Not sure what's wrong with me

General Discussion
#1

Back story:

I’m 25 yo. I took finasteride 3-4 times before and gradually recovered over a month or so.

Now prior to my most recent taking of finasteride, everything was good and well both physically and mentally. I then took finasteride for 2 weeks and got a whole host of side effects:

  • Depression
  • ED
  • Watery semen
  • No libido
  • Brain fog

Basically…life was shit. So I stopped taking finasteride and now it’s been a whole month. Honestly, I’d say watery semen, brain fog and depression have lifted. However, no libido remains and ED whilst having slightly improved, it still an issue. So there is definitely an improvement but by no means is this a good quality of life at the moment.

So I went to the docs and got a blood test done to check testosterone levels. It came back as low testosterone and now they’re checking everything else like free test, LH, FSH SHGB …

My question is have you seen stories similar to me before. My hope would be to correct my low testosterone so that I don’t have to take any long term medication for low T (HCG, Clomid, Test injections).

1 Like
#2

Hi there timpson12 and welcome to the forum.

Your story is not dissimilar to some of the guys on here, especially being hit harder on giving finasteride another ago. It is much too early to know what your longer term prognosis is, but you have been experiencing this for so short a time you may very well be one of the guys who naturally recover. The fact that several of your symptoms have already resolved or improved looks like a positive sign, especially as many of the guys here have been absolutely floored by this. Your low testosterone meets the profile that many of us have after finasteride usage. Some guys are of the opinion that for a few of us we have developed hypogonadism from finasteride usage, although for most they either don’t react or testosterone supplementation has a negative effect. It is worth exploring current options with your doctor however.

As a new member I would encourage you to get your doctor to fill out an adverse event report, or it may be better to do this yourself as you then know that it has been done and expressed in your own words. Details can be found here: https://www.pfsfoundation.org/report-side-effects/
Every single report submitted helps us all as it provides accumulated evidence for every side effect which helps with any labelling changes.

Although it is easier said than done, please try not to overly stress about your current health situation. Experiencing all this and then looking on-line can cause a bit of a negative spiral. Advise is usually to be kind to your body and to do everything in moderation so as not to unduly tax yourself - this includes trying not to constantly test yourself through masterbation, or exercising too hard. There are loads of guys here who will be more than happy to both support you through this and also give advice. Wishing you all the best.

1 Like
#3

Thank you for the great response :slight_smile:
I’ll get my doc to look at the form.

I’ve tried to research the board a bit and is it correct to say that for a lot of people where TRT is no help, they usually already have normal/high T?

I guess the results of my most recent blood test should shine quite a bit more light on the situation. There has definitely been a drop in side-effects so it’ll be interesting to see if the test reflects that.

I also had a weird feeling in my prostate, my dick felt like a piece of rubber and completely detached from my body and my penis was probably 1/2 its usual size on a ‘full’ erection. These side-effects subsided around 2/2.5 weeks after stopping finasteride.

What I feel now is traditional side-effects of low testosterone … lack of energy, low libido, ED.

#4

On a range of 8-30, my T levels have gone from 5.5 to 11.2 so it’s definitely an upward trend but I don’t feel great yet - which is understandable given it’s at the bottom of the scale. LH/FSH also came out bottom end of the scale but ‘in the green’ so the doctor sent me packing.

I think I will get better with time but this isn’t a great feeling and would love to get better quicker.