NEW MEMBERS, PLEASE FILL IN THE FOLLOWING TEMPLATE. This is so that we can more easily track symptoms and hopefully find patterns in our syndrome. This will also help others understand your background and situation.
- Where are you from (country)?
USA - 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 - What is your current age, height, weight?
25, 5’7, 168lbs - Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
Weights and Cardio every other day - What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
High Protein and High Fat Diet - Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hair Loss - For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
About 7 months 0.25mg once a week - How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
24 - How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
25 - How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
COld Turkey - What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
Generic - What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
0.25 once a week - How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
Practically on the first pill - 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
[X ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[X ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ X] Loss of Morning Erections
[X ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[X ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections (Had a hard one several weeks ago)
[ Recovered] Watery Ejaculate
[X ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[Idk ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[Recovered ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ Recovered] 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
[ X] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[Recovered ] Prostate pain
[ ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[ Left ball ache for initial weeks] Other (please explain)
What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
Creatine, Zinc, Maral Root, Yohimbe, Iodine, L-Citruline, Ashwaganda Root
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)?
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
I took about 1000mg of Saw Palmetto extract daily for several months before Fina and had reduced libido because I thought it was just an OTC herb and wasnt as harmful. I discontinued when I began noticing side effects. Once I began to have recovery I thought I’d try Finasteride and immediately noticed watery semen, reduced sensitivity and initial ball ache and prostate ache for the first initial days. PLEASE NOTE I DID NOT EXPERIENCE ANY SENSITIVITY REDUCTION DURING MY SAW PALMETTO SIDE EFFECTS.
Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
I’ve discontinued all hairloss stuff as of 2 months ago. I can still get rock hard erections but they taker longer to get, but I still have reduced sensitivity. Experienced one morning wood since then and no spontaneous erections. I can still use porn to get hard and if I’m with my girlfriend just by laying next to her I can get a good hard erection, but it takes some time. My sensitivity is rather confusing since its still sensitive at the tip and around the edge of the head, but the center of the head is rather numb but if I rub my finger on it I do get sensations. My orgasms are intense, but not as intense as pre hairloss drugs, but still on the intense side.
I don’t believe I am suffering any cognitive maladies at least to my knowledge. Its hard for me to concentrate on my work, but its mostly because I’m devoting all my time to researching the side effects and recovery methods in order to get over this. Basically all I want to do is research on what I did to myself and how to recover rather than what I used to concentrate on. It has nothing to do with a complete inability to concentrate.
I can still feel my balls and shaft, no shrinkage of any kind to my knowledge. I’m attemtping CDNut’s protocol and will see if that dies anything.
I’m considering seeing an endocrinologist to get a blood test done. If this is done I will report the results.
My Masturbation habits:
I still jerk off daily and I can easily orgasm within 10minutes and jerk off multiple times perday its just the enoyment is reduced but I still have enjoyment out of it.
My questions towards you guys is this.
-Describe your numbness/de sensitation. I’ve searched other peoples topics and nobody can give a descriptive answer, like its either a rubber stick attached to their groin or their description is so convoluted I can’t know what they’re trying to say.
-Describe your mental state. Are you having legitimate troubles concentrating or is it just because all you can think about is your illness?
-What do people mean by emotionally blunt? LIke they can’t feel anything emotional? Because I can still laugh my ass off, get pissed off, and socialize no problem.
Please go into extreme detail about your sensitivity and concentration issues.
I’ve heard T3, T4, Clomid have given good results and will talk about this with an endocrinologist.
