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)?
Australia.
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?)
AI
What is your current age, height, weight?
50, 175CM, 62 KG
What specific drug did you use (finasteride, dutasteride, saw palmetto, isotretinoin/Accutane, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, leuprorelin, etc…)?
Topical 1ml lotion of finasteride .2%, minoxidil 7%, tretinoin .01%
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1ml per day.
What condition was being treated with the drug?
Standard male hair loss.
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)?
One day, one dose.
Date when you started the drug?
27 December 2025.
Date when you quit the drug?
Only one dose.
Age when you quit?
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Cold Turkey
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects?
One or two days after.
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
Cognitive problems, energy problems and immune system problems.
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
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ ] 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
[x ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[x] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[x ] Confusion
[x] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[x] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[x] Slurring of Speech
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[x] 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)
[x] Muscle Wastage
[x] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[x] 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)
Cognitive - headaches, mood swings, low mode, burning/short circuit feeling in the brain, poor sleep, non-restorative sleep
Energy - low energy, HPA axis fatigue
Immune – neutropenia, feeling immunosuppressed, recurring infections, slow injury healing
What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
Rest, energy management and magnesium
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)?
I can’t remember if I havePre drug blood test for testosterone etc.
I do now have low white blood cells 3.6 and neutropenia (low neutrophils) at 1.44.
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.
So I have a long history of health problems with my main health problem being termed post infectious disease syndrome. Basically it’s like long Covid or chronic fatigue syndrome, but Mine started with an infection in Brazil in 2011.
I was worried about side effects from finasteride so I decided to do topical, but I’ve since found out that with decent sized topical applications the drug still suppresses a significant amount of DHT.
I took one dose of the topical on 27th December 2025. I decided to stop and wait a couple of weeks because I forgot to get Pre drug hormone tests and I wanted to do that so planned to wait for a couple of weeks for the finasteride to clear my system and test my hormones.
Well, a day or two after I started noticing some depression and cognitive strangeness, like headaches and moods swings. As things progressed over the next few weeks I had difficulty getting a maintaining an erection, lots of brain problems with mood swings, flatness, and eventually what I call short circuits where I felt this firing in my brain and felt dead in the brain afterwards. Got so bad I had to stop everything I was doing and just rest in a dark room. I did this for weeks not even able to watch TV or things like that not able to socialize not able to talk too much without getting headaches and cognitive problems. It was one of the hardest things I’ve done, but slowly after a few weeks, I began to heal. I felt like my brain was healing, and my neurotransmitters were starting to recover and produce again. It was still very difficult, but I felt like I was getting better. My sexual sides went away and haven’t come back.
There was however, a consequence, which was that my gut which is really bad anyway became even worse… I do fecal transplants for my gut and because it got so bad I urgently had to do some fecal transplants so I did them and within a few weeks I started to have recurrence of old infections, and feel immunosuppressed.
Unsure what was going on I did more transplants and the second time around, I felt more immunosuppressed and had recurrence of another infection.
I did a third dose of fecal transplant, and around this time recorded low neutrophils on my blood test and became really sick, feeling immunosuppressed and having recurrent infections.
During this time all the repairs I was feeling in the improvement in neurotransmitters suddenly stopped, and my recovery from PFS and my brain sort of stopped in their tracks and haven’t made any new progress in the last month or two. In fact, I’d say I’m regressing slightly.
I have used this fecal transplant donor before several times with success so I don’t think that is the cause in itself.
I’ve researched this a lot on AI and it suggests that the finasteride mucked up my androgen receptors and that’when I’m doing fecal transplants those transplants are sending signals to my immune system, which are being over interpreted by the faulty androgen receptors. For instance, the transplants may have an anti-inflammatory effect which is usually good, but my androgen receptors are over interpreting that signal and it’s causing immune suppression.
I have read elsewhere on here that stressors to the system can cause problems with the androgen receptors in PFS. Maybe that’s what’s happening here with the transplants.
I’m trying to stop the transplants now, although I do sometimes desperately need them for my gut, but I’m hoping that if I stop them and can handle it that my system will return to that healing phase in and the good production of neurotransmitters
Has anyone had any experience with androgen receptors, immunity, stressors in PFS?
Like many of you this has ruined my life. I can barely function now and I’m having trouble seeing a way out.