The first post, cut and paste...

Where are you from (country)? United Kingdom

  1. 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

  2. What is your current age, height, weight? 38, 6’, 153 lb

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

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

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

  6. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)? 7-8 months

  7. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride? 37-38

  8. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 38

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

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

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

  12. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects? February 2013

  13. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? Sex drive has gone absolutely haywire, loss of motivation, indifference to almost everything, strange changes in my head that were definitely there before taking propecia.

Put an X beside all that apply:

Sexual
[ ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ ] Loss of Morning Erections
[ ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate xxxxxxxxx
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate xxxxxxxxx
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm xxxxxxxxx
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat xxxxxxx
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating xxxxxxxx
[ ] Confusionxxxxxxx
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness xxxxx
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacencyxxxxxxxxxxx
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Severe Depression / Melancholyxxxxxxxxx
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts
xxxx
Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] 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 eyesxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[ ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / "Poo Pellets"xxxxxxxxx
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness xxxxxxxxxxx
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[ ] 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? one yet, but reading the above list and seeing how many 'x’s i have submitted is making me think that i need to

  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)?

I have no pre-propecia bloodtests to submit

  1. Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?

My sex drive went through the roof! I had a massive upspike in desire but the ability to achieve orgasm was blunted. It was an itch I could not scratch, but my sex drive DEFINITELY increased, and without ay quality control. I cannot seem to switch it off.

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

I was losing my hair, vanity called, and I took the plunge. I did the regaine and propecia treatment and there was nothing to report in the early days. My hair started to thicken after a few months but this winter I became quite moody (more moody than usual in the winter) and my sex drive actually increased rather than diminished. The motivations were huge but the actual desire was totally inconsistent (I found it hard to achieve orgasm and the orgasm was less powerful). I have been single for a while so I thought this was just my dick going mad but it is more than that. My head is all over the place, I am focusing on strange thoughts which appear and disappear at random. I have experence of Class A drugs (ecstasy, mdma, speed, cocaine) and this drug has a very definite ‘‘come-down’’ feel to it. I feel like an idiot to have had this street knowledge and not acted upon it earlier.

I started using propecia for a while but stopped it after a drop in finances. I started to use it again last year and i was very consistent with the regularity of use. I am often a bit down in the winter and i put my negative frame of mind down to this fact. I have been single through this period of usage so I thought that as I am getting older I may be getting less intense orgasms etc. But these were slight until a few weeks ago. The last few months the urges have become intensely obsessive and frequent but the execution of orgasm has been lacking, or less powerful. I have been unbelieveably lazy and demotivted at work. A few days ago on the way home from work I had a small conversation with myself aout how shit my job/life was that if I swerved into oncoming traffic the ‘‘problem’’ would disappear. I have no idea where this ‘‘problem’’ came from. I am doing things out of character. I am, as my name suggests, very worried.

Will this get better?

Duncan

Have you actually quit the drug yet? If so when?

Your past usage of other drugs could be considered confounding variables by medical professionals as causes for your condition. That said, most men here LOSE their libido… you are lucky that yours increased while on the medication.

Hopefully your issues will resolve over time.

Mew, interestingly enough my libio actually increased as well over the years. In the year before my crash my libido was through the roof and even some of my friends commented that I was talking about sex all the time. After the crash, dropped to zero.

I have been off propecia for nearly a month now and I have begun to return to reality now. Apparently in England you can request a ‘‘yellow card’’ of symptom warnings to your doctor and hopefully it can go into warning other people about potential side-effects. The worst month of my life! Urgh.