0) Where are you from (country)?
Melbourne, Australia
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?)
2) What is your current age, height, weight?
22, 5’9, 68kgs
3) Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
No
4) What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
Fairly balanced, though not as healthy as it should be. I try to minimise wheat & dairy intake because I have dysbiosis/leaky gut, fructose malabsorption & a Bloodspot Food Antibody Assay test performed by Metametrix in Duluth, GA in March 2009 established I have a severe intolerance to milk & mustard, moderate intolerance to peanut & wheat & a mild intolerance to almond & soybean.
5) Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hairloss
6) For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
8-9 months.
7) How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
21
8) How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
January 2010, 22.
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?
Proscar
11) What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1.25mg, EOD
12) How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
About 9 months. I quit immediately.
13) 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
[X] Reduced Ejaculate
[X] 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
[X] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Depression / Melancholy
Physical
[X] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[X] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[X] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[X] 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”
[X] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[ ] Other (please explain)
14) What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
I took some antibiotics last week. I had an unopened bottle of Abbocillin designed to be cycled with a probiotic to address an imbalance of bacteria in my GIT. This was revealed by a faecal microbiological analysis. This led to a temporary improvement in my condition for the week that I took the antibiotics, but this is obviously not a lasting solution & I stopped taking them after seven days with the result that any discernible improvement subsided.
15) 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)?
I have extensive pre-fin bloodwork. These tests were ordered by a specialist who is treating me for CFS.
16) Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
If you’re reading this & considering taking Finasteride, don’t.
17) Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
CFS
I first experienced symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in December 2002 (& I would like to stress that I have been formally diagnosed with this condition by a CFS specialist, as opposed to those members who make vague assertions about having ‘chronic fatigue’ when discussing their post-fin condition). After bouncing around from specialist to specialist I basically gave up on seeking a diagnosis in 2003 because I could basically function on a day-to-day basis. I had all the classical signs of CFS - unrefreshed sleep, persistent fatigue, altered immune-system function, orthostatic intolerance, gastro-intestinal problems (where much of this originates) & so forth.
Fast forward to the end of 2007/start of 2008. By this stage I had passed high school, gained entry to one of the best law schools in Australia, & was coping adequately with symptoms of CFS. I had played sport including cricket & Australian rules football over the period '02-'08 without too many problems. I basically just had to be aware of my limitiations & not overdo it lest I suffer from ‘payback,’ & I was always conscious of getting sick because my altered immune function made me susceptible to everything.
However, around this time period I ramped up training as preparation for a new football club I had joined, & after running 4km every night for a two months, I crashed. During this time I also had a chest infection as well, & could feel myself getting worse, but I had previously become accustomed to overdoing things & just requiring 1-2 days to recover to get better. Suffice to say, this time I overdid it to such a point that when I crashed in March 2008, I could barely move due to fatigue, pain & dizziness & basically missed all of 2008 (had to defer university & I couldn’t work until November).
Anyway, this finally led me to seek out a competent specialist & I found one close to my house who diagnosed me with CFS around the end of 2008. I feel I am back to where I was before the spectacular crash of March 2008, am back studying full-time & have been since the second half of 2009. I believe a number of things have contributed to my symptoms improving, but concentrated subcutaneous injections of Vitamin B12 (which I continue to take) & a crash course in neuro-linguistic programming, specifically techniques devised to address adrenal problems, combined to take me back to my pre-2008 self (still suffer CFS but can manage on a day by day basis).
With respect to the NLP program, I basically adapted a series of steps I learned from a user on a CFS forum. I believe this is marketed, taught & sold as ‘The Lightning Process’ though I have never undertaken that program, have no affiliation with it & believe it is very expensive. Just on this point, being a law student I am quite cynical, a stickler for hard facts & as that program purports to be a magic bullet I was very suspicious. However, the theory behind it was convincing to someone with a non-medical background & I used it to good effect.
I have provided this backstory because I believe the Post-Finasteride Syndrome is, in some respects, similar to CFS & I believe that some conventional CFS treatment options might be useful in addressing our Fin-related problems.
Finasteride & Post-Fin Syndrome
I started on Proscar in May of 2009 (or thereabouts) at a dosage of 1.25mg EOD (perhaps slightly less - I would try & break the pill into 5). Around mid-January this year, overnight, I experienced a crash. Prior to that point I believe taking fin had accentuated my fatigue slightly (hence why I took it EOD), but this was no surprise because I’ve noticed that CFS has resulted in me being hypersensitive to everything (cold & flu medication, alcohol, caffeine, etc.). I’ve had visual problems since 2002, namely, eye floaters. My eyesight is very good but I did note that my eye floaters became more prominent during my time on Finasteride, & to this day I experience intermittent periods of sore, red & sensitive eyes & more annoying eye floaters.
Anyway, my sexual sides are identical to those described by many people here. Lack of sensitivty, zero libido, erections achievable only by heavy manual stimulation, wrinkly skin, crooked penis (though I strongly believe this is reversible - it is not apparent when I take Cialis or Viagra, & the bend was far less visible when I was taking antibiotics) & the list goes on. I’ve also felt emotionally blunt from time to time - the Deadening Effect of Propecia as I would refer to it (I’ve decided that will be the name of my memoirs 
) - but I haven’t been so impeded as to prevent me from continuing to do well in my law studies.
I have tried various supplements, but nothing has had any great effect on my condition. I’ve tried Tribulus, Vitamin D, Zinc, DIM & a few other flavour of the month supplements that have popped up around here, but nothing to write home about. Occasionally when I take Vit D or Trib after not touching it for a while, I’ll feel temporarily better, but this tends to subside after a few days.
Additionally, I got off the phone to my GP today (who I cannot thank enough for his willingness to order virtually every bloodtest I’ve asked for, aside from 3-adiol G which he will request if my DHT comes back in range). I will be picking up my results tomorrow, but he basically said:
Testosterone (either total T or free T, I can’t remember) was out of range HIGH. This is without any medication other than the odd Tribulus supplement.
Thyroind function was okay & reverse T3 was mid-range.
SHBG was normal, as was Prolactin.
I can’t remember the other values & we haven’t received DHT results back from Sydney yet. In any event, I’m only working from memory & will be able to post the results & ranges tomorrow.
In that respect, my thread title is a little bit pre-emptive. Hopefully, with some hard values to post tomorrow, I’ll be able to get some advice with respect to treatment options that will paint a clearer picture for what needs to be done.
I will edit this post soon with a link to all the tests I had done for CFS to see if there is anything notable. It also serves as something of an inadvertant baseline for my fin usage, given the tests were generally performed prior to May 2009 when I started on Fin.
**EDIT: 08/09 bloodwork available here: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4062 **