New victim, new story

Member Stories
#1

  1. Where are you from (country)?
    Lithuania

  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

  3. What is your current age, height, weight?
    27 years, 80 kg, 1,82 m

  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    Sometimes weight lifting, running, not regulary.

  5. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
    Simple food, meat, vegetables.

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

  7. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
    About 3 years

  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
    24

  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
    27

  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?
    Finasteride Actavis.

  12. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
    1,25 mg/day

  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    I actually didn’t payed attention, cause i didn’t have a girl. But i think it was gradually worsing.

  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
[x] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ ] Loss of Morning Erections
[x] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[x] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[x] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[x] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] 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?
    Didn’t yet.

  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)?
    After quiting:
    Prolactin - 268.3
    Testosterone - 17.01

Soon i’m going to check results to dermatologist, that was before this drug

  1. Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
    I was told by dermatologist, that this drug is like Propecia: only 2% experiences impotence, then after quitting, all should go to normal. Hairs should fall immediately. I’m still on minoxidil and eucapil (maybe these two are dangerous too). Also i was taking antidepresant seroxat and antipsychotics (zyprexa) before this drug. Still on Zyprexa, but my psychiatric said, this can’t be the cause.

  2. Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
    I was gradually experiencing loss of libido, erectile disfunction, but i didn’t payed attention to this. I quitted this drug a month before 2012-09. I have morning erections, penis is not as hard, as should be. I was able to make erections by myself, one day i felt returning of power, of libido, but that only was for one night. Now I can’t get erection. Sometimes I feel depressed, sleep is good, but I wake up at 6.00 and hardly can sleep longer. I would be thankfull if you could share advises, how to get out of this nightmare. I was reading posts, seeing videos about this crap, I couldn’t believe this happened to mee, I couldn’t believe pharmacists sold me this drug without recipe.

#2

I need some time to get in concepts of hormone names. But now I understood, that I have to take 3a-DIOL-G and ADT-G bloodtests?

#3

What chances I have to recover, if my sides where not sudden. After quitting, I had mental sides. And now I mentally recovered, sleep is still not good. Maybe I have to take of other drugs (antypsychotics)

#4

I’m 100% recovered. Still on Zyprexa and Zoloft.

#5

I’m back here again. I think I was saying wrong that I’m 100% recovered. Actually now when i compare libido before quiting (as long as I can remember) and after quiting, it didn’t came back until now. But that was not a problem. I could live without libido. But now my erections became soft. It was quite well for some time. I’m still on Sertralin and Olanzapin. I conclude that my libido went of because of Finasteride and erections because of Zoloft long time usage. I’m visiting sex therapist, and he is almost 100% sure that’s all in my head and i have psychological problems. But I’m now not sure what to believe. I don’t think that these drugs are so innocent. Any advice would be appreciated. I try Epimedyumlu Macun with goat weed and that help a little, but still i’m not able to achieve normal erections. At least i don’t have girlfriend, but with sex workers it is still a problem.

#6

Zoloft and sertraline can make your dick soft as babys ass. Have you heard of PSSD?
Also, I dont understand 30% things you’ve written. Anyway, welcome back after 7 years. What have you been doing for these 7y?

#7

I’m almost certain you’ve recovered from fin and the other meds gave you your current issues, as they list sexual side effects.

#8

It was quite ok for these years, i had girlfriend and it was sometimes good, sometimes bad. We had hard relationship, so these failures could be because of that.

#9

By the way what is PSSD?

#10

Ok, it is Post-SSRI Syndrome. I’m planing to change to other antidepresants that are not SSRI. How should i quit Zoloft? Cold Turkey, reduce dosage by half for 2 weeks (as suggested by doctor) or reduce with little doses for a longer time, a year maybe (I read somewhere that it should be reduces like that)?

#11

Zyprexa and Soloft will give you sexual side effects similar to finasteride. Don’t stop medications without doctor supervision. If you need those types of medications ask for the ones that don’t cause, or cause, little sexual side effects and see if it works

#12

Yes, but how can i believe in doctors, that all psychiatrists claims that these drugs have no sexual side efects. Sex therapist says it is psychological issue rather that physiological and only sex theraphy can heal this. My next question to him will be whether depresion is physiological disease or psychological. I’m trying to conceive that there is no psychological diseases at all, because there is always some kind of material disbalance in brain whether it is depression or sexual side efects.
So my psychiatrist recommends to reduce Zoloft dosage by half for two weeks and then quit. I’m trying to believe in this forum rather than in doctors, so why asking for help, how to safely quit this drug.
I hope you understood what I’m trying to say.

#13

If you dealing with psych drug withdrawal you should visit survivingantidepressants.org

Tapering over two weeks is absurd. Doctors are criminally incompetent.

I have written before about withdrawing from antidepressants. Try to search I guess.

If you tell me how long you have been on the drug I may be able to give you an estimate how long you need to taper for.

#14

Olanzapine is atypical antipsychotics, Zoloft (Sertraline) is SSRI antidepressants, both can cause sexual dysfunction.

#15

I’ve been on Zoloft on 5,5 years