Where are you from (country)?
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?)
Google and r/tressless
What is your current age, height, weight?
20, 6ft, 170lbs
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.)?
1 mg/day
What condition was being treated with the drug?
Androgenic alopecia
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)?
Two days… yeah I know.
How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start the drug?
First dose 22 May 2019
How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
Last dose 23 May 2019
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Cold turkey
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects?
Within an hour of taking the first dose.
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
Sexual
[ ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[x] Loss of Morning Erections
[ ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[x] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[x] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[x] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[x] 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
[x] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[ ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[x] Prostate pain
[ ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] 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
[x] Other (please explain)
Pain/tingling in penis, pain in pelvis, pain in anus (on one occasion felt like a golf ball in there for like 10 minutes after ejaculating). Is this what is meant by prostate pain? Also very recently a “cold” feeling in my penis.
What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
Trying not to masturbate, since I feel like maybe ejaculation is causing more pain afterwards. Also trying to get better sleep and get more protein in my diet (with protein powder). And exercising more.
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)?
n/a
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience?
This fucking sucks, I realize I don’t have it nearly as bad as others (at least so far), but I am very afraid for the future.
Tell us your story, in your own words, about your usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
After meeting with a hair transplant surgeon, he suggested I try propecia for a year before going under the knife. He told me that none of his patients experienced side effects with this drug, and that I shouldn’t worry about sexual side effects because they are extremely rare and should resolve themselves anyway if they were to appear. Since I’ve been losing my hair since my mid-teens I was kind of desperate at this point, so I just thought, you know, what are the chances? I’m pretty sure I won’t be one of this super tiny minority of guys whose lives are ruined…
Lo and behold, about an hour after the first dose, I felt a slight tingling in my balls, but I didn’t think too much of it. The next day, I had some testicular pain, but I read on r/tressless that this was a side that lots of people get and that it should go away on its own. Then I took the second dose, and the next day I was having a fair bit of pain and starting to get a little worried. The pain was getting pretty intense intermittently and I took some CBD to try and manage it but it didn’t seem to be of any help. That night I was out and I had put the next dose in my jacket, but by the end of the night I knew I wasn’t going to take it.
The long and short of it is that for the past 4 weeks I’ve been dealing with testicular pain, pain and tingling (a cold sensation starting as of a couple days ago too) in my penis, pelvic pain, and anal pain. Sure it comes and goes, and there have been a couple times where I didn’t notice these sides at all for like most of the day or a couple days only for them to come back quite intensely. Mentally this has all been pretty distressing, and I do think I’m having some brain fog because of it. I’m forgetting tasks at work and losing focus in my university classes. Whereas I feel like I was in a really good mental state before I went on this drug, afterwards I’ve been feeling more depressed and emotional.
But mostly I’m angry at myself and angry at this hair specialist for prescribing this drug to me. I knew about PFS before taking it but I did it anyway. I was so worried about giving myself “nocebo” that I mostly stayed away from the propeciahelp forum. But I can’t go back in time so I just have to deal with my reckless mistake. My GP gave me an appointment for a testicular ultrasound, but I think I’m going to ask him to refer me to an endocrinologist because as far as I can tell this is a hormonal problem. Whereas I used to be pretty secure in my penis size, I’m now pretty obsessively measuring it whenever I have an erection to make sure nothing has changed (so far it’s the same, thank god).
I’m thinking of cutting out masturbation for a week because I read that could increase testosterone but then again I’m very conflicted because common sense tells me to just use it if it’s working. It’s just so fucked that I only took two doses and I may be fucked for life. I also want to say fuck r/tressless for peddling this shit, you can see my post there here if you’re interested:
I want to believe that things will get better, but to be honest I’m not so optimistic. I’m very skeptical of trying any of the fixes people suggest here because it seems like what one person says cured him another says made things way worse. And I’m not about to start a nootropics stack… even if I had the funds for that. Maybe some sort of hormone therapy is in the cards for me, since I live in Canada and am fortunate to have healthcare. I’ll try to update here about my situation as much as possible, but in the meantime, solidarity. Fuck Merck.