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)?
Costa Rica
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?)
intense google search
What is your current age, height, weight?
22 years old, 65 kg, 180cm tall
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.)?
1 mg per day
What condition was being treated with the drug?
alopecia
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)?
5 months non stop. 4 months being very inconsistent before those 5 months.
How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start the drug?
22 years old, started february 2019.
How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
quitted in July.
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
tapper off
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects?
after 2 months, terrible sides started appearing.
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
maybe temper managemente, but very little.
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
[ ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ ] Loss of Morning Erections
[ ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[X ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ X] Confusion
[X ] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
X ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[X ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[X ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[X ] 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
[X ] 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?
Exercise, yoga and meditation
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?
QUIT IT BEFORE IS TOO LATE
Tell us your story, in your own words, about your usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
So, a long time ago a friend told me that the cure for baldness was Finasteride (he was studying medicine so i was dumb enough to believe him). Since little i have had these 2 bald entrances in my scalp, and i thought it was getting worse the past years, so to tackle that… i decided to start Propecia.
I first started very inconsistent around midyear 2018, some weeks i took the drug, others i didn’t. Maybe a few months of discontinuation. never felt side effects, i didnt quite knew the danger of it though. Then i decided to be extremely responsible on my daily dose of Propecia in February 2019. and took it for 5 months straight.
Before starting these 5 months of daily dosing, i read about the horror stories in the internet of the side effects. I decided to ignore them and believed that i was strong enough (mentally and physically) to counteract the possible side effects I might have. So after 2 months on the drug, I started to get very insecure about myself. I had intense hair shedding and knew that the drug was being effective as websites tell you. Long story short, the next 3 months were horrible. I had depression like every day, felt insecure, mornings were terribly depressing for no fucking reason. And I have never been depressed, it was something new and I knew it was due to taking this poison. I thought that having a healthy routine will help tackle the sides but it is almost impossible, since you are not motivated to do anything. I had brain fog, couldn’t speack fluently, doubted my socialization, I couldn’t even be myself with my family.
So then I started to realize the damage I was making to my brain, it fucks up with your hormones and its not worth loosing everything just because I thought I was going bald (which is probably true but I prefer to live with that than being a total antisocial, depressed, insecure zombie that cant even speak). I read all the possible consequences of quitting the drug, which also scared the fuck out of me, but knew I had to do it anyway. So I decided to tapper off. My daily dose was 1mg every day, so I started halving that by 0.5mg a day for less than 2 weeks. After that I took 0.25mg every day for like 3 weeks.
I’ve been off the drug for a month now, and everything seems amazing. I feel great, im myself now, I can speak fluently, I have fun with everything. Best decision ever. Even my hair looks 1000 times better without propecia! Since I started with that drug, my hair density went downhill, and it looked horrible. Now it looks better and going uphill thankfully. I recommend taking hydrolyzed collagen, I believe it has helped my hair health a lot, specially after the atomic bomb that was the finasteride treatment.
To clear any doubts, I never had sexual side effects. All my side effects were mostly psychological; depression, anxiety etc… I did notice though, that after quitting, my sexual drive exploded and I want to have sex a lot lol, probably a good side effect of quitting the drug? My morning woods are extreme now too. I hope my hair improves from now on, taking collagen and being healthier on my exercise and meditation, it really helps, specially coming off a posion like this.
Please never take this drug! Its not worth it. Don’t let your ego get the best of you, it did for me and now I have learned.