Propecia destroyed my life and I am considering suicide

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)? Turkey

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 forum from a youtube channel. In this channel guy said propecia help is a fake forum and post finasteride syndrome is fake now I am experiencing pfs and I know this forum isn’t fake.

What is your current age, height, weight?
20 5’9 224 Ibs
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.)?
1mg daily
What condition was being treated with the drug? hair loss

For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)? less than one month. But I don’t remember well. I only sure it was less than one month.

How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start the drug?
19
How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
19 I don’t remember date
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
cold turkey
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects?
I didn’t realized any sife effects when I use. after 8 month-1 year I realized side effects
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
erectyl disfunction
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
[ x] Erectile Dysfunction
Complete Impotence
[ x] Loss of Morning Erections
Loss of Spontaneous Erections
Loss of Nocturnal Erections
Watery Ejaculate
[x ] Reduced Ejaculate
[x ] 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
[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)
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

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 didn’t take any test

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.

When I 19 years old I shaved my head and peoples feedback was awful. Peoples behavior towards me dramatically changed after I shaved my head. I became very depressed .Basically my father was bald and I know I am gonna become bald as well and I heard finasteride can stop hair loss so I started. After almost one month I read about side effects and I scared so much and I stopped. But I didn’t realize any side effects in this one month. Months after now sometimes I have difficulties with erections. Somedays I can’t get erect. For example yestertay I masturbated(with %90 erection) and ejeculated 3 times but today I can’t get hard and ejeculate. I am considering suicide. I am also a virgin I will never know what its like to have sex without side effects of this drug. I hope this drug get banned. It ruined my life. I am considering suicide.

#2

How long ago did you quit? It’s okay if you don’t know the exact date but do you have an estimate? A few weeks? a few months?

#3

I quit drug one year ago. Sorry my english is terrible. I can understand everything I read but I can’t write well. Basically I started 1 year ago. I took pill for less than one month than I stopped. In those on year sideeffects started. I didn’t realize any side effect when I take pill but it started after I quit. I hope I could explain. Did you understand? I also have severe depression for 4-5 years. I don’t know it its related.

#4

U only have sexual symptoms from the drug? Then why are are you so suicidal !! People here are literally disabled to do their daily work still they are fighting it like a warrior. Be happy that u are still functional enough.

#5

How I am gonna be able to have sex? I am really angry…

#6

Being angry and suicidal is different. I am also very young and virgin just like you, but i have way more symptoms than just not being able to have sex. Most probably our androgen receptors are fuckedup. Anyway, did u go to any urologist/sexologist?

#7

I am also suicidal. I have talked with my doctor I am gonna see him soon. Do you think are we gonna be recover? All I wanted was sex. I don’t have any other side effects.

#8

I understand you.
It’s a similar situation to mine then. I also only took fin for 1 month about 1.5 years ago.
My symptoms are similar as well.

I understand what you are going through. There are many lies and liars on Youtube, sadly, but we must focus our efforts on investigating our condition and seek out doctors willing to listen and do research.

I know you feel awful but suicide is not the way. There are more things valuable in life than chasing sex. Stay hopeful. Perhaps by finding the right changes in your diet and lifestyle you can find a better baseline.

If you are like me then you will probably have better days and worse days. Try to make the best out of the better days and try to find distractions on the worse days.

Meanwhile, it would be a good idea to get in touch with a doctor and start getting some tests done to rule out other possibilities.
Don’t smoke, don’t drink alcohol, and eat healthy. Take good care of yourself.

#9

Thanks. The guy was Kevin Mann. Someone should stop him. He cause a lots of damage. What do you think can we fully recover? I want to have hope. I can masturbate. And I get erection whenever I talk with girls.

#10

We simply don’t know if we can recover until we find out exactly what has happened.
There are numerous theories going around on this forum. Adjusted sensitivity of hormonal receptors, auto-immune, changes in gut microbiome, brain damage, just to name a few. But none of these are proven yet and more research needs to be done by actual medical researchers before we can say anything realistic about expectations for a cure.

I’m fairly confident in saying that avoiding stress and anxiety and living a healthy lifestyle will alleviate the symptoms to some extent or at least provide better quality of life.

It would be nice if you could take the website survey when you have some time for it soon.

#11

Most users on this forum have heard of this guy at least at some point. He is a very toxic individual indeed. It’s hard to understand what motivates such disbelief and resentment in a person like that. However, spare yourself the energy. There’s little point in trying to talk to a person who does not want to listen. You could go into the comment section and hopefully convince one or two guys not to take finasteride but in the end you can’t warn people who don’t want to listen.

With more research and awareness on our side, we might be able to flag and report such Youtube channels in the future and get them shut down for dangerous advertisement of toxic medications.

#12

Please stop, just stop and take care of yourself. Your life is worth it! You are so young and your body can get back to normal in time. You have no any other than sexual sides. You are saying you get erections WHENEVER you only talk with girls. Do you know it’s actually a dream for the most guys here? Means your brain - penis connection works perfectly while for many here it’s lost and for severe PFS cases it’s completely lost. Take care, young man! Life is just in front of you.

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#13

Yes talking with girls make me erected. Not full erection but erection. I hope I can heal. Thanks…

#14

Hey buddy I was 18 when I got PFS. I am now about to be 34. Its been some tough years, but I have adjusted life and am very happy to be alive. I am married, 2 kids, and mostly healthy and athletic. You can always get a penile implant that will “restore” penis function. I have managed to get my cognitive, energy issues back for the most part. Shoot me a PM if you want to chat.

1 Like
#15

Hello. How about sexual side effects? Did you recover?

#16

moonman1 what do you mean by “penile implant”? Thanks

#17

@God.kill.me
you defenitly have to do a blood work
Your doctor have to take :
Testosteron
Free testosteron
SHBG
Estradiol
Prolaktin
FSH
LH
DHT

after that you will know more .

If your only other problem is a bad Erektion you can take 10 mg tadalafil that will work very well.

For depression try to meditate 10 min every day and take htp-5 every day before you go to bed and if you dont do sport than start with it, it helps to focus on other things it increases your testosteron and hgh levels and also will make you more happy and confident .

#18

C’mon man don’t give up. It doesn’t look like you were hit with the full mental sides, just sexual ones. It can be a lot worse, give it more time and keep trying to stay on a healthy routine. I know it sucks but people have recovered after years. Don’t lose hope, and your chances of recovery are higher since your only dealing with sexual sides.

Also you might want to look at pelvic floor dysfunction, a lot of your sides could be attributed to that. The dysfunction could have been triggered by propecia but it could become persistent depending on your daily habits.

#19

You feel you are suicidal because of fear, stress, anxiety you are currently feeling. you need to calm your self down. Then you can live happily with what you have left whether you will 100% recovered or not. With your current stress you don’t feel that. So do Wimhof breathing, Go in nature, Read Buddhism if you like and Multivitamin and Vitamin D also good from my experience.

1 Like
#21

Man I will never have a relationships I will never have fully sex. Those are makes me feel terrible. But I feel a little bit better now. I read bible.