One 1mg pill, August 13 2020 - crashed again...?

Member Stories
#1

Welcome to our community. Please fill in the following template as a way of introducing yourself, and helping others to understand your background and situation.

Where are you from (country)?
UK

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

What is your current age, height, weight?
29, 186cm, 74kg

What specific drug did you use (finasteride, dutasteride, saw palmetto, isotretinoin/Accutane, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, leuprorelin, etc…)?
Finasteride

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

What condition was being treated with the drug?
Mpb

For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)?
1 day

How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start the drug?
29

How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
29

How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Cold turkey

How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects?
4 hours

What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
Can’t get aroused

Check the boxes that apply. You can save your post first, then interactively check/uncheck the boxes by clicking on them. If your symptoms change, please update your list.

Sexual
[ x] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ x] Erectile Dysfunction
[ x] Complete Impotence
[ x] Loss of Morning Erections
[ x] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ x] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[ x] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ x] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[ x] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ x] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ x] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ x] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts

Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[ x] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[ x] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ x] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[ ] Hearing loss
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature

[ ] Other (please explain)

What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
Vitamins D, zinc, multivitamins

If you have pre or post-drug blood tests, what hormonal changes have you encountered since discontinuing the drug (please post your test results in the “Blood Tests” section and link to them in your post)?
Waiting on blood tests

Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience?

Tell us your story, in your own words, about your usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.

Finally took the plunge to start finasteride as I was self conscious about my hair ofc. Took a pill at 4am after pacing back and forth, when to bed and woke up without the ability to control my penis just by thinking. It’s been 9 days-ish(took pill August 13th 4am - its now August 21st 9.30pm as I write this)
My girlfriend was naked and around me and I couldn’t establish a connection with my penis to have any reaction whatsover. Is this impotence? The strange thing is with mechanical stimulation at a slow rhythm at a certain pace, I can get rock hard, but this is less from being aroused and more so from feeling nice I think. As soon as I stop touching it it falls down. When I try to ejaculate I can think of something arousing or watch porn (a bit easier) and by beating faster towards climax, but it shrinks a little as I get to fast. Ejaculation looks normal colored but it mostly just dribbles out.
Any advice or words of help would be appreciated. I don’t think I can keep working pretending all is okay when I’m breaking down inside.

Is the penis-brain connection known to recover at all? Thank you all.

Also, my balls constantly hang low. Even when exercising they used to shrivel but stay low (only time they shrivel is a little in a cold shower and when climaxing)

#2

Any advice or words to help ease my mind would be appreciated. I’m breaking down silently

#4

Give it a few months before you start telling yourself you have PFS. Many people recover naturally as their body adjusts after being exposed to a potent anti androgen. Hang in there!

1 Like
#5

Many people with even severe initial side effects recover within the first few months. Take care of yourself and try to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Try not to overthink your symptoms, despite the shock. Stress and anxiety tend to make the symptoms worse.
I hope your performance isn’t impeded too much but both you and your girlfriend may need to adjust your expectations relating to sex for a while as you recover.
While some people here have had lasting effects from a single pill and a worst-case scenario isn’t entirely off the table, try not to assume this is the case for you until symptoms persisting after 3-6 months.

1 Like
#6

Appreciate it it guys. Just surreal you know haha. Each day I take cialis 2.5mg to get blood flowing, but it doesn’t raise the zero libido or give me spontaneous, morning or nocturnal, just keeps my penis up harder when it is up (ceasing stimulation brings it straight down though). My issue is zero libido right now. The stress and depression are all derived from the sexual impairment and thoughts of doom lol. Don’t think I had a crash, because I didn’t get better initially. Just straight dead upon waking up a few hours later till today. Occasionally I have a tingly feeling down there like I’ll almost feel a libido, but nothing worth noting.

#7

I’ve just been reading and found out I may have castrated myself on one pill… I’m desperate and tried to cry, yet I can’t shed any tears. Shock? Maybe lack of any emotion now? I dont know. But it appears my life is over, future plans with gf and job… all gone thanks to one pill

#8

Dude relax there’s a very good chance you’ll recover and go back to normal, you can’t just say you have PFS right off the bat give it a few weeks/months to see improvements don’t expect to go back to normal right away.

1 Like
#9

Its just been 10 days and I have had no natural erection at day or night. No libido at all when looking at girls on the street. Even my own gf has no effect on me mentally. Its scary. I’m sorry for being a blubbering idiot. I have never been depressed in my life. This is new to me ha

#10

You might improve with time/fully recover 10 days is nothing try living 3 years like this.

#11

My heart aches for your situation, my friend. 3 years must be hard. I admire your strength. I just don’t think I’m strong enough… sorry for sounding pathetic. Just after scowering this site and cross referencing my symptoms, there’s next to no hope…

#12

I’m sorry, Tricky, but if you’re facing these many sides, you probably do have PFS. The only way you’re facing these many sides is if the drug changed something in your body besides DHT levels.
Many people get much better with time, but I don’t want to lie to you. Your life may never be the same.

Try not to panic, as people with PFS are highly sensitive to stress. Let your body recover as much as it can.

#13

I understand, I realized that the mental sides have really just spawned from the horror of the sexual sides. Never giving up hope, but researching into what i can do thanks to this community

#14

Please don’t waste hours researching about this condition. I did the same and got nowhere.

Just hang on, because the first 2 months will be the hardest. New symptoms may pop up.

Time is your best friend.

#15

Appreciate your words. Thank you. Stay strong, yourself

#16

Please keep us up-to-date with your progress. I gave almost daily updates in the 5 months I had PFS. I really helps new users by setting expectations.

#17

I’ll stay with this group as things change, whether I recover or not

#18

Interesting update:

Woke up on day 14 post pill with a semi hard morning wood. First erection without manually trying for one since. I remember having a dream about a girl I liked lol. I’m not sure if I was touching myself while asleep which may have made it hard though. But progress right? Potentially libido wise.

Yesterday I took a tribulus pill which I think made me feel more ‘lust for life’ than usual that evening (all my hormones tests came back normal btw, so I thought I had nothing to lose) and I also listened to some guided meditation last night going to sleep to calm me down and “heal the brain” so to say.

Taking cialis daily to keep the blood flowing (even with dead libido lol)

Will keep posted.

1 Like
#19

I’m glad you had some progress but even with normal hormone results, your body’s reaction to finasteride is still in the balance! I don’t know how much one pill can suppress 5-ar molecules, but given how bad your symptoms are I’d say the 5-ar was pretty badly suppressed. They have a 1-month half-life to be regenerated by your body after finasteride blocks them, so will easily take like three months for your body to be creating 5-ar molecules like it should do. Do not fuck with this progress by messing with your hormones during the meantime!

Again, glad you’ve had the progress, but I really cannot emphasise enough that for three months or so, you should not take anything that messes with your body’s self-calibration. A hormone blood test doesn’t tell you the whole story, not even close.

(I’m referring to the tribulus mainly, which you should definitely stop – cialis probably isn’t a bad thing I don’t think, but am not sure)

#20

Appreciate the advice. What about other supplements I’m taking? (Zinc, l arginine, vitamin d, multivitamin)

#21

Vitamins probably no problem, not sure about zinc and l arginine, but I imagine you could drop both for the time being. Probably there’s a thread somewhere about both, but I do think I recall someone saying that zinc gave them bad side effects, ages ago.

Best things to do are fasting, get direct sunlight (vit D from tablets is nowhere near enough), and take cold showers. Live healthy for a couple months, keep your mind off of your symptoms and just do a little write up of how you’ve been feeling every couple weeks or so. Every month or so you should see a positive recovery gradient, stronger erections, clearer mind, etc. That’s been my experience, anyhow.