Need to quit this stuff - Doctors in the UK for help?

General Discussion
#1

Hey, so I’ve just turned 26 and have been taking Prop either official or generic for a few years now, prob 3/4. I’ve been having sexual side effects - lack of boner etc, for over a year and have been self-medicating with generic kamagra.

I think for a long-term it was the old trade off rationalising thing, but now I really want to get off this stuff and fingers crossed get back to being the sexual dynamo of my youth.

I was wondering if anyone based in the UK can recommend some doctors/places to go to to work out a getting off fin treatment program, so I can avoid any of the pitfalls and problems some here seem to experience. In essence, like any drug one gets addicted to, a recovery program is what I need.

For the record, supplement wise, I currently take (which I think is much too excessive?):

  • Multi vit
  • Vit B
  • Zinc
  • Maca
  • Vit C
  • St John’s Wort
  • Ginko
  • Vit E
  • MSM
  • L-Arg

As well as a daily anti-histamine that I take for rhinitis (basically dust allergy producing persistent cold like symptoms - lame).

I’m willing to do what I need, but rather than just going cold turkey would like to work out an effective plan to not screw my body up or anything.

Can someone give me advice please, cheers.

Andy

p.s. if it makes a difference, I did go to the Docs about this a while back and the GP gave me a ‘quit or don’t’ option, so not really much choice. However, he did do a blood test and my Testosterone was at 28+ which is quite high apparently.

#2

Read FAQ at top of site, there’s a section on quitting… basically space out your dosages by increasing days and lowering dosage.

Check doctors section for medical options if you are concerned.

#3

Hi Andy, I’m from the UK as well. I’m just beginning to sort this out, so can’t give you any doctors right off the bat. In general your best bet will be to try and use the NHS until you find/can afford a good private doctor. I don’t think you can specify who you want to be referred to on the NHS, so it’s pot luck whether you get a helpful endocrinologist or not (if that’s even what you need).

Incidentally, your testosterone level is very good. This isn’t uncommon on finasteride, however, since the testosterone that would normally convert to DHT instead remains as it is. The real question is what happens when you come off it.

By the sounds of it, you’re not happy with the way things are going on propecia, and it doesn’t sound like you want to stay on it forever. The question isn’t if you’ll come off it, but when.

Gim

#4

Aye I absolutely want to come off it.

UK doctors don’t seem to really know much about fin, so I guess I should just keep pushing and seeing as many people as I can until someone knows?

Re - reducing dosages - at the mo I’m taking generic proscar 5mb, cut into 1/5’s, so it’s somewhat difficult to cut them up further…

#5

Hi Andrew

You have awareness of the problems that can occur after quitting and that’s most of the battle. I would definitely ween off over a month or two spacing out the dosage, there is really no ambiguity about this as if you were on prozac, lithium, clomid or whatever no one would ever suggest you just stop and fin is a potent toxin. Believe me I just quit and I think the sudden shock to the HPTA axis has made everything a hundred times worse. I think those that could maybe get away with cold turkey have only been taking it for one consecutive period.

Also make sure you avoid stress or stimulants during that time and are in a good frame of mind and you should be back to normal very quickly. I quit then went out drinking a couple of nights, had some stress issues, and had a ‘heavy night out’ on my birthday a week after stopping which in retrospect was damaging, who knows how much. Also had a ‘binge drink’ on a date the night before my ‘crash’, the estrogen in a booze session can’t have helped. Common sense to have avoided this? Probably, but I was in a ‘wait and see what happens’ mindset believing that I would just recover like most people as stated here.

Although this site is great for understanding and support I feel that those guys on fin who land here at first, many of whom are barely aware of the full extent of the side effects and how they are affected, don’t really get the full advice required for coming off the drug and this after all is possibly the most crucial part in determining recovery aside from starting to take the poison itself.

#6

Aye that’s something I’m especially conscious of - going cold turkey and sending my body into a tailspin.

Thanks a lot for your replies, I shall aim to follow the procedures on this site for coming off it and let my doctor know what’s going to happen so he can monitor things, at least if that way he can be aware if nothing else.

#7

Hey guys, Im in the same boat as you andrew. I want to quit but am scared of my body fucking up once I do.

Found any good doctors? Quit yet?

Let me know! Also let me know how you went about quiting please…im going to weeen off if, is this what you did? Hows it going?

Thank in advance mate.

#8

Hey,

So I am going to my doctor tomorrow and will, after putting it off due to vanity, finally be quitting Fin. I get ED and need 1/2 a blue pill to perform with a woman. I get morning wood and can jerk off but basically without constant stimulation I ain’t gonna get anywhere, esp when you factor in mental issues of dread etc.

I just came back from holiday and, well, without sounding like a tit, it should have been a prolific period for me. Over three days I had three different women in my bed, but I was without my blue pills. The first one it got going for a minute then nothing, which was super embarrassing. The second I wouldn’t even let go there. Interesting, after initially putting it off the third time actually got going but I kept from full sex out of fear. This actually gives me a bit of hope b/c it did get going, albeit eventually.

That’s my levee breaking so I’ve taken my last pill and will see the doc to see what they recommend tomorrow. However as we all know it’s our brain chemistry that gets messed up by this stuff and so I fear that the doc will just tell me to stop taking them.

I will stop, of course, but I’m concerned that whilst it will remove the Fin from my system after a few weeks, it won’t fix any brain chemistry issues, in other words, it will remove the barrier but it won’t fix the circuitry.

As I quit this stuff, does anyone have any specifics on what I can do and take to help my body heal itself in this crucial few week period as I come off the Fin, and also over time to get my body right itself long term.

I take a multi vitamin and will resume exercising from Monday.

I also intend to find an alternative hair loss plan, maybe Minoxodil or something, which is for another forum I know, although I do know whatever I choose I gotta make sure its not a DHT inhibitor!

#9

Andrew, last you posted was a year ago and you took Finasteride for another year despite saying you wanted to quit then? What happened?

Get bloodwork per FAQ before quitting or within a week of quitting so you have something to compare against when you come off.

#10

I didn’t really get the kick I guess. But I got the kick and now I’m nearly two weeks off it, with having taken one last week to help with a ween, but yeah basically two off it!.

The docs said just stop taking it, nothing else needed, which I’m a little concerned about from a brain chemistry point but there you go!

A