- Where are you from (country)?
born in Brazil, live in Canada
- 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?)
- What is your current age, height, weight?
30, 6’0" 74kgs
- Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
Used to, but had to stop 1 year and half before coming off Finasteride, now getting back to it
- What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
Used to eat healthy, high protein, alternate between eating healthy and throwing in junk food every now and then. But for the last 6 months, only a crappy diet, which I believe aggravated the side effects.
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Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hair loss -
For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
between 10 years to 11 years
- How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
20
- How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
30
- How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
I quit cold turkey for 3 maybe 4 weeks and then got back to it, now I’m tapering it
- What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
I used all kinds, all 1mg, Propecia, generics, Finalop, even mixing different brands on different days, and not following the same time of the day, very reckless
- 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?
I’ve always had some side effects but no sexual side effects actually my sex drive was always high. But these side effects weren’t bad, i actually never thought i had them, just now looking back
- What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
Now I’ve had sexual dysfunction, low ejaculation liquid, low to none sex drive/libido, ED, bad liver (but also due to years of heavy drinking).
Put an X beside all that apply:
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
[x] Watery Ejaculate
[x] Reduced Ejaculate
[x] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[not sure] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[x] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[x] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[x] Confusion
[x] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[x] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[x] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[x] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Depression / Melancholy
Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ had prostate pain ] Testicular Pain
[x] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[x] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[x] Muscle Weakness
[x] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[x] Prostate pain
[x] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[x] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[x] bad liver
[x] back pain (upperback)
[x] hot flashes (maybe)
- What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
None, but my doc gave me Viagra
- 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)?
In progress…
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Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
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Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
I will write more later, I used Finasteride for a bit over 10 years, never had any side effects until a year ago when i changed my lifestyle (it can be a contributing factor). I used to be healthy at most part, work out regularly, eat healthy, but then I had a fight in a bar that wasn’t my fault, I’m a peaceful guy, 15 stitches on my forehead and had to undergo physiotherapy for 6 months, I couldn’t heavy lift anymore, a few months after my ex broke-up, so i stopped working out, lost a lot of muscle, got a bit down, sad, started an unhealthy diet with trahs food, frozen food, no fruits or vegetables ever, really crappy, i think all that contributed so i don’t think it’s all the drug.
Finasteride is bad but my friend takes for over 15 years, he is 35 (i’m 30), he never had side effects and he’s very healthy, never took any recreational drugs, doesn’t drink alcohol. I used to be a heavy drinker before the side effects. Not only that, i used to smoke weed, do ecstasy many times, did cocaine a few times, took creatine, maltodextrine, what else i can not even describe, never had the side effects while taking all this drugs with Finasteride, or if i did, it went away i could barely notice.
I think our brain is powerful. It can make you feel bad, and it can cure you. I believe that time and being healthy can cure these side effects i have listed above, that we all do, some people more or less, or different.
Finasteride puts your body in a lot of pressure, i would not recommend to anyone unless this person is really healthy like my friend, then I would recommend. Yes, sorry I would. It helped me until I got unhealthy, with the bad eating habits. Would it have happened even if I was still healthy, maybe, but I strongly believe it would not have happened. Anyhow, I quit.
Actually, this is the second time i quit. My ED started slowly, with another girl I was, but this time I thought it was because she wasn’t that attractive to me, maybe that was the case, when she broke up with me, then bum, i had complete ED. So then, i quit the drug, my hormones levels were considered normal. After a week or 2, my ED problems were solved. I could masturbate and have orgasm easily. Got back on Finasteride, had sex with a friend but couldn’t get hard enough, although i had a few drinks, i came once, thought it was the drink, kept taking Finasteride. After that she went to a clinic and said she had an infection. When I heard that, i felt disgusted cos i had slept with her without condom. She was a friend, I trusted her. After that, my sex drive is completely zero, it’s being a month. Now, don’t know if because of the infection that i might have. (still waiting for results) so many variables, i want to clear things out to make sure what it is.
But again, I don’t think Finasteride is the main problem for all that. It might aggravate or trigger, contribute, but other factors are involved too.
I would like to hear from you if anything changed in your life during the time you suffered from side effects.
I might have had sexual dysfunction in the past, but didn’t realize it as they ran away (if i did have). But today i can say that yes I have it. mainly sexual, that’s my biggest fear. And also fatigue.
I will undergo exams, bloodwork and all that… this is what my friend recommend me to do:
prostate fluid test, we want to know the quantity of white blood cells, pus and lecithin
Chlamydia, Straptococcus and Streptococcus , virus, fungus and numerous bacterias(anaerobic bacteria also)
sometimes test shows up positive for mycroplasma usually Mycroplasma genitalium and Ureaplasma urealyticum trichomonas which is the very important for the diagnosis of prostatitis.
calcium
hormone profile
thyroid exams
liver exams
pituitary exams
maybe even MRI (but i don’t think i ever had the brain fog)
And i’m now eat healthy, will go back to the gym, and I will take these as soon as i talk with my doctor:
Alpha-Lipoic
Pycnogenol
L-Arginine
Vitamin D
Vitamin C
Zinc
got from this site, has anyone seen this? propeciarecovery.byethost17.com/