Reporting a few weeks after stopping finasteride

Member Stories
#1

Hello, i thought i’d post a report of my quitting finasteride.

  1. Where are you from (country)?

Russia (therefore caucasic)

  1. 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 search for finasteride side effects

  1. What is your current age, height, weight?

23, 6’0", 171lbs

  1. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?

Daily anabolic routine, 30-40 minutes long

  1. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?

Alternating between strict low carb paleo, carb binging periods since starting finasteride

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

hair loss

  1. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?

around 3 months

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

22

  1. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?

23, 16 july 2012

  1. How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?

taper off, so to say

  1. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?

generic finasteride sandoz

  1. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?

0.3 mg every 3-5 days, then every week before stopping

  1. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?

Day 2

  1. 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
[ ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive - Resolved
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction - Resolved
[ ] Complete Impotence
[X] Loss of Morning Erections
[X] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[X] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate - Resolved
[X] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Added: [X] Reduced orgasm pleasure (excess Estradiol)

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

Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[X] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[X] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[X] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[X] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets” - Resolved
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination - Resolved
[ ] 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?

Vit. D3, C, E, B group, Zinc daily, keeping everything else balanced through diet

  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)?

No tests, but i am certain my testo went up, but so did my E2 (from symptoms), my adrenals seem to be struggling though.

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

Just that mental side effects can be very sneaky to notice, and sometimes just so blunt you wouldn’t believe finasteride could be the cause, despite all the logical evidence of the contrary.

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

After researching i started finasteride with low doses. Around 0.31 mg, approximately (error ratio 0.1 mg), when i felt the previous dose waning (4-5 days). The side effects crept in slowly. Taking the new dose would actually alleviate side effects, which very slowly started to appear with higher intensity with every waning dose. Diet also had noticeable effects on the appearance of side effects. Oysters (zinc and copper?) being the best libido stimulator for me.
Side effects were all coherent with high E2, from constipation to joint clicking/soreness, genital numbness and reduced libido. I decided to stop after i noticed the mental side effects: worsened sleep, some emotional numbness and sometimes excessive emotionality concurrent with chest pains (E2-induced, i presume).
Day 2 of usage side effect had me experience the worst side effect i ever felt: non-restorative sleep which took a week to clear, progressively. I am certain it was physiologic and not psychologic, as i felt quite nonchalant about the drug.

It hasn’t even been 3 weeks since i stopped the drug, but even after the resolved side effects i am still experiencing an excess of E2. The first week was asymptomatic, the second had frequent chest pains and genital numbness, the third has better genital sensibility (not perfect= and no chest pains, however i noticed joint soreness and a constant, light unpleasant sensation in my head after 9 pm. I guess i’ll be anticipating my sleep time hoping it resolves itself, refraining from sexual stimulation as well.

#2

interesting story, so how many MG did you take all up over how long?

Keep is up to date. Can take 30 days for 5ar to regenerate.

#3

Without making accurate calculations, i took around 6-7 mg spread across 3 months, with tapering in and out at start and end respectively.
At almost 1 month since discontinuing it, my johnson seems to be working properly, but my libido is relatively low after a period of heightened libido of about 20 days. Symptoms of E2 excess persist, being perhaps slightly milder than during finasteride administration.

#4

You don’t need to taper off

#5

It’s now 2 months after quitting finasteride for me. All side effects seem to be gone other than an almost complete lack of pleasure from orgasm and perhaps a slightly lowered hardness (the feeling it’s not reaching full length). Libido is relatively high, but not as high as the flare up immediately after quitting drug. It also seems to get higher if i indulge in it. Having sex 2-3 times per day is feasible, but orgasms simply are disappointing.

Has anyone has a similar situation, with this as a single side effect, and has been able to solve it?

#6

you reported very strange phenomena here. looks like fin was acting as the cause and antidote to the problem.

#7

God bless you man!!! look how far you have come…give time to your body to restore normal functions again…you should just try the regular stuff like tribullus…maybe some oxytocin…i dont know…things that will improve orgasm.

#8

This has happened before.

#9

yes I know. do you remember I posted about GIMZIM here. he took sides from SP then he started again and claimed felt better though I am sure he might have suffered more later on. same thing I read about another guy on a hairloss forum.
what do you think what is the reason behind this behaviour?

#10

Updating at 3 months interval since quitting. A new “component” of the feeling of orgasm seems to have come back fairly abruptly. I have been eating a diet rich in zinc and using maca(two spoons in coconut flour pancakes dough) 3-4 times per week.
The “component” is hard to describe, but gives the orgasm it’s feeling of intensity… not pleasure however. At times it seems a low degree of pleasure comes back, but i can’t be sure. It’s without doubt nowhere near to how it used to be before finasteride. Everything else is normal apparently.
Next i will try adding tribulus terrestris to my diet and perhaps try some abstinence.

I don’t think it’s strange. Notice i was taking a new dose when the precedent would wear off, not a pill daily. This means i could feel my hormones shift during each dose end. Taking finasteride lowers DHT and increases free T, so i presume it’s normal to experience a peak in T before the conversion of T to estrogen kicks in. Back then my orgasms were quite pleasurable as well, unlike after stopping finasteride. This confirms to me that whatever damage occurs to us occurs after discontinuation and not during usage.

#11

My real mess started few months after stopping SP although I had to stop SP because of severe indigestion and fatigue but after stopping kept getting worse and worse. you can read my old posts I was crying almost in each post.

#12

A little like my realization that while I can ejaculate, it’s without an ‘orgasm’ whatsoever. The pleasurable chemical release that occurs normally is absent. There’s zero feeling of sexual satisfaction, release, or euphoria etc.

#13

It’s a few days early for updating at the fourth month, but my feeling of pleasure has come back. It has been relatively gradual over the last week or two, still, after almost four months of dull orgasms it feels quite sudden. The recovery doesn’t seem “complete” yet and perhaps the penile sensitivity is not perfect either, but that’s a trivial concern for me now. Intensity and pleasure are back, which grants me rewarding, desirable sex.

I haven’t actually taken anything during this period. Simply alternating low and high carb paleo, very easygoing physical exercise and two teaspoons of maca powder integrated in coconut flour pancake dough 2-4 times a week (never raw).
I do believe my recovery has been mostly natural at this point, however.
Whatever finasteride did, it has cost me 4 months of sexual dysfunction and much distress, but i’m clearly one of the luckiest ones.

Exactly how i felt in the past months.

#14

Exactly how i felt in the past months.
[/quote]

I’ve had great success going strict paleo as well. Almost fully recovered after a year of it with 1x/week lifting (BodyByScience format). I threw in some supplements for shit&giggles, like Quadracarn, ginkgo, rhodiola, cayenne, reservatrol. I can’t say the supplements were responsible for any improvement, but they didn’t hurt. I was mostly taking them for pro-circulatory/anti-inflammatory purposes in regards to my hair (I know- who cares). I’m glad to hear someone else is doing it right with the diet and light exercise. This forum is usually so depressing and that I chose to stay away from it to keep my head on tight. Anyways- you might want to consider cutting out the coconut flour. Coconut fat is almost 50% linoleic acid; which is a known 5ar inhibitor. Unlike finesteride, however, it is mild and isn’t known to have any epigenetic influence, so no permanent damage. That’s why is a popular hairloss topical. But you want to keep that dht as high as your body naturally can, so you can rebuild those androgen receptors that have been turned off or lost due to finesteride use.