Story

Member Stories
#1

My dermatologist recommended that I take Propecia on September 15th…I started taking Propecia on September 15th and stopped on September 26th…On 9/24 I noticed pain in my balls that was like a 4 out of 10…The following day I experienced a slightly greater pain and on the 26th I had maybe a 7 or 8 out of 10 pain…On 9/26 I called my dermatologist who told me to stop Propecia and was surprised because he did not have any patients complain about this type of pain…He asked me if my “drive” was working and I responded I believed so…

The 27th and 28th I noticed I had no drive at all which started to scare me…On the 9/29, I noticed that my drive came back in the evening…But it was very weak…On 9/30, I had an appointment to visit 2 doctors including the one that gave me Propecia and a physical doctor…That morning I noticed again a little of my drive was back…I went to the first doctor who recommended Propecia and he took a look at my stuff…He said everything was normal and that everything should work by Weds or at the end of the week at the latest…
After I saw the first doctor I went to visit my gf…I was curious my drive would work and it worked at about 30% I would guess…After the visit, I believe I had pain the rest of the day because she did not finish the job…The second doctor was surprised Propecia caused the pain and “did not know” what I could do…He said he didnt believe it was long term damage…That night I was able to “change my oil” but no where near 100%…On 10/1 and 10/2, I had no drive at all and no pain…I did not see

Tomorrow I have an appointment with a urologist…Since I stopped taking Propecia last Friday, I have been stressed out completely from reading some of the stories on this board…I feel helpless and like I dont have control over the situation…Is there anything specific that I should ask the doctor? I know the FAQ post says effects will occur from a week to a year but I really hope I heal asap instead of years down the road…

Couple of side notes…the appearance of my balls changed for a couple days right after I stopped taking it…Also…when I had pain while I was taking it, the pain hurt most when I coughed…

Im just hoping some of you can give me advice…I know I only took the medicine 12 days but it seems like by the posts there is no requirement of dosage to suffer from the side effects…Thanks

  1. How did you find this forum?

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

  3. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?

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

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

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

  7. How old were you when you started Finasteride?

  8. How old were you when you quit?

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

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

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

  12. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?

  13. 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
[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
[ ] 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
[ ] Depression / Melancholy

Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[X] 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? None

  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?

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

#2

I would not worry as it can take a few weeks for DHT to come back online and most men who quit the drug are destined to recover.

If you wish to take action in the meantime, I would recommend you get bloodwork per the list here, so you can see what effect Finasteride was having on your hormones, and how they are responding since quitting:

propeciahelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=92

Also – please consider copying/pasting and filling out this template into your story, to help correlate your symptoms: propeciahelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=371

#3

It has been 2 weeks and 2 days since I last took Propecia…I have had no pain in my testicles since taking the pill…Unfortunately, my drive and erections are almost non existant…The only time I am able to get an erection is sometime when I am speaking with my girlfriend or am with her…They are not full and do not last too long…

I have been taking One a Day multivitamin and recently began taking Vitamin D…Almost this entire two weeks has been filled with extreme stress and anxiety with a slight improvement toward the end…I was avoiding this board to potentially decrease my anxiety…Does anyone have any specific advice? Everybodys body is different and reacts differently but is there anyone with my specific situation who only took this medicine less than two weeks and has made a recovery?

#4

Try taking some natural supplements that have aphrodisiac qualities.

I recommend taking L-Arginine (3000-4000 mg 1 hour before coitus, or daily), Yohimbine (1-2 hours pre-coitus, or daily), Zinc (75-100 mg daily), Omega-3 Fatty Acids (2-3 pills daily), and Vitamin B supplement (500-1000% daily).

I’ve had very good results with the above mentioned and have experienced no serious side effects.

You may also want to try… Horny Goat Weed, Tribulus, Maca or Long Jack, as other users have reported success. I myself did not experience any change using these supplements, but others have–so worth a shot.

Good luck, and know, it’s not the end of the world. Most guys who are on here experience some recovery and some recover completely, albeit over a long period of time (1-2 years). THERE IS HOPE.