Short Dosage, Colossal Regret

Member Stories
#1

  1. Where are you from (country)?
    Canada

  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?)
    Google

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

27, 5’8, 160lbs

  1. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    Cycling, Running, yoga, sometimes resistance training

  2. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
    Less and less healthy, but a step above fast food.

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

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

  5. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
    27 at March 8, 2014

  6. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
    March 13, 2014

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

  8. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
    A quartered proscar pill

  9. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
    ~1.25mg

  10. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    4 or 5 days

  11. 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
[x] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] 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
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts

Physical
[x] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[x] Testicular Pain
[x] 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
[x] 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?
    None, so far.

  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)?

I took some tests last week, and I’ll post them when they arrive.

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

I’m an idiot, mostly.

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

Typically, I was vain and sensitive about my recent discovery that my hair was falling out, and made an appointment with a hair specialist in town. There he gave me the low down on my treatment options, and, to be fair, mentioned that finasteride was the least safe of them saying that most men don’t need DHT after puberty, but some really do. I didn’t take any prescriptions then, but decided to think about it, and returned two months later, asking some more questions, leaving with a prescription for proscar and an assurance that if I just discontinue the drug when I first experience any sides, I’d be alright.

So, I took the pill for four days without incident, and on the fifth day, I noticed a slight ache in or around my testicles. I’d felt similar pains before, so thought nothing of it that day. The next day, after taking the pill (the smallest of the remaining quarters), the pain was still there, and my erections weren’t as hard, nor were they as responsive. That evening I thought to myself, “what am I doing, taking this drug?” It was vastly out of character. So, I stopped. And expected a pretty quick recovery considering how short I’d been on it, and the mildness of my side effects (one of which I thought must be a psychological issue). Since quitting, thought, I’ve lost all feeling in my penis, lost nocturnal and morning erections, and have watched my ability to get a manually stimulated erection dissipate as each day has passed - oh, and that testicular pain is still intermittent.

I’m just over two weeks off the drug, the bare minimum time for recovery, and hope for a decent one (but I’m becoming less and less optimistic and more terrified each day), and hope that positing here might discourage curious, or incredulous potential finasteride users: even if your symptoms are short lived, this terror will far outweigh the anxiety over your hair.

#2

I’m sorry. Possibly because it was a very short course it will resolve. No one really knows what’s likely to happen in an individual case of course.

#3

Sucks, but get your blood work tested. My guess is that the testicle pain a lot of us feel on first taking the drug is equivalent to feeling yourself chemically castrated. That said, things will get better. Live healthy, workout, and keep a positive attitude. Good luck.

#4

Many thanks for the replies and reassurances whoah and tenyearuser.

I took a blood test Saturday, and am waiting for the results. Unfortunately, DHT tests generally take an extra couple weeks over the more common hormone tests in Ontario, so that’s slowing it down. Hopefully the tests are helpful.

#5

Ok, so I got a portion of my blood tests back today, and they read exactly down the middle of the ranges - maybe a little low on the thyroid. I’m still waiting for the DHT to come in, tough, But here they are:

TSH 1.88 (0.30-5.60) MIU/L
Testosterone 14.8 (6.0-27) NMOL/L
Free Test 84.3 (15.6-146) PMOL/L

My doctor sent me to get the tests before I came to this forum, so I didn’t know which levels to get tested, and he just picked these four. Should I go back and get a wider variety of hormones measured?

Oh, yeah: three weeks off the pills and no improvement.

#6

blood work looks fine, as you said. But that is pretty much the case with a lot of people (say, >50%) on here. I suppose it’s better to have hormones in balance than out of balance, but I know that doesn’t resolve your symptoms.

The only other tests I would check are Vit D, LH/FSH, DHT, and 3-Adiol G. The last one is probably the best, but you might have to explain to your doctor what it is. My lab listed it as Androstanediol glucuronide. Not everyone tests for it, and it would probably need to be sent to the a specialty clinic (I think mine was sent to the Mayo clinic in Minnesota). You may also want to get a fertility test, if for nothing else than your peace of mind- mine came back OK, but low volume…

In general, I would encourage you to really try and live as healthy as possible for as long as you can. Cut out or minimize drinking (but dont stop socializing) and increase exercise as much as you can. Lots of green and fruits, low carbs and no cheeses. Keep a super positive attitude. Take on new challenges (I ended up in a half iron man last summer, will do a full this year).

The world keeps turning, life goes on. don’t despair. Get a viagra scrip and use as needed. Things gradually get a little better. I’m hardly back to what I was, but I really improved a lot from changing my lifestyle, and maybe just with some passage of time as well.

Good luck and keep posting updates!

#7

Many thanks for the encouragement and tips, whoah!

I thought I’d give a short update as to how I’ve been doing over the past three months since my idiotic dosage of finasteride.

Well, I am not as bad as I was in March, but I’m certainly not 100%. At least my testicle ache has completely abated, but I’ve still got some erectile and sensation issues. I have had two separate two week bouts of complete remission, but I’m back to struggling again.

The first was around mid-April. I went home, across the country, for a few weeks and felt my overall functioning much improved, and I was back to full potency. It was a huge relief, and I hoped I was cured, but remained a little skeptical – as I’ve heard many tales of people having a short break before everything fell apart again. Sure enough, when I made my way back to where I currently live the recovery started to falter, slowly, and with each day it was a little more difficult to obtain or maintain an erection. There was no crash, but I slowly slipped down to my post-fin baseline.

I remained that way for about a month, and then started taking daily L-citrulline at the beginning of June, and PRESTO, back to full health. But now as June wanes, so does my health. So currently, my libido is, I think, on par to what it was pre-fin, but my erections aren’t very dependable, and there’s a noticeable anaesthesia occurring as well.

I’m ambivalent at the moment: I can’t tell whether I should be hopeful that I’ve had these decent remissions, and that they represent an eventual upswing into a healthy body again, or that any recovery efforts I might try are doomed to only temporary success.

My doctor has been trying to refer me to a urologist or endocrinologist for the past few months, but I suppose their admin staff are completely lacking in organizational skills, as I haven’t even received a phone call to book an appointment.

I’ll keep you in touch of what happens, though.

Best of luck.

#8

So, I’ve had a decent July–not a recovery by any means, but definitely better than my lows, but it’s been ok.

I stopped all the supplements I was on, started drinking pomegranate juice and eating raw almonds, and many of my symptoms lessened. I started getting nocturnal and morning erections, and the odd spontaneous one, and just generally felt more connection between my brain and nether-regions (and my testicles seemed to regain their size). There was still a limit on sensation, and orgasms didn’t feel all that powerful. But I had hope given that I could get erections with almost normal frequency without manual stimulation.

As I’ve had a few temporary recoveries already, I’m remaining a little incredulous that these improvements will last. I hope they do. It feels good to be hovering around the vicinity of normal.

I’ll keep you posted.

#9

raw almonds and pomegranate juice is for libido?

#10

Well, I’m not sure if it affects libido so much as the mechanics (I don’t think my actual libido has suffered as greatly as many others). But the combination of the two definitely increased sensation and the response to stimuli. It’s not a complete remedy by any means, but it has helped.

#11

Oof.

Back in late August, a naturopath suggested a bot tincture of the following herbs:

Panex ginseng
Eleuthrococcus
Licorice
Damiana
Tribulus
Similax (sarsparilla)

I had a teaspoon of the them three times a day, and also a very small amount of Quercus Pedunculata for my adrenals, and about a week later I felt my system kickstart. A was sitting outside and all the sudden a wave of anxiety came over me–not a panic attack, mind you, but the sort of anxiety you get when coming close to a deadline. I hadn’t felt one like that since before my 6 day damnation.

Shortly after I started having full morning and nocturnal erections. And then a few days later some spontaneous ones would happen and sensitivity returned. Then they slowly disappeared about a week later.

I added 1000mg of Maca, under the suggestion of my naturopath, and then went on a vacation around September 17 and everything came back. Nocturnals, Mornings, Spontaneous ones, and my penis smelled better.

This lasted for a full month, but now I think I’m back to square one.

Interestingly, though, my variety of moods has more or less hung with me, and consequently my libido is up.

#12

Try taking the licorice out and adding eucommia instead.

#13

Who the fuck smells their own dick, seriously!

#14

I actually noticed when I crashed, my dick suddenly didn’t smell at all. None of me did, I lost all of my body odour. It’s back now. Small favours huh?