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)?
USA
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?
30, 6 foot, 170
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.)?
1 mg/day
What condition was being treated with the drug?
Hair loss
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)?
2 weeks
Date when you started the drug?
Sept 5th
Date when you quit the drug?
Sept 20th
Age when you quit?
20
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
cold turkey
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects?
First dose? One of the first couple of ones.
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
All lol. Maybe insomnia
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
[ ] 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
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[X] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[X ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[X] Confusion
[X] 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
[X] Suicidal Thoughts
Physical
[X] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[X] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain (Gone)
[X] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[X] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[X] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[X] Muscle Wastage
[X] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[X] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[ ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[X] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets” (Gone, I think?)
[X] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[X] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[X] Hearing loss
[X] Increased hair loss
[X] Frequent urination
[X] Lowered body temperature
[ ] 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.
Dropping this story here just so I can document the future. I took fin for about 2 weeks, had sides basically immediately but assumed they’d go away or it was nocebo. Continued til the mental sides clearly were not nocebo. Suffered a minor crash: minor penile atrophy, anxiety, insomnia, minor vision issues, flattened mood, lower libido, minor gyno appeared as well. It was bad but quickly improved, to where i was somewhat close to my normal state. I literally remember the exact moment I began ‘recovering’. I was sitting in my room, mindlessly on my phone, when it felt like I randomly got pushed into my body. Like when doctor strange does that move where he hits someone and they like leave their body? It was like that, but reversed. I remember just looking at my hand and mentally going ‘holy shit!’.
After this, my serb derm was getting bad (I’d actually love for this to come back as my hair isn’t really oily anymore) and used some keto shampoo I’d been prescribed and using for the past few months.
Basically immediately after I began to experience some genital pain. Gradually more symptoms arose and worsened for the next 2 months: Penile atrophy and numbness, ED issues, low libido, skin changes (dry and no pigment), facial changes, more vision issues, gyno kick started again, muscle atrophy, pelvic pain, fatigue, cognitive issues(You know how some people can imagine a full detailed apple in their head? I had that, but I seem to struggle to to do that now. Kind of like my mind is farther away and deeper in my head now), voice changes, no sweating, twitches, like full body contractions?, slow facial hair growth, circulation issues, emotional flatness, dental issues, insomnia again, etc. I remember a 3 day period where I had pretty dark urine and my wrists and hands had shrunk pretty significantly. Not cool.
Some of this has cleared up, some has stayed the same, some has worsened. Recently I’ve started losing hair like crazy, too, more than normal, which is obviously quite annoying as I took this drug to stop just that. Basically hit with everything under the sun.
I remember reading posts like this and thinking, “how is this person even alive?” Yes, it’s bad, but it’s not SO bad that people notice you’re sick. It’s kinda good but not? Like thankfully I’m not clearly sick but now it just looks like I’m not taking care of myself.
Anyway, shits been tough. Thankfully I have a strong support system of people around me, but it’s still so tough. I’m having fluctuations, which is a plus. The lows have been absolutely horrible though, huge anxiety attacks that spike out of nowhere that’s filled with dreadfulness and a lot of crying. Honestly terrible but I’m somewhat thankful I can still get that strong of emotion, even if negative. However, the highs seem to get lower and less frequent, so not a great pattern so far. I’m hoping they continue but the highs begin to get better.
I’m mad at myself for starting the drug, but I think I’ve forgiven myself for that. I relook at the information I had and the decision made sense at that time. I won’t lie, a lot of the pfs info I do/did see, just seemed/seems so fake. It seemed like the only people against it were these like crazy anti science influencers. Even posts I see now still seem that way. I understand now that many people posting are in a bad mental state at the time, but when reading it from an outside perspective the person just sounds batshit insane. I understand why a lot of guys who haven’t had sides don’t take it too seriously. I mean I was one of them. I’m still struggling to get over using the keto shampoo, though.
All in all, shits scary. I’m hoping I haven’t thrown my life away for good and that I don’t continue to worsen, at the minimum. To get sides is one thing, to get pfs is another, but to get a more severe case? Damn let me catch a break. I still want to live independently, exercise, and just live my life. I guess only time will tell in that aspect. I know I’m pretty early into this, but the trajectory has definitely not comforted me too much.
Hopefully things will improve, and eventually I’m at a point where I no longer think about this so often. In the mean time, I’ll continue to do everything I can to continue to live life. Sometimes it feels so easy to curl up and hide away, especially when you deal with physical changes, but I feel that may be the worst way to go about things.
I hope you all feel better soon.
Self-reporting template - ONLY USE FOR FUTURE POSTS TO REPORT ANY TRIALS OF TREATMENTS, NOT YOUR INITIAL MEMBER STORY
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Name of the therapy/substance:
- Dosage:
- How often you took it:
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Status
- Still using [ ]
- Stopped with no lasting change to initial symptoms [ ]
- Stopped with persistent change to symptoms [ ]
- Duration of use: Days [ ] Months [ ] Years [ ]
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Response when you started:
- Greatly improved [ ]
- Slightly improved [ ]
- Stayed the same [ ]
- Slightly worsened [ ]
- Greatly worsened [ ]
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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 [ ]
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Lasting changes to initial symptoms after cessation (if you have stopped for more than 3 weeks)
- Greatly improved [ ]
- Slightly improved [ ]
- Stayed the same [ ]
- Slightly worsened [ ]
- Greatly worsened [ ]