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Where are you from (country)? England
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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
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What is your current age, height, weight? 38, 5ft 11, 75 kilos
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Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise? none anymore
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What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)? healthy, meat, veg fruits
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Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)? Hair loss
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For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)? 1 month
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How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride? 31 7/2006
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How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 31 8/2006
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How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? cold turkey
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What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic? propecia
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What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? 1 mg a day
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How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects? straight away noticed decline libido
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What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? I have now more or less recovered, but at the time i had many side effects which lasted years
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
[ X] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ X] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[ X] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ X] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ X] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[ X] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ X] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ X] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ X] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] 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
[ X] Weight Gain
[ X] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ X] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[X ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[ X] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ X] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ X] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ X] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ x] Lowered body temperature
[ x] Other (please explain)
No libido whatsoever. watery premature ejaculation, uncontrollable, even when flaccid i would cum!
If i ever got something like an erection after a lot of effort then pre-cum would leak out and the erection would subside. My precum became easier to leak and would leak faster and it was very watery. I never got much precum before taking propecia.
I developed food allergies, my appetite went, my tounge developed a coating, my body temperature dropped. My insomnia was very bad, i would awake after 4- 6 hours whereas before i would need 8 -9 hours sleep. My mind would race, i was anxious and depressed.
- What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
Many over the years. Countless. The ones that helped in order are:
Sufed musli helped. I tried it a full year after noticing the side effects did not resolve. It initially got me from being impotent to get a poor/mediocre erection but i penetrated a woman with it. This ability to get erection stuck, it waxed and waned over the years but i could get an erection. It also brought back some morning wood, poor but brought back.
Zinc. This helped bringing back stronger morning wood with some hint of libido. Easier to arouse myself, even though it was still pathetic.
Broccoli. When i ate this i got stronger morning wood. Figured i had estrogen issues, as i had gynecomastia and female pattern fat.
Then did liver cleansing, used liv 52 and other stuff i bought of net. This took gynecomastia away and my morning wood become stronger.
Liv 52, brought back spontaneous erections to some degree but not like before, it was a shadow of my formerself but there was a hint of it come back. this remained.
Gluten free, dairy free diet helped. This took a lot of the depression away and helped me sleep from 4-5 hours to 6 - 7 hours but not deep like before. I was still wired but no longer anxious or depressed.
Mughaliz. I then took Mughaliz, an indian herbal remedy containing amongst others tribulus territis, safed musli etc etc. This is to thicken semen and improve virility. This helped a lot! Morning wood everyday and spontaneous erections were better, along with sexual thoughts. The effects somewhat remained after taking, and i did a few cycles of this herbal lasting a month or two each time with some time off. This thickened up my semen and my precum did become better, more thick and it would not leak out easily.
Accupuncture helped sexuality a little bit, maybe subjective cant tell for sure. But only had 3 sessions so far.
A potato before bed on empty stomach 3 hours after a protien meal as per “potato not Prozac” book, this raised serotonin so i could sleep deep again. Insomnia improved.
At this point still no libido, no desire to chase a woman, but could perform somewhat eventhough i still had no libido, no urge to do it, no primal buildup etc etc I also still had precum that would leak out after getting an erection and this would still start to kill wood, coupled with very little desire this would kill the sex.
THE FOLLOWING WAS THE LAST PIECE OF PUZZLE and i beleive the MAIN thing that helped my recovery so far!!! We may have low Histamine>
I tried a low histamine diet to help sleep and it worsened my symptoms, i grew really tired, foggy thinking etc etc. So this led me to investigate…HISTAMINE!!! So i tried to raise histamine levels. I believe Histamine is the key in our conditions and excess copper. When i first took l’histdine with b6 the next morning for first time since my crash i had my sensitivity back, libido, desire, just like i remembered back in the day, i had forgotten what it felt like!!! It was like night and day. Then later that day i noticed my appetite came back, so the next day i did it again and found that my coating on tounge was disappearing and my body temperature was a little higher. My mind was calm and relaxed, my depression gone! If i took zinc it gave me more of a boost maybe because zinc reduces high copper. LOW histamine usually means high copper. AND MY BALLS GREW BACK and OIL started back on my face. I then missed a day of Histidine and b6 and woke up next morning and i still had that libido, sensitivity etc etc. So far i am still taking Histidine with b6 and will trial different ways to take it as i read to increase histamine levels there are specific ways to do this, but one you will also need to reduce copper in body and boost zinc search net.
So, i read histamine controls gastric acid and appetite, food allergies occur in low histamine people!! Histamine controls body clock also to a degree. Histamine is the main neurotransmitter responsible for making other neurotransmitters!!!
I am going to a nauropath who will test my minerals so i can be certain i am not going to harm myself by taking too much zinc etc etc.
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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)?
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Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
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Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
Took for a month along with saw palmetto, reishi (5 ar inhibitor) and other anti androgens on advice of a chinese herbalist. Killed me sexually but i thought i would come back after, then 4 weeks in i had enough of being a eunach and went off everything. But did not get better. Rest…
see above
