story from Italy

  1. Where are you from (country)?
    Italy

  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 search

  3. What is your current age, height, weight?
    30,185 cm,83kg

  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    I do push up regurlarly.Start gym and weightlift today

  5. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
    A bit of everything.Mostly healthy

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

  7. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
    Took the poison 9 years(more or less)

  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
    20 years old.Beginning 2004

  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
    29 .quit 06 march 2014

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

  11. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
    propecia,then proscar/4 then generic

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

  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    not sure about that,maybe in 2010,so after 6 years

  14. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
    loss of libido,ED,sleeping,depression

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

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

Physical
[x] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[x] 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
[x] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes

Misc
[x] Prostate pain
[x] 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?
    stay clean.No alchool,no smoking,no drug,eat healthy

  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)?
    no test pre-fin
    some test done after

08/april 2014
fsh 9.6 (2.1-18.6)
lh 9.1 (1.0-8.0)
prolattina 12.6 (2.0-15.0)
testosterone 6.31 (3-10)
testorene free 30.1 (8.0-47.0)
shbg 24(10-70)

19/may 2014

fsh 9.9 (2.1-18.6)
lh 8.3 (1.0-8.0)
prolattina 12.1 (2.0-15.0)
testosterone 6.00 (3-10)
testorene free 20 (8.0-47.0)
shbg 23 (10-70)
estradiolo <20 (<51)
ft3 3.1 (2.0-4.0)
ft4 10.8 (7.0-17.0)
tsh 3.46 (0.25-4.5)
16) Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
no

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

First,sorry for my poor english,I am from Italy.
I start taking propecia because my father and grandfather were bald,so since I thought to loose hair I get very scared.
Dermatologist said maybe I could get bold or maybe not,but there were no reason to wait…and start propecia to “save time and hair”.
After few month of usage I noticed my sperm was watery,but nothing else.
I also started to do push up as ordinary routine(4 time a week,4x70 reps).I gain muscle quite fast and I reach 90 kg of body weight easy,so I was in a very good shape.
I had no sexual side effect for sure until 2010.I was in a long term reletionship and she never had something to complain about our sex…well to be honest she complain about I always wanted to have sex,and she need to rest,sometime.
So I used to masturbate at least 2/3 time a day,or having sex 2 or more(7 time,one very day…),and I never paid attention to possible side effect …“ok…I ve been taking this pill for nearly 6 years…I could never get some side effect,now”
I broke up with my girlfriend(she did…)and I stay alone,but with the same sex urge and libido that force me to masturbate.I am not sure when side start to appear.
I remember in june 2012 I was on holiday and looking to all that woman just with very tiny bikini made me going crazy,so I was ok.
during july 2012 I start to have problem with sleeping.I never need more than 5/6 hour of sleeping,but then I began to have a lot of difficoult to falling asleep,and to wake up after 2 or 3 hour,even if I feel tired.
I also began to masturbate less(now I can link this to side effect,at that moment I thought it was normal).So I keep on “extinguish” my old me,little by little,without become aware of it.
In march 2014 I met a girl:she is extremly beatiful,nice and funny.She is perfect,to me.
But I notice something was wrong…I do not have any need of having sex with her,and When I kissed her,I do not have any erection or signal from my dick.
It was like all my insane libido(I miss it)was gone.
I get very worried about it,try to masturbate as a test,but I cannot get any erection,and start searching…and I found the problem.
I quit the next day with finasteride,crossing my finger.
It was 06 march 2014.
After a week I noticed some signal from my dick,and I was happy.
I ve gone to andrologist on 1 of april,and explain my problem of ed and libido:I was shy about my theory of finasteride side effect.I said him I took fina since 2004…He looked at me like I said I had sex with my mother…He confirm me my suspect and how he consider finasteride:a poison that kill manhood.
He gave me cialis 5mg to take in alternate day and prescribe me hormon blood test.
To be honest I feel better every day,so after my fisst pill of cialis,I started to have strong eretion,when I wake up,or during day,without any stimolation.My libido was back too,and need to masturbate 3 or more every day,just to keep my dick calm.i did not take cialis anymore,and I feel cured…was the happiest person on this earth.Libido was back 100%,no ED…until 07 of april,then I crashed
I lost libido,got ED and I felt weaker and weaker day by day.The worse moment has been around 20 of april.Then I gain a bit more energy for my everyday life.since I quit taking finasteride I lost 8 kg.
Now I have only something that I can call morning wood(I am on cialis 5 mg alternate days),no libido and when I tried to have sex,I cannot gain a full erection,and then I also lost it after not over 10 minute.
Want to try with weightlift,hoping it can help my hormone,so I start with gym yesterday
I would like to die.I just do not want to loose hope.
Any suggestion?
my blood test should be ok…but I am not ok…

some update:
I forget to say sensibility on my penis has changed.
I feel lot less and my orgasm are not as strong as they used to be.
I also noticed it is always dry,and my hair are dry too(I had thr opposite problem…oily skin and oily hair).
This could be a sign I am having some kind of testosterone lack?or just my 5ar are not working,yet?
I ve been to an andrologist:my sperm test is not ok and he said that my low citrate and fructose is a sign of prostatitis and infiammatory disease.I started ciprofloxacin and ketoprofene twice a day,10 day.
I will have to do so 3 times,every month

well,here I am,again
I am doing gym 3 time a week.Very intense weightlift program.
I can notice some small improvement…sometime(like 2/3 time a week)I wake up and then I have an erection,nearly full.
If I try to masturbate,I can get a full erection,and trust me,I know it can sound ridicoluos…but my penis it is bigger.
I have had not huge growth,but is nearly 2 cm more longer.
It is possible that low dht level made some change in penile tissue,that were more fibrotic,and now with higher dht level ,penile tissue is more elestic?
My lack of libido is still here…anyway…

Hi o.w.h.,

your experience is typical. There are a lot of people here who have had the same or a very similar story. The good news for you is that a lot of people get better with time. You quit this stuff only a couple of months ago, so there is still a chance that your side effects will go away or at least get better.

I cannot answer your question regarding penile tissue. But there is a whole sub-forum devoted to topics like this. Check it ou!

Good luck!

Have you considered taking part in the medical studies which are going on? It would be great if you could apply. There are two studies, both at US universities. They are trying to find out the exact cause of PFS. If this can be found, it would massively increase the possibilities for targeting any treatment.

However they do not have enough participants. There are researchers at these universities who are ready and waiting to do the tests, they just need the guys. The researchers want to explore this problem to get to the bottom of it. They need more people to apply for these studies. You can get financial support by contacting the PFS Foundation.

How about it?

Gelhead,I am from Italy…
If there is some medical studies within Europe,I could join in

I was considering my tsh…I have 3.46(max 4.5)but a lot of people say that it should be not over 2.2?
any suggestion or experience about that?

Lascia stare, in passato ho avuto tsh 6.1 (range 0.28-4.2) e ft4 23.4 di poco alto, il tsh si è poi normalizzato dopo qualche mese e ft4 è rimasto leggermente alto, ma questo significa che la tiroide è efficiente.
Nel tuo caso stai nel range non c’è alcun problema, quelli che parlano di 2.2 di tsh alto, probabilmente hanno range diversi, o non sanno di cosa parlano.