Officially giving up waiting for side effects to 'go away'

COPY AND PASTE THE FOLLOWING INTO YOUR OWN POST, then answer the questions.

  1. Where are you from (country)?
    Ireland

  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?
    37, 186cm, 81kg

  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    Weights and some cardio four/five days per week usually

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

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

  7. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
    About 11 months

  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
    May 2011

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

  • April 2012
  1. How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
    Stopped dead

  2. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
    Generic

  3. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
    1 x 1mg daily

  4. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    4-5 month range

  5. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
    Softer and less frequent erections, slacker libido, reduced amount and strength of ejaculations

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
[ ] 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
[x ] 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)
Increased fat around my middle/ jelly belly. I always carried fat here but it’s much more pronounced now despite all the exercise I take.

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
    None as of 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)?
    N/A

  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’m pretty cheesed off that doctors told me that even if I experienced any side effects I would return to normal after a short while if I stopped. I feel better off than most at the same time - I’m still sexually functional but I’m not as horny as I was, my erections are softer until right before I ejaculate when I approach something like my old potency, although my ejaculations are quite weak. I occasionally have a very half hearted, weak morning erection whereas before it was full on. Other symptoms like brain fog, forgetfulness, anxiety etc. I sometimes experience but can’t say they’re because of the drug per se.
    As soon as I realised I wasn’t imagining the side effects and they became regular and persistent, I ditched the drug and haven’t used anything like it since. I was fully confident everything would restore but it hasn’t and now I’m looking for help. I’m so sorry for all the guys out there who are way worse off than me but I don’t feel any better about the drug companies playing fast and loose with such an important part of who I am.

I’m now considering taking something to boost my testosterone or some sort of supplement that might help but I’m terrified of putting anything into my body that might mess things up even more, so I’m hoping to get a steer from some god folks here!

Sounds to me like ure testosterone is low but no crash!!! Have u had ure levels checked??

I haven’t had them checked as yet, no. I am finding that exercise improves things slightly and all my symptoms do point to a reduced level of testosterone. Is it necessary to get levels checked before taking some sort of natural supplement, or could I just go ahead and take one and see if it improves things?

What would be a good supplement to take? I’m very new to all this and I’ve browsed this forum just a little bit so far, but I’ve heard of people using ginseng?

I haven’t had my levels checked, no, but I was wondering if it would be okay to take a supplement like red ginseng just to see if it has any effect. Are there any dangers associated with taking a supplement without having your levels checked beforehand? There are none that I can think of so I was thinking about just taking a natural supplement to see if it helps.

I would go see a uro and ask him if its ok… I took vigor rx plus along with testosteeone cream and it did help but i got uro okAy on taking it!! I am on test cream for life and 5mg daily cialis…

I took red ginseng for 3 months didn’t notice much. I don’t think it coukd hurt any if that’s what your asking.

What about arginine and citrulline?? U ever tried this??

Arginine yes. The other no. I’ve tried many many things including the “stem cell” therapy. In my opinion the only thing that had a definite positive impact were alpha blockers… in regards to temporarily reversing shrinkage as well as reducing anxiety attacks.

What did arginine do for u?? What is an alpha blocker??

Arginine is over the counter here… it didn’t do much. As far as alpha blockers do a search on it on this website… search is your friend. I’ve written about this stuff before… as you can see I have a lot of posts the information is out there.

Is this u??