PFS after nearly 4 years off?

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)?
Germany

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?
33/183cm/77kg

What specific drug did you use (finasteride, dutasteride, saw palmetto, isotretinoin/Accutane, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, leuprorelin, etc…)?
Finasteeid
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1mg a day for the 1st year, 1 mg every other day starting from 3rd year
What condition was being treated with the drug?
Hair loss
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)?
4.5 years
How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start the drug?
2012 (25 years)
How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
2016 (29 years)
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Taper off, not planned but because I forgot it quite often
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects?
No side effects during usage
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
Erectyle dysfunction
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
[ ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[X ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[x] Loss of Morning Erections (less, but still there)
[x] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[x] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[X ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ ] 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
[ ] 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
[ ] 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?
None so far
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)?

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.

I was using finasterid 1mg/day for around 4.5 years to Stop hair loss. However, starting from the second year, I took less than 1 mg/day, mainly because I forgot to take and didn’t want to be change my hormons to much. Daher around 4 years ( at the end maybe 1mg/week) I stoppen using finasterid. During and after taking Finasterid, I never experienced any side effects, such as low libido or erectyle dysfunction. I stopped Finasterid nearly 4 years ago, and starting in September 2020 I experienced some problems with erektyle dysdunctions. All of that started, after I left my ex girlfriend in a very emotional way, and started seing a new one. On the last day with my ex-girlfriend, I could not maintaine an errection for the first time in my life. With the nee girl, I had some difficulties at the beginning but then for 5-6 weeks everything was fine. Crazyly, only when I had sex with her. Masturbating was and is difficult, since I cannot keep and get an erection. Alter an intense week of sex, I started to have problems again and could not get an erection for 1 week. After she helped me and we had 2-3 times bad sex with a semi-hard cook, it went back to good again. However, even though I was getting erections just from kissing her, I was not able to keep them. By using her hands and mouth, she was able to get it hard for sex. Alter having sex for 10 or 15 minutes, the erection survived also when not penetrating her. However, after again a lot of sex, I was not able to keep my erection when penetrating her. And the masturbating with a totally hard erection only works with morning wood, I have maybe 1 or 2 times a week. Now my question: ja it possible that this all comes from Finasterid, even after 4 years of quitting triggered by a Bad psychological mood those days? Have you heard of anyone else having this history?

#2

Another question to the comunity: the two breakdowns I had were both triggered by sex/orgasms. I read somewhere in the forum that this also happened to other people. Does anyone know the corresppnding stories, and if - how they improved.

#3

Sorry to hear man. How is this affect your relationship? I am so afraid to date with a girl because I am afraid I can’t make her happy.

#4

It is still somehow working, after each crash it even gradually improved. She is really happy with the sex, but most of the time I am afraid that I cannot keep my erection - even though this was quite often not the case. But I am really afraid that it still gets worse.

I read your story as well, you are also a person who got the first symptoms pretty later after stopping the medicine. Did you not have any symptoms before? I also don’t know what it means that the symptoms Start that late.

#5

I only used less than one month in 2019. Than I stopped in this one month. I didn’t have any side effects first than slowly in this one year symptomps started and got worse with time. I don’t know I have a terrible depression for years maybe it also has an affect on my erection. But I think it is related to finasteride.

#6

I had strong fever of up to 40 degrees the last days, and it looks as if things worsen from day to day regarding my errection. Have to see a doctor soon. What are your recommendations? Ever heard of a story like this where things gradually decrease over 4 months after such a long time off? Really desperate, I thought I will never get PFS after 4 years off and wanted to start family planning…
To be honest, I could live with limited sex life (hopefully with semi hard erecetions) , but I really want to have a family.

#7

Hey guys, I start to be really desperate. I started to loose any feeling in my penis today, and maybe also the connection to the brain. I tried cialis, and it worked, but full errection (90%) only with stimulation. I have to mention that I was in bed with a cold for almost a week and still have some fever.

I more and more get the feeling that I develop what most of you guys developed during use or after stopping. Do you see any way to improvex for me? I am really desperate now.

But crazy how every situation continues worsening starting from november after my first near 100% recovery. On the other side there is one poing of hope, my sperm has been never as white as today for a decade, the only side I had with Fin (however, accompanied by increased amount those days)

#8

Sorry to hear that you’re having problems.

You’ll see that sex problems are the absolute tip of the iceberg of the condition if you read around.

Many people do get better or recover.

One of the things that we find is that use of anti androgenic substances can be a trigger. So while you may have primed your condition with use of finisteride, another drug may have actually “pulled the trigger” some time later. People have been brought here most commonly by Finasteride, accutane or anti depressants, but there are other things, including things like anti fungal creams.

You should consider that there may be risk from similar substances that you may be taking or be offered in the future. There is a chance that you could develop other symptoms with subsequent exposure. The search function of the forum is one way that you can see if others have had experience of a particular drug.

There are a lot of things written here which frankly are dangerous. Be careful who you take advice from, there are many people who would tell you exactly what to do to fix yourself, despite being unable to fix themselves.

I’m sorry to not have more good news for you, but I think there’s no need to be fatalistic, you could very well improve again, many people do.

1 Like
#9

I’m off finasteride almost 18 months and I’m completely reliant on cialis. I noticed my ejaculate has decreased since coming off finasteride and I was always a little concerned about potential (in)fertility implications. I went to a fertility clinic two months ago and everything is in order - I have loads of sperm. Maybe book a fertilitity test if you’re concerned - mine cost less than €100 I think. I have only read a selection of articles on this website but I don’t recall anyone saying they were infertile.

#10

Hi all, my symptoms seem to worsen. Even though I was able to have sex, the feeling and sensitivity worsened.

And, by far worse, I started to have sleeping problems, am not hungry anymore and start to sweat and now have problems to focus and keep things in my head. Brain fog not so far, also no changes in penis size or tissue. These things all started during my cold, which is however over. As I was reading a lot in this forum those days, I don’t know how much my fear of having something bad permanently plays a role. But things worsen so quickly, unbelievible. I looked back into my memory and I am quite sure that I did not use any medicine or cream or whatever which I had not used before (whicht might be anti androgenic to directly cause a crash ). So the big trigger were these 3 months full of adrenaline, after ending my last relation. Is this really PFS? On the one side, I start to believe more according to the severe symptoms and my history on Fin, on the other side this a quick, continuing and severe crash out of the nothing. I ask myself whether such things would be also possibly mental issues? Any help and recommendations? I am becoming really depressed because of my bad health situation.