The story of a foolish Med Student.

  1. Where are you from (country)?

Brazil

  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?)

It is so funny. I googled “Did anybody get their erection back?” lol.

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

29 years, 11 months, 26 days.

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

Used to until last year. I weight lifted and Jogged. Med school keeps you so busy and makes you lose your mind that you have to stop everything in order just to pass the exams.

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

Varies from very healthy to junky. Again, it depends on how busy I am.

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

Stupid Hair Loss.

  1. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)? How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride? ?

Since brainfog is one of my symptoms, I can’t say the actual date. All I know is that for some reason I started taking it shortly after one year I started going to medical school. That would be around September/October 2010. So I’d say I took it for around 1 year and 5 months, on and off, since I was negligent and would forget to buy more pills times to times when I ran out of it (I remember there were periods I’d stop for 10 days or more, and then restarted again). I was 28 when I started taking the drug.

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

Again, because of brain fog, I remember it was February 2012, but not the actual date. I was 29 years old.

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

Cold turkey.

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

Generic finasteride from a Brazilian lab called "medley’

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

1mg/day.

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

Brain fog again won’t allow me to be precise. But I know I already had severe ED by December 14th, 2010 - that’s the date I made a visit to an urologist for the first time to complain about this symptom. I remember this date because I still have the first prescription for cialis somebody gave me. So the answer might be 1, 2 or 3 months I started taking it.

  1. 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
[ ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[X] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] 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
[X] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[X] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[X] Slurring of Speech
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Depression / Melancholy

Physical
[X] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled and MAINLY DARKENED AND MILD PAIN)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[X] Testicular Pain
[X] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[X] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[X] Weight Gain
[X] Gynecomastia (male breasts) (MILD)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[ ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[X] Stomach Increased Acidity / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[X] Frequent urination (Times to times only. Feels like I have to piss every 30 minutes. It takes longer to urinate, since I feel I have less “pressure” to pull it out, most of the time.)
[ ] 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?

Viagra. Cialis. Ginseng from Korea.

  1. 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)?

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

That’s the part I’ve been waiting for. First I wanna say I am thankful for finally finding this forum. And I came across this place so randomly I cannot believe it. Especially because I cannot believe I allowed these things to happen to myself. I might make you guys laugh a little, with my story. Forgive me for any grammatical mistakes I might make. English is not my primary language. Let’s go from the very start.

In 2009, I passed the admittance test to go to medical school. I was 27 and I was the eldest guy in my class, since everyone else were around 20-21. During the first weeks, people would go “abysmal” that I didn’t “look like” people my age. Actually, people in my class are so ageist and I remember being on a conversation in which a guy stated at some point “oh my brother is sooo old. He is 28… blah blah”. I was shocked! And then I told them I was 27 and I didn’t feel older than when I was 20. Then they were all shocked. -“TWENTY SEVEN?” - they yelled. They couldn’t actually believe it because, according to them, if I never told them my age they would think I was 21. After this, I became too obcessed with looking younger while I got older. One of the first thing I started worrying about was that I was losing my hair at a faster rate than before. I went to a dermatologist. She asked me if my grandfather (maternal) was bald (for obvious reasons). He was. She didn’t even think twice: Finasteride for me.

My first year as a med student was great. I was full throotle. Sex, especially. I NEVER knew what it was not to have an erection. I could masturbate 3 to 4 times a day, and have sex at the end of the day. I even considered myself a little manic sex addict lol ( I know I wasn’t). Sex made me feel like a REAL MAN. TOUGH! That’s when I felt the greatest.

Well, she prescribed it. But it wasn’t after a whole year I actually started taking it. What happened is that I kept reading that it could bring me to a temporary ED, which would stop after I stopped using it. I was horrified even to think that I could lose my best friend for a while, let alone that I could lose it for such long time, maybe forever. I just didn’t know what was about to happen. One year and some days after I went to this dermatologist, my hairdresser stated in one of the appointments I had with her: -“what is going on with your hair? it used to be soooo strong and beautiful. And you had plenty of it. ha ha!” That’s when I thought to myself: -"That’s it! I’ll start taking the medicine. If my penis doesn’t get up, I’ll stop using it and it will be all better again. "

Well, by this time things started getting crazy at the university. Med school literally makes you lose your mind. I was sooo stressed with all of the reading, all of the tests, endless classes, endless books, crazy classmates, stupid professors… That was around one or two months I started taking finasteride. And that’s when I started realizing it was almost impossible to get my bud up. But GOD why me? I asked. I remember suffering quiet until my next vacations, which were on december 2010. That’s when I went to an urologist who said I was too tired from school, and that I had to chill out. I told him about finasteride. He said it had nothing to do with it, since I had a story of strong stress. He prescripted me cialis 5mg/day and told me to rest and travel. I took it, and went to New York for vacations. I remember f****** like a Taurus with cialis during that trip. Of course it wasnt finasteride, I thought to myself. I was tired… now I am good.

And then 1 year and 5 months have passed by. I don’t know where I was when I didn’t ask myself why I’d get higher and highr doses of Cialis in order to perform well. Then, Cialis didn’t work. I suddenly started taking viagra. 50mg. And I thought “oh this is not finasteride. this is stress.” I’d tell my professors my story. And they would all say: “STRESS! Keep the viagra and try to calm down.” Some of these professors even said that if had lost my libido, it would be clear to them that finasteride was causing it. But my libido was as normal as ever. I felt like a taurus, as ever. Desire to have sex was sooo strong but I was frustrated that I needed to put a lot of effort to have an erection. So I kept believing my teachers who by the time were becoming my informal doctors.

Then, february 2012 came. I remember taking a shower and forcing an erection after taking 100mg viagra (yes, believe me, I came to the point of taking the higher dose and not questioning myself) which was already taking longer to work. And then I realized: “oh my God! My penis is MUCH smaller than it used to be”. And so were my testicles, but I still hadn’t realized it until then. I rememeber measuring my penis’ lenght way before I started taking finasteride. And it was 18cm then. Then I got off the shower, took a measure tape and realized it was barely 15cm. My jaw dropped. I started crying. That was the first time I cried because of this. And the last. And I finally thought - DAMN FINASTERIDE!

I went on a search on the internet about things that could make your penis smaller. I had never heard that it could shrink! I have millions of medical books of all areas and none of them even slightly mentions things like these. That’s when I came across another forum, not on finasteride side effects but on people who wanted to make their penises bigger. They were naturally small and were trying to enhance their sizes. I found a post where a guy said he bought a penis stretcher, and showed a medical article on the subject, proving that it actually worked. On this article I read that reckoned people using finasteride had to stop using it in order for the appliance to work properly, because according to their beliefs, 2,5DHT had a role on penis growth.

I was so sad to read this.

I stopped taking finasteride on the same day, and for two months I have been struggling with my symptoms, only now I KNOW finasteride was the causal factor.

Two weeks ago I came across with PROPECIA HELP FORUM and became aware of the mess this drug is making. I have read some of the stories here, and some of them made me feel confident this will end sooner or later. Three guy’s stories called my attention the most, because they have these “ups and downs”. But I am sure they will be heal 100% and so will I. I thought I had to share my story with you guys because I haven’t read any stories here (maybe I didn’t look throught the forum enough) of people who like me didn’t have ANY DECREASE in Libido. I still think of having sex ALL THE TIME.

I am a gay man, and I really still enjoy sex and think about it all the time. Even now, almost 3 months after I stopped taking the poison, I cannot see an attractive guy to mentally start taking his clothes off. The difference now is that if I am not on lots of viagra, my bud just won’t go up. No huh! NADA! ZERO! If I put on porn I feel the urge to start masturbating really fast, otherwise it will go erect just 10%. I know it’s alive but if I don’t give it viagra, I will have to ejaculate with a weak erection. Now even with 100mg viagra erections aren’t 100%, but around 80%. I used to have hard rock erections even THINKING that I would be with a guy.

Just a few days ago I realized that my glans aren’t as sensitive when my penis is flaccid.

Well I don’t know if I shared enough, but will probably have the time. I still haven’t had any tests. Timetable isn’t allowing a visit to an endocrinologist. While I don’t show you guys numbers, I’d like to hear from you. Let me know what would you do if you were me, based on what you did when you finally woke up from this nightmare who still haven’t ended. Gotta go study now. Thanks for reading, guys.

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ActusReusNoMensRea,
Sorry to hear you joined the club-it is not one any of us would want to belong to. With that said I’m selfishly glad we have another potential doctor among us. Have any idea what area of medicine you may take up? Hint Hint. It would be nice to have one more Dr. that believes us. I’m glad you still have libido, you are doing better than a lot of us.
Stay strong Actus and try not to think about it to much.
Peace, Tlecum

Whats sad is that many doc’s don’t even think this is a real problem. Hopefully you can help them change their minds, cause most of them think we are all just overly psychotic about our junk.

@Tlecum & Broken Pecker & everyone else.

Though I didn’t want to join this club, I thank you guys for welcoming me. It is good to know I am not alone (being a little selfish myself). What I learned from having easy access to various doctors showed me what I am NOT SUPPOSED to do when I get my own MD. So far I am staying positive. After taking a while reading stories from many guys here, I decided I’d take the best of each guy’s stories and apply the rules these guys developed to my own story. I even started exercising (not too much) today. I used to be an athlete, now I am going the soft way. I just got home from a 20 min cardio session and 20 min reduced muscular training. Heard somebody here saying that exercise would help him, but not if he over trained.

I also decided I will slow down sex and masturbation, to see if this helps the healing. Will take a small dose of cialis each day just in case it helps the blood flow down there. But will force myself not to have sex or masturbate for one week, starting from today. I know it will be so hard not to unload, but I KNOW am stronger. And anything goes to get rid of this dark phase of my life.

When it comes to medicine, I already made up my mind: I wanna be a psychiatrist. In Brazil, Medical course lasts 6 years. I’m in the end of my 3rd. I already thought of being a psychiatrist way before this all happened. But before I become a specialist, I’ll be a general practitioner. And as a general doctor I vowed I will fight this shit that is happening to us while I am alive on this Earth. I better be good by the time I become a doctor. I already started doing what I am supposed to do, as a medical student and as a human being: Called up everyone I know who was taking this medicine and told them to stop immediatelly. I brought my subject to a class in front of all my mates and a good professor I have (neurology). I am not taking endocrinology and urology yet (they’re both on the 8th semester at my university, I’m on the end of my 6th), but I am thinking of trying and contact those professors to tell my story and bring the subject to their current classes.

Another thing I decided after reading all of your stories is that I AM NOT taking any more hormone blockers/inhibitors/stimulants etc to try and correct this… Enough. I will allow my own body do the healing. I cannot trust medicines on this field anymore. I’ll still do lab tests to follow up my levels, but first I need to find an endocrinologist who will sit down and LISTEN to me, and most importantly, someone who will work WITH me.

I want to know from any of the Brazilian mates on this forum, from their experiences if they’d recommend somebody. I live in Northeast Brazil and knowing that I’ll probably find the best people on the field in Southeast, I wouldn’t think twice in travelling down there to see a good fellow doctor, as many times I need.

Good afternoon you guys. Gotta go study. I’ll be back later, or tomorrow.

Hi,

Sorry, to hear that! I realy hope an wish u get well soon!

Hi Actus Reus
I live in SE Brazil (RJ) but as far as I know there are no doctors here who are really competent in the field of pfs, although quite a few are now aware of it. Another member of the forum had an unsuccessful consultation with a “top” endo in SP.
I was seeing an endo here in Rio who was very sympathetic but turned out his only treatment option was TRT.
I will post you if I hear of any recommended doctors.
Abs.

I have already warned him about my orthomolecular doctor here in sao paulo, shes truly someone that can help us.

Did you ever fully recover?

1 Like

Wish this dude could report back. He should be in his residency right now.