New victim

Member Stories
#1
  1. Where are you from (country)?
    USA
  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- finasteride loss of libido
  3. What is your current age, height, weight?
    Age-48 Height-6’ Weight-173lbs
  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    Yes, I ride a stationary bike (20 minutes) and do weightlifting (15 minutes) every other day.
  5. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
    I try to eat well; I eat lots of fruits and vegetables, fish, rice, pasta.
  6. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
    Hair loss.
  7. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
    About ten years.
  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
    I was about 37 when I started (2001?).
  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
    I was 47 when I quit (2011).
  10. How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
    I tapered off.
  11. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
    I started on Propecia, then moved to generic 1 mg finasteride.
  12. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
    1 mg/day
  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    I did not notice serious side effects until a few months after I stopped taking it.
  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
[X] Loss of Morning Erections
[X] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[X] 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] 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
[X] 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 yet. This is new to me. I will see my general practitioner shortly. I may also see Dr. Shippen.

  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.

I began taking Propecia in my mid/late thirties, after losing a bunch of hair (and much of the confidence that seemed to go with it). Strangely, although the Propecia seemed to help me keep my hair (or at least slow down the hair loss), I continued to suffer from a loss of confidence, and as a result, I stopped pursuing women. I guess I figured that I would regain my confidence as I aged and became more comfortable in my skin, and then I would have opportunities for love and sex. Sure enough, I did become more comfortable in my skin as I got older, and so I quit taking finasteride. A few months after quitting, my libido mostly disappeared. Ironic. The worst part about it is that I blame myself, at least partially. It was my vanity (or maybe a weird combination of vanity and insecurity) that led me to believe that I’d never be happy if I didn’t take finasteride to keep my hair. Now, many years later, I think about how stupid I was.

#2

It was not your fault.

How many months has it been now?

So your libido was ok while on finasteride? Did you still masterbate regularly?

How is your libido now from 1 - 10?

#3

Did your frequent urination problems begin on finasteride or after quitting? In either case it’s a good idea to see a good urologist. In the meant time, try a paleo diet (eliminate rice/grains/sugar/caffeine/alcohol - google it for more information) and try a different method than the stationary bike for exercise as bike seats can aggravate the prostate region.

#4

vincentv:
I don’t remember exactly when I finally quit fin. I think it was between 3-5 months ago. My libido was good while I was on fin. In fact, it was good up until when I ‘crashed’ about a month ago. Now I have no libido whatsoever, as well as ED and insomnia.

#5

martinM:
I was urinating frequently before PFS hit me, but since PFS it’s been even more frequent.

Thanks for the heads-up about riding a bicycle.

I’m interested in seeing both an endocrinologist and a urologist, but I think I’ll need to be referred by a family doctor, and so far my current family doctor doesn’t believe that my sexual problems are related to fin, and has not responded to my request for referrals. I also see a rheumatologist for raynaud’s syndrome. When I see her in two weeks, I will get her input.

#6

Show your doctor the studies.

Get all the labs needed so you can see where you are at.

Extensive blood tests with transcortin + cortisol
Salivary cortisol
Urinary hormone profile
Sperm analysis.

This is interesting. I am trying to understand why people can have good libido on finasteride. Supposedly dht plays a huge part in libido. A lot of the efforts here are targeted towards DHT but it seems that it is possible to have good libido even when DHT is inhibited.

#7

Since your urination has become more frequent and finasteride was originally marketed to reduce prostate growth and make urination easier it should be a no brained for your dr to refer you to a urologist.

#8

I feel horrible about taking this drug for such a superficial reason as well. My hair is really thinning now and I can still attract women without problems whatsoever. It kills me to think about how unbelievably good my life would be right now if I never took the drug. I have EVERYTHING. But can’t do anything about it really. The reality is that no matter how stupid we were for taking this, we were tricked by the drug company. We didn’t know the risk. No where did the word permanent ever surface.

#9

Taken on 2-16-2012 (about 6 weeks after post-fin crash). Ordered by Shippen.
FSH------3.5 (1.6-8.0 mIU/mL)
LH-------2.4 (1.5-9.3 mIU/mL)
TSH------3.06 (0.40-4.50 mIU/L)
T4, free—1.2 (0.8-1.8 ng/dL)
T3, free—3.0 (2.3-4.2 pg/mL)
T3, rev----47 (11-32 ng/dL)
DHT------33 (25-75 ng/dL)
SHBG-----68 (10-50 nmol/L)
IGF-I -----167 (52-328 ng/mL)
DHEA Slf–243 (45-345 mcg/dL)
Prolactin–4.8 (2.0-18.0 ng/mL)
Test., Tot-658 (241-827 ng/dL)
Estradiol–16 (< or = 39 pg/mL)

6x/day Saliva Cortisol. Taken on 2-19-2012.
8AM-----3.24 (3.5-6.3 ng/ml)
Noon----2.30 (1.4-2.8 ng/ml)
4PM-----2.22 (0.8-2.4 ng/ml)
8PM-----1.11 (0.6-1.6 ng/ml)
12AM----1.28 (0.2-1.2 ng/ml)
4AM-----1.81 (0.3-1.7 ng/ml)

Obviously, Reverse T3 and SHBG are way over reference range. I’d like to deal with my hypothyroid symptoms before I deal with my libido/ED situation. However, I am afraid that taking thyroid medication would further raise SHBG.

#10

Hi Eric - We have almost the same chronology and age it appears. I started in early '98 (was 37 years old) and quit last July. I’d noticed the sexual dysfunction (to put it lightly) in 2000 but was somewhat in denial. Started using Viagra (with marginal impact) on my limited sexual opportunities/relationships (2 - 3 in ten years). I only discontinued Propecia because I saw the report last year on Proscar being connected to high grade prostate cancer. Stumbled on this site last month… now my gynomastia and all the rest makes sense.

#11

strange you were doing fine on fin but got sides after stopping it.

#12

Its strange to him. Not to me anymore. More and more people use it and once they cut it then they realize there is a huge drop in libido and urinary issues develop a few weeks post discontinuation. Looking in a hairloss forum today there’s people suggesting a very very slow tapering because of a prostatic shock. They must know something more since there’s thousands of guys using it in there and exchanging opinions for years.

Well i guess the last symptom described by Eric, frequent urination must have something to do with the prostate at least, not that the rest of symptoms don’t…

#13

No body denies prostate problem from fin, but it is just an effect just as gyno, low body temp, joint pain etc.

#14

your shbg is crazy high. Have you researched what may cause this? Usually its estrogen. But yours is low.

#15

Rhein Labs Urine Test. Taken on 4-25-2012. Ordered by Shippen.
Estrone (E1)--------3.6 (3-12 ug/24 hrs)
Estradiol (E2)-------1.0 (0-7 ug/24 hrs)
Estriol (E3)---------3.1 (1-16 ug/24 hrs)
Total Estrogen------7.6 (4-22 ug/24 hrs)
Testosterone-------26 (45-85 ug/24 hrs)
DHT--------------3.1 (0-13 ug/24 hrs)
Androstanediol-----41 (48-578 ug/24 hrs)
Androstanedione—1.9 (not established)
DHEA-------------91 (5-1476 ug/24 hrs)

ZRT Lab Urine Test. Taken on 6-24-2012.
Iodine------------86 (100-1100 ug/L, 150-300 optimal)

#16

Thanks for posting your tests.

They are pretty crazy.

They seem to defy logic.

I would guess that the sleep issues are caused by over range cortisol.

Your cortisol is highish most the time. Do you have energy problems? Digestive problems? What is your temp? No brainfog right or fatigue?

I am pretty sure too high cortisol can cause rt3 problems? Have you researched into that?

Your SHBG is High and LH is low. This would seem to suggest something is feeding back on these mechanism. SHBG can ioncrease with too much thyroid hormones and estradiol. LH will obviously decrease with too much estradiol. But your estogens seem to be in check? I am not sure how well estradiol binds to SHBG but I know it is less than test.

When you did your silivary cortisol did you have an option to do silivary hormones? These would show the free hormones. And if there was nothing feeding back on LH and SHBG then I would not know where to go from here.

Have you tried reducing your cortisol at night for sleep?

#17

High cortisol sucks… Lowering it will help many things.

#18

Your labs indicate 3 areas that could be targeted for treatment (Testosterone, Androstanediol, Iodine).

What plan of attack is Dr. Shippen considering, based on these results?

#19

Eric didn’t notice sides until he quit propecia. Wonder if there’s going to be many men who will quit due to the negative press, even though they may not notice sides… Only to get them shortly after.

You would still think the sooner someone gets off the better.

#20

Everyone’s different it’s really hard to say. I noticed them the first pill i took.