Quitting Finasteride

General Discussion
#1

Hello Everyone,

I have been taking finasteride for probably 3-4 years for hair loss related issues. I experienced side effects in the very beginning including very low libido, testicle pain, my penis shriveled up and I couldn’t even masturbate. I reduced my dosage from the 1mg to approximately .5mg immediately and the side effects went away to some degree. I eventually upped my dosage again to the 1mg and continued that way for probably a year. I then began lowering my dosage again, and was taking approximately .6mg daily for some time. About 4 months ago, I upped my dosage to 1mg daily again, and I am experiencing fairly bad effects. It is difficult to estimate how badly I experience sides during the 3-4 years, because I did not have any women to test out my twig and berries with. However, during the times that I lowered my dosage, I definitely had an increased desire to masturbate, and was able to do so nightly if desired.

However, after reading this forum, I am pretty terrified about the prospect of my penis numbness and low libido being permanent. I do realize that I have recently increased my dosage, and I suppose increased sides should be historically expected, but I am still very concerned and I have a lot of questions…

If you had to guess, what percentage of people would you say experience permanent side effects after quitting propecia, and what percentage get full or nearly full recovery? Especially for people who have taken the drug for as long as I have.

Is it more common for permanent side effects to creep up after prolonged use, or is it an acute response in some susceptible people?

Is it a good sign that reducing my dosage previously increased my libido?

I have not taken the drug for two days now, but I read on this forum that decreasing my dosage overtime may be more desirable. Someone mentioned a “CRASH” after quitting cold turkey, and I am wondering what that meant exactly?

What I have noticed after these two days has been the obvious sensation of male pattern baldness on my head. Something is going on IN my head as well, as in, I feel odd (perhaps related to the propecia fog, hopefully, lifting?). But most obvious of all has been my testicles, both of which have gotten considerably larger than usual, my otherwise sad-saggy-sack seems to be fuller, and I most definitely “feel” something going on with my balls. I am hoping these are all GOOD signs, but can anyone please enlighten me?

Thank you all.

#2

Review the QUESTIONS section and FAQ viewtopic.php?f=13&t=7 , also this thread on quitting:

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=4338

Many of your questions will be answered.

#3

Hi Mew,

Thanks for the fast response, I have read through both posts, thanks very much. I have decided to ween myself off the drug gradually, and will be taking approximately .1-.2mg (down from 1mg) starting tomorrow and continuing for a week. I will then continually reduce from there.

Can anyone comment on what the actual side effects are? Is it impossible to get an erection (without the aid of pills?), or just difficult? Or is the trouble with maintaining an erection once you have it? Or are the side effects not consistent for everyone suffering from PFS?

#4

Side effects of what? Being on the drug, or off? Have you not read the sections off the homepage of propeciahelp.com, including “The Post Finasteride Syndrome” sub-section?

Review propeciahelp.com/symptoms and all the other subsections of PFS on the homepage to familiarize yourself, your answers lie there. This entire forum is a case study in PFS so spend some time reading and you will gain a better understanding.

#5

Hey molybedenu,

I’m sorry your body is going through this, we all know how terrible it feels. Please read the links that Mew has posted, they should give you a better idea on what sort of sides effects to expect if you do not improve within the next couple of months. Also are you planning on doing a bloodtest before you completely ween off the drug? (it may help you later) If you do, please test your “dolichol” in addition to the other things listed in the bloodtest FAQ.

Anyways, I’ve got a theory going about what could be causing this whole mess, and I was wondering if you’d like to test something out for us. All you’d need to do is eat a bag of uncooked raw spinach leaves every day for a month (or for however long you’re planning on weening off of finasteride, whichever is longer), as it’s vaguely possible it may help prevent you from crashing. Also please post a followup response at least once a week for the next two months with how things are going.

#6

Hi guys. I’m in a bit of a bad way over here. As you know, I quit. After my posting, I took a small dose of finasteride for 3 days, and afterwords my dong was completely useless. All sides were there in full.

At that point, I stopped completely, and haven’t taken it since. During the week that followed stopping things improved a lot, and I eventually felt good. Two days ago, I was taking a bus and couldn’t stop getting erections. I masturbated later that day and something just suddenly changed, and I did not feel anywhere near as good. I was able to have some mediocre sex that night, but only after my prostate seemed to relax a bit (and I couldn’t keep the erection for more than a few minutes).

So that was 2 days ago. Since then, I have not felt good at all. My prostate feels VERY “full” and its been burning a lot. It stings when I pee as well. What I consider “good” things though, are that I keep getting nocturnal erections (though, not the strongest) and I was able to get a very solid erection while giving the dong a test run today. Also, my penis is hanging much more fully than it was during my propecia days (though it feels squishy and very numb).

I’m pretty much terrified, and I don’t know what to think of all these conflicting signals. Does anyone’s story resemble mine? What was the eventual result?

#7

all you can do is wait to see if your body gets better. chances are your body will adjust because most people get better after some time… personally myself i didnt and some others didnt, but we are going after treatments that i know will get us better. if you are not better in 3 months, then come back and get some of the blood tests done.

#8

moly,

try to take as good care of yourself as possible next 3-6 months. Get plenty of sleep, eat healthy w/alot of raw fruits and veges, don’t masturbate if you can help it, and don’t drink too much or use any other drugs. Some of us have crashed after masturbating or a night of drinking. Chances are you’ll be just fine and not in the boat we are in.

#9

Hey Guys…

So, things are not improving. The prostate full feeling is gone, but my penis is so completely numb, I can’t feel anything. I could hit it with a hammer and I would get nothing. I still get horny, but sex without viagra is impossible. I haven’t felt any changes in balls or penis or prostate like I did in the beginning. It just doesn’t seem like anything is happening anymore.

I take it I’m completely screwed, and have permanently damaged myself? Oh, and on top of that, I’m still going bald as hell since stopping propecia. FML.

#10

any updates?

#11

Well, I’m back, and as you might guess, that means I am not recovered. All sexual side effects are still present. I thought for a while things might be moving in a positive direction, but then I always end up falling back down and feeling like crap again. I have not had successful unassisted sex once since this started. In fact, when I feel like total crap, I can’t even get an erection with viagra. Those days seem less common than they were before though.

To be honest, I think I’m totally screwed, and that’s mainly because even if I feel better in terms of getting an erection and masturbating, my penis is still horribly numb. In terms of good things: I still get horny and masturbate reasonably often, my penis responds to pornography without touching it. I’ve started dreaming again rather frequently, and I get some morning and nocturnal erections. I also have no mental side effects or physical muscle loss or penile fibrosis or anything like that.

The only sides that I have are infrequent prostate pain (comes particularly when I am feeling bad), infrequent testicle pain (I actually think this is a good sign, because I often feel better around these times), totally numbness of my junk (even my balls and legs surrounding the area seems to feel weird when I am bad), can’t keep an erection, and possibly emotional blunting (not sure I’m even able to “love” anyone).

So yeah… When things are bad, they are really bad. When things are “good” they are still pretty bad. So, I guess I’m just another one of the thousands of guys who has ruined his life trying to keep his hair. Great…

#12

It’s sad to see another victim. You don’t use any hair loss forums by any chance do you?

#13

I did frequent some back when I gave a crap. Now I goto them on occasion for god knows what reason. I just want some good news about something, you know? If I could get my hair back WITHOUT RISKING ANYTHING ELSE, I would.

I don’t know. It’s pretty crappy being in your 20s and feeling like your life is over on all fronts: ugly cause your bald, and even if you could manage to get a girl, your dick doesn’t work. To be honest, if I wasn’t working on something I enjoyed, I would have killed myself already. I actually like to pretend sometimes that there is a god somewhere who has purposefully created me to test the limits of humans ability to suffer before breaking. I know that’s really emo, and total horseshit, but it’s a frequent fantasy of mine.

#14

I don’t care about my hair anymore at all. That’s the silver lining to this whole ordeal i guess - it made me get over hair loss very quickly. However, i was asking because you should let people know how you have ended up. The more word out there the better.

I have imagined exactly the same thing in my head. That eventually this will make me a better man and i will go onto bigger and better things in life because of it but those thoughts fade very easily. I don’t think you would commit suicide. I have been entertaining the idea for some time and still do. I would love the strength to throw myself off a bridge or in front of a train but i just can’t seem to be desperate enough. Probably because i know there is a chance of recovery. What do you mean by something you enjoy? career/ hobby? keep that up, it will be a saving grace!

#15

Yeah, that lingering hope that maybe things will just turn out okay! I have it too, though I don’t know why. My entire life is evidence that things don’t generally work out. I am working on a PHD theoretical physics. It’s the only thing that really makes me happy, and fortunately, it is infinitely challenging, so I will never be bored!

#16

Jesus, and i couldn’t even manage an undergraduate degree in the social sciences.

#17

if you can manage your thoughts you are lucky. Over time I have detoriated. I have lost my career as Network Engineer. Now my memory is so bad that frequently visited places look newer to me.

#18

so you think these last 3 days are where you screwed? if you had not taked them you would be doing fine?