Story from Israel

[Mosh]

Welcome to our community. Please fill in the following template as a way of introducing yourself, and helping others to understand your background and situation.

Where are you from (country)?
Israel

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?
34 173 cm 83 kg

What specific drug did you use (finasteride, dutasteride, saw palmetto, isotretinoin/Accutane, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, leuprorelin, etc…)?
Finestrid

What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1mg every day since 2011 to 2023.

What condition was being treated with the drug?
Hair loss

For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)?
12 years

Date when you started the drug?
2011
Date when you quit the drug?
Mid April 2023

Age when you quit?
34

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

How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects?
Can’t tell

What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
Ed

Check the boxes that apply. You can save your post first, then interactively check/uncheck the boxes by clicking on them. If your symptoms change, please update your list.

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
[X ] Watery Ejaculate
[ x] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

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

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

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[ ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[ ] Hearing loss
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature

[ ] Other (please explain)

What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
None

If you have pre or post-drug blood tests, what hormonal changes have you encountered since discontinuing the drug (please post your test results in the “Blood Tests” section and link to them in your post)?
Don’t have

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

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

Hi! I’m. 34 yo from Israel. Started taking propecia in 2011 till mid April 2023.

Because I started while I was 21 I could not in the last decade put the finger on the side effects, until recently I had physical side effects that I could not ignore.

I started to take fin like many of us because of hair loss. Back then the whole country was flooded with propecia commercials that promised success, and because I had severe anxiety around the issue and I was generally healthy I decided to take the drug. Obtaining a prescription was very easy, and since 2011 I get the prescription online without any medical advice, while I also never reported side effects.

The side effect that hit me recently and got me alerted was penis shrinkage. My flaccid dick started to fold into itself, in a way that started to be really uncomfortable and I was unable to have any other explanation other than the drug. Luckily as I quit the drug the symptom left.

Only now after deciding to quit the treatment I am able to analyze backwards my experience and understand how many symptoms I used to suffer from and how I neglected my health thinking it was part of aging (low libido) or my natural personality (depression). See the full symptoms experienced above, though I can’t be sure if it is all related to the drug.

Prior for using the drug my erection and sex interest was through the roof. My dick was super hard, and I even remember my first time having sex around 2011 before I took the drug that was great.

But than I started taking the drug and I did noticed some side effects that I thought were natural to aging.

1. Watery ejeculation.
2. My balls didn’t get collected in their sack as my dick got hard.
3. Also I started to get really anxious with my sexual performance as I was less sensitive in my genitals.
4. No longer morning woods, spontaneous erections etc.

Along using the drug I was constantly hitting the gym 5-6 times a week up untill 2019. And though the side effects mentioned, I was able to be sexually active and I always had a decent sex drive so I thought I was ok as many of the stories talk about complete libido loss.

In 2019 I moved back to my home town, and soon after covid hit. Spending hours commuting and gym close because of COVID apparently made the symptoms sour. During all this time getting hard from self stimulation was easy, and now it got harder, my libido dropped, my sperm amount got smaller, and a few months ago as I started noticing my dick shrinkage it finally hit me that propecia had something to do with it and I decided to quit the drug on the spot.

As many of you shared I immediately felt better, could have firmer erections but after 2 weeks I crashed.

Since then in the last month I feel slow improvement, and yesterday I had sensation in my balls back after 12 years.

Depression wise I have to say that I had some suicidle thoughts in the last decade, and I hope that quitting the drug will also bring me new look at life. Now I understand that using propecia hurt my ability to connect with people, have relationships etc, because as your libido decreased, also the social activities open for you.

I’m hoping to report on more improvement in the near future. Im back hitting the gym hard and taking vitamin d and multivitamin supplement as many of you suggested.

I did testosterone check that came with normal values.

What do you guys think is gonna be my next step in recovery?

Stay healthy

Self-reporting template - ONLY USE FOR FUTURE POSTS TO REPORT ANY TRIALS OF TREATMENTS, NOT YOUR INITIAL MEMBER STORY

1. Name of the therapy/substance:
   • Dosage:
   • How often you took it:
2. Status
   • Still using [ ]
   • Stopped with no lasting change to initial symptoms [ ]
   • Stopped with persistent change to symptoms [ ]
3. Duration of use: Days [ ] Months [ ] Years [ ]
4. Response when you started:
   • Greatly improved [ ]
   • Slightly improved [ ]
   • Stayed the same [ ]
   • Slightly worsened [ ]
   • Greatly worsened [ ]
5. Current response (if you’re still using the therapy/substance) OR Response in the time before you stopped the treatment
   • Greatly improved [ ]
   • Slightly improved [ ]
   • Stayed the same [ ]
   • Slightly worsened [ ]
   • Greatly worsened [ ]
6. Lasting changes to initial symptoms after cessation (if you have stopped for more than 3 weeks)
   • Greatly improved [ ]
   • Slightly improved [ ]
   • Stayed the same [ ]
   • Slightly worsened [ ]
   • Greatly worsened [ ]

[Exsexgod]

We have many cases who maltreated themselves over years and decades with lowered libido and resulting decrease of courage to live, drive to have social connections, sexual consequences of any kind, without knowing the endocrine disruptor did it. I took it only six weeks, saw all the sides showing up, but thought it’s temporarily.

But for you there is a great chance that you solve your problems within the three month period, some even have a first year recovery to some kind.

The brutal marketing has now a new peak of loss of control with the telemarketing companies like hims & hers, keeps, roman etc. even generic resellers give now a total anonymously check box consultation prescription for the extremely vicious drug.

[Ros]

Stay strong. So sorry to hear this happened to you. Finasteride is so insidious in its effects that it’s often really hard to connect the dots. I would say give it some time, if you’re slowly improving that’s probably a good sign. Of course, take my testimony with a grain of salt, but the people I have talked to who get better usually are up and down with their symptoms before getting better, while flatline in symptoms is worse. If it gets to three months and you’re not seeing more progression I would maybe try to find a doctor familiar with pfs to talk about some options for symptom relief. Treatment seems kind of hit or miss on people but if you find a good doctor and they have dealt with pfs patients at the very least it’s good to have them on your side. I went to some doctors who completely dismissed me before finding one that was considerate and at least knew as much as one could know about pfs. Also, any small donation to pfsnetwork’s research helps, even if you do get better. Research on the condition is imperative, because we still don’t know the driving mechanism (or mechanisms) behind the condition. I sincerely hope you get better. Hang in there.

[Mosh]

Hi guys wanted to write down a quick update and give hope to anyone struggling.

Just like everyone says here recovery is a rollercoaster. Speaking for myself, it seemed to me like there is a 2 weeks cycle, since I stopped taking the pill, when each 2 weeks you have a crash and than 2 weeks of high libido. It’s been 4+ months since I quit and I feel now that the cycle starts to fade and the differences are less and less noticeable.

There is hope and I believe that, at least for some people, the recovery path is stressful and may harm you owning your new self. I think it’s important to go through it with peace of mind trusting your body and giving it a chance to reset.

After 12 years of taking the pill my dick starts behaving normally again, as it was 6 years ago when the symptoms really started to hit. The main difference its the return of sensation to the balls that starts taking part in the arousal process. I will say that it was the first symptom I experienced when I was starting to take the pill but I overlooked it and I’m sad I didn’t inquired further back than.

During the past 4 month I kept on a intense working out schedule that may helped. I can also say that I really feel the high levels of testosterone coming back especially in gains.

Hope this info is helpful to anyone visiting the forum looking for hope try to keep busy, try to see of you recognize any cycle of your own and maybe recovery is in reach

[Ig0r]

did you notice visual changes in your genitals like flacid skin, wrinkles and bigger veins in ur dick?

if so, it went away and went back to normal?

[Mosh]

Can’t say at the moment though I think right now things really come back to normal. I’ve been through a period were I was unconfident about my genitals but I feel in the past month like I’m through it. I have spontaneous erections all the time, morning wood every morning, and I believe the blood flow is much better what make the dick appear more full and juicy than before when it was all the time flaccid and lack of sensation.

The bad part is that the hair loss is coming back full power… But I decided that I like myself more with my dick hard than with hair. Only when you in it I understand how much this drug affects you mentally and how much sex drive is important for you life as a whole and not just in order to ejaculate.

So actually I’m 5 month off and things are pretty good

[Mosh]

Hi guys it’s been almost a year and it feels like I’m fully recovered. I use minoxi once a day and so far it’s doing the work.

Can’t believe I took propecia in first place.

Healing will come be strong.

[Sugarhouse]

Congrats, but Minoxidil is also an anti-androgen and has caused the same syndrome in others. Please be careful.

[Mosh]

Hi guys keeps updating if anybody might find this useful.
After a year without propecia I started to use top minioxidil but felt like its regresses my health process.i started to have low libido again so I quit using any of the drugs and today I am a year and half after I stopped using propecia and a few month without any drug and I feel much better.

My sex drive is fully back and I feel like myself. I have regular erections every morning, my sperm when ejaculating is thick, white and creamy, and I feel like I really enjoy sex now and not just felling forced to do it.

I do feel like I have some symptoms which have yet not left my regarding my dick size, I feel it got smaller when flaccid and erect, when flaccid my dick appears to be really thin, and when erect, thought it had a decent size and hard to touch I feel like it was bigger in the past as I used to hide it under my belt when I had spontaneous unwanted erection, now it rarely happens, and it doesn’t take the same size in my underwear to fix it the same way.

It’s kinda sucks because I lost a lot of confidence when my appearance when naked which I never had problem with before… Though when I research the internet I believe I’m just another average guy I have this feeling things used to e different.

I stay hopeful as I’ve been proven before that time keeps making things better and I hope I will be more comfortable with myself physicaly or that things will go back to as they where.

I also find it hard to shoot my cum when ejaculating. I used to have constant distant shooter and today my comes usually just drips thickly from the shaft but not shoots away.

Im also aware that I’m not a kid anymore and I guess many of the symptoms I share happens natural to people as we grow older but after witnessing the dramatic change after quitting finastride I believe it all comes back to this deviish drug.

If any of you experience the same symptoms and felt improvement please share in the comments.

Thank you!

Ps. Regarding my hair, I still have hair on, though my hair is slowly receding. I believe propecia have my five more years with fuller hair compared to my brothers, buy looking back I would have given everything to have my healthy functioning body again.