Hello all. Until tonight I had no idea that the side effects of propecia were such a wide problems. Now I’m actually even more freaked out than before.
Here’s my story:
In November of 2004 (I was 24 at the time) I went to my dermatologist and talked to him about my hair loss. He suggested Propecia and I started taking it immediately. Within a few weeks I did notice that I no longer seemed to get spontaneous erections, morning wood, and that it felt a little like the blood flow was being cut off to my penis. But I figured it would pass as my doctor had said it would. I ended up taking the pills (1 mg) consistently for the next 18 months. During that time I saw magnificent improvement in my hair growth. But I also had the same problems with my manhood and sex drive. Mentally I still wanted sex…but physically I didn’t seem to want it. Fortunately/Unfortunately I was not sexual active during this time. Just one of those dry spells and tough situation in life that happens now and then. So I figured that if I actually was having sex things would be okay. I could still…function…it just took a great deal of effort. And my penis seemed like a tire that could never be fully inflated. No erections at will at all. And most of the time it seemed smaller than normal…shriveled and pathetic looking. But I figured, hey – I’m not having sex and my hair is growing, surely the side effects will go away if i stop taking it. I did stop taking it for about 4 months (April 06-July06). I honestly can’t remember if the sexual side effects remained or went away in that time period. But my hair started falling out after about 2 months and I began to freak out about that again. I had stopped taking it because of the cost. It was just too expensive for me. But in August I bought the bullet and went back on it. About a month and a half later I started dating a girl and immediately stopped the propecia. However, to my horror, the side effects did not go away. I was still able to have sex and things were pretty good at times. But there were also many times when I could not finish. Or I would simply lose my erection. And at all times my penis still was not at its fully-inflated self. For a few months things stayed about the same. Then - gradually - over the next 3-6 months things eased their way slowly back to normal. Normal didn’t really come until I had been off of the pills for at least a year. Definitely by this spring I was normal again. So there is hope.
However…In April I started taking the propecia again. I had forgotten how bad the side effects were and my own fear and obsession with losing my hair overwhelmed me. I took it sporadically - one day, skip a day, two days, skip a day – until about a week ago when I decided it just isn’t worth it. Now I’m playing the panicky waiting game of When-Do-Things-Start-Working-Normally-Again. One side effect that i have not experienced in this brief stint is the testicular pain. I had that quite often in the first 18 months. Just the shrunken size, no spontaneous erections, morning wood, or normal sized erections. Hopefully it won’t take a year this time to get back to normal. I think I’m going to try Rogaine for my hair loss — unless there’s a forum out there for guys who used it and have sexual problems.
I know my story is nothing compared to others out there. But its my story and thats all I know.