sailor profile

Member Stories
#1

  1. How did you find this forum?
    googled propecia side effects

  2. What is your current age, height, weight?
    51,6’1, 175

  3. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    yes bicycling (recumbent)

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

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

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

  7. How old were you when you started Finasteride?
    46 or 47

  8. How old were you when you quit? 51

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

  10. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
    1/5 proscar

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

  12. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    not until quitting

  13. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
    n/a

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
[ ] 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
[x ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[x ] Depression / Melancholy

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
[ ] 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?
    viagra

  2. 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)?

  3. Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
    Problems began after discontinuation

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

Sailor's Recovery
#2

My history-I began taking Finesteride four years ago, which worked- I grew a nice head of hair (which I still have, unfortunately!) I had no adverse side effects but decided to discontinue after a year because we were going through fertility (which worked, fortunately!) and I didn’t want to take chances. I resumed using it for about the past three years but decided to quit again (cold turkey) when I developed Prostratitis, as I wasn’t sure if the Fin might have had something to do with it.
It was not long after quitting when I suddenly developed all the symptoms that have been so well described in these postings…for me it was just a depressed and sexless feeling ( it happened while on vacation) The thing is, it never occurred to me that it had anything to do with the Fin- after all, I wasn’t using it anymore. When I got back from vacation I went to my primary Doc who gave me a sample of Viagra to try. I thought I had simple ED-It wasn’t until I stumbled upon this website that I knew without a doubt that it was the Fin. Believe it or not it was a huge relief for me, knowing that I wasn’t all alone in this and that there’s hope.
It has been 6 weeks off the Fin and my symptom checklist is as follows:
Depression and Anxiety: no longer a problem
Nocturnals and morning erections: improved. Initially I had none.
Libido: improved. Initially I had none.
Sexual Performance: Viagra didn’t seem to help, even with sexy videos. I took the pill after a nice dinner out with the wife, but it didn’t seem to kick in for a few hours (when she was asleep), and it made my heart race all night.

Question: Has anybody had better luck with Cialis? According to my online research it is unaffected by food and the effects last for up to 36 hours, making spontaneous sex more of a possibility (just hoping)
Also: has anybody tried the injection or suppositories?

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any advice.

#3

I’m rather satisfied in the course of my recovery and before signing off I’d like to say a few things. I quit the Fin cold turkey 2 months ago (it feels like years!) when I developed a prostrate infection. At the time I thought I was not experiencing any other adverse side effects. While on vacation I reached an all time low in my life experiencing many of the symptoms that you are all aware of without realizing that it had anything to do with my quitting the drug. I was rather severely depressed until I stumbled upon this website and was quite relieved when I found out just what the hell was going on!
Getting out of that initial depression was the start of my recovery. This past weekend I was able to complete the sex act (with the help of my very patient wife and Cialis) and the experience (albeit clumsy) was much more intense and pleasurable than I have experienced in all the years that I have been on the drug! So I now realize that I was experiencing side effects while on the drug and not even realizing it. So to those of you on the road to recovery ,which is all of you I hope: you have a lot to look forward to.
Sailor

#4

That’s nice to hear Sailor,positive thinking is the first crucial step to recovery. I wonder how many other people don’t realise what they are going through on this drug till they come off and see the damage it has caused them. :unamused: