peres story

Member Stories
#1

  1. How did you find this forum?
    google search

  2. What is your current age, height, weight?
    24 years old, 183cm, 78kg

  3. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    martial arts and gym

  4. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
    meat eater

  5. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
    hairloss

  6. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
    16days

  7. How old were you when you started Finasteride?
    24

  8. How old were you when you quit?
    24

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

  10. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
    Propecia

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

  12. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    1 week

  13. 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
[X] 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
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[ ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature

[ ] Other (please explain)

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
    Zinc

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

Hi there.

I took propecia for 16 days. I noticed weak side-effects, low libido, ED about after 7-10 days. After 16th pill those side-effects were really strong and there were no possibility to have sex at this time. I decided to quit propecia immediatelly.

Honestly I’m seriously shocked that I’ve got such strong side-effects after 16 days (16 propecia pills).

Right now, two weeks passed after quiting fina. I have some progress. I can get erection without manual stimulation. I can masturbate and get nice orgasm. However it is still far from how it was before pills.

Currently I’m taking Zync. I read threads from Recovery topic. I will try massages and ginseng. I also read a lot about brocolli, so I will put them into my diet. I guess I should be patient and need more time to fully recover. I will keep posting on any changes I will experience in this topic.

If you have any other advices on recovering, please reply below.

#2

Get bloodtests as outlined in Hormone & Bloodtests section to see what’s going on with your body, it’s the only way to know what might have been impacted.

#3

Mew, I know I should do these tests. However, they are quite expensive for me in my country and I have not find the place where I could get most of indicators (I live in quite small town). Other thing is that it can be a little to late.

Right now, after 3 weeks since last pill, I’m about 70% of my libido from before Propecia. I still have a progress, so I hope and expect to fully recover without any serious complications.

I spend a lot of time at gym, I have quite healthy diet, drink green tea, suplement with ZMA, linum. I also visit sauna few times.

Anyway, if you still suggest to take bloodtests I will try to find best possibility for me and get the results.

I will post my progress in about next 7 days.

Apologies for my poor english.

Have a nice day.

#4

(26th day since I quit propecia)

Hello.

Today I had really nice morning wood and one random erection during day, but not as strong as I used to have before pills. Still, during the day I have low libido and quite small ‘mental contact’ with my penis. I hate this feeling.

I can get erection by visual stimulation. Faster that 10 days ago, but still it takes much more time that before propecia. Without manual stimulation I can’t keep erection as long as before. What is good, I can masturbate and get very good orgasm.

I keep in my recovery schedule following:
-weight training at gym
-Zync
-low sugar diet
-soya
-linum oil
-ginseng
-green tea
-sauna
-walking at least half an hour per day
-deer excercise

Thinking about adding L-carnityne and/or Tribulus Stack.

I also wonder how masturbation influences recovery. I read on the forum/google and found diffrent opinions. For me, It for sure has nice positive mental effect as it refresh me the feeling of strong erection and orgasm, which is very positive.

Have a nice day.

#5

I’ve read that it’s best to only masturbate about 2 or 3 times a week if you can. This way it gets excited but not exhausted.

#6

Thanks for advice. I will try it this way.

I want to take next 3 days off masturbating and reading forum and think us much as possible about anything else that side effects to get more rest in my mind from it. I will post about next Monday/Tuesday.

#7

I would also refrain from taking a lot of concentrated Green Tea supplements as apparently they can act as a mild inhibitor of 5AR type I… although green tea has many pro-cancer fighting and health qualities.

Just something to consider if you are at all concerned about affecting 5AR from this point forward.

#8

Soya has also some moderate estrogen like effects so I would strongly suggest to avoid it while trying to do a serious recovery progress.

It is also known that sauna has some anti-androgen effects so if I were in your shoes, I would avoid it too. Sauna makes sense when everything is fine with you.

Gym is the best you can do because it will boost your androgen output and increase the blood flow.

#9

(about 1 month since I quit propecia)

Hi,

Weekend was very nice for me. I didn’t visit forum and tried not to think too much about recovery. I visited gym and I was also on the party. It was quite nice as I met a girl and get nice erection while kissing her. However I didn’t decide to have sex with her. I’m still a little afraid I won’t be able to manage a good sex with a woman.

I think I still feel small progres, however now it goes slower than in the first two weeks.

Since previous week, I feel that I can get erection through visual stimulation faster (but still not as fast as I used to) and I can maintain erection longer without even touching a penis.

Sometimes I get random erection during day (usually one or zero).

What is most annoying me right now, is still small mental contact with my penis. When I start thinking dirty, it feels that my ‘excitment’ gathers near testicles but I can’t ‘push’ it into my penis. Usually while dirty-thinking, doing contradictions similar to deer excercise I was able to quickly get erection in such way. Right now it feels that I have to wait as it slowly flows into my penis without possibility to push it into. Does anybody have or had similar sensations and feelings? Do you suggest something in this case?

Right now, in my mind I have strong sex drive and really want to have good sex and girls are making me horny, but currently I’m a little afraid that if I would fail, I will start to have serious mental troubles with this. I think I will wait some more time, as I still have some nice progress, but on the other hand, I feel that if I will have a good sex, it may help me a lot.

Mew: I don’t take concetrated Green Tea supplements. I only drink green tea. I always used to drink it. But if it can have any influence I will avoid for at least 30 days. Thanks for suggestion.

majkellos: Thank you for your response. Ok, I will take out soya. I like sauna very much. As you probably know, it has quite nice effects (blood circulation, body and mental relax etc.), but I follow your advice and put it away for some time. Of course I will continue to do a lot of gym.

#10

Mew, someone on Polish forum about hairloss sent me such link:
jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/133/2/516#SEC2

I’m not good at scientific english and I’m still don’t know too much about hormonal chages and side-effects due to fina. Am I correct if they claim that green increases testosterone and DHT, and this may be helpful in recovery?

#11

Hello,

Today, I have different thoughts in my head.

It feels that I slowly regain my ‘mental contact’ and feeling in penis while not erected. But it still quite far from what I would like. During erection - everything is ok.

I get morning wood each day, but not 100% strong. I will try to rest and sleep more (last week I had quite exhausting both at work and private).

One thing, which concerned me is that I had today very slow reaction for visual stimulation (porno). I almost coudnt get erection. Last week I had this time quite short and almost about normal time for me, to get erected. Hope it will not stop in that point and I will recover to normal.

I have a question (probably there is answer on this forum, I will try to search, but want to ask here to get faster response). If my only side effect currently are such ED like getting erection very slowly, not so strong morning erections etc. is it issue of:

  • low testosteron
  • low DHT
  • 5ar
    -maybe prostatisis
    ?

I do a lot of gym, take Zync and I almost sure I have quite high testosterone. As I constantly loss my hair, like before propecia, I think DHT should be around similar level. If both testosterone and DHT are ok, then 5AR should be also Ok. Am I wrong?

#12

Without bloodtests, it is all guesswork and nobody can give you straight answer.

But you could also have other imbalances such as elevated estrogen, thyroid stimulating hormone, prolactin etc which also play a role in your issues.

Also, since DHT mediates Nitric Oxide production (NO is required for erections), and you blocked DHT with Fin, perhaps nitric oxide synthase nerves have been affected in Prostate and penis… look through the “Other Studies” section for the connection on all this.

L-Arginine or Garlic supplements may be helpful to boost NO production, check Natural Supplements section.

#13

Mew, thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.

Concerning NO. I’ve just remebered that during period when I was taking Propecia, I was also using creatine as a supplement on my gym traning.
Below link to it:
nitrobolon.com/INDEX_ENGLISH.HTML

It strongly increases production of NO.

Now I have two questions in my head:
-Could it somehow amplified side-effects of Propecia?
-Is it good idea to use this creatine during recovery?

What is your opinion? Any ideas are welcome.

P.S. For sure I will try garlic and Arginine soon. I will post effects and my feelings on them.

#14

Highly unlikely. Nitric Oxide is a GOOD thing, and Finasteride decreases NO production via inhibition of DHT (since DHT mediates NO production).

This I have no idea about but if you have bloodtests showing compromised kidney function, then no I wouldn’t take it.

Yes well, just be sure not to overdo it on the garlic as it operates as a blood thinning agent, and don’t use it with fish oil concurrently as fish oil also thins the blood… personally I alternate 1 capsule of garlic/fish oil every day.

#15

I’ve just had a visit with urologist. Now I have mixed feelings. I told him my story, he asked me to lay down and checked my genitals. After a while he told me that I don’t have anything to worry and everything will come back to normal.

This is definitelly good news, but he didn’t tell me any details. I tried to ask how much time it would take, I asked if I can somehow help myself with diet, excercises etc, and I asked what happend to me. But the doctor was only talking that I’m young, I dont have to worry about anything and everything will be back to normal. He doesnt know how much time and he told me that I only need time and I dont have to change anything in my diet, lifestyle etc., just live like I used to.

In the end, he prescribed me 2 pills of viagra if I would like to try them before sexual intercourse, as this may help in getting back to normal. He also suggested not to think to much about getting back to normal and not to worry too much (again).

In general, this visit made me feel much better psychically, but I’m a little afraid, that it is possible that dr doesnt know too much about such cases and followed some standard procedures, checked basic things, suggested viagra and that’s all.

#16

Hello,

I currently had two, best days since stopping taking propecia.

On Saturday->Sunday night I was on a party. I was drinking and dancing a lot till 5 a.m. On Sunday I was pretty tired and had a little hangover but I felt very horny, had my wires connected to the penis and only few dirty thoughts was enough tp cause really strong erection.

Today it is pretty much similar. I estimate that currently I have about 80-90% of my sexual power,feeling and behave.

I hope it will goes into full recovery without serious falling back. Anyway I’m a little afraid because I’ve already had such strong regress in recovery about 10 days ago.

I still thinking if party, alcohol etc. had influence on my condition during last days or if it was only a coincidence? One thing for sure, the party made me feel great, happy (my happiest day since taking first pill or even longer), relaxed. My mind wasn’t worring about anything. On the other side, alcohol seems to be bad for libido. This is also interesting because I used to be always very horny, high libido few hours after drinking a lot of alcohol. Maybe it was strongly anchored in my mind and my body followed this assocation?

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#17

Short update.

Unfortunately, after two days I described in previous post, side-effects returned. What is good - I think they are weaker than before. Right now it only takes me more time to get erection. Today, during day I had about 3 random erections. Most time I have slight connection with my penis while not erected, which is also sign of some progress. But right now I’m pretty sure that it will take more time that I expected to recover to desired state. Thus making me difficult to judge, what has an effect during recovery and what doesn’t.

I took some garlic for about 2 weeks, now I will switch to more fish oil (omega 3). Further maybe I will try Arginine.

I keep doing a lot of gym, taking Zync and ginseng.

#18

These changes between you feeling of connection of brain/penis may be associated with progesteron imbalance. One day it is relasead as it should, but the other day it might be elevated. Progesteron has a huge impact on neurotransmiters by its natural strong potency to inhibit 5 alpha reductase, it also can supress LH, FSH if overproduced. There are many guys who deal with this imbalance here even if they do not realize it yet.

It is true that the younger you are the easier will be to get back to natural balance with this issue (you already have some progress), but for some guys it is more difficult…

I have a strong advice to you. Stop drinking alcohol and buy some liver enhancing suplements like Essentialle forte.

#19

Thank you, majkellos. I will follow your advice.

#20

Milk Thistle and Alpha Lipoic Acid are supposed to be some quality supplements for the liver. There is some pretty good stuff that is being manufactured with the purpose of protecting the liver of a steroid user, look into it.