New user here, would love to hear people's input/help

Member Stories
#1

Hi all,

I had similar problems and never guessed this could have been the cause, I thought it was all mental (which I think still plays a large role)…here is my story

  1. How did you find this forum?
    -Randomly on internet

  2. What is your current age, height, weight?
    24, 6’0, 185

  3. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    -On and off. Running, lifting

  4. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
    -Mixed, lot of eating out

  5. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
    -Hair loss

  6. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
    2-3 weeks max (April 08)

  7. How old were you when you started Finasteride?
    -24

  8. How old were you when you quit?
    -24

  9. How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
    -cold

  10. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
    -Proscar divided into 5

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

  12. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    -2-3 weeks

  13. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
    -Mainly the ED. It is incredibly strange. I go through 2 week periods of incredible erectile function (10 spontaneous rock hards a day). This may be followed by periods where I have difficulty getting erections to porn, yet earlier in the day just hearing my gf’s voice gives me multiple erections. No morning erections really, but sometimes within a few seconds of waking I begin to get an erection. I feel like the overall trend is towards improvement, but still up/down, lots of low confidence right now.

Put an X beside all that apply:

Sexual
[X ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[X ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[X ] Loss of Morning Erections
[ ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] 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
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[X ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[X ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ X] Depression / Melancholy

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)

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
    -Not much. Stopping masturbating helps a lot. Am taking multivitamins, maca/horny goat weed.

  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)?
    -NA

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

  4. Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
    -First off, I am glad to find this forum to see that I was not going crazy. I tried finasteride for hair loss for a couple weeks, until one day I lost my erection while masturbating. Didn’t masturbate for 2 weeks, completely stopped the medication, and since then have had on and off erectile function. I feel like I have lost some spontaneity and strength of erection, although at times these are very normal, hopefully more often as time goes on. My main focus is on improvement, as that is my primary goal. I have to say I believe my overall trend right now is improvement, albeit slow and up and down (even within a single day). I have yet to reach a point of continuous and steady improvement. At best, I go through periods (usually 2 weeks) where I have awesome erectile function. I have had 3 of those periods the last couple months, and did not have these same periods the first 6 months, which gives me hope. The last few days have been kind of crappy, and just now I had trouble getting off to porn (just did it to test myself). Does anyone else have this see-saw action, with a gradual trend towards improvement? Just as my baseline, I used to be incredibly horny, masturbated multiple times a day. Now I get nervous that when I see my gf I won’t be able to get it up and this gets me down. I distinctly notice that my sympptoms are worse when I think about them or get anxious. The less I think about my dick (very hard) the better things are. My penis was much smaller for awhile but the size has been coming back. Overall hopefully it just takes time? Is this story similar to anyone’s? I know a lot of success stories have been posted but I would still love to hear from others who have made a full recovery. THank you so much for the supportive forum, best of luck to you all, and I look forward to hearing from you.

#2

Also from those in the forum who have seen many cases, does mine seem on par with post-propecia effects? Or does it sound more psychological, since that does seem to also cause ED in itself? I just am baffled why I am so on and off, having sometimes awesome erectile potential, and then periods where I feel nothing.

#3

Welcome to the site.

I’d recommend you read the FAQ at top of site to understand what you may or may not be experiencing.

The only way to know for sure what is currently going on with your body hormonally, is by getting the proper bloodtests per propeciahelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=92

The fluctuations you are experiencing in “performance” could be due to mental/anxiety performance post-Fin, or a legitimate situation due to ongoing hormonal fluctuation as your body tries to regain homeostasis.

Basically the main thing is – if you find you are NEVER horny anymore and can go weeks without masterbating (whereas before the drug you couldnt get enough sex and wacked off daily) – you could be dealing with the post-Fin crash many here have gone through.

On the other hand, if you find you are still just as horny as you were before the drug, yet seem to be having mechanical difficulties obtaining/maintaining an erection – it could be related to prostate damage from the drug, penile tissue changes due to androgen deprivation, or simply performance anxiety.

Again the 1st step is to evaluate where you are at hormonally and thus this should be your goal at the moment.

Also – I’m not quite clear… when did you actually stop the medication and how long have you been off of it as of today?

#4

thanks for the reply. topped fin in april 08 after 2 weeks or so. think about sex constantly almost all day long, whether i’m in my periods of super high erectile function/horniness or my periods of weak erectile function (been fluctuating). I did notice that when I think positive, don’t stress out about the situation, and stay away from masturbating, my situation seems to be better. The moment I STARt to stress though things get worse and I don’t feel right. I plan on getting a hormone workup soon, and am considering seeing a sex therapist to work on my now low sexual confidence. Just wondering abotu the hormonal fluctuations and penile/prostate changes - are these things that may rectify themsleves with time? If it is commonly experienced by members here, I would at least for now like to stay away from meds and give my body a chance at long term healing. THanks so much.

#5

If sufficient androgen (Testosterone/DHT) is available, there are no other major hormonal imbalances, and your body is functioning correctly post-Fin, then prostate/penile tissue changes should hopefully resolve in time. If you are still deficient in such hormones, it would likely delay such recoveries.

#6

Hi all,

I have posted occasionally on this site, my story should be under member stories.
ANyhow, I am now 25, was 24 when I took fin in April 08 for about 2-2.5 weeks. I took whole propecia pills (ones used for BPH) and divided them into 5, and took these daily. Looking back this was so stupid since my hair loss is noticiable, but not large. Needless to say, I will just let nature do whatever it wants with my hair from now on. What really upset me at times was that during these 2 weeks I had seen a dermatologist who warned me against using this stuff due to the prostate cancer study on fin.

So I noticed at the end of my fin experiment that one day I was masturbating (used to look at porn 1-3 times a day), I went soft. THis never happened. I immediately stopped fin, and 2 weeks later I could wack it again…or so I thought. One day I again went soft while masturbating, and I was freaked out. From this point on I had ongoing problems the next 8 months. It was damn hard to keep an erection while masturbating, and even when I got it up it was 50% hard, and if I even removed my hand for a couple seconds my dick went limp again. In addition I completely stopped having morning erections, and my libido was definitely down. What exacerbated all of this is I felt depressed as hell, and constantly worried, literally from the time I woke until the time I went to bed about my erections. I did gain some weight, and I felt tired all the time. Keep in mind though, at this time back then I attributed everything to stress from school.

Tons of thoughts were going through my mind. I was convinced I would never live a regular life again. I thought I would never get married and would die a virgin. I hated myself for ever touching this medication, and constantly wanted the ability to travel back in time.

Maybe about 5 months in, I decided to try an experiment. I stopped masturbating. I actually got better in that 2 weeks. And then boom, all of a sudden one day I was back to a completely limp noodle penis. I still stopped masturbating - maybe a month later function back again, only to go limp noodle a few days later. I was very discouraged, and began looking on the internet, where I found this website. This was the first time I began to think finasteride was the cause. It horrified me to be honest, that a medication affected this many men.

I am grateful for finding this site though, as I did draw hope from those who did recover. I forced myself to go see a doctor and get blood tests - testosterone surprisingly in range (600s), as I thought my problems were hormonal. I even saw a sex therapist. He of course did not think finasteride was the cause, but surprisingly did not judge me negatively or laugh at me. I even did experiement with some supplements, ala big softie. I tried fish oil, horny goat weed/maca blend from vitamin shoppe, multivitamin from vit shop (ultimate man). These did help somewhat. What probably helped the most was yohimbe extract from vitamin shoppe (it gave me a very very hard 30 minute erection that would not go away), but this gave me bad headaches and scared me - take at your caution. I in general stayed away from more ‘experimental’ things and hormone products like testosterone (although these work for others), because I was so afraid of messing myself up again with pills.

Basically, I found that (at this point about 7-8 months in), the periods of my functional erections (still not as powerful or as frequent as they once were), were increasing, with limp noodle stretches in between. This was a positive sign for me. I now consider myself about 80% recovered - able to have functional sex most of the time, and psyche drastically improved.

So here’s what has helped me. TIME is a crucial one. Some do not improve with time, but many do. This is a SLOW process where the body figures out how to get back to normal. Fin really screws with your testosterone bad, and the damage is not instantly reversed for us, the way it is for the general population. NOT masturbating during my time of recovery was important. In fact, finding any way to not think about sex is great. It is very hard, but try to stay upbeat - this is an incredibly depressing ordeal, but sometimes thinking about it makes it worse. Supplements don’t necessarily solve the issue on their own, but can provide little boosts in your efforts. Seeing doctors and therapists, while it may be frustruating and embarassing, can at least provide you with some objective data from people who are paid to see people with health problems. Being open with people about my problem finally after 8 months (close friends and girlfriend), instead of keeping it bottled up, further helped with my still wounded psyche. I am still not fully recovered, but I am thankful to the encouraging words I have read throughout this site, and hope my story can do the same for others who find themselves in a similar predicament.

#7

Hi there
Thanks for your encouraging words, I have to ask you how are your morning erections? If you are 80% recovered does that mean your morning erections are 80% recovered as well?
Thanks again for posting it is helpful to the rest of us.

DL

#8

Glad to help anytime!
To be honest I stopped paying attention to morning erections. I get them once in awhile, actually not very often. I now remember though that even before fin I didn’t get them much, at least when I’m sleeping alone. I do note that when I’m with my girlfriend though I get them pretty often (about 70-80%-isH). The best gauge of my progress has been my ability to masturbate, as well as to have sex with my girlfriend without going soft too often (still happens once in awhile). My advice is to not only focus on the mornings, as this may drive you nuts and dishearten you if they are not always there, but pay attention to things from a more global perspective. Take into account all factors of your sexual functioning, paying attention to things unique to you, as we are all somewhat different. Like I was saying, the biggest sign of my recovery was my ability to masturbate, which was absolutely decrepit during the lowest phases of my struggle with fin, even months in.

#9

Another thing I should note about my recovery…

I do think the multivit with the zinc was very helpful to give me a boost. I can’t say it was the only thing, as I always took it concurrently with fish oil and the maca/horny goat weed mix. I distinctly noticed a boost from L-arginine. Yohimbe absolutely strengthened erections, although had bad sides, and an erection that would not budge for 30-40 straight minutes. I did take tribulus as well. I have also began to run again, which can definitely help with increasing pelvic blood flow and thus erectile function. Sleep did huge wonders for me. Don’t forget to pay attention to the psychological component of erections (I am not in any way downplaying the physical deficinencies fin causes), by not getting too down on yourself and by makikng and effort to share this with your partner if you have one.

#10

This is interesting. So, as new reader here, inundated with all this information, my response so far to my post-FIN state of life has been to just wait and see. I’m kind of lazy intellectually, I guess, but I’m not lazy with exercise. At the moment, I’m recovering from a surgery on my foot. I keep telling myself, “just eat right, get sleep, and when you’re able to again, exercise like you’re 50% Rocky (as best you can)”

I’m just trying to determine which–if any–supplements really work. The frustrating thing about diet, for me, is that I live in North America (PA) and the availability of food (particuliarly fruits, esp. tropical fruit) is next to nil and it’s NEVER fresh enough or in the correct state. Also, if all of us here were able to try about 3-5 organic/natural bananas from Southeast Asia every day, I’m guessing such nutrient/chemical addition to our diet would make a difference in our sex drive and penis function.

Like I said, I’m a bit lazy intellectually, but my idea has been to get proper nutrition (which is difficult in Midwest U.S.), but if you’re able, get lots of exercise and take a long trip to a tropical zone where they have some natural fruits and some hot young girls.

After looking over this site so far, I’m at a loss to determine which supplementation/drugs should be taken/tried after quitting FIN. Exercise and high iodine intake seem like a good idea.

One other thing: at one time in my life, I had almost zero libido (when I was about 24-26). I was suffering from malabsorption and I had mercury, arsenic, nickel poisoning, plus–most likely–some parasitic problems. Because of this experience, I’ve not yet completely freaked in my post-FIN low libido, fat-gaining, mirky brain, intermittant insomnia, low energy state. In other words, I’ve dealt with some of these things before–although I don’t think I can compare the previous experience to post FIN. Yet, the post-FIN seems more frightening (ie. penis+balls shrinkage) —perhaps because it’s here and NOW.

I went to an ayurvedic doctor and a naturopath. Eventually, I made a complete recovery years ago. I’m not going to recommend people here try an Ayurvedic doctor, but it’s possible traditional medicine/herbology can aid you.

I’m hoping that patience and my unending supply of desperation, rage, and faith in exercise (whatever else there is inside me) will see me on to recovery from this new challenge. Good luck to all of you.

#11

thanks for sharing your experience, you give us all hope

#12

With regards to mineral supplements, I found zinc helpful. This makes sense to me, as it is necessary to maintain normal levels of testosterone. As far as specific diets go, there weren’t any I specifically tried. I’ve been reading on the forum about the broccoli diet, which seemed to provide benefits to some, although I’m not sure how it works mechanically. A good strategy in the long run would be to be low in fat and carb’s, as atherosclerosis and diabetes are a couple of the things that give older people ED.

I had that same sort of ‘lazy’ perspective, intellectually. I was just so devastated by what was going on, I at first didn’t have it in me to be very proactive and to start experimenting with differnet things. I was also very wary of trying many therapies, as a drug gave me my problems in the first place (thus I did not look into testosterone, clomid, etc). I was hoping time would be a big factor, but while waiting to get better I was unbelievably disheartened and frustruated, not to mention distracted in school.

Overall hyou’re going to read a lot of different theories and treatment regimens here. Given what I was willing to do, and my personal preferences, I eventually turned to a lot of supplements at the vitamin shoppe. For months I had been on and off in terms of my function. I was slowly improving. Then all at once I started taking fish oil, zinc, maca/tribulus/horny goat weed, and yohimbe. As I stated, yohimbe gave me rock hard erections that just stayed there, but unpleasant side’s such as headaches. Other people have mentioned on the forum that supplements probably on their own won’t solve everything, but can give you a kick start, and I believe this. Time is also a crucial factor. Everyone’s time frame is different. But when I finally got the nerve up to go see a doctor, he told me this drug does stay in your system for a while, maybe even several months. Good luck to everyone!

#13

i used fin for about 3 wks and ever since then it was an up and down cycle, more down than up. i never had libido problems though, mostly ED. Anyhow the last couple months, I’ve noticed gradual worsening in ED, as well as plummeting libido, which has me scared out of my mind. Worst part is I recently met a girl I really like, and I’ve found myself holding back and almost avoiding her to not have to deal with the disaster scenario of explaining why I can’t perform and why I can’t be with her should the scenario arise. Has anyone experienced this worsening a long period in? And had any success dealing with it? I’m going to go see an endocrinologist finally, but based on what I’ve been reading have low optimism, but am willing to do anything and try anything at this point, as it can’t be worse than this. That being said, with a lot of people’s mixed results with clomid and TRT, it seems to me like a lot of our problems might be not as much an issue with T availability, but there seems like a good chance that it’s a more downstream effect, whether it’s receptor insensitivity or something like that. Any advice would be helpful.

#14

since 2003 to 2008 i’ve gotten gradually worse … 1 month after stopping fin i was quite normal, then the slow worsening. I never understood why

#15

In my humble opinion, I’d start here:

  1. Quit any supplements/meds or whatever that isn’t absolutely necessary for you to survive (i.e. heart meds, insulin, etc.) for at least 2 weeks before labs.
  2. At the same time make an appointment with a Urologist/(Neuro)Endocrinologist, preferably a “PFS” doctor.
  3. Get a somewhat comprehensive labwork done that includes all the goodies like Free test, 3a-diol-G, LH, FSH, DHT, E2, etc. Basically all the important markers recommended most here.
  4. Go over labs with the doctor and decide your treatment options.
  5. Post results here on the board and see what the more knowledgable/experienced guys may have to contribute in addition to what the doctor says.

After this you can probably restart any supps/meds that you deem appropriate.

#16

Yup, Brad pretty much covered it.

btw - I think we can all relate to having promising relationships ruined due to Fin. I was talking to the most beautiful girl I’ve probably ever seen and for some insane reason she was interested in me. I stop pursuing that after Fin also worried about that inevitable moment when I had to explain what happened to me.

#17

I cut gluten and sugar out of my diet and started eating loads of protien 3 weeks ago, this seems to have halted my downward spiral, infact i may even be on the rise, to early to properly tell though.

#18

How are the ‘worsening’ crew doing these days?