First off the survey, and then at the end my story:
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Where are you from (country)? New Zealand
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How did you find this forum (Google search - finasteride erectile dysfunction)
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What is your current age, height, weight? 29 174cm 81kg
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Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise? yes, bodybuilding
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What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)? meat high protein
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Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?hair loss
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For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)? 2.5 years
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How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride? 27
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How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 29
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How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? cold turkey
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What type of Finasteride did you use – Proscar
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What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? 1mg/day
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How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects? 2.5 years
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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
[ ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[X ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[X] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[X ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[X ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[X ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] 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
[ ] 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
[ ] Other (please explain)
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What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug? None yet
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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)? None
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Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
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Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
So, i started taking proscar which I would cut up into 5 at the beginning of 2011. There is a history of male pattern baldness in my family and I had begun to recede and noticed lots and lots of hair on my pillow and coming out when I washed my hair in the shower. So I started taking finasteride, it was cheaper to get the 5mg proscar and cut it into 5 pieces.
Everything was going well, I noticed some re-growth of my hair and definintely no more hair loss.
It wasnt until a few weeks ago I noticed that my erections weren’t as strong as they used to be, at first I just put it down to being tired and stressed from work, but as I thought back, I realised I had not been getting night time or morning erections anymore, probably for months, but it happened so slowly i didnt realise. Im also having to do a lot of ‘stimulation’ to even get an erection and they are definintely not as hard as before.
I began searching on the internet and found this board, and realised it was a more common problem that I had realised.
So i stopped taking finasteride two days ago, and I signed up to here to keep a log of my progress so that other people in a similar situation can follow what happens.
I guess Im worried that since I was taking for such a long time before I noticed side effects, that It will take a long time to recover (or may be permanent!) and I would really like to hear from other people who had a similar course of events as I did - ie taking for 2-3 years before noticing erectile dysfunction and then how long it took to improve, if anything.
Im worried, scared, angry and sad that I took these stupid pills for such a stupid reason.