Recent symptoms - Advice appreciated

Member Stories
#1

COPY AND PASTE THE FOLLOWING INTO YOUR OWN POST, then answer the questions.

  1. Where are you from (country)? England

  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?) ‘ball and back ache’ on google

  3. What is your current age, height, weight? 27, 6ft4, 80kg

  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise? Weight training 3 times per week

  5. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)? Meat, fish and veg

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

  7. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)? On and off for 1.5 years. Stopped around christmas due to minor ache in testicles but took it up again once this had gone. Still got an ache so waited another week and tried again only for it to come back after 2 quarter pills so stopped for good.

  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride? 26

  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 27 March 20th 2014

  10. How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? Cold turkey but had been taking a lowered dose prior to this.

  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.)? initially .5 every day, dropping to .5 every other day dropping to .25 every other day

  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects? Always had ball ache on and off but it’s always gone with time or discontinuation

  14. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? severe ball ache and lower back pain

Put an X beside all that apply:

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 to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts

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
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain - Possibly hard to tell
[ ] 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)

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?

None but seeing a urologist tomorrow

  1. 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)?

  2. Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?

  3. Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.

I just kept getting ball ache to varying severities throughout but it’s become so bad now I worry about my testicular health.

#2

Expect the urologist to disavow the possibility that Propecia is causing the pain. They USE Finasteride to treat cancer and tend to defend it vigorously. Odds are they’ll say nothing adverse can happen … it’s “low dose”. Lol.

#3

Surprisingly he said that even though it can’t be proven logically it makes sense that fin caused this. He said my symptoms appear at first glance to be mild epididymitis due to the testicle pain. Thankfully as I’ve not had any sexual issues to date and can get aroused as normal he thinks that I should be okay on that front as that is more of a prostate issue. He has prescribed ciprofloxacin, rheumatic retard 75 and Tamsulosin in the hope that it will either remove the pain or dull is significantly. He said there is a chance it could be a chronic condition but in a large number of cases the treatment either works completely or will diminish the effects.

After reading some of the stories on here I’m grateful that this is my only major symptom although it does ache like hell. Fingers crossed the treatment does something.

#4

In addition to this, he checked by prostate and testicles confirming my prostate was normal size and the testicles were slightly sore where they link to the tubes but that was it.

Praying it’s just this ongoing ball ache which will numb over time.

#5

anyone?