New Member Please Help

Member Stories
#1
  1. Where are you from (country)?

USA

  1. 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

  1. What is your current age, height, weight?

6’1- 185

  1. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    Yes. Bike, lift weights, and ice hockey

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

Meat Eater, but healthy

  1. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?

Hair loss

  1. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?

10.5 Months

  1. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
    Started Late April 2011 when I was 25
  2. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?

Early March 2011

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

3 week taper

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

Propecia

  1. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?

1mg for 1st 8 months, .5 after that.

  1. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?

5 months

  1. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?

Put an X beside all that apply:

Sexual
[ X] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ X] Erectile Dysfunction (Once)
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ ] 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
[ X] Depression / Melancholy

Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[X ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[ X] 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?

None

  1. 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)?

I want to get these done.

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

I get morning erections and I can still get hard, but the loss of libido is a major concern. Since I got off 7 weeks ago, it seems like I have one good week followed by a bad week. I realize im not to the 3 month mark, but I am really scared

#2

Where do I go to get blood tests done? I have great health insurance…

#3

Your doctor or privatemdlabs.com/

You can also try QUEST Diagnostics or ARUP Labs.

#4

Should I be worried? It’s only be 7 weeks… Can I just get them all at once? YOu have like 15 tests listed. Whats the most important.

#5

7 weeks is early days, hopefully things will start to improve in coming months. Most people find improvements come with time.

Shortlist:
viewtopic.php?p=3534#p3534

#6

Mew,

Thanks buddy, you may just save my life.

#7

I have had 2 bloodtests done. One 2 months after quitting and the other almost 6 months after quitting. I will post the results on here soon.

Just a general question, does anyone believe that the body just naturally heals over time . I’m looks for people that recovered either fully or partially in 6-12 month timeframe.

Thanks.

#8

Here are my blood test results, veterans of the site please analyze them for me.

2 months off Fin my blood test results were as follows:

Total Testosterone: 808 ng/dL- (range 250-1100 ng/dL)
Free Testosterone: 118 - (range 25-155 pg/ml)
DHT 35 - (range 25-75 ng/dl)
Androstenedione- 73 (range 50-220 NG/DL)
E2- <15 (range < OR= 39 PG/ML)
SHBG- 41 (range 10-50 NMOL/L)
TSH 2.2 (range .4-4.5 MlU/L)
Prolactin 10.3 (range 2-18 NG/ML)

6 months off Fin my blood test results (couldn’t get as many done) were as follows:

Total Testosterone: 730 ng/dL- (range 250-1100 ng/dL)
Albumin 4.5 (range 3.6-5.1 G/DL)
SHBG- 38 (range 10-50 NMOL/L)
Glucose 84 (range 65-99 MG/DL)

I notice a drop in testerone and SHBG please shed light on this for me!

#9

don’t worry it is normal trend here of some people. Testosterone keeps dropping slowly. Have hopes from study. what are your main issues, since you wrote in your memebers story you have good errections.

#10

What do you mean its a normal trend?

I don’t have ED, or at least my erections are not bad. My issues deal primarily with a lowered libido. I sometimes feel tired, but that could just be because I work a lot of hours

#11

Some men experience a rapid decline in Testosterone levels post-drug, typically within a few weeks of stopping.

Your T levels are quite high considering you quit more than a year ago (2011). There will also be natural variations in T levels at different times of day, depending on when you got blood drawn.

I wouldn’t worry about your Testosterone levels at this time.

#12

That is a typo, I quit March of 2012. I got on the drug in April of 2011. Any other insight into my blood tests mew?? Do people experience some libido recovery over time, aka natural healing?

#13

First off i’m not a doctor. There is nothing alarming about your levels, infact I wouldn’t be worried about your testosterone. How is your estrogen? what symptoms are you still experiencing?

#14

I am 28 years old and took 1mg of Fin from April 2011- March 2012 (about 10 months). Five months in, I experienced all of the usual sexual sides associated with Fin. My libido was the biggest problem. It was extremely low on the drug. After dropping the drug, I had almost no libido for 6 months. Since that point, I have slowly SLOWLY been recovering my libido. Sometimes it is a 2 steps forward 1 steps backward road, but overall I have improved in my year plus off the drug. To put it into percentages, my libido was about 25% on Finasteride and the first 5 months after dropping the drug, 50% at 6 months, 70% at 12 months, 85% at 14 months. I have also had stretches where my libido returns to its pre-fin state. So I am hopeful a full recovery is close. I also notice that my erections are getting slowly better (never really had complete ED though).

I echo what Alex Ralph said in his post about patience and time. I really do believe that the body can heal itself if given enough time. I think getting enough sleep and excersing regularly are important in the healing process. The only supplement I have taken during this ordeal is zinc, which seemed to help a little a bit. On another note, I picked up a product recently from prosource called Androtest. I have been taking it the last 2 weeks and my libido has been improved and so have my lifts.

I will be happy to answer any questions any of you may have. Mew, if you can move this into a seperate post it would be much appreciated.

#15

I agree with you, overtime you will get better naturally. The problem is two fold however, it can take a very long time and do you recover fully or up to a certain point. I am exactly on your time line with regards to being off the drug (since April 2012), I took the drug for 9 years. Slowly slowly slowly many things are improving