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Where are you from (country)?
England -
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?)
Propecia support -
What is your current age, height, weight?
37, 6’3", 12 stone -
Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
running, cycling some swimming -
What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
mainly veggie, some meat at weekends -
Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
hair loss -
For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
1 year, 5 months -
How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
36, November 2013 -
How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
37, April 2015 -
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
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What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
Propecia -
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
a full tablet for first two months but experienced possible increase in breast tissue, reduced dose to a half of a table for about three months before reducing further to a third. This appeared to maintain the (minor) reduction in hair loss - receding -
How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
January 2015 -
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
[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
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[X] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[X] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[X] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[X] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[X] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[X] Suicidal Thoughts
Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[X] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[X] 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)
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What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
1 month of Korean Ginseng (I now know this won’t work but might as well finish the bottle)
I finally went on Monday to the Doctor who was surprised I had this experience following finasteride. I am getting bloods back tomorrow and will make another appointment then. -
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)?
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Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
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Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
Since starting Propecia in late 2013 - I had 3 healthy sexual relationships up until January 2015 when ED started to affect a promising long term relationship. I did not realise that this could be caused by Propecia as I assumed I was through the danger period having been on it for quite a while. My partner was very demanding sexually which had been fine but when your performance starts to dip it makes the experience less enjoyable and we eventually broke up - although in hind sight I think she may have stuck by me if I had explained the situation. I later stopped the medication realising it might be responsible and hoped that things would right themselves in a reasonably short period of time. I thought things were picking up again (I could get quite hard during masturbation) in August 2015, so started dating again but did not feel that I was responding enough to attempt sex and so the dating was short lived.
Again I felt a slight improvement in November 2015 while masturbating and thought perhaps I could attempt sex again if it kept improving (really I was being optimistic) - so I went back into dating. I met someone very special who I could really see a future with and was hopeful, however performance went from bad to much worse about two weeks before the night came when sex was on the cards. I knew sex was important to her from a relationship and while she attempted to turn me on there was nothing I could do but kiss and avoid it getting any further. That was the end of that and what prompted me to see my doctor last Friday (bloods taken, results tomorrow) I have booked an appointment to get counselling next week, my first time and perhaps it will help to talk this through, I just have visions of that night, my ideal woman trying her best to get me into bed and not being able to respond - which is torture!
About 5 years ago, playing in a loud band I got tinnitus - this feels like that period straight after when I was going out of my mind. Eventually I got used to it and live with it and hardly notice it. However, my manhood is now totally insensitive, in the last few days I have been unable to achieve orgasm let alone more than a 25% erection. I don’t know if there is any shrinkage as it’s hard to tell… That is my story so far. I registered today in the hope that maybe I could share a good news story in a few years time. But really I feel pretty low - 37, losing my hair (modest but now that I don’t take propecia and looking at my brother that is likely to increase significantly). If I do recover in 5 years like some of the stories I have read on here I will be 42. I do not feel I want to go down the route of other chemicals to get around this as the results don’t seem to be good. On the plus side I did my longest run yesterday ever of 20km, a run of frustration which can probably be directly attributed to propecia.