New Member from Rhode Island, USA

Member Stories
#1

  1. Where are you from (country)?
    USA

  2. 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

  3. What is your current age, height, weight?
    5’10, 216lbs, 28 years old

  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    walking and light weight lifting 1x a week

  5. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
    eat everything in moderation

  6. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
    Propecia was taken for hairloss

  7. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
    a little under 10 years

  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
    18 years old, 2004

  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
    27 years old, 2013

  10. How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
    cold turkey

  11. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
    Propecia

  12. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
    1mg everyday …occasionally missed a day here and there during the nearly decade use

  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    gradually noticed weight increase

  14. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
    ED began few months after stopping Propecia

Put an X beside all that apply:

Sexual
[ ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ X] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[X] Loss of Morning Erections
[X] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] 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
[X] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts

Physical
[X] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[X] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[X ] 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)

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?

  2. 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)?

  3. Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?

  4. Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
    My story is relatively mild compared to many of the heartbreaking stories on here. I was happy with halting my hairloss and didn’t notice some of the effects until later. I certainly attribute weight gain to my Propecia use – as soon as I went off, I lost about 5-10 pounds in 2 weeks. Since I was on Propecia for such a long time (9+ years), it’s hard for me to definitively say that my penis is smaller during its flacid state than it was pre-Finasteride use, however I believe this is the case. I rarely have morning erections (once a week) but I’m not sure if this is just the normal for me. It’s hard for me to think back to when i was 17 and remember if I did or didn’t get them. Strangely enough, my libido was not really affected on or off the drug and up until this point have been able to successfully masturbate, however I do achieve ED when with a female --not sure if this is Finasteride related as well.

#2

Sorry to hear about your side-effects. Best to read through Cdnuts/Chi’s posts and try and implement some sort of training program which includes healthy eating and testosterone boosting herbs.

At least now there is hope that the research may provide answers and recognition of this hell we are all going through.

#3

Thank you. This is kind of a weird question and may be insensitive to users with larger problems, so I apologize in advance:

The entire time I’ve been on Propecia (10 years), I’ve had a high libido and masturbated (excessively) and never had a problem getting an erection while doing that. The few girlfriends I’ve had during that time, I was able to have sex normally (last time was 2009).
I quit Propecia roughly 9 months ago and that continued that trend of masturbating a lot and having a high libido. I’ve met someone and just had sex for the first time since 2009-ish and lost my erection after a few minutes. I tried a 2nd time and same thing happened. Would this be indicative of a side effect of propecia, or since I can masturbate normally, would this be more tied to excessive masturbation and being desensitized by porn? Any input would be helpful.

Thanks,
Jake

#4

jakela2

What caused you to stop propecia if you did not have side effects?
how long after stopping Propecia ,you noticed worsening of condition if there is any?

#5

I’m going through exactly the same thing. A lack of arousal from being with a woman. Sucks! Porn is may be not good for the brain. Well its probably not a problem for guys who never took fin.

I would start kedgel exercises to improve erection strength.

Drink pomegranate juice to improve nitric acid.

Avoid porn and unnecessary ejaculation (when not with a woman)

Check out these supplements esp horny goat weed worldabs.com/collections/pure-range

#6

Is it true that this can be attributed to finasteride? Every time I have searched on line for it, I’ve come across tons of forums and groups of people who are experiencing the same thing (lack of arousal with a woman; only porn) and blame excessive porn use and that brain has gotten used to that and also gotten used to the feel of a hand, meanwhile never having taken fin.