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)? 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?) Google search for PFS
What is your current age, height, weight? 36 years old, 6’2" tall, 228 pounds
What specific drug did you use (finasteride, dutasteride, saw palmetto, isotretinoin/Accutane, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, leuprorelin, etc…)? Escitalopram
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? 10mg/day
What condition was being treated with the drug? Generalized Anxiety Disorder
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)? 30 days
How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start the drug? I started the drug just after my 35th birthday on July 25th 2019.
How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? I stopped taking the drug on August 25th 2019.
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? Cold Turkey
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects? Second day from what I remember
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
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
[ X] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ X] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ ] Loss of Morning Erections
[ ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[ X] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ X] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ X] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[ X] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ X] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ X] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ X] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts
Physical
[ X] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ X] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ X] 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
[ ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[ ] Hearing loss
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[ ] Other (please explain)
What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug? I have not tried any treatments yet.
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)? I have not had tests yet, planning on getting some done very soon.
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 was prescribed Escitalopram in July of 2019, and I took it for 30 days and then cold turkeyed off it because I was having horrible side effects the whole time I was taking. After cessation of the drug, I had about 7-14 days of symptoms that included brain zaps, irritability, DP/DR, etc…but really nothing too bad and I thought that I was back to normal. While I was taking it, one of the symptoms that freaked me out the most was that my penis was completely limp and numb, so that scared the hell out of me and I stopped taking it.
Pretty much as soon as I stopped, the sexual side effects all dissipated and from basically September 1 through November 20, which was about 10 weeks I believe, I had complete, 100% restoration of sexual function and libido. Right around November 20, I started to notice my libido was decreasing and it was becoming difficult for me to think about sex. Initially, I was still able to get erections, but I just had to work harder to get them because my brain/penis connection felt off. Soon after that, it became increasingly difficult to get erections at all, and then at the end of November I starting having genital numbness, and that is when I realized that I may be experiencing PSSD, which I had initially learned about when reading about the sexual side effects of Escitalopram I was experiening while on the drug.
December, January, and February were pretty consistent…I would have mostly bad days, with some good days mixed in. Generally speaking, libido was extremely low, but if I really wanted to, I could usually work up an erection, but it was definitely not easy.
At the end of February, I had took a few steps backwards and starting experiencing a soft glans type symptom, which was very strange to me. My penis also just felt weird, like the tissue or consistency of it was different than normal. This stayed pretty constant until April.
Then from April through June, I was pretty consistently good…I legitimately thought I weas getting better. I had some spontaneous erections…was having norturnal erections most nights…and even achieved erections with visual stimuli on numerous occasions. So in my head, this had to be a sign that things were inching closer to normalcy. So psychologically I was feeling pretty good, thinking that even if things didn’t improve, they were at least livable. But that being said, I was hopeful that they would continue to get slowly better.
Then I woke up on June 30 and out of nowhere things were drastically worse. My penis was extremely shrunken and numb, and I have been having really bad brain fog and memory problems for the last two weeks as well. I am feeling pain in my testicles/penis, and the whole appearance of my genitals is just appalling right now.
So that’s where I am…two weeks post crash, and absolutely terrified. Thank you for taking the time to read this, please feel free to respond with any comments that may give me some insight as to what the hell is going on, or if any of you have had similar experiences, please share those.