Took Fin 3 Months, Debating Taking it Again

Member Stories
#1

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)? United States

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?) Reddit

What is your current age, height, weight? 23, 5’9, 125

What specific drug did you use (finasteride, dutasteride, saw palmetto, isotretinoin/Accutane, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, leuprorelin, etc…)?
Finasteride

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

What condition was being treated with the drug?
Hairloss

For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)?
3 months

Date when you started the drug?
March 2023

Date when you quit the drug?
June 2023

Age when you quit? 23

How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Taper off, but only for like 2 days

How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects? 2.5 months

What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? Slight pain

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

Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts

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 eyes

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[ ] 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)

What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug? None

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)? None

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

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

I am 23 years old and have a bald spot on my crown. I’ve always had really bad health anxiety since I was little kid, so I was really scared to start finasteride. Think I may have some other mental issues as well. I got a prescription and was told by my derm they had never heard of PFS at all. I started to take it off and on every few days. Like 3 times weekly (MWF). Around the 2.5 month mark, I started taking it daily. I don’t even now if it was from the drug, or if any of you have ever heard of this as a symptom of PFS, but I started getting some pain in the head of my penis. It felt “sore” in a way. I quit immediately due to my horrible health anxiety. It seemed to subside after about a week and a half, it has since returned though. It seems to be my only symptom at all. It’s not debilitating in any way, and I even wonder if it was cause by fin at all to be honest.

I’m struggling so bad mentally though. I’ve dealt with depression before, but hair loss is genuinely the worst thing to ever happen to me in my entire life. I’m so fucking depressed and even suicidal because of the hairloss. I want to start using finasteride again even, but am also fucking terrified of PFS.

I feel like I have no real option here. If I use fin, then I get anxious and start searching for anything that might be “wrong” with me. If I don’t use fin, I become extremely depressed and suicidal due to my hairloss. I don’t know what to do anymore. My body dysmorphia is killing me.

Self-reporting template - ONLY USE FOR FUTURE POSTS TO REPORT ANY TRIALS OF TREATMENTS, NOT YOUR INITIAL MEMBER STORY

  1. Name of the therapy/substance:
    • Dosage:
    • How often you took it:
  2. Status
    • Still using [ ]
    • Stopped with no lasting change to initial symptoms [ ]
    • Stopped with persistent change to symptoms [ ]
  3. Duration of use: Days [ ] Months [ ] Years [ ]
  4. Response when you started:
    • Greatly improved [ ]
    • Slightly improved [ ]
    • Stayed the same [ ]
    • Slightly worsened [ ]
    • Greatly worsened [ ]
  5. Current response (if you’re still using the therapy/substance) OR Response in the time before you stopped the treatment
    • Greatly improved [ ]
    • Slightly improved [ ]
    • Stayed the same [ ]
    • Slightly worsened [ ]
    • Greatly worsened [ ]
  6. Lasting changes to initial symptoms after cessation (if you have stopped for more than 3 weeks)
    • Greatly improved [ ]
    • Slightly improved [ ]
    • Stayed the same [ ]
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#2

Although it seems the end of the world (which it isnt) I can guarantee you hair loss is so very far from how horrible this disease can destroy you. Do you like hair more than your dick? Or your body and mind? My dude hair is not worth that wasteland of life these horrible drugs can leave behind

Not a single person on here will tell you to take Fin. That’s like going to the burn ward and asking if you should start a house fire.

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#3

Restarting it is often how people get PFS. Not telling you what to do but it’s Russian roulette and if you get hit you’ll be begging to have only had hair loss

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#4

I would strongly advise you not to take it. Hair loss can suck, especially at a young age, but that is it. We currently don’t know who is susceptible to pfs so the risk will always be there, and not just whilst taking it, but also on stopping. And unlike not having some hair on your head, this can effect you cognitively, physically and sexually, and with as it stand no known cure. I can understand your anxiety around hair loss, but finasteride use has aged my skin and also decimated my subcutaneous fat. I have now lost my hair and cut it short and don’t give an eff about it. It’s as nature intended. This isn’t. Get help with your mental health issues and crop your hair, living with it for a bit. It will never be as bad as you think. The good news is that you know about pfs whilst you are still a healthy young man. I would run with that and feel relief. Good luck.

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#5

You’re in a place where people have been destroyed by this poison.

Look at the survey you filled in. See the long list of symptoms in your post? Some of us have the full gamut. Others are dead because of this trash. Many didn’t have the luxury of getting any warning.

Show some basic awareness, intelligence and respect. Take this question to a mental health specialist who can help you get a much needed sense of perspective.

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#6

I just want to pull up a thread that is floating around here. If this and the possible symptom list doesn’t scare the living daylights out of you then idk what more to say. And the symptom list isn’t exhaustive for everyone here nor is it very specific

Screenshot_20230811-222952~2
Screenshot_20230811-222952~2864×134 23 KB

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#7

If you need to, I would explore treating your depression and anxiety via therapy. I don’t want to downplay your own struggles as I know they seem significant for you now. All of the people in this forum have gone through it in one form or another as they took something to combat hairloss. However, if you think you’re depressed and suicidal now, you will surely not survive PFS. It is 100% not worth the risk. It can rob you of EVERYTHING as others have said. There are fates worse than death, and PFS can be one of them.

Also, if the depression has only recently set in. Are you certain this wasn’t caused by the finasteride? I was having depression symptoms before my crash even though I didn’t attribute them to fin at the time, I now see that it was causing them even early on.

Stop taking fin. Find another way to treat your other symptoms.

3 Likes
#8

Nah, I doubt it’s from the fin. Maybe it contributed slightly, but I’ve had very depressed episodes even before hair loss. Used to call the suicide hotline crying all the time. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. All my anxiety and depression always stems from two things.

  1. Extreme body dysmorphia and insecurity

  2. Horrible health anxiety

Edit: sad part is, that I’m objectively not even ugly. No I’m not a stud in any way, but I have good eyes and a decent face. I’m still so depressed about it though. Hair loss is hurting my confidence tremendously.

#9

I know man, but I’m so fucking depressed. I refuse to even do anything anymore. I literally screamed at my mother telling her how much I hated her for cursing me like this. Worst of all, the pain in my penis is still there’s after a month off fin. Got tested for STDs and UTIs and they all came back negative. I feel like this ruined my life completely. I’ve always dealt with pretty bad body dysmorphia. The only thing I ever liked about myself ever was my hair, and now it’s leaving me at a rapid rate. I’m only fucking 23. I consider and think about killing myself on a daily basis. I wish I wasn’t like this. I know hair loss isn’t the end of the world, but the reality is that my generation and the world as a whole is vain, and so am I.

#10

First off, I’m not a therapist or medical professional.

Look, you’re obviously in a bad place. It may be hard to see it this way, but your depression and anxiety are one issue. The hair loss is another one entirely. You need to go treat your depression and anxiety. If you do, like you said you’re not a bad looking dude, you likely won’t even care about hair loss anymore. This is not the place to come for that treatment though. You need a therapist or medical professional.

You treat your depression and anxiety however you want, but NOT WITH FIN.

You have hair loss and pain in your penis yeah? When I got hit hard with PFS I had bottomless depression as well. I felt like I needed to go to the emergency room 24 hours a day for panic attacks or the depression/suicidal ideation. I had zero emotion and zero ability to enjoy anything ever. No TV shows, no video games, no books, no clips on social media, nothing. Looking at a beautiful woman was the same as looking at murdered child. PFS robs you of your humanity. I had Akathisia and couldn’t even sit down or stop moving. I constantly felt like I was dying. Sitting down with my children to watch a TV show is now a luxury that I truly appreciate, as I was lucky to recover that ability. I couldn’t sleep basically at all for months/years. The list of symptoms I had goes on and I was by far not even the worst case. As others have already pointed out to you, everyone here is suffering or has suffered from PFS. If you come here to ask if you should take it, the answer is a resounding no. Lives have been lost and ruined here. Complains and depression and penis pain are but a drop in the hat here. You haven’t ruined your life, not yet. If PFS has taught me anything, it can always be worse.

Go get the help you need, but it cannot come from here or from finasteride. Please I am begging you to believe us all on this point.

3 Likes
#11

You’re right, and to be honest I guess what I’m looking for is just conclusion. I constant jump back and forth on it. I tell myself, I’d never trade my dick for hair. Then two days later, I’m feeling like no women I find attractive will ever want to be wither me again. It’s this constant back and forth of wondering if I’m making the right decision that eats me alive. I am sorry for what you’ve gone through. It’s pretty pathetic of me to feel so down about something that realistically means so little, but I can’t help it.

#12

You’re not pathetic, and I want to make it clear I’m not trying to make you feel bad or worse than you already are. I’m coming from a place of caring and understanding, and I truly just want you to understand what you’re asking here.

I never understood depression until PFS. PFS is not the only cause of depression and how you’re feeling is not your fault and just because you don’t have PFS does not make your depression invalid.

Just understand that PFS is more horrible than you can imagine and it’s not worth the risk of taking fin. Especially for someone with health anxiety. I’m glad you seem to have reached a conclusion here and I truly hope you get the help you need and can be happy. I’m routing for you.

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#13

If you retake finasteride there is a risk, no matter how small, that it could harm your appearance, amongst a whole shitstorm of bad. It happened to me, and your current concerns will seem laughable in comparison (I write this not to dismiss them but to give them context). Having BDD and health anxiety is in itself a complete red flag for even risking finasteride as along with the worry that will always be there whilst taking it, the psychological impact for those previously mentally well is profound, but for someone with BDD/anxiety to develop PFS the burden will be especially difficult, and I’m putting that mildly. Please seek help for your anxiety and catastrophic thinking. You already have insight and can see that you are an attractive young man. Try and be kinder to yourself. And your mum :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like
#14

Please listen and take heed of what has been said in this thread u have no idea what u could be setting yourself up for. We’re only trying to look out for you, nothing else!!! Retaking fin could spell the end of your face, physique, every aspect of your life as you know it . For God sake stop being a bell end and count yourself lucky. Almost everyone on here never had the luxury of being warned about this. Be extremely thankful that you have dodged something you can’t even begin to comprehend. You have a lot to be grateful for, you can build a good life for yourself move on and accept who you are. .Sorry but sometines the harshest of words are the most appropriate ones. Look for a positive in your life Finally and most importantly repeated use of 5aris is what brings some to the most severist of states.

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#15

This isn’t the place to seek help with an internal debate about whether you should take finasteride again, or not, and it’s difficult to justify membership for a person uncertain of whether some slight lingering pain less than 2 months off the drug is a symptom of PFS.

Hopefully, you take the warnings provided in your time here seriously and find some other way to overcome anxiety about hair loss.

This is an unfortunate exclusive club that you really don’t want to be a part of.

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#16