- Where are you from (country)?
USA - 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?)
Propecia side effects - What is your current age, height, weight?
24, 5’ 9’’, 135lbs - Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
No - What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
Meat eater - Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hair loss - For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
2 months - How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
6/1/2012 - How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
8/1/2012 - How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
cold turkey - What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
Propecia - What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1mg /day - How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
instantly - What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
A little bit less libido but improving greatly by the day, hair loss stopped after crash
Put an X beside all that apply:
Sexual
[x ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ x] Erectile Dysfunction
[ x] Complete Impotence
[x] Loss of Morning Erections
[ x] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ x] 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
[ x] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts
Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[x ] Testicular Pain
[x ] 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
[ 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)
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What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
vitamin d3, placenta injections, vitamin e, fish oil liquid -
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 have a post finasteride blood test at my lowest point that i may upload later. -
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
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Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
Hi everyone, I want to share my story with you all to inspire some hope.
Discovery of problem
First thought that comes into my is the remembering of the pain I felt when I first became impotent. I took Propecia for 2 months for hair loss 1 mg a day. During the time I was taking Propecia, I had no libido and didn’t bother to involve myself in any sexual activity. Ejaculation and masturbation always increased hair loss for me. I was also aware of the risks I would be taking in taking Propecia and I knew that if I were to take this drug, ejaculation would be very damaging to my body during the course of treatment so I abstained. It wasn’t till I was 2 months into the drug that one day i decided to try and masturbate and i couldn’t achieve an erection, at all no matter how I tried. This scared the shit out of me, it felt like my penis was disconnected from my brain. I was so scared and started having panic attacks. At the same time my hair stopped falling out.
1st Recovery
I think about a week later or a little less, I could finally be able to achieve an erection but my hair loss progressed at an insane pace. This severely depressed me so I masturbated more frequently, maybe around 1-2 times a week.( I dont masturbate that much because i believe too much ejaculation will deplete the body). Although I did find that my penis became less sensitive all over, but it was still pleasurable.
Crash
I took up a hair loss diet that included eating alot of dairy and beef liver which reflects the amount of high calcium and cholesterol levels in my blood test. My blood test also showed a testosterone level in the 430s and dht of 32, and vitamin d level of 43. Im not sure if it was the diet or the propecia crash, but probably a bit of both. I became completely impotent again And this time, it didnt seem to go away so quickly. I was like this for at least 3 weeks completely unable to maintain an erection during stimulation. Any erection I would achieve would quickly die off. And if I was standing, getting an erection would be impossible. Morning erections were on and off. But my penis still felt really numb. 99 percent of the time my penis was shrunken. I had slight pain in my testicles. My testicles and penis felt numb and shrunken. It felt like a piece of rubber. My libido was completely gone. Sex or masturbation was impossible. I became even more depressed and i started smoking alot more.
What i did to recover
Needless to say, I was very scared. I wanted to commit suicide especially after reading the horror stories on this website and I thought I would be impotent forever. I tried calling Dr. Lin on actionlove.com and showed him my blood tests. He recommended me fish oil and broccoli and vitamin e and d because he said I had liver inflammation, probably from eating the high cholesterol diet. It was important to note that during this time, I did not try to ejaculate with a limp penis even though I could have. I think ejaculation with a non erect penis is very damaging to the body. I edged with lubricant while watching porn every now and then. Most of the time I would achieve a semi erection that would quickly fade and shrivel up. Finally after a few weeks and a couple edging sessions later I achieved a full erection but my libido was still gone, it still didn’t feel right so i still abstained from ejaculating. At this point its been at least 3 weeks since i ejaculated. Later on, I did some internet research on placenta therapy and I decided to try it. The reason I thought of this course of treatment was because growing up as an Asian american, i always heard stories of famous Chinese celebrities who received sheep placenta injections to revitalize their youth and sexual vigor. ( could have been a rumor, but i had nothing to lose, except money). It was expensive, but i bought some injectible placenta and injected it into my body. After 2 weeks my back pain was gone and libido was slowly improving. Today, although Im afraid to have too much sex or masturbation. My libido is actually pretty good, cant say if it was better than before or not because I was always very sexually weak. But I have strong erections now that hold up great during sex and masturbation. So the funny thing is, I feel more sexual powerful than pre fin. Another thing thats funny is, although i have balded to a significant degree, my hair loss has stopped alot even after sex or masturbation. My testicles dont have that pain anymore and have become more fuller. My penis and testicles have become more sensitive to touch. My brain feels more connected with my penis.The great thing is, even after sex or masturbation I feel hornier faster, I guess my recovery time has decreased. Oh and I also am doing foreskin restoration because I believe being tightly circumcised is a detriment to sexual health as well.
Conclusion
Well, thats my story. Congrats if you made it this far. I dont know if Im fully recovered but I definitely feel better than I did before pre fin which is weird. I know my story may not seem impressive to some of you. But I hope it gives hope to anyone who is suffering out there. At this point, I’m hoping to recover most of my hair as well now that my sexual energy has improved significantly.
Recommendations
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Look into foreskin restoration if you are circumcised especially tightly circumcised. Alot of people who have been circumcised report loss of libido and sensitivity of their penis in the later years of their life while intact men are more likely to be sexually healthy. The glans or head of the penis become dry after years and years of rubbing against your underwear and being exposed to oxygen. When it is covered, it becomes more sensitive and the gliding action of the excess foreskin greatly enhances sexual pleasure. Im still in the process of restoring and Im still very tightly circumcised but Im noticing the new grown foreskin is very stimulating during intercourse and masturbation.
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Fish oil, Vitamin d3, vitamin e. Not sure how much supplements have helped me but im sure these are standard, along with L argining.
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Edging with lube and decrease ejaculation frequency until you have fully recovered * I would advise not to ejaculate at all until you have strong erections. I think this is very important
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Exercise
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Placenta injections. They cured my sore back pain for sure. I think it was responsible for my libido increase as well as my erection quality.
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Drink and smoke less although i gotta say im guilty of still smoking even though I know I would feel even better if i quit completely. But I still get depressed over my hair loss so i gotta have a few cigs throughout the day. Try not to drink so much before you recover to a point where you can have sex.
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Frovlov breathing device- not sure how much this helped me as well but it supposedly increases oxygenation throughout the body which allows for better absorption of nutrients as well as blood circulation. When I do use this nowadays I get horny sometimes lol. It also helps with my anxiety and helps me sleep better. I bought a cheap version of it though.
I wish you all the best of luck.