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Where are you from (country)?
US (Boston) -
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 search… don’t remember. Was a while ago. -
What is your current age, height, weight? 44, 5’ 5"
31, 6’3, 180lbs -
Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
I’ve been lifting every other day for the past 5 months or so. Not sure it’s helped PFS but probably a good thing to be doing anyway. -
What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
I eat meat… try to get in a decent balance of veggies & fruits. I eat organic when I can (every time I’m at the grocery store, which is Whole Foods), although I eat out a lot. -
Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hair Loss -
For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
5 years -
How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
24/25 -
How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
29/30 -
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Cold turkey, which might have been a mistake I realize now. -
What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
Propecia -
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1 mg/day -
How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
Pretty early on, but was in denial about what was happening as the effects were so variable. -
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
[x] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[~] Watery Ejaculate
[~] 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
[ ] 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
[x] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[~] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[X] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[X] Other (please explain)
While taking Propecia I developed Atrial Fibrillation & Ulcerative Colitis. These might not have anything to do with PFS (UC is genetic for me), but AF in people my age is very rare unless you’re a coke head (which I’m not). Today I found literature talking about Nitric Oxide being related to both, which begs the question – did Propecia or catalyze these other conditions?
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What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
None -
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)?
I had my testosterone measured while taking it and recently, both times the levels were around the 300s. I need more blood work done. -
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
The dark purple under my eyes started probably early on – only reading about it today do I realize there might have been a connection.
More below
- Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
I took Propecia for 5 years. Worst mistake of my life it seems. The main effects have been ED, for which I was in denial because it was just so variable. There had been plenty of times I had sex successfully, and sometimes it just simply didn’t work. I don’t think I need to tell anyone on this forum that it’s about the worst thing as a man that can happen. Especially when you’re both 26 or so and gay (which means you can directly compare you flaccid sorry ass to your friend’s hard and ready to go cock).
For a while Viagra seemed to work; now it seems to be getting worse. I recently went from hard to soft, and then hard again 20 minutes later in a current sexual session while on Viagra 50mg. This is unacceptable and I feel totally utterly destroyed. that potential anything with him is now DOA; how can I have have an LTR if I can’t fuck?
I see Dr. Munarriz here in Boston in about 5 years. Man that appointment could not feel farther out.
The only hope I have is that I can frequently masturbate with an erection. It’s not as hard as I used to be, but at least it’s something. If I could just maintain that every time I have sex at least there’s some plausible light at the end of the tunnel. That probably means there’s now some psychological component to this all; how could there not be? But if Viagra isn’t a sure thing anymore I don’t even know what to do.
What I want to know is for people that aren’t so mentally affected with variable ED, have there been any non-severe treatments that have worked? This forum has A LOT of trial and errors, and after going through a lot of it I figured it might be better if someone could help summarize the current knowledge.
Thank god for the Internet that I don’t have to be quite so alone in this condition…