in the ER, I’ll give you the basic information and elaborate on some parts of it:
1) How did you find this forum?
Google search.
2) What is your current age, height, weight?
Age: 21
Height: 5’ 9" (176 cm)
Weight: 172 lbs (78 kg)
3) Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
I used to exercise 6 days/week, but have not been to the gym in over two months.
4) What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
Healthy, protein-rich diet. I’ve been trying to lose some weight in the last few months, and my daily caloric intake is around 1800 Kcal.
5) Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hair loss / receding hairline.
6) For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
Eight or nine days.
7) How old were you when you started Finasteride?
21 years old.
8) How old were you when you quit?
21 years old.
9) How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Cold turkey.
10) What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
Generic Proscar. My father takes Proscar for his BPH, and I decided it would make more sense to try Finasteride before committing to buying Propecia.
11) What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
I divided the Proscar pills into fourths (1.25 mg ) for the first six days or so, and then decided to cut the remaining two fourths in half (.625 mg ).
12) How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
Second or third day.
13) What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
(Explained below.)
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
[X] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] 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
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[X SEE BELOW] 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)
14) What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
See below.
15) 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)?
See below.
16) Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
See below
17) Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
Okay, here’s my story. It’s a little complicated, but I’ll do my best.
I began taking finasteride just over a week ago, after discussing it with my dermatologist. He wrote me a script for Propecia, but I did not fill it immediately because I wanted to do some research beforehand. I was also hesitant about spending big bucks for what I considered to be a relatively small issue; my hair loss is minor, but still significant, and I figured it would be best to treat the problem while I am young.
After doing some superficial research, I deemed the drug safe. My dad suggested that, instead of buying Propecia, I take his generic Proscar and cut it into smaller doses—as many other people have done. So I did.
At this point I should talk about my overall health: I’ve been dealing with Depression for the last five years and have taken several kinds of antidepressants without success. I have seen a few psychologists and psychiatrists during this time, but my progress has been very slow. Just in the last year and half or so, I noticed a steep reduction in my already-relatively-low libido. My libido dropped after I discontinued an antidepressant medication—which is usually the opposite of what normally happens (typically one’s libido would increase after getting off the meds). Therefore, keep in mind that my “baseline” libido is very low to almost non-existent. Just to rule out any medical cause for this, I went to see my family physician—who is an idiot—to get my hormone levels tested. This was back in June of 2008. The bloodwork was less-than-comprehensive, to say the least, but all the levels were within range:
Prolactin: 6.86 (1.8 – 14.4 ng/mL)
Testosterone, Total: 482 (262 – 1593 ng/dL)
TSH: 1.1502 (0.35 – 4.94 uIU/mL)
Coincidentally, the day before I began taking finasteride, I asked my doctor to perform a full bloodwork analysis. I asked for the blood test because I was still worried about having thyroid issues, unrelated to my hairloss or finasteride, and I specifically requested to have a comprehensive analysis of my blood—the whole shebang, including free testosterone and all other relevant hormones, prolactin, complete blood count, etc. Apparently, my worthless doctor failed to understand my request, and gave me the following limited test results:
FSH: 2.49 (1.6 – 18.1 mIU/mL)
LH: 2.79 (2.0 – 18.0 mIU/mL)
Testosterone, Total: 405 (262 – 1593 ng/DL)
Free T4: 0.95 (0.71 – 2.23 ng/dL)
TSH: 1.9801 (0.35 – 4.94 uIU/mL)
All values were “normal”, despite the fact that I received much less information than I asked for.
So, I began taking finasteride 1.25 mg. On the first day, I noticed nothing. Then, on either the second or third day, I began to feel a strange sensation in my groin. It was barely noticeable, and I thought it was just coincidental, or psychosomatic. A couple days went by and I didn’t notice anything. When I masturbated, I noticed no difference in my orgasm intensity, but my semen was slightly more watery. Then, on the sixth day or so, I cut the pill in half and took .625 mg. Sometime that day or the day after the sensation came back. This time, it was a little more noticeable. I felt around my testicles and perineum, but I couldn’t exactly identify where the sensation was coming from. I told my dad how I felt, but he dismissed the issue, saying I probably just pulled a muscle. Coincidentally, the day before I also started to feel the symptoms of a cold. My throat became sore and inflamed and I began coughing. I took the day off from work the following day and started to take nasal decongestants, antihistamines, and pain relievers to control the symptoms. I started to have trouble urinating—specifically, in initiating the flow. After I started to pee, I didn’t notice any other problems—no blood, no pain, no problem emptying my bladder completely. My cold started to get better a couple days later, and on Sunday, March 15, I went to work in the morning. During work, the sensation in my groin came back. During my lunch break I examined myself in the bathroom, but found nothing new. Urinating was a little difficult at first, but nothing alarming. I was also somewhat constipated, and felt lower back pain. After lunch, I still felt the pressure and discomfort around my pubic area, and my man-parts felt “sensitized.” I dealt with the discomfort until the end of the workday, and when I got off work I felt a little better. I had to attend a brief meeting after work, and during the meeting I was not in any pain. At 8 PM, I got in my car I drove home—and that is when everything went downhill.
About 15 minutes into the car ride, the sensation returned, but this time it became gradually worse. I try to shift my pelvis forward on the seat to relieve the pain, but I felt no relief. I tried to take my mind off of it by breathing deeply and listening to some music, but that didn’t work either. I was 20 minutes from home when I decided to call my dad and tell him about my pain. He said we would deal with it when I got home. By the time I pulled into the driveway, I was clenching the steering wheel and had to use my upper body strength to lift myself out of the car. I went inside and took a bath, but I still felt horribly uncomfortable. I decided to call two of my med school friends, and one of them suggested that it may have been a hernia that was aggravated by my coughing. The other friend told me I should go to the ER immediately. I tried to bear it out, but by that time I was in so much pain I had my parents drive me to the hospital.
After I was admitted to the ER (and after waiting an hour), a resident doctor came in and asked about my pain. I told him I felt pressure above my pubic bone and felt perineal pain. I then told him that I was taking finasteride, and that a small percentage of people taking the drug develop adverse effects, according to what I had read. He shrugged and said: “That’s probably not the issue.” After the questions, he pushed on my lower abdomen and asked if I felt any pain—no, just some pressure. He felt my testicles, but I didn’t feel any particularly sharp pain there either. Then he said he would have to perform a rectal exam. Oh fun. While fishing around up there, he announced that he was going to push on my prostate. When he did, I shouted OW OW OW STOP STOP! When he touched it again, it felt even more painful. He then told me that he believed I had prostatitis.
So why the hell did I have an enlarged prostate? The doctor could not tell me. After setting up the IV the nurse gave me some pain medication (Dilaudin) and administered an antibiotic (Ciprofloxacin). The attending doctor showed up and said I most likely had acute prostatitis. I asked him questions like: Why did this happen? Will it happen again? Does it have anything to do with the drug I was taking? Or did I just get an infection during my cold? He couldn’t answer any of my questions, but gave me a script for Vicodin and Cipro. I was discharged from the hospital after spending 3 hours in the ER.
The next day was Monday, and I still felt strange near my groin. Of course, I stopped taking finasteride that morning. I tried to masturbate in the evening to make sure there was no blood or anything bad, but masturbating was very uncomfortable. My orgasm was not in itself painful, but it wasn’t a pleasant experience. It is now Tuesday, and my pain is 95% better, but I still feel very sensitive down there. I am scheduled to see a urologist tomorrow morning, and I will give an update after my visit.
I realize this forum is mostly for men who continue to have adverse effects despite discontinuing the drug, but I just wanted to tell my story and see if any of you can weigh in on this issue, as I am not able to explain why I developed prostatitis on a medication which theoretically reduces the size of the prostate. Why did this all happen in a matter of days? Is it just a coincidence? I had a healthy, normal prostate before taking the medication, and now I am worried my sexual health is worse off than it already was. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
