New to propeciahelp, I really hate this

Member Stories
#1

  1. Where are you from (country)?
    Canada

  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 --> propecia side effects

  3. What is your current age, height, weight?
    20 yrs old, 185cm, 170lbs

  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    On and off weight training

  5. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
    pretty regular, not really healthy but not terribly unhealthy either

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

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

  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
    19 yrs sept2011

  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
    20 yrs sept2012

  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?
    generic finasteride (sandoz or something was the company)

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

  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    4-5 months in there was minor ED, it passed quickly so I didn’t think much of it
    11 months in, ED occurred again, this time more persistant

  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 – not entirely sure, mostly I’m discourage because of the ED
[x] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[x] Loss of Morning Erections
[x] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[x] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[x] 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
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[x] Severe Depression / Melancholy – probably not directly caused by finasteride
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts

Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[ ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[x] Muscle Weakness – muscles are more sore after a workout, takes longer to recover
[ ] 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

[ ] Other (please explain)

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
    none so far. Eating tomatoes has sometimes imrpoved my erections
    Tried supplements ginseng and ginkgo biloba, no significant difference was noticed

  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)?

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

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

This whole experience has been a nightmare. The past half year has been the most prolonged hardship I’ve ever encountered in my life. It really takes away my ability to enjoy life, it’s just always on the back of my mind. I don’t think I have any direct mental side effect from fin, but the anxiety and depression has been making my life so much harder. Doing everything just seem to take so much more effort, and I don’t feel like talking to anyone. Physically I get tired more easily, though it’s not so bad that I can’t function. When I work out or exercise it takes me a longer time to heal.

I was having problems with my girlfriend and we broke up around when I first experienced the side effects and I was very depressed about it, so I attributed the side effects to the stress. After a month it still hasn’t subsided and I decided that I need to get off the drug. I stopped it and talked to my doctor, she actually recommended that I try taking half pill day. I did this and 3 days later (10 days after quitting the drug the first time) my erections went back to normal, I was so relieved! After a week or so I experienced ED again. I stopped taking 1/2 mg fin after another week. This time my ED didn’t go away. It’s been 5 months now and I’m still not ok. I don’t know if this was a “crash” after a brief recovery that I’ve been reading about or it was caused by getting back on fin. In any case I really regret taking fin in the first place, and I regret listening to my stupid doctor instead of researching it on my own. Thourghout these 5 months there were points when the ED was getting better, to the point that I thought that I might be recovering but it always regresses eventually. It never retruned back to normal, but it was easier to obtain an erection, and a harder one, but never as hard as it was and difficult to maintain. It’s been consistently bad for the past month, almost as bad as when it was at it’s worst.

Even now, after all that it still seems so unreal. Like it might just get better tomorrow. But of course it doesn’t. Gettin up in the morning has been really hard lately because all the regret just hits me when I wake up. I stay in bed for a good while before I could shake the feeling and get on with the day. I’ve never been the type of person that appreciates what I have, always looking more at the negatives, but after this nightmare I’d do anything to get my old life back… sure I had to deal with hairloss, but I realize now how triavial that was compared to this fucking problem.

After reading posts on this forum I realize I’m more fortunate than many member who are experiencing mental side effects such as brain fog. You all have my sympathies, I’m going to try to look on the bright side of things as much as possible from now on. And I’m realizing that the road to recovery will be a long and arduous one, if I do even recover.

Any input, comments would be greatly apprecaited. Thanks for reading, that’s my experience so far with this poison that we’ve all fed to ourselves. Fuck this drug and fuck those pharmacies that marketed it as safe. I wish, by some miracle, we all recover soon.

#2

I think you summed up Post Finasteride Syndrome in a few sentences there.

Please donate to the PFS foundation to help find a cure for our problem. Even a small montly donation could help make a big difference:-
pfsfoundation.org/donate/

Have you had any bloods test to check testosterone/prolactin/thyroid levels?
Also saliva test to check adrenal function?

#3

Sorry to have to welcome you to the club. I think everyone here can commiserate with your feelings and experience. Many of us experienced gradual recovery initially after discontinuing the drug followed by a crash with little improvement. Some have recovered, though we do not know how many since not all of the folks write back to update. Stay positive, live a healthy lifestyle and do not do anything rash, including risky treatment approaches. The site will have numerous opinions and theories with proposed treatments. Many declare successes on certain regimens but there has not been a treatment that has passed the whiff test. Educate yourself. Doctors in general are not yet well informed about PFS as they traditionally go first with what the pharmaceutical company states (ie 2% sexual side effects). It requires independent researchers to show otherwise and this can take many years (even decades) before a compelling case is made. For example when estrogen therapy was initiated for women it was heralded as the fountain of youth to reverse and halt many of the indignities of aging. Millions were started on it. The initial benefits were there encouraging more to follow. It wasn’t until decades past when they realized that the lifespan of women on estrogen was being cut short by heart attacks, blood clots, and cancer. At your age to have ED after Propecia is fairly strong argument that PFS isn’t psychological. 20 year old guys get hard when the wind blows. 20 year old guys don’t get performance anxiety wanking themselves off in the privacy of their own homes. Keep the faith, use this site for education but do not obsess and do not get consumed by the failures here but rather the success stories. 5 months is a long time I know but quite a few people have come out of it by 12 month mark.

#4

Thanks, that’s a the way I’m trying to look at things. 12 months seems like such a long time, but I’m just praying that it will eventually get better. The worst part is not knowing… you could get better tomorrow, or never. Lately it’s been a little bit better but no where near back to normal of course.