new member story

Member Stories
#1

  1. Where are you from (country)?
    The Netherlands

  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: finasteride forum

  3. What is your current age, height, weight?
    28kg, 1.75cm, 68kg

  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    3-4 times a week weight training

  5. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
    no dieet

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

  7. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
    1 year 1,25mg

  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
    i was 23 and started ?-?-2010

  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
    i was 24 and quited ?-?-2011

  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?
    i dont remember, it was 5mg, i cut in 4. color was mintgreen outside

  12. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
    every morning 1.25mg

  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    after a month or 2.

  14. 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 (i am not horny anymore, my balls dont get full after weeks of no orgasme)
[X] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[X] Loss of Morning Erections
[X] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
(sometimes midnight erections and when i wach porn, i can feel that the blood is stagnating to my penis i can feel the bloodstream ‘stuttering’. But when masturbating i can hold my erection, after i pause it fals down. sensastion was worse (10%) but it is now better 50%.
[X] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[X] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm (it is inproved, i have easier orgasme but its not that controllable anymore)
[X] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[X] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[X] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[X] Confusion
[X] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[X] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[X] Slurring of Speech
[X] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
Not extreme, but i can feel that i am more a pussy right now and can’t stand a man real quick. no alphamale anymore.
[ ] Severe Depression / Melancholy (depressions are over)
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts (yes but it’ is over.

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

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[X] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[X] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[X] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[X] Increased hair loss
[X] 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?

Cycling natural herbs Testostosteron boosters

  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)?

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

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

I used it max 1 year but stopped because of the side effects. after that i was ‘broken’ for a few days, suddenly i was 12 hours myself and then i crashed. that was the worst time ever. All side effects on the list went ON and was on MAX. after quiting almost 4 years i feel mental better.

i blush very quick, more shy… i had a shy caracter but didn’t had that extremely. very frustrating, i am not manly anymore.

feel free if you have any quiestions.

2 half years off, want advice
#2

My sideeffects today are in categories:

BRAINFOG:

  • Talking and thinking at the same time got worse and i stutter sometimes (what i never did) or bad vocabulary and rarely mispronounce words
  • Short term memory worsened
  • clear talk reduced (connection tong muscle and brain???)
  • drowsy troughout the day and concentration decreased
  • slower-understanding

SEX

  • testicles and penis shrinked
  • ejaculation: power and quantity reduced
  • Libido: i almost never get horny spontaneous, testicles never get full anymore.
  • Erection: i can get a hard (75%) erection when whatching porn and masturbate i dont get erection bu only watching porn, it needs to stimuladed most of the time, erection and sensation was at the beginfase of pfs very bad, it is now better and get orgasme quicker but it is less controllable. the traject to the point of orgasme is less exciting then before PFS.
    Spontaneous erections or morningwoods almost never happen.

What i noticed was: I workout (weighttraining) 4 days a week and when i had done legday, which are mostly exercises that gives a boost to your Growth Hormone. So that day when i am in bed to go to sleep i always (6 out of 10) have a errection almost constant before i fall in sleep.

General

  • varying mood, mostly cantankerous (google translate) lets say most of the time i feel tense and uncertain.
  • my sleep got very worse but has improved by time to almost a good sleep. still waking up middel in the night sometimes. my sleep is I think 75% compared to before PFS.
  • Urinating: i need to pee more often and it is less and it drips… Urantion ‘launch’ is more difficult too and less powerfull.
  • i feel absent emotionless… I think I still have a prevailing depression. right after PFS my depression was extreme, after time it got lot improved, depression still plays in the background i guess.
  • Muscles are weak and less power
    As i mentiond i do Weight trainig and after PSF i noticed my body isn’t healing that quick anymore and i loos very quick muscle when i quit training and during training it is very hard to get extra muscle mass.
  • anxiety: i feel anxiety in my body, this feeling is mostly present that makes me feel like a girl in place of a man (alphamale)
    i am more shyer dan ever, i always had a shy caracter but it made me more shyer and i blus more oftern, very annoying too… i can feel that the shy-nes is triggered by my body.
    -Metabolisme is slowed down i think, dont know for sure.
  • my feet is smaller by half to 1 EU size. My length is still the same.
    -quickly irritated.

i hope this is gives a better picture of me

#3

Hi, let me introduce myself, i am 27 years old and living in the Netherlands.

I used Fina for almost a year and i am now 2 half years off. i quit because of the sideeffects ofcourse.
my body crashed the next week i was off.

the only thing i did so far is cycling herbs:

day 1 tongkat ali
day 2 shilajit
day 3 tribulus
day 4 maca
day 5 horny goat weed
day 6 rhodiola rosea
day 7 off

I do weightraining 4 days a week and HIIT sometimes.

1 hour before sleep i take zma (zink magnesium and vitamine b6), for a deeper sleep, better recovery etc.

i did this for al whole year and experienced positive changes, its not much, but it is something.

My side effects are:

testicles and penis shrinkage (not changed)
depressed or most of the time in a grumpy mood. (little improvement)
thinking and talking at the same time is worse, i stutter sometimes. (not changed)
Fat around my belly. (very hard to burn)
Libido from zero to maybe 15%.
morning erections zero, it helps to sleep naked, most of the time i get a 50% or more erection in the morning weekends.
no ejaculation
sensation of penis is little improved
i get only a hard erection if i masturbate.
anxiety is little improved
my headskin and forehead doesn’get greasy anymore. no acne.
my hair is much less then before fina.

I was always an alphamale positive agresive type of man. i just feel like a sissy and don’t feel that confident anymore.
its like fighting to myself everyday.

Now i want to take some serious action to improve myself.
unfortunately there is only one experienced doctor in the Neterlands about hormones that i heard off. it is a Anabolic steroids poli clinic, this doctor has much experience with bodybuilders or men that has problems with hormone balances, analyses blood and gives treatments etc.

First i need to go the my local ‘housedoctor’ to tell my story, next step is to go to the doctor i just wrote about.

Now i want some advice, especially from Justquitdut, because he’s topic conviced me to go the next level of treatment.

i want to go to the doctor prepared with info and advice that i can tell or ask what kind of treatment is the best to start with.

Thanks!

Cheers

#4

sorry to hear you have not much improvements in 2 and a half years. I agree it is probably time to try to do something. the question is always what to try. I think at a young age clomid is the first thing to try and I may try it at some point. Did you get your hormones tested?

#5

i didn’t test my blood yet. I will do that after I stopped cycling the herbs for a month.

I am really thinking about HRT.

#6

2 weeks ago i was to the ‘general practitioner’ to tell my story for the first time after i stopped using fina for 3 terrible years.

I was told to have a general blood test first before they can send me to an ‘expert’. so last week i had my blood taken.

Today i called for the results and they said that everything was fine and that my testosteron levels are 21nmol/l between 9 - 35 is normal.

i have all the symptoms of low testosteron, so isn’t that strange?

i will be called today by the general practitoner and gonna ask if they can send me to an ‘expert’.

#7

There are many hormones that can keep testosterone from doing its job. A more comprehensive exam is needed, but a doctor can advise you better in that aspect.

#8

Tomorrow i have an appointment with endocrinologist.

I want to print some stuff about brainfog and PFS as feedback.

and can somebody give me a list of the hormones that need to be tested? so i can give that to the doctor.

Thanks!