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Where are you from (country)?
United States -
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?
24 -
Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
Yes, weight lifting and cardio -
What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
Meat eater, generally pretty healthy -
Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hair loss -
For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
1 month -
How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
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How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
24 -
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Cold turkey -
What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
Propecia -
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
0.5mg -
How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
Hours -
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
[X] Erectile Dysfunction
[X] Complete Impotence
[X] Loss of Morning Erections
[X] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[X] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[X] Watery Ejaculate
[X] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[X] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[X] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[X] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Depression / Melancholy
Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[X] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[ ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[X] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] 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
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[ ] Other (please explain)
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What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
Mutlivitamins -
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)?
N/A -
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
N/A -
Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
It took one month for me to decide that Propecia was probably one of the worst decisions I ever made in my life. I was well aware of all the side effects, but seeing as how some people experience none I decided that it would be worth the risk to see if I was one of the lucky ones… bad choice. Within minutes of taking the drug, I felt slight testicular pain and I started to notice changes in how I felt within days. It wasn’t until around the end of the 3rd week that I started feeling like I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, coupled with difficulty sleeping and a gradually decreasing sex drive. After being unable to overcome this feeling after a few days of focusing on sleep and diet, I decided to taper my dose down from 0.5mg ED to the same dose EOD.
After I skipped my dose and took one the next day, I woke up the next morning with noticeably decreased libido. I suppose this was from the ED dose of fin no longer giving me a 15% increase in T everyday day. At this point, I began to panic and decided not to take another dose until my libido returned. Over the course of 4 days or so, my libido continued to gradually decrease until reaching a point where I was unable to get fully erect and hold it for longer than 20 seconds. This had to be one of the scariest moment of my life because for as long as I can remember I’ve never had difficulty achieving an erection for over a day. Thankfully for me this erectile dysfunction only lasted two days and my penis began to show signs of life again, and now a week later my libido is at near pre-fin levels.
With my libido now returned, I’d like to say that I’m proud to be a man who is balding. I’ve developed lumps in both breasts coupled with slightly puffier nipples, and realize that I’ll most likely have to get costly surgery to have it removed sometime in my life. I realize there are non-surgical ways of treating gyno, but I’ve made the decision to never mess with my hormone balance ever again. To those who have persistent sides after quitting, I truly have sympathy for you because I only felt those feelings for days and I could only imagine what it’d be like had they persisted longer, and I hope for you to someday recover.
Again, I’ve seen a steady increase in sex drive since quitting, but I can’t believe at my age I’ve been turning down women for fear of being unable to perform. My username is Hopeful, but from this point on I’d like to consider myself Grateful. I’ll never alter my hormone balance unless for a life-threatening condition ever again.