New Member Profile

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

  3. What is your current age, height, weight?
    49

  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    Yes…swim

  5. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
    Eat everything…but very health conscious

  6. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
    Hair Loss

  7. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
    26months

  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
    47
    May, 2011

  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
    49
    Now

  10. How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
    cut back dosage for about a week

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

  12. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
    5mg pill divided into 4ths

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

  14. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
    loss of libido, no morning erections, cold genitals, depression (may or may not be related)

Put an X beside all that apply:

Sexual
[ x] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[x ] Loss of Morning Erections
[ ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[x ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[x] 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
[x ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[x] Depression / Melancholy (not “severe”)
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts

Physical
[x ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[x ] 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
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature

[x] Other (please explain)
Takes longer to ejaculate during sex/masturbation.
Orgasm less intense (I am surprised this is not already on the questionnaire)

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

  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)?
    Have not done blood test yet.

  3. Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
    Takes longer to ejaculate during sex/masturbation.
    Orgasm less intense

  4. Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.

I have used finasteride for two years. Very good results for my hair, but just in the last month I noticed a big drop in libido and loss of morning erections. I already knew about this site and the potential side effects, so I stopped immediately (just this week).

I am going in for my first blood test today, but my urologist will only request a test for testosterone–nothing else on your recommended complete hormone profile blood test list.

[Size=4]
I am here on this site to get help finding out how I can get a full hormone profile blood test and who will evaluate it. I just quit finasteride, so I want to get this blood test (as recommended) right away so I can compare it to a later test.

I live in CA and I am close to a few “Quest diagnostic labs” in my area, but they say I need a doctor’s request. I have a doctor friend in NY who said he would do it. How are people on this site getting this special blood test done? How much does it cost? My urologist won’t do the full hormone profile test. He will only do the testosterone level…and even for that, he wanted to wait and see what happened to my symptoms first before doing it. I had to talk him into doing an initial (after stopping finasteride) test in the first place. I have an HMO insurance with their own doctors, so I can’t use insurance to go out of the network.

I need to figure out how to get this test soon since I just stopped finasteride.

Thanks everyone…
Looking forward to hearing from other members!

[/size]

#2

Listen if you live in California don’t be no reason why you can’t go to a Mexican owned or Indian owned little clinic they’ll have no problems doing it for you it won’t cost you that much. I would pay out of my pocket For it Forget about your insurance

#3

What date did you stop taking finasteride?

My worst side effects did not come into affect until about a month or so off it.