Took finasteride 1mg for 4 days stopped since 2 months

Member Stories
#1

Hi All.
I m 29 yo male (175 cms / 75 kgs).
I started taking finasteride more than 2 months back and took for 4 days 1 mg dosage. I immediately observer the side effects and stopped cold turkey.

There were no erections most of the times and hard to keep if any feeble one comes not more than 20 seconds.

After stopping starting recovering and recovered 70% in 3-4 weeks.
However, the problem is that erections are not same as every time and there is a definite loss of libido.

Also there is very strange thing i observed that i get good erection if i lie down on my back or sit comfortably ( ie about 70 %). However, the moment i stand or do any movements they tend to wean off in 10-15 seconds.

My concern is that the dosage as less than 4 mg can result in permanent damage to the system?

And also some people who have taken such lower dosage help me out with any tips which have worked for them.

Thanks,
:frowning:

#2

  1. How did you find this forum?
    From google search

  2. What is your current age, height, weight?
    29 years , 175 cms , 75 kgs

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

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

  5. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
    Hairloss advised by a doctor

  6. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
    4 days.

  7. How old were you when you started Finasteride?
    29 yrs

  8. How old were you when you quit?
    29 yrs

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

  10. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
    finax ( finasteride 1 mg)

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

  12. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    immediately after 2-3 days.

  13. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
    There were serious issues with the erections and not able get them and also if i get them not able to sustain them long enough.

After discontinuation the tabs i felt a little improvements over 3 weeks but not complete recovery as i was before taking the pills. My erections are not hard enough ( about 70 to 80 % at best) and also takes longer time to get one. Also they die down very quickly. This condition is persistent after 2 months of last pill taken.

Put an X beside all that apply:

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

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

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
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] 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?
    I have taken no treatments. Any advice is most welcome in this regard.

  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)?
    none

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

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

#3

I think that you should rather wait patiently instead of getting paranoid. I rather doubt that 4 pills could do any damage to your body, maybe you are going through a temporary imbalance, but it should go away soon.

I think you should take a rest and sleep well, without geting to much stres.

#4

Suggest getting bloodwork as outlined on this site (top of Hormones section) to see where you’re at, especially with regards to Total/Free/Bioavailable Testosterone.

From there you can evaluate next steps.

#5

Thanks for the advice… i will get the blood test done asap…

if somebody has taken small dosage… please help me…

#6

Everything will be ok, relax!

#7

Hi All,

I have done my testosterone tests. Here are the test results

Testosterone Total (serum) using CLIA : 4.0 ng/ml. ( ref: 1.75 - 7.81)

Testosterone free (serum) using ELISA: 15.2 pg/ml (8.69 - 54.69)

apart from this I have very high cholestrol levels (triglycerides: 800). But this was same before i took finasteride and there were no sexual problems.
My fasting sugar is also within normal range (103).

Can anybody indicate what these results suggests. I have not taken any help from endocrinologists.

However, my erection problems still persists. but pretty random. Some days are good although not 100% while somedays are very bad.

Should i consult a physician.

Thanks,

#8

If you have morning W and it works quite often - it’s probably psychologial. If you get tissue changes and 100% ED, then it’s time to worry.

#9

inhumanityterminator, I have similar situation.

I took 16 pills (more than you, but anyway it is short period of time and only 16 pills!) and stopped with total loss of libido and strong ED. It has been little over 2 months ago. First I had strong progress in recovery. Then it slowed down.

Currently I only have ED and weak mind-connection with penis. Feels like my whole sexual energy stops before penis, somewhere between testicles.

I can get erection with manual stimulation, I have morning woods. Sometimes I can get erection only from visual stimulation, but not always. I can also get much easier erection when I’m in ‘horizontal’ position, and when I stand up I usually lose it after a while.

You can check my bloodtests in proper section of forum.
In my case I think that currently elevated progesterone is an issue. Soon I will have a visit with endo and new bloodtests to check how the results are changing.

Currently I’m taking care of liver, rest and sleep a lot, exercise at gym and I try not to worry to much (but this is very difficult). I can say that I still feel progress (increasing feeling in/contact with penis, stronger morning and daily erections) but it is going hell very slowly.

#10

Read this my friend.

propeciahelp.com/forum/viewt … =6041#6041

#11

Hey peres, that sounds quite like my situation. I took maybe 8-10 pills in the span of 2 years, but I suppose everyone’s body reacts somewhat differently. Just thought I would say that is the closest to my symptoms that I have seen so far. The “mind-connection” problem is hard to deal with, and based on the references Mew directed me to it could be due to Nitric Oxide or nerve damage/prostate shrinkage. This week I plan on discussing this with my doctors to see what can be done/tested…

#12

Please, write a post after the visit with doctor.

I had a visit with uro about 1 month ago and he didn’t said anything bad about my prostate. But he didn’t say anything interesting at all. Eh…

Maybe try to boost your NO? Currently I have 1 week off my job and I’m able to feed myself with a lot of garlic. But it is difficult to say if it works somehow on me. All the time I have better and worse moments, but I think I have very slow progress. You know that this is difficult to estimate.

#13

Peres, little of topic.

When did you realize that something is wrong with you? Did you add anything new to your hairloss regimen just before it happened, were there anthing unussual that you did before all of that?

#14

I think the first signs that there is something wrong with me, I had after 9 pills. I had quite difficult moment in my life. My relationship with a girl I really loved broke down (at least for other reason than hair/sex). So I didn’t think about sex or anything nasty for another couple of days and didn’t notice that there is something wrong down there. For the next week I was only going to work and sitting behind the desk as long as possible, trying to not think about her. During weekend (16th and last pill) I realised my libido and erections are completely zero - and it is not because of my ‘broken heart’ but probably pills.

Well… there are few factors that I still considering may influenced:

-I tried something topical (Ducray Cronostim) for about 3 weeks, but it was after I quit propecia

-For about 2 years I was taking a lot of carbohydrates to suplement my gym exercises (I’m afraid it could feed candida or in general slightly but constantly damage liver).

-I was also taking creatine, while I started propecia (creatine also looks a little hard stuff for liver)

-Breaking the relationship could affect me psychologically, but hormon tests shown progesterone. Otherwise I would’ve probably already gone to psychoterapist or sth. However I get morning erections (not always) and can get erections via stimulation. These two quite often indicate psychological problems. But probably most of us, know it’s not only psycho.

#15

I would believe in a psychological cause if I did not gain 15 kilograms within 2 months. I was always slim and athletic, now I look more like a pig on my face. I would belive in psychological cause If I did not get a nasty looking nose with a swollen shape, and reddish jowls all the time. I would also believe that if my penis did not get limp while heading to the orgasm. I get morning wood anyway, but it does not pesist while sexualy stimulated.

To be honest my crash was directly after I added isoflavons to my regimen. I think it might have done something very bed to my body together with dutasteride. I think that suplements together with fin/dut, especialy those raising Testosterone may do a lot of harm. I think this might be very close to adding fin/du to HRT, and might generate these nasty effects. I think of establishing a topic about anything that was taking together with fin just before crash. I also know a guy from Polish hairloss forum who used Fin together with soy isoflavons and got into the same permanent problems.

I had some pariods of recovery after then, but finaly I went down to the complete crash anyway.