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)?
united states
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
What is your current age, height, weight?
20, 6ft, 148
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 mg/day
What condition was being treated with the drug?
hair loss
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)?
7 months
Date when you started the drug?
november 2024
Date when you quit the drug?
august 2025
Age when you quit?
20
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
i went from taking 1mg daily down to taking .25mg daily alongside also using it topically
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects?
7 months
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
gut issues , eyebrow thinning , skin problems
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
[ y] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ ] Loss of Morning Erections
[y ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ y] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[y ] Watery Ejaculate
[ y] Reduced Ejaculate
[y ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ y] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[ y] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ y] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ y] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ y] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[y ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[y ] Suicidal Thoughts
Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[y ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[y ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[y ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ y] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[y ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ y] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ y] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[y ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ y] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[ ] Hearing loss
[y ] Increased hair loss
[ y] Frequent urination
[ y] Lowered body temperature
[ ] Other (please explain)
What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
enclomiphene
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)?
no idea what it was before but i got tested right after my crash and my Test was 136. got it checked again two weeks later and it was 80. Lh was like 1.7 fsh was 7 something.
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.
I started taking finasteride because i wanted to prevent hairloss bc i noticed minor hairline thinning. over the course of the 7 months i was on it , i felt great. best and healthiest i’ve ever been actually. I am a 20 year old guy who is a fashion student who was going to move to new york next year to go to a really nice college and was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to live out my dream life. got a beautiful girlfriend during this time and coincidentally she’s also planning on moving to new york. toward the last month i got off of it i started noticing pretty bad fatigue and brain fog like the entire day especially after i would workout in the morning. i also noticed my eyebrows thinning and i was insanely cold all the time. i was also having pretty bad digestion issues and dealing with bloating all the time. i live a very healthy lifestyle but i also do intense cardio everyday and probably didn’t eat as much as i should’ve been eating i was very lean so i thought that might’ve been it at the time. started doing research and found out about PFS. i freaked out and obviously stopped it. bad bad idea. 2 weeks later i crashed really hard i remember the day it happened it felt like a switch flipped in my brain and suddenly everything was just DARK. had insane panic attacks and suicidal thoughts which is insane because my whole life i’ve been the most confident dude. i didn’t sleep for 3 days and my digestion issues got intensely worse. had brain fog throughout the entire day and just constant anxiety attacks i also couldn’t get hard and when i could finally my sperm was basically nonexistent and my libido was nonexistent . got my hormones checked and my test was literally 60 which is severely hypogonadol this is the part that confuses me because i thought most PFS guys have normal test. i got on enclomiphene because my LH was suppressed and i have a measurable hormone problem. it’s been about 3 months since the initial crash and my brain fog is better but my skin is like completely tanking all over my body. i use to have super tight basically perfect skin and now it’s like loose and stretchy and inflamed and i’m also gaining fat when i’ve been ripped my whole life. i had to take off work because im having like insane anxiety attacks and have heavily debated suicide reading these forums and seeing barely anyone recovers. i had so much potential and now none of my future plans are going to happen and my life is basically ruined. can’t even look in the mirror anymore and i used to get praised for my appearance. ik it’s shallow but fuck its a hard pill to swallow. Do you think some of this could be completely reversed by fixing my testosterone level since that’s measurably low or is the person i used to be completely gone.
Self-reporting template - ONLY USE FOR FUTURE POSTS TO REPORT ANY TRIALS OF TREATMENTS, NOT YOUR INITIAL MEMBER STORY
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Name of the therapy/substance:
- Dosage:
- How often you took it:
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Status
- Still using [ ]
- Stopped with no lasting change to initial symptoms [ ]
- Stopped with persistent change to symptoms [ ]
- Duration of use: Days [ ] Months [ ] Years [ ]
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Response when you started:
- Greatly improved [ ]
- Slightly improved [ ]
- Stayed the same [ ]
- Slightly worsened [ ]
- Greatly worsened [ ]
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Current response (if you’re still using the therapy/substance) OR Response in the time before you stopped the treatment
- Greatly improved [ ]
- Slightly improved [ ]
- Stayed the same [ ]
- Slightly worsened [ ]
- Greatly worsened [ ]
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Lasting changes to initial symptoms after cessation (if you have stopped for more than 3 weeks)
- Greatly improved [ ]
- Slightly improved [ ]
- Stayed the same [ ]
- Slightly worsened [ ]
- Greatly worsened [ ]