Propecia - 10 years after a 3 months treatment


  1. Where are you from (country)?
    Italy

  2. 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?)
    I heard about this site on a tv show, and i gave a look on google

  3. What is your current age, height, weight?
    37; m 1,75; Kg 69

  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    I do jogging, but not regularly

  5. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
    I’d say mediterranean diet: pasta, bred, vegetables, legumes, cereals, greens, fruit, fish. Meat once/twice at week.

  6. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
    Hair loss

  7. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
    3 months

  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
    27

  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
    27

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

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

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

  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    3 months

  14. 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
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[x] Loss of Morning Erections
[x] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[?] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[x] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[x] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[x] Anxiety
[x] 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
[x] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[ ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[x] 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?
    Psychotherapy

  2. If you have pre or post-Finasteride bloodtests, what hormonal changes have you encountered since discontinuing the drug (pls post your test results in the “Blood Tests” section and link to them in your post)?
    I did not investigate about hormonal changes.

  3. Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
    After 10 years, symptoms are less acute, but still present. I just learned how to “manage” them in some way. For sure, my libido is still not the same.

  4. Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
    I took finasteride for 3 months. At that time, i was a young boy very active and happy to live; I used to have sex even 2-3 times/day and more. After 2 months of drug, i started registering something changing in me. I felt even more sexually active for a while, even more of I already was. But one month later things changed to the opposite: my libido fell drastically. I suspected Finasteride to be the cause of this, and stopped taking pills, hoping that things would have settled. But things did not change and depression and acute anxiety literally buried me. I started living like a hell in my life, a real, daily nightmare.
    I thought that depression was the real cause of that status, and I exonerated finasteride.
    In the years, I learned to cohabit with the new condition. Now symptoms are attenuated, but I am still very far from what I was before Finasteride.
    I can say that actually I am sexually older of my age and a lot less happy to live than before.
    Now i heard about post-finasteride syndrome, and I recognized what happened to me.
    I want to say thank you to who made up this forum, thank you to who has been so kind to read this post, and thank you, from my heart, to who would suggest me something to do to get better and to smile again to life, a little closer to the pre-finasteride time.
    Thank you, and excuse me because my not good english.

10 years… you don’t leave me much hope man!

I am italian as well, the story is the same, except I quitted 16 months ago, and I was 23. I don’t have treatments obviously… just a question: have you ever experienced temporary recoveries in these 10 years? (maybe taking vitamins, under antibiotics, i don’t know)

Thank you very much
All the best

Ciao Nico,
don’t be descouraged, everyone has his own history, every body reacts in a different way, so don’t be afraid.
I have not solutions, but what I can say is that the fear is something working in a hellish way in these cases. Because it amplifies the physical problems establishing a vicious circle.
I went immediately to psychotherapy and I felt better 3 years after stopping pills, and since that, I have a decent life.
I am not “strong” like before but my emotional sphere is going better even if I am more “sensitive” than before. I can say that time worked in a positive way, even if lately the situation is stationary and arranged at a “medium” level, for sure not the “high” level pre-finasteride.
For sure making sport, living life at best you can, I think can help.
Don’t think that you have a problem, but reject this thought, when it comes up in a bad way. This does not mean that you have to deny how things are, but simply don’t allow bad thought to bury you.
And sex will go better. Then even your life will.

I’d like to know, if there is something that we can do, something that could help us to come back to the pre-finasteride status.
Do you know if in Italy there is some place treating the post-finasteride Syndrome?
Did you watch last night the tv show talking about it?

Bye and all the best!

Fallen, did you see the TV show? not many of the users on this forum were able to as it was televised in Italy. What sort of channel was it on? would it have gotten many viewers in Italy?

There is no ‘cure’ for post finasteride syndrome. Some guys feel better using hormone treatments, some beating infections such as candida and some have even felt better using 5 AR inhibitors again (i.e. propecia/ dutasteride/ saw palmetto). The fact of the matter is, nobody knows the mechanism behind our illness and therefore it’s unlikely a set ‘cure’ will be found anytime soon. For all we know everything that has became a theme in terms of treatment/ theories on this website could be way off. The research direction could be way off.

If you are interesting in finding an understanding physician or experimenting with treatments yourself then dig into this site and you will find the information you need. A couple of things have a particularly good track record:

. GHB/ Xyrem
. Anti candida treatments e.g. Nystatin (nobody really knows why)
. Dexamethasone - it did nothing for me but it has helped others in the past
. 5 AR inhibitors - a couple of guys got better using them

Hello bluecloud,
that tv show have gotten around 1 million viewers (circa 4% of share)
If you want, it should be available soon at rai.tv/dl/replaytv/replaytv.html#day=2011-11-18&ch=3
The tv show is “Mi manda Rai Tre”. Unfortunately, it is in italian, and there aren’t subtitles or translations.
If you can understand italian, the PFS part is near to the end of the show, if i remember well.

Very thank you for your precious suggestion. I am scared to introduce any drug in my body anymore, but i will see. Thank you!

Bye and all the best.

Fallen, please do your own research before beginning any treatments and ask lots of questions. I suggest you read through the main site (propeciahelp.com) thoroughly before beginning on this forum. You should get a full testing done, recommended tests can be found on the blood test section of the forum.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=92

Some things that help members here with cognitive symptoms are fasting, a raw food diet, paleo diet, very moderate exercise and getting enough sleep, eliminating caffeine, alcohol, sugar, and any foods you might be allergic to. IMO, once you’ve taken these steps and gotten your blood work, it’s then a good time to consider hormonal treatments or other medical treatments. Some other people will suggest looking into HRT asap so you need to evaluate this info based on your needs/risk tolerance.

You will find very varied opinions on this site and a problem we have is that some people are very sensitive to things while others don’t even respond to them. We also have a problem of developing tolerances to things like PDE5 inhibitors, so be careful about what you put in your body and try to cycle supplements. Take it slow and try not to stress yourself.

[Size=4]I do not agree with the above poster that 5AR inhibitors are a solution to finasteride side effects. In fact there is a risk of becoming much worse by taking 5AR inhibitors again. [/size]


bluecloud, shortly after you posted here you posted on another thread stating:

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=4162&start=20

It’s misleading to someone who does not speak English fluently to suggest in the way that you have that 5AR inhibitors may help his condition.

Broad statement without any factual grounding. This concept of taking Finasteride to re-inhibit 5AR/DHT/neurosteroids and undergoing androgen deprivation again is dangerous advice.

I am not aware of any users who have “recovered” from such a trial, and if they did claim to do so, they only had a few posts on this site anyway and never shared much detail, severely impacting their credibility. I’ve also never heard of such advice or improvements from any of the PFS docs treating the condition, or researchers investigating it. If one wants to take Finasteride again, they probably shouldn’t be on this site.

Fallen, I would ignore the advice to re-take Finasteride as a potential treatment option. Bluecloud87, do not keep proposing this dangerous advice to new users, this will be the only warning given.

Very thank you to Mew and Martin.
I would not have introduced any drug without a doctor prescription, and it has to be a doctor working on PFS. I know there are not many around the world, but I hope to find some here in Italy: on that tv show there were at least 2 working on PFS.
For sure I would not take Finasteride!!!
If I think back how many damages my body got, a fully healthy body, after that 3 months treatment… i get crazy! And how much sufference i passed through…
If finasteride is the cause, then finasteride is a POISON!

Thank you to everybody, and keep in touch!