Welcome to our community. Please fill in the following template as a way of introducing yourself, and helping others to understand your background and situation.
Where are you from (country)?Croatia
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?) Google search
What is your current age, height, weight? 23 6’6 205 lbs
What specific drug did you use (finasteride, dutasteride, saw palmetto, isotretinoin/Accutane, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, leuprorelin, etc…)? Finasteride
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? 1.25mg
What condition was being treated with the drug? Hair loss
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)? 4 months
How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start the drug? forth of may 2015.
How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 15th of september 2015.
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? Cold turkey
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects? I noticed loss in erection quality 1 month into it, but I was hoping for it to go away because my hair loss completely stopped.
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? Loss of libid, sexual pwoer.
Check the boxes that apply. You can save your post first, then interactively check/uncheck the boxes by clicking on them. If your symptoms change, please update your list.
Sexual
[*] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[*] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[*] Loss of Morning Erections
[*] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[*] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[*] Watery Ejaculate
[*] Reduced Ejaculate
[*] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[*] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[*] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[*] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[*] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[ ] 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
[ ] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[ ] Hearing loss
[ ] Increased hair loss
[*] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[ ] Other (please explain)
What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?I tried a 5 day water fast 1 month after I came off finasteride. Symptoms got worse after it and I’ve became sensitive to alot of foods. Gluten constipates me, soy makes scalp and back skin itchy, fruit ( I know wtf) makes me feel pain under my arms day after, as if I got hit really hard the day before.
If you have pre or post-drug blood tests, what hormonal changes have you encountered since discontinuing the drug (please post your test results in the “Blood Tests” section and link to them in your post)?
All my tests are in normal limits even tho I have serious problems.
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience?
Tell us your story, in your own words, about your usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
First of all english is not my first language so I apologize if what I m trying to convey is hard to understand.
3 years ago I started losing my hair, and I immediately started shaving my head and just said f*** it, when my uncle noticed what I was doing he told me about this drug called “finasteride” he was taking for 10+ years and had great results with zero side effects. Without thinking about it too much I said I would like to get on that stuff…which turned out to be the worst mistake of my life.
I started noticing side effects about 1 month into my journey with fin, which were weak erections. I justified those to myself as normal , because I was doing a lot of sports back then and thought I must’ve been overtrained.Boy was I wrong. Anyways when side effects got worse I jumped off fin cold turkey and have been dealing with side effects ever since. Side effects were only libido and erectile dysfunction until I tried water fast for 5 days. After the fast I suddenly started getting bad reactions from certain foods (gluten,soy, fruit). Well all side-effects persisted ever since, except for one week this summer. In august I was visiting my friend who has a beach house, and at one of the parties I decided to try speed ( ampetamine) with him. That night and next 6 days my sex drive, erectile function were back to 100%. After that I came down to usual 50-60% erectile function. Did anyone have a similar experience?