- Where are you from (country)?
USA
- 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?)
I googled propecia side effects i think
- What is your current age, height, weight?
30, 5’11, 173
- Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
at the moment, no. Before crash used to workout 3 times a week
- What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
Meat eater.
- Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hairloss.
- For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
about 3 months
- How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
I was 29, dec 2013
- How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
29, february 2014
- How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Cold Turkey.
- What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
Proscar
- What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1.25 every day
- How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
right away, tried to see if it went away
- 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
[] Watery Ejaculate
[X] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[X ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[X] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[X] Confusion
[X[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[X ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[X ] Slurring of Speech
[X ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[X ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[X ] Depression / Melancholy
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)
[X ] Muscle Wastage
[X ] Muscle Weakness
[X] Joint Pain
[X ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[X] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[X] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] 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?
Multi-vitamins, some liver support pills (milk thistle), may try zinc soon
- 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 had blood test last week b ut haven’t gotten results yet.
- Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
None.
- Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
Was obsessing about my hair, knew the potential risks, even visited this site beforehand, but both my brothers are on propecia or proscar so i thought that would mean i could tolerate it as well. Very bad idea.
Immediately after taking the first few pills i got extreme intense gas, like, insane horrible smelling gas that would make my day near impossible to do in a normal place because i would have to leave every 10 minutes to pass wind. It was insane, i would literally have to pass wind nearly every 10 to 15 minutes, i would get horrible gas pain then have no choice but to walk somewhere and let it go then wait a minute because it smelled so unbelievably bad before i could walk back into work or wherever i was. I thought this would pass with time. I also didn’t change my diet at all but i could not dedicate normally. I had the worst constipation i ever had in my life. I would have try so hard to go to the bathroom but i could produce nothing but tiny pellets of defecation. It was so weird and not normal. Also i had to constantly urinate, it was ridiculous. I had to pee all day. I used to get up to pee nearly 3 times a night. I thought these side effects would pass but they never did, if i had any doubt at all that it was the proscar that was causing this, the very last dose i took the symptoms went away within a day and went back to totally normal. I thought that was the end of it.
I totally forgot about it, thought the sides were done. Never experienced any sexual sides that i could tell of during the time i took the pill. I was having a really really stressful year before this, so i was doing a lot of stuff and had a very busy mind. About a month after quitting i started leaking urine after i urinated into my pants, this had never happened to me before, and i did not even link it to proscar. I did a google search and came to the conclusion it was because i was drinking too much caffeine. So i quit coffee. I also was coming on and off of SSRI’s a the time so when i started seeing some sexual side effects about 3 months later i attributed it to that. Even though SSRI’s had never given me an issue before, besides delayed ejacualation. So about a month later, around 3 months off i started getting serious rubber dick, but i thought it was due to stress and other factors. So i paid no mind.
Then about 5 months off i got hit with this insane depression, the worst depression i had maybe ever. It lead me to almost lose my job, i may still lose it I’m not sure. Slowly but surely i developed horrible insomnia, i get no REM sleep anymore. My penis has no sensitivity, it is dead, like there is no connection between mind and penis. I don’t look at women in the same way at all, its extremely frightening. My testicles have shrank and they are maybe half the size they were before, my penis is hard feeling when flaccid and never feels right. It only feels normal before i urianate and right after, other than that its all small and wrinkled and hard when flaccid. I developed these veins all over my penis and scrotum/testicles. All my scrotum hair turned white. I also have the red blisters on my scrotum that I’m 99% sure were not there before proscar. My scrotum looks like its not getting enough blood to it because it used to be pinkish, now its a like dark red and purplish like its not getting enough blood to it. My penis is also pale when it used to be pinkish/red. Its very scary side effects. I also have so much extra scrotum skin now, my testicless have shrunken a lot.
I cannot sweat in the gym, when i go to the gym and do workouts that used to make me drenched with sweat i am dry as a bone. I cannot sweat at all. I also get fatigued all day. When i try to go to the gym i get tired after like one set. I cannot get a good workout, and i also cannot get a “pump” in the gym anymore. \My body is totally different now than it was. I am tired all day everyday and i get almost no sleep.
I have intense brain fog where i feel like my head is fogged up completely its very hard to explain its like my brain is stuck in some fogginess and i cannot concentrate at work and constantly forget peoples names that i meet. I have a hard time thinking of certain words. I feel out of it all the time and the simplest most menial tasks are hard to do now.
I constantly touch my penis, its like a habit now because i guess I’m trying to see if its still there, its always smaller and feeling weird, so i touch it all day, its strange. It also feels weird against my pants its like the sensitivity is gone but when it brushes up against my pants i get this tickling sensations that very annoying. Its very horrible all these side effects. Even as I’m writing this i feel like my brain fog is tremendously bad i feel disconnected from the world like my brain is stuck.
I also lost probably 75% of my smell, i literally cannot smell nearly anything anymore. All my sense are off. At night, my vision is very weird, i can’t focus on things, especially things to the sides of me, everything gets very blurred and strange.
I also feel like i get colder much easier now, like when i walk into an air conditioned room i get very cold.
I also have absolutely zero motivation, and i don’t go out besides work, ever. A few months ago i was happy and would love to go out whenever i could. Now, i have no ambition to do anything but lay down in a room, and try to sleep. Which i rarely can. And even if i do its a bad restless sleep usually.
The scariest of all is the sexual sides, i went to endocrinologist but i don’t know what to think. I am waiting on the blood tests. I am very frightened and scared about this. I am not the same person and i don’t know what to do. I already got myself into a ton of issues due to the depression, i may lose my job because of it.
The only good things I can take away from this intensely horrible experience is that i was on a crash course in life, for years i was bipolar and i lost a 5 year relationship because of it. This experience has made me see all the pain i caused my ex girlfriend and how many years i lost due to alcohol and other things. I have since quit drinking and cut all caffeine out of my diet and this experience has slowed me down so now i can fully see all of my past and all of the dumb mistakes I’ve made that i actually never saw before. But still, i am very upset about these awful side effects and am in a very depressed place. I am very unsure of how to try to fix all these issues. Any help is appreciated. Thank You