Please help, experiencing side effects and want to know "how to quit"

General Discussion
#1

Hi, I am 19 years old and I have been on Propecia for almost 8 months. When I first started using it I thought I was experiencing side effects (inability to become erect), but I kept taking it and the problem went away on its own (or at least I thought)

However, about a week or so ago, I realized that my penis has lost a lot of sensitivity, and that I don’t experience orgasm when I ejaculate. The ejaculate is also significantly more watery than before. My libido has also taken a dive. However, I am most scared about the penis sensitivity issue. I am extremely scared and cannot focus on my studies…

Can someone shed some light on this issue? I was wondering two things–

Is it possible for the side effects to hit me so suddenly? That is, i was totally fine (masturbation was normal) two weeks ago, and then suddenly, my penis lost sensation/orgasm gone.

Also, if I decide to quit this product (which I am leaning towards doing) should I do it cold turkey? I’ve seen posts on this forum saying that this was not the best way to go about it.

Thanks!!

#2

FYI – this question has been asked many times before (how to quit). In future pls review or search the site before posting questions, because someone else probably asked the same thing before you.

Yes it’s possible. Some guys get hit with sides right away, others in a few months, for others it takes years and then BAM, they get them out of nowhere.

Read FAQ at top of site for more info. If you want to ween off, reduce dosage as much as possible and space out dosing. This post propeciahelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1170 provides some good insight as to how to do so.

In general though, it’s best to get off the drug ASAP as each time you take it again, you inhibit 5AR2 for another week at least.

#3

thanks for the answer.

so it’s not entirely necessary for me to ween it off-- I can just stop it immediately if I want to?

#4

Please read section 5 of the FAQ.

Short answer is nobody knows if it will make a difference. Some people just want to get off ASAP and quit cold turkey… others space things out over weeks or months. If you’ve been taking the drug a long time and want to ween, cut dosages and space them out over increasing amount of days. At some point you will take your “last” dose which essentially would be “cold turkey” at that point.

#5

just quit and start a food supplement like GNC’s mega men or similar ones are best for recover period (2-3 months) be patient and wait .time is the key player for recover and dont start again the finasteride.

#6

personally,
my first quit, i cut off dosages lower them day by day and completely stop it. 15-35 days after i totally recovered .
but then i start finasteride and dutasteride together because of hairloss i used 3 -4 months then i stop immediatly one day.
now 2.5 months passed today i dont feel like the first recover ,
so lowering dosages “i think” changes things a lot in recovery.

#7

Well, I quit once cold turkey and was feeling good, fully recovering, the whole nine. I started it again because of hairloss and this time, after quitting cold turkey again, It’s taken forever to get back to normal. I really think stopping and starting is one of the worst ways you can put this drug into your system. The negative effects seem to be magnified like this…

#8

for example i lost my ability to grow healthy, ticker beard finasteride completely stop the stimulation of growing new facil hairs. it paused my puberty for 1 year of usage.
im trying to recover past 2.5 months.

heAlp

#9

so cdnuts, you were completely fine after quitting cold turkey UNTIL you started the drug again?

also, does anyone else’s penis slighty curve to the left when it’s flacid? this isn’t a precursor to peyronie’s is it? I did some research on peyronie’s and its an upward curve to the penis when erect so hopefully i dont have that…

#10

I believe I was fully recovering after the first bout with this drug yes. I had done my first fast of two weeks and quit that way, cold turkey. I was recovering and felt good, and then without knowing the dangers, I started taking the poison again. My penis hasn’t been the same since as far as size and fullness are concerned.

#11

I had a similar experience. I quit once after a year on propecia and went through an absolutely horrible depression… enough to scare me off the drug for a while. Fortunately it had completely gone away after about 6 months, and I noticed absolutely no sexual issues. Then I took finepcia cut in half for the better part of the year and I’ve been having problems ever since I quit about 5 months ago.