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)? USA
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
What is your current age, height, weight? 27 6’1’’ ~222
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.)? one time application topical finasteride 0.3%/minoxidil 6%
What condition was being treated with the drug? Alopecia
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)? once
Date when you started the drug? April 10th, 2022
Date when you quit the drug? April 10th, 2022
Age when you quit? 27
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? cold
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects? not until a month later, crashed May 8th
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
Insomnia, ED, pleasureless orgasms, Genital numbness and atrophy, abdominal pain, anhedonia, tinnitus, tingling in left hand?
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
[ x] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive (better)
[x ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ x] Complete Impotence (resolved)
[x ] Loss of Morning Erections (resolved)
[x ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[x ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections (better)
[x ] Watery Ejaculate (resolved)
[ x] Reduced Ejaculate
[x ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[ x] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ x] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness (better)
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ x] Slurring of Speech (resolved)
[ x] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ x] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks (resolved)
[ ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[x ] Suicidal Thoughts
Physical
[x ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[x ] Testicular Pain (resolved)
[ x] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[x ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[ x] Prostate pain (sometimes)
[ ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ x] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[x ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets” (better)
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ x] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears) (much better)
[ ] Hearing loss
[x ] Increased hair loss
[ x] Frequent urination (resolved)
[ x] Lowered body temperature
[x ] Other (please explain)
Insomnia (ehh)
What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
none
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’ve known about finasteride for some years now and was always afraid to take the plunge, until hims came out with their new topical solution. I had used minoxidil for several years and never had any issues. Topical solution was marketed as a safer option, but I was still hesitant and read that pfs was still possible with topical so I forgot about it. It wasn’t until I watched a video of a guy on tic-tok say he used topical hims and showed his before and after results which were amazing. I also watched a video of a famous tic-tok dermatologist whom said he was on finasteride himself for prevention of hair-loss as well as his college. This made me feel much more comfortable and I said why not. I just need to get over my fear of taking the medication and surely topical was less likely to cause harm as I did my research and read peer reviewed articles that said so. Still skeptical and afraid I only used it once and said I would wait a month or so to see if I developed side effects. Weeks went by and I felt no change until a week before my crash I had some ball ache that I now know was the start of my demise. The following week I noticed trouble sleeping and woke up one morning having a panic attack with right upper quadrant pain that led me to the ER where everything was found to be okay. I graduated from getting my masters degree that Saturday and was noticing bad anxiety that I chucked up to me now having to study for my board exam. The next day was when my anxiety was really bad and I was really stressing over my board exam and was wondering why I was so stressed I was never stressed about exams, then I tried to masturbate to relax and when I tried I got a half erection and ejaculated a large amount of watery semen and my penis shriveled and curved to the left. I broke down in tears in my apartment and smashed my roommates desk out of pure rage because I knew what was happening. I threw my topical solution in the garbage and called my mother to tell her I was coming home to tell her what happened. My immense anxiety and insomnia continued but I felt more comfortable being at home. I went to my doctor and he prescribed me buspar which I took and had suicidal ideation which led me to the ER again where I was involuntarily committed and put in a mental hospital for 5 days. During my time there I started to recover and even when I went home at this time I was only taking hydroxyzine which relieved my anxiety and insomnia (God knows how). I started feeling myself again so I stopped the hydroxyzine and started back my topical minoxidil and vowed to never touch fin again. Well my anxiety came back and then insomnia, along with episodes of complete impotence. This lasted for another two weeks then went away, but the trade off was for anhedonia. I have now been 4 months off and symptomatic for approximately three months. I’m still experiencing the right upper quadrant pain but got labs done and just waiting on those.
Self-reporting template - ONLY USE FOR FUTURE POSTS TO REPORT ANY TRIALS OF TREATMENTS, NOT YOUR INITIAL MEMBER STORY
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Name of the therapy/substance:
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- How often you took it:
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Status
- Still using [ ]
- Stopped with no lasting change to initial symptoms [ ]
- Stopped with persistent change to symptoms [ ]
- Duration of use: Days [ ] Months [ ] Years [ ]
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Response when you started:
- Greatly improved [ ]
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Current response (if you’re still using the therapy/substance) OR Response in the time before you stopped the treatment
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- Slightly improved [ ]
- Stayed the same [ ]
- Slightly worsened [ ]
- Greatly worsened [ ]
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Lasting changes to initial symptoms after cessation (if you have stopped for more than 3 weeks)
- Greatly improved [ ]
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- Stayed the same [ ]
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- Greatly worsened [ ]