- Where are you from (country)?
Brazil
- 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?)
- What is your current age, height, weight?
29 years old. 1,80 . 80 kilograms
- Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
I go to the gym everyday. Cardio and weight lifting.
- What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
Regular diet, nothing special.
- Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hair loss.
- For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
I took it for nearly 10 years.
- How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
I was 19 when I first got started.
- How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
I quit at 28.
- How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
I quit cold turkey.
- What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
Generic finasteride.
- What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1mg/day.
- How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
Only when I went back to it after stopping for a few months.
- What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
Erectile dysfunction. I’m 100% recovered, but people MUST know about the dangers of this drug.
Put an X beside all that apply:
Sexual
[X] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[X] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[X] Loss of Morning Erections
[X] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[X] 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
[ ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts
Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] 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
[ ] 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)
I’m writing to WARN people about what they’re getting into and to give some perspective about how there are problems much more severe than losing your hair.
So…you’re losing you hair. I know it’s tough. I know how hard it is. People that surround us don’t know how terrible it is to see their hair going down the drill every day. People who have hair don’t know how depressing it is to look at the mirror every morning and notice that they’re getting balder and balder, that it’s becoming obvious, that there’s no way to hide it anymore. Trust me. I know how it feels!
Then there’s this drug. This tiny little pill that you can take just once a day. The doctors tell you "Take this and your hair loss will subsidize! Great! You start taking it and…yeah…your hair finally stops falling! But there’s a catch. This is my story:
I have always been on the “thin hair” side. Since I was 15 years old people would mention my rather thin hair. Sometimes, because of the lack of volume, people would ask me if I had just taken a shower. If my hair was wet. But the thing is…I was alright, I just didn’t have much hair volume.
My hair kept on getting thinner and thinner until I decided to see a dermatologist. I was 19 years old. The doctor prescribed finasteride and I started taking every single day. And I must tell you, it was GREAT! Not only my hair loss completely stopped, but I felt like I had more hair than my peers. I saw a whole bunch of my friends that used to mock me in high school (when my hair was thin) going bald right before my eyes! Three of my friends went completely bald while me…I had a FULL HEAD OF HAIR. Life was great. Finasteride was a part of it. I remember looking at the pills and being thankful for having access to them. I used to think “these pills make my life so much better!”. I had ZERO SIDE-EFFECTS. Nothing! Just the positive side of it. And I took the pills for years…and years…and years… I had strong erections. Always looking for sex. Completely normal. In fact, sometimes I thought I had more sex drive than my friends. Of course this is subjective, but this is how I felt.
The thing is…when I was 28 I had an infection. Something unrelated to finasteride. And since I was taking antibiotics, I decided to stop taking finasteride for a while. My treatment with antibiotics was finished, but I didn’t want to overload my body with chemicals so I thought it would be a good idea to give my body sometime to recover before starting on finasteride again.
Up to this point, my sexual life was 100% fine. I wasn’t taking any medicine whatsoever. Nothing. And I felt great, as healthy as one can be. I was living the best of both worlds. I had a head full of hair (I thought I would be bald by 21, but there I was, 28 years old and going strong) and I wasn’t on any kind of medicine.
As days went by I started noticing a considerable amount of hair loss. I wasn’t used to that! I used to seriously worry about this kind of stuff when I was 19, but it really stopped being a problem in my life. So…what did I immediately do? I went back to finasteride!
Finasteride was the solution to my problem! All I needed to do was going back to those little pills and everything would be fine again. Well…that’s not what happened this time.
So…at the time I was going out with this girl (I still am) and we were having sex all the time. Seriously. ALL THE TIME. But I went back to taking finasteride and on the SECOND WEEK something HORRIBLE happened…
I was supposed to go to this girl’s place. Her parents were traveling and I would sleep at her house. I knew we would be having sex so, before going, I decided to take a shower. In the past, just the thought of sleeping with a woman would get me hard, I didn’t have to do anything, it happened naturally. Not this time.
I remember not even WANTING to go to this girl’s place. I was feeling weird! She invited me and I simply didn’t want to go. Still…I thought…“Whatever, I’ll show up and we’ll see how things go”. So, I get into the shower and I decide to try to get myself more excited about seeing her. I try to jerk off in the shower and FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE I get a HALF ERECTION. It was the weirdest thing that had ever happened to my body. All of a sudden, by penis would not get hard! I was fricking scared! I was thinking: “What the hell is going on?!” .
I then immediately got off the shower, picked my tabled and try to watch a porn on the internet. Again…I got a half erection. I was terrified! But until then finasteride didn’t even cross my mind (I had been taking that stuff for YEARS without any problems). The thing is…I called the girl, made an excuse and didn’t show up.
Next day: No morning wood. Nothing. No sexual desire. Nothing. I kept on taking finasteride.
Second day: No morning wood. No arousal. No need for sex. Nothing. Kept on taking finasteride.
Third day: No morning wood. No arousal. No need for sex. Kept of taking finasteride.
Fourth day: No morning wood. No arousal. No need for sex. Kept of taking finasteride.
Fifth day: I start to think that there’s something wrong. Four days went by and I didn’t even CONSIDER jerking off. I didn’t think about it for a minute. I wasn’t interested at all!
I thought it was about time to masturbate even if I didn’t “feel like it”. Because…we, man, are like this. You may not be interested in sex, but once you are stimulated, you’re ready to go. Not this time.
I visited some porn websites, selected a few videos and started watching them. My penis was limp. It did not move. Nothing was happening. I was receiving intense visual stimulation and nothing was happening. I started trying to masturbate but I got something like 30% erection. Less than half of what I would be normal and it took me ENORMOUS effort to keep this 30%. If I looked away from the computer screen my penis would IMMEDIATELY go back to being 100% limp. This is how I lived for the 2 weeks I was back on finasteride. I was DESPERATE. It was the most worrisome thing that had ever happened to me when it comes to health.
Eventually I decided to read more about the pills (since they were the only thing I was taking) and I found that they could cause erectile dysfunction. I stopped taking them to see what would happen. After 2 weeks I was back to normal. Morning wood on a daily basis, strong desire to have sex. I’m back to what I used to be. It’s been many months and I’m 100% alright, though I had to say goodbye to my hair (which is falling off faster than I thought possible).
What I’m trying to say is: I know that HAIR is important to you. It’s part of who you are. It’s part of your physical identity! You had it your whole life and you don’t want to be forced to change that. I KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE! I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT IT’S LIKE! But I’m gonna tell you this. Pay attention:
“Living without hair SUCKS! It’s bad! But living without a functioning penis is immeasurably worse!”
Life will give you two bad options. Live without hair or without a functioning penis. Now LISTEN TO ME! I’ve been in both sides. YOUR PENIS IS MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR HAIR!!! This is not a hard decision!!! DO NOT TAKE FINASTERIDE! I honestly do not know what would I do with my life if I had persistent side-effects! Those two weeks were agonizing! If those problems had persisted, my life would have dramatically changed!
Do not allow yourself to be seduced by the pharmaceutical companies! Know what you’re getting into before deciding to go on finasteride!
Pay attention to my case. NEARLY 10 YEARS without side effects.
No one is safe. If you’re taking finasteride, you’re taking a RISK. Do not take it lightly.
If you think hair loss is a big problem. Erectile dysfunction will show you that you’re wrong.
I’d would just like to wish all the best to those of you who are facing persistent erectile dysfunction. You guys are WARRIORS! I truly hope that they find a cure for your condition.
Take care.