On the way to Recovery

Member Stories
#1

Hey guys, I’ve been on these boards for a while now but I’ve had nothing to contribute until recently.

I went on Fin back in June of 09’, the worst decision I’ve made in my life. At the time I was 24, I’m now 25. I don’t think I realised what this drug was doing to me until about 6 months after I started taking it. I saw a Hair Transplant surgeon in December of 09’, he told me to stay on Fin and eventually after a year the side effects would cease.

The side effects I experienced are as follows while on Fin.

Dry skin
Pale skin
Hair thinning all over body
Hair loss
Brittle hair
Decrease in Appettite
Brain Fog
Headaches
Vertigo
Blury Vision
Memory Loss
Lack of energy
Insomnia
No REM sleep
Light sensitivity
Sore throat
Hoarse Voice
High pitched voice
Weight loss
Hot Flashes
High Anxiety
No Libido
No sex drive
Decrease in testicle size
Increase in penis size

I quit on March 24th, 2010 once I found this site and I was already thinking that maybe this drug was responsible for my deteriorating health condition.

After quitting I recovered greatly over the next couple of weeks my acne returned and so did my libido, however I finally crashed 2 months later, though it seemed like I was on a downward spiral about 3 weeks after quitting which finally caused me to crash. I was worse off then when I was on Fin. This happened at work and I had to leave after only 30 minutes of being there and I missed 4 days of work total that week. To cause me to miss work is something not even the flu could do to me, this was the first time I ever missed a day of work.

It was like I was on Fin all over again in June, my acne completely disappeared, I’ve always had acne, but it was completely gone. No libido, none, just deadness down there. It was so bad I actually had thoughts of suicide.

I saw a urologist, this visit was unproductive. Her name is Kathy [EDITED for privacy] in St. Pete, FL. and was the most unprofessional doctor I’ve ever had to be with. She told me that Propecia didn’t cause my problems and that it was all in my head(I think she was insinuating I had some mental problem). She said she gave lectures on Propecia and has never heard of anyone having problems with propecia like mine except for maybe some tribe in South America(Bitch). She was hostile to me the entire visit and didn’t listen to any of my concerns or problems. I’m normally not a violent person, but if was at my pre-fin self I would’ve slapped her for the way she treated me and the fact I was the one paying for this visit and yet she treated it as if it was her time being wasted. She didn’t like me bad mouthing Fin at all, almost as if it was a family memeber of hers.

Anyways, I started taking klonopin because my brain fog and headaches were so severe I couldn’t even think straight anymore. I also started taking 5 mg of oxycodone a day. After about a week of taking this my brain fog started to disappear and so did my headaches(I’ve never had headaches in my life before Fin). I also noticed whenever I took an oxycodone it would seem I could get an erection for some reason.

I’ve recovered so well lately I’m kinda surprised by it. My testicles are still about 60% as big as they used to be and it doesn’t seem like my testosterone levels have recovered yet as I stilll don’t have any acne. Though I have noticed a few small zits appear lately, I used to have at least 30-40 zits with 2-3 big ones all the time on my face.

I’m not sure if Klonopin and Oxycodone helped in my recovery or if I just naturally recovered. I was on Fin for about 9 months. I still think I am recovering, though I can’t be sure. I’m trying not to get my hopes up too much because if I don’t recover I don’t want to be greatly depressed over not recovering to the extent that I anticipated.

It’s a theory of mine, but maybe fin has caused us such high anxiety levels maybe we’re not sleeping well enough to fully recover from what fin has done to us.

I can’t really say, I have so many theories, I’d like to hear from you guys about how I managed to recover. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I got much better after taking klonopin and oxycodone, but it could be.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. If you have any theories, please feel free to share them, and I’d like to say thank you for you guys. If I hadn’t found this site while on Fin, I’d probably still be on it killing myself.

Voice change for the worse
#2

Ok so how many months has it been since you quit the drug? it sounds like you have just naturally recovered in good time.

#3

hey JOE-91 how is your recovery going?

@op : congrats on your recovery

#4

March 24th, 2010. So its been roughly about 4 months now. I didn’t start feeling consistently better until July. Of course this could all be premature, I could hit another brick wall any day again.

It seemed like between May and June it always seemed like it would get better one week and then much worse the next 2 weeks, but the start of June was the absolute worse.

It felt as if my body was going through Fin withdrawl. My anxiety was so bad in June I was shaking as if I had come out of a cold pool. I felt like a recovering heroin addict. It was just terrible. I had to wear heavy clothing at work and I live in Florida. I left the temperature at 84 degrees in my house and I still felt chilly. I had to swear pants and a sweatshirt at work.

As bad as I felt when I was on Fin, after a month being off I was 10 times worse. Only around the start of July did I realise I didn’t feel as crappy anymore and noticed I was getting better sleep which I felt had a lot to do with it.

It came to a point where I didn’t care about my hair or even trying to get a good erection. I just wanted this painful sickening feeling in my head to go away. Once it did it seemed everything started getting better.

The painful feeling in my head felt like a build up of pressure, only squeezing my head gave me any relief. It was mostly focused in the front forehead and on top of the head.

#5

Well, it’s been 4 months now. Though I still feel I need to recover a lot more. This posion has done quite a number on me. Hopefully in another 2 more months I’ll feel almost like I did before Fin.

#6

My sides were pretty bad towards the end but not as bad as this yet mine only got twenty times worse when I quit. Did you realilse at the time it was fin cusing all this?

#7

Compare Dury’s list of symtoms to those of zinc deficency below his:

DURY’S SYMPTOMS:
Dry skin
Pale skin
Hair thinning all over body
Hair loss
Brittle hair
Decrease in Appettite
Brain Fog
Headaches
Vertigo
Blury Vision
Memory Loss
Lack of energy
Insomnia
No REM sleep
Light sensitivity
Sore throat
Hoarse Voice
High pitched voice
Weight loss
Hot Flashes
High Anxiety
No Libido
No sex drive
Decrease in testicle size
Increase in penis size

ZINC DEFICENCY SYMPTOMS:

• behavioral and sleep disturbances

• dandruff

• delay in wound healing

• diarrhea

• different kinds of skin lesions such as eczema, psoriasis and acne

• growth retardation

• hair loss

• hang nails

• hyperactivity

• increased allergic sensitivity

• inflammation of your nail cuticles

• inflammatory bowel disease

• loss of appetite

• loss of senses of taste or smell

• loss of sex drive

• mild anemia

• pre-eclampsia (toxaemia) in pregnancy and post-natal depression

• pre-menstrual syndrome, disturbance in your menstrual cycle

• reduced fertility

• skin dryness and rashes

• white spots on fingernails, transverse lines and poor nail growth

#8

your story resemble 99% with my story except my penis size decreased.
do you have any blood test? if yes please share with us.

sps

#9

Sure, my blood tests were as follows.

Testosterone, Total: 429
Testosterone, Free Percent: 1.74
Free Testosterone 74.6.
FSH 1.9
LH: 2.7
Prolactin: 10.2
AST: 14
ALT: 9
TSH, 3rd Generation: 2.57
DHEA, LC/MS/MS 619
Red Cell Blood Count 4.26 million/ul Range Factor 4.2-5.8

Unfortunately that was all in range though I do believe before Propecia my Testosterone levels were higher, also I had those tests about a week after qutting, I had another test done recently. I wouldn’t be surprised if my tests were worse, but they could also be better.

The only thing that was out of range was my Bilirubin, Total: 2.1 which was twice as what was as normally expected.

#10

I have been told by a doctor that high Billirubin is a sign of copper toxicity. Might want to check out the thread on copper toxicity in this section. Copper depletes zinc. You have all the signs of zinc deficiency.

My Billlirubin is high as well.

#11

I don’t know why but propecia caused massive hairloss within me. Not only on my head but my entire body, it’s like it stunted my growth and slowed my metabolism. While on propecia my hairline receeded about 2 inches. Since quitting it’s practically all back, my hair is much thicker and my hairline is only about a few cm’s or less from where it was when I was 14.

I can tell my hairline is continually moving down, I have a lot of white little hairs all over where my teenage hairline used to be, and they’re also all over my face where I used to have hair growing before propecia caused them to stop growing.

What’s also strange is I feel like I’ve recovered very quickly compared to the situation I was in. I was quite bad in June, with serious thoughts of suicide, I was crying and desperate for help.

I started taking thyroid medication and within a week of taking that my pale skin turned back to its olive nature and my hair seemed to be growing faster and thicker, I also noticed a lot of shedding, I still shed like crazy but no bald spots or diffuse thinness like I had 2 months ago.

I take Synthroid and one Centrum a day. I also drink a crap load of Coca-Cola. Most of my side effects are slowing disappearing.

Another negative side effect of Propecia was it stopped me from sweating, I used to be a diffuse sweater, when I started taking that drug I noticed I could tolerate warmer weather without sweating. I could literally run my hand under hot water and not flinch. Also I was very cold in normal weather to the point of being freezing.

I think propecia does damage to your thyroid. I remember 3 weeks after quitting I was very sick and coughing very baldly. There was this substance that was comming out of every orifice in my body. I had this stabbing pain in my throat and I wanted to throw up. I had such a hard time swallowing.

This substance looked like plaque. It was comming out of everywhere. It was all in my throat and I kept coughing to try and get it out. It was comming out of my eyes, there was so much of it all around the inside of my eyes I couldn’t move them. It was comming out of my pours all over my body, you name it, it came through there, ears, nose etc. It took about 3-4 days for this to finally settle down.

Also while on propecia I was very constipated and my feces was yellow. When I quit my constipation ended but my feces was still yellow. My feces looks normal now, but I’ll never get over what kind of shit this drug did to my organs.

Nobody here named a side effect of quitting propecia like this, but that scared me the most. I thought I was going to die.

Diffuse hair loss after fin
#12

The yellow feces is a result of your high billirubin. When your billirubin goes high enough your skin will also turn yellow which is called jaundice.

#13

Thanks J899, appreciate you telling me that(I am treating it now). It’s much darker and thicker now though. Hopefully Centrum will treat that, it contains 11 mg of Zinc.

There’s one more thing I’d like to add on why I am possibly recovering as quickly as I am considering I think this drug had a much more negative effect on me than most here, which confounds even me as to why I am recovering so quickly(I never thought I would recover), especially taking into consideration the lack of treatment provided to myself such as TRT or HGH.

I was diagnossed with Bipolar Disorder as a teenager. I used to have rage fits of mania, or manic depression. I’ve suffered from it my entire life, that was until I started propecia.

I think my feelings of mania are starting to come back. I’ve only noticed this because I’ve started lashing out at people and then being sympathetic moments later the last couple weeks. I haven’t been like that in almost a year.

People at work today said I’ve been acting differently. More aggressive or authoritive. I didn’t actually notice this myself, but I was quite shocked to find out I was. I also noticed many other aggressive activities I used to do before propecia, my racing thoughts are really starting to come back.

In my opinion, from my experience. Propecia or Fin in this case, seems to screw with your head more than anything and that’s why we don’t recover. Maybe because I was already screwed up in the head to begin with that’s why I’m recovering - I dunno.

#14

11mg of zinc wont do much. You need about 50mg per day. Thats whether you have a zinc deficiency or not.

#15

Remember I had these tests a week after I quit. I think most of that was due to propecia in the first place. I don’t have yellow feces anymore. I think my body naturally recovered.

I think propecia could cause thyroid disease and/or problems.

I think many members on here should try synthroid for a month and see if it helps them with their problems.

One side effect of hypothyroidism is erectile problems. I myself have kinda low T, yet I can get an erection whenever I want, but I don’t have much desire to do so. My libido issues are getting better and my health in general.

Again, look into hypothyroidism and see if synthroid helps you out. I started sweating on top of my head and started to shed those hairs because of it. In fact I think it’s the reason why I still have a full head of hair.

The interesting fact of the matter is, my father has been on propecia for 13 years and has never had any problem. However he also takes synthroid, which got me thinking maybe that balanced out the problems that we had.

He’s also a doctor, and I’m thinking he knows something he’s not telling me about all this. He’s also the one that told me that synthroid will cause all my problems to disappear.

He’s a supporter of Fin, he doesn’t believe Fin causes a drop in testosterone or all the other problems we have experienced. He thinks it’s all in my head and as long as I take synthroid all my problems will be gone. I don’t have a good relationship with my father, he’s the one who introduced me to Fin and I do think he should have been more responsible in telling me what true side effects I could’ve experienced.

Though it completely puzzles me beyond all belief how a 60 year old man with a full head of hair who has been on propecia on and off since it came out can still have a strong libido and none of the side effects we all have.

He has been right though in one thing, since I’ve taken Synthroid over the last 2 weeks its almost like I’ve already made a complete recovery. Considering the first 3 1/2 months after quitting was like a rollercoaster through hell.

#16

Always puzzles me why some much older guys take fin for hairloss, you’d think they’d have come to accept it.

#17

Yeah, I don’t think I’d care either in 20 years. My father though isn’t suffering from hair loss, I don’t think he even needs to be on fin, I’m just saying he’s never experienced any of the side effects we have.

He’s 60 years old, but he looks like he’s 35. He looks like he could be my older brother. He looks a lot like Ozzy Osborne or Johnny Depp, from what everyone says.

I don’t think I needed fin either. I think it actually caused my hair loss by causing my thyroid to fail. I only took it because of a remark from a co-worker that my hairline was receeding, due to my bipolar disorder I took drastic action. Once taking fin I experienced sudden and rapid hair loss. Receeding temples and diffuse thinning on top of my head.

Only when I quit did I stop losing hair, my hairline started to come back to where it was originally. I’m not kidding that it’s only about 1-3 cm’s away from where it was when I was 14.

2 weeks ago, on advice through my mother from my father. I started taking synthroid, she said that he said it would return me to normal. Within that time my hair has grown much faster, my voice has become deeper, my hair thicker(all over my body) and my libido has gotten better.

I kinda wonder if Male Pattern Baldness is not as prevelant as we may think. What if most men’s baldness or thinning is caused by thyroid problems?

Did cavemen suffer from MPB due to evil DHT?

I think many men have been mistreated about this issue entirely. I believe that there is still much to learn medically about this situation.

My ownly regret is that I actually took a picture of myself when I quit, unfortunately I deleted it because I was so depressed and thought I would never recover. I wish I had that picture now so I could show you how much hair I have gained since quitting Fin. I had to wear a hat for months because my hair was so thin on top, it’s only about 1 1/2 inch now and I can wear my hair freely and people think I’m just out of highschool.

#18

Just FYI, nobody really cares about hairloss here anymore. We’re more focused on trying to recover from the damaging effects of Finasteride.

#19

Oh I know that, but synthroid did that and everything else. That’s all I’m saying. I didn’t give two craps about my hair at that point in time or else I wouldn’t have quit. You have no idea how bad my hair looked, I didn’t care if I did go bald.

Since taking Synthroid all my side effects have disappeared or dissipated.

I think some people have been treating their problems in the wrong way. If your thyroid, pitituitary gland are screwed up. I don’t think you can fix that with TRT and hCG, especially when there might not be anything wrong in the first place. How can someone with T levels over 1100 have libido problems while me with barely over 400 get erections whenever I want?

I think Fin causes our body to go through menopause and shuts functions or lowers them in your body down. I also think that Fin for some reason triggers a gene that causes thyroid problems in some men. Why? I don’t know.

I was on Fin for 9 months or, a pretty long time, sometimes I even took the 5 mg proscar tablet. I’ve recovered very well within a little less than 4 months, tomorrow being the 4th month.

I know some people recover faster than others, but I did some serious damage to my body. I lost over 20 lbs. At one point I was only 112 lbs. My avg weight being around 130-135. I looked like a zombie, like a crack addict.

Either I recovered naturally, which by from the guys who have suffered from years for just being on this drug a few months I find that unlikely. Or what I took really helped me recover quickly.

I’ve only been on Synthroid for 2 weeks now. I’ve taken Centrum for probably a month now, sometimes I take a klonopin and an oxycotin. That’s it.

I’m not saying TRT or hCG won’t work if they have shut down your testosterone production completely. I’m just thinking out of the box here because I certainly didn’t need it, and I don’t think I recovered naturally, plus I’m still getting better. I can’t wait to see how I am a year from now, I already feel great, probably at 80% now. It feels like every week is an improvement.

I think my hair is a good indication of my health, not just on my head but all over my body. Considering propecia caused over half of my body hair to fall off and the rest to become so thin it was almost invisible. I barely had any eyebrows left.

I probably would’ve never posted here if I hadn’t recovered as well as I have, but for me I think it definitely caused thyroid issues and it might for other guys who say they have diffuse thinning but not quite hair loss, their libido problems might be hypothyroidism.

I just wanted to get my recovery out and maybe spread light on certain issues and drugs that may work, I certainly don’t want anyone to feel or become worse than they already are, but I know I’m heading in the right direction now and maybe others can too.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothyroidism

I had over 90% of these symthoms. Synthroid worked for me, if you have most of them maybe you have thyroid problems as well. Get it checked out and get yourself cured.

#20

Thyroidism is part of the problem as well, but some of us have a normal thyroid and are still having issues down there.

I’m in total agreement with awor’s Hyper-Demythelation theory, until proven otherwise. I have tried everything under the sun too(Except TRT/HCG). 6 years back I was on a higher dose of Clomid 50 mg 3x a day and my test levels got above 1350! I still was having bad ED, even after I tapered off the dose, my test levels went down to 900 range with normal estrogen, and still was having problems. Thyroid was also in check. For me and some others, awor’s theory is something we MUST explore.