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)?
France
What is your current age, height, weight?
24, 191cm, 80kg
What specific drug did you use (finasteride, dutasteride, saw palmetto, isotretinoin/Accutane, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, leuprorelin, etc…)?
Finasteride 1mg
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1mg every morning
What condition was being treated with the drug?
hairloss
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)?
1 week
How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start the drug?
21. 3 years ago
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects?
2nd day I think
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
Spontaneous erections, more libido, I currently never feel an urge to urinate when i’m laying down.
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
[ x] Complete Impotence
[x ] Loss of Morning Erections
[x ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[x ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[x ] Watery Ejaculate
[ x] Reduced Ejaculate
[ x] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ x] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[x] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[ ] 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)
[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
[ ] 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”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[ ] Hearing loss
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[x ] Other (please explain)
-I always had an additional small leak a couple minutes after urinating (that I couldn’t feel coming)
-Can’t feel the need to urinate when laying down anymore, even though I used to feel an urge to pee all my life, right before, while, or after sleeping
What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
Cyalis 2.5 mg, 5 mg, 10mg, 20mg, and similar
Testosterone
Tribulus
Many different herbs
Penile exercises
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)?
Nothing unusual/strange
Tell us your story, in your own words, about your usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
I got a lot of side effects (all the ones mentioned above) after 2 days of treatment I believe, when I was 21, but I kept taking finasteride every day for a week.
I had severe anxiety about 10 days after discontinuation when I noticed the side effects didn’t go away.
My parents kept trying to convince me it was psychological, but I never believed that until I did blood tests about 6 months after. Because there was nothing out of the ordinary in those results.
I went to psychologists and sexuologists but they didn’t think I had only psychologic problems.
I did additional blood tests the years after, it was always the same. I went to take a radiology of my testicules (they said everything had a normal size), I went to a penile trainer (don’t know how you call them, he said everything was fine too), different urologues (they always advised me to take Cyalis 5mg).
1st year everything was totally numb. Cyalis could work sometimes to give me an erection, but it felt as if I didn’t have any erection, no sensitivity AT ALL. I had every possible sexual side effect you could have I believe. I felt extremely depressed but other than that I could still focus pretty well, I was doing very well with my studies, with sports as well.
2nd year: I felt I could get an erection when I took herbs, cyalis 5mg, and very high stimulation. But the erection never was 100%. More like 50%. Penetration was rarely possible with my ex girlfriends. I started to lose focus and motivation that year because I had no hope for the future anymore.
3rd year: I had a breakthrough, Idk why it was like that, I had a girlfriend for 4 months at that time and I cared less about my side effects, I even told her and she didn’t care as well, she kind of helped me get better. I think that’s a good think to have because you feel no pressure to perform at all. For the first time since PFS, I could feel my penis without any stimulation happening when I was laying down in bed, I would train with my gf really often and I could understand how my body worked better and better.
At that I did some reverse penile exercises (rarely), I did a lot of research on my own, and i though it made sense when I looked at the urinating side effects I had. Idk if that contributed to my improvements. I could slowly achieve a 60% erection (penetration was always possible, but it still came out too easily depending on which position, you could still like bend it. The (not fully) erection also only worked when I was laying down. When I sit down or got up. I didn’t feel my penis at all and it would go down right away. But at that time I was almost satisfied tbh, compared to before, I was happy and never thought about it anymore. (The first 2 years, I had it in my mind every day, a lot of times)
Even though I had no stress anymore about my problems, I still wanted to know the root of the problem if possible. I was practically sure I had a venous leak (because the erection only worked a bit based on a certain position), so a couple months later I did that test. And again… nothing out of the ordinary. They did that test very carefully for about 30 minutes, with 2 persons instead of 1 after I described all my symptoms to them. But in the end they found nothing, again. They just told me to take a electromyogram test 2 days after.
When I got home a couple hours after the doppler test for the venous leak, I took some herbs and I got my first erection while standing up, it was also a strong one, as big as before PFS, and also unbendable. I felt a bit more libido than before as well. But I thought it’s maybe because there are still some chemicals left inside my penis from that doppler test, and that it would go away, which it did, like a day after.
I finally did the electromyogram test, and after I was done I got my old erections back the same night I got home, almost 3x more semen, semen was sticky, penis as big and hard as before, bigger and harder testicules, pelvic floor felt really hard, a lot of premature semen happens when I got fellations, penis “wakes up” faster, I had my first morning wood.
3 days after, the improvements were gone, but I kind of expected that. I got the results the same day from the test, and they told me there were some minor problems, but they couldn’t do anything about it.
The day after I took one pill of Cyalis 5mg when I got home, and I felt it was even better than before… and it lasted every since (now a month).
I still have few side effects which I do not care about, mentioned at the very start. I have a feeling that last test I did was therapeutic, like some reeducation of some sort.
I wish a lot of success to everyone on this forum, because I know how difficult it is.
I advise you to do all tests, and try all kind of trainings.
blood test
doppler test
electromyogram test
never give up.
there is a lot more in life than just sex, and it can always go back when you least expect it.
sorry for my english if there are any mistakes.