Tryingnottoworry's story (Prostatorrhea & two 5mg pills)

Member Stories
#1

  1. How did you find this forum?
    Google search

  2. What is your current age, height, weight?
    25, 6’ 3" 145 lbs.

  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)?
    I typically avoid really bad foods, but I don’t have any particular regiment.

  5. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
    Prostatorrhea

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

  7. How old were you when you started Finasteride?
    25

  8. How old were you when you quit?
    25

  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?
    Generic finasteride

  11. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
    5mg/day

  12. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    2nd day

  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
[X] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

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

Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[X] Testicular Pain
[ ] 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
[X] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[X] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[X] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[X] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature

[X] Other (please explain)
• Inability to feel hunger
• Weight loss
• Neck pain
• Headache
• Dizziness

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
    Nothing really, I took a few zinc and multivitamins, but stopped because I didn’t want to put any more stress on my body

  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 yet

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

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

(This was my original post when I first found propeciahelp.com. The checklist of symptoms covers everything that happened during my first month off fin.)

I’ve had prostatorrhea since I’ve hit puberty (I’m 25), but it hasn’t really been a problem until I’ve recently gotten a girlfriend. Basically how prostatorrhea works is certain emotions will cause pre-ejaculate (precum, not semen) to leak out in quantities proportionate to said emotions. It’s normal for a little bit to come out from time to time, but not in such large quantities. It’s also not the same thing as sexual arousal, what triggers it are the feelings you get in your gut when you really like someone. Small things like talking to or thinking about my girlfriend will cause only a small amount (maybe 10 drops worth) to come out, but holding hands and other mild physical contact can cause it to soak through my pants. I can also be completely flaccid and it will still leak out, and even masturbation has no effect. Bottom line: Nothing, aside from avoiding feelings altogether, will stop it from leaking.

Obviously you can see why this would be annoying, as I’ve had to cram paper towels and toilet paper into my underwear to keep myself from getting it all over the place. Simple things like showering can be difficult when you constantly have to go re-clean yourself over and over. And I can forget about going into a pool, but I’m not going to elaborate on that one.

So the first thing I do is go to my doctor to get it checked out. They’ve never heard of my condition before, so they prescribe me Prozac because of its numbing effect on the libido. After two days of taking it, I realize that my sexual functions are being numbed, but it has no effect on my leakage. I can understand how if I had a premature ejaculation problem this could help, but my leakage isn’t caused by sexual arousal, just emotion, so I knew this wasn’t going anywhere.

I did some research and found that in a few case studies Finasteride could actually help my problem. As it turns out, prostatorrhea is a very poorly documented condition, and fairly rare too. It isn’t caused by any sort of infection or anything, it’s just the way the things in there decided to work. I went back to the doctor’s office and showed them the article, and they gave me a 1 month prescription of Finasteride 5mg (to be taken daily).

I’ve taken it for 2 days now, and I suddenly started feeling very light headed. “No big deal.” I said to myself, “It’s a symptom they said would probably happen anyway.” But being the worry wart that I am, I did a google search on the side effects of Finasteride, and found this site.

WOAH

After looking through a number of topics, this finasteride stuff is starting to scare the crap out of me. Prostatorrhea is not a condition I want to deal with for the rest of my life, but I REALLY don’t want to have to potentially deal with brain fog or erectile dysfunction. I know it’s only been 2 doses, and aside from the dizziness I feel fine, but I’m kind of worried I just started down a deep dark path. I can’t say if I fall into the majority who have no problems with finasteride, or the minority who do, but I’m starting to think the cure is worse than the disease.

Anyway, I’d like to hear your thoughts on this, and if any of you have any knowledge on prostatorrhea, or the effects of finasteride on it. I’d be happy to answer your questions about it too.

#2

in my personal opinion i don’t know the effect of finasteride on prostatorrhea but from my experience i’d say you to stay far from finasteride cause it can cause all the problems u ve read on the forum,so ask for an alternative terapies if there is…or maybe it’s btter living with your problem than with an erectil disfunction problem .

#3

Heh, funny you should say that. My testicles suddenly started hurting a little and I can’t get an erection. But being that I only took 2 doses, this should go away soon, right?

#4

i hope for you,but the best thing u can do is stop to take this shit , believe me !

#5

Yeah, I think after reading all this stuff I’m gonna toss that bottle of junk. How common is it for someone to become impotent after 2 doses, and what’s the usual recovery time?

#6

no answer for that,dipends from your body… it shoul be after 2 weeks ( tis is what merck says )… do you believe that ?

#7

Yeah, I suppose that makes sense. If my hormones get knocked out of whack my body will probably try and compensate. I’m just glad I found all this information before I did any permanent damage.

Have there been any cases where someone had long-term effects from only 2 doses?

#8

DON’t stress you too much,i know you re scared,but the only answer for you is to wait and see…anyway i don’t know if there was someone with long term sides with only 2 pills .

good luck

#9

Thanks, I really appreciate it :slight_smile:

Well so far it actually seems to be working. I’m not leaking as much as I usually do. And it looks like I’m not completely impotent, it’s just a lot more difficult to get an erection.

Still, it’s probably best not to screw with nature, even though nature sort of dropped the ball, heh.

#10

Urgh, first day off the stuff and my body starts getting worse. I’m still mostly impotent, slight testicle pain, dizzyness, a really bad headache, my throat is getting sore, and I almost feel like vomiting. Actually yesterday when I suddenly got light headed is when all the symptoms hit me. They seem to fluctuate slightly throughout the day, and I feel like I’m at my worst right now.

I’m hopeing that since I only took two 5mg pills this should all be gone soon. The FAQ says to give it a week to a month for everything to return to normal. Does anyone know if it sounds like I’m having a preticilarly bad reaction to this stuff? I sure hope none of it is perminant.

#11

Well now I’m on day 2 of being finasteride free. I felt like an absolute zombie for most of the day. My head hurt, my neck hurt, my testicles still hurt, I had no energy, I had no will to do anything, and I just felt sick inside. My impotence was about the same, and I still felt dizzy. I don’t find it hard to concentrate, but maybe I just have a variant of the “brain fog” with the headache and dizziness.

Suddenly around 7pm, the sickness I felt inside and my lack of willpower suddenly started letting up. I could get up and move around again, it felt great. My other symptoms were still about the same, but my impotence is starting to wear off and my ejaculate is getting less watery. (yay for prostatorrhea :neutral_face:) Even though I was curious what would happen, after reading other people’s early days of dealing with this I decided against trying to masturbate. I simply don’t want to risk damaging any tissue by making it do something it doesn’t want to. Instead I concentrated as hard as I could to try and get an erection, and although weak, it was getting much better than it was the day before (where it felt like it was dead). I was also able to start eating again, where earlier I couldn’t bring myself to swallow more than a few bites of food.

So my upwards recovery seems to be happening, and although it’s fluctuating where I’ll feel better or worse from hour to hour, it still seems to be moving towards improvement. This is making me very hopeful, but I know the true test is to see if it lasts and doesn’t relapse in a month. I’ll keep updating this for any changes I have later on, and I’ll be praying for each and every one of you. None of you deserved this crap, and it’s a crying shame that it happened. I know I’m not out of the woods yet, but I’ve felt the pain you guys go through on a daily basis, and I give you all the sympathy I can.

#12

Day 3! Pretty much solid improvement all around. My headache is pretty much gone, my neck hurts a lot less, my testicle pain has gotten much better and completely goes away from time to time. Erections are getting easier to start and easier to maintain, though it makes my testicles hurt for a little bit whenever I have them. I noticed I had these weird little hard gelatinous chunks in my poo, not really sure what that’s about. My appetite is still here, though still not quite up to how it’s supposed to be.

Even though my symptoms were starting to clear up, I still felt sick inside for most of the day (but far less sick than yesterday). Late at night I talked with my girlfriend and the warm fuzzy emotions I felt seemed to make my sick feelings go away. The same sort of thing happened yesterday, so I think there’s something more to it than just a coincidence. It’s like it was something psychological that triggered a hormonal response, which in turn made me feel better. Maybe it was the “kick” my system needed to get moving again.

So things are still looking up, and I’m feeling more and more normal every day. The chart Mew posted about how long it takes to get your DHT levels back has me at about 35% of the way there, but I’m feeling about 70% overall, so I’ll take that as a good sign.

#13

Day 4, and things are going strong. All symptoms have improved, some have gone away completely. My headache is gone, my neck pain is almost non-existent, my testicle pain was ranging between very slight pain to no pain at all. Impotence issues are clearing up more and more, and best of all my libido came back! Erections are getting much easier to have and stay up longer, and caused almost no pain to my testicles. I felt only a little dizzy and sick inside for part of the day, but it seems to be getting much much better.

My appetite is still a little on the low side, but I’m having a much easier time eating food again. I seem to feel the effects of hunger before I feel the actual hunger pains themselves, but like everything else this is improving too.

I feel like I’m able to function pretty much normally throughout the day now, which is great because I hated being a zombie. I’d say I’m probably somewhere around the 85% mark, and I only want that to go up.

#14

Day 5 now, a few things got better and a few things got worse, but nothing drastic. My neck pain is gone, and my testicle pain is even less frequent and less noticeable. The sick feeling I’ve been getting every day was much better, however I felt really dizzy throughout most of the day, and it lasted longer than usual. I had to lie down several times during the day to gather my bearings. I’ve had diarrhea-ish bowel movements several times today, but I don’t think I had any of those weird gelatinous chunks in it.

Erections seemed a little more difficult to get than they were yesterday, but it may be because I’m really tired. I guess I’ll have to see how things work in the morning. Pre-ejaculate is pretty much back to its usual consistency, so that’s got to be a good sign. The numbness is starting to go away, and my libido hasn’t gone down any since yesterday.

So some improvements, some non-improvements, but overall I’d say I’m still on the right track. According to the DHT recovery chart, I’m probably at around 60%, and I feel like I’m at around 87%. I really hope these dizziness and semi-impotent problems stop soon.

#15

Day 6. This was definitely the best day of all, as pretty much every symptom was either gone or minor. Testicle pain was very brief and subtle, libido is improving, diarrhea stopped, and my appetite is coming back. The sick feeling I’ve been getting was gone, and I only felt dizzy for a short time later in the day, and it felt much less disorienting.

Erectile function is still improving, though it seems to be improving slower than everything else. I’m assuming it’s because it probably has a more direct connection with a lack of DHT than the other symptoms did, and I’m only at around 70% on the DHT recovery chart.

Overall I feel like I’m at 92% or so, and I can definitely function normally now. I’m hoping tomorrow brings me closer to 100.

#16

Day 7, another mixed bag. Dizziness only occurred for a few minutes and was very breif, so that’s good. I feel like I’m pretty much over that side effect. Testicle pain was pretty rare, and very dull and minor. Appetite is starting to come back a little more, and I’m starting to feel hunger pains again.

Things got a little worse on the sexual side though. My erections were very slow to build up and required constant concentration to maintain. They did seem pretty full, but the moment I cleared my mind it went back to being flaccid. Prolonged attempts made my testicles start to ache again, but much less than they did almost a week ago. Sensitivity was a bit weaker, and it felt more numb than it did the day before. Libido seems to be low at the moment too, and I think it has the most to do with it (If I can’t get turned on, I can’t get an erection). I haven’t noticed or felt any penile/testicle shrinkage or any change in ejaculate consistency, so I’m hoping this will get better tomorrow.

Everything still seems to be fluctuating, but at least my most apparent problems are gone. Sexual problems aside, I’d figure I’m at 97% (and about 50% for sexual only, but it changes so frequently). I’m so glad I can function again, but the ups and downs are frustrating. I’m trying desperately not to worry, but everything seems so scary and uncertain.

#17

Day 8, baaaaaaad. About an hour after my last post, I suddenly felt my erectile function and libido crashing down. I tried as hard as I could to hold an erection, but it soon became impossible. I tried to manually work it up (got about halfway) and ended up ejaculating. The sensation was very weak and dull. Strangely though, everything else operated normally. The ejaculation was fairly intense, the amount of semen was normal, and its thickness was exactly how it always was.

Within a few minutes my libido and erectile function hit zero. Even my emotions went completely flat, and all I could feel was fear and anxiety. I cried for hours and prayed my heart out, it was absolutely terrifying. After a few hours of being too worked up to sleep, things started shifting around again. My erectile function and libido started coming back online, but at the same time my dizziness and sick feelings started coming back too. I finally felt okay enough to sleep.

I woke up with a morning erection, which was a good sight to see. I tried manually working myself up again and it worked much better. The sensation from the ejaculation was very close to how it normally feels, and the pressure/amount/consistancy of the semen was about normal. Throughout the day I felt about 1/3rd as bad as I did during the 2nd day I came off finasteride. I took some zinc, multivitamins, and took a long walk. I’m not feeling great right now, but at least nothing’s at zero. I’d say I’m probably back to 70% overall.

It feels as if my body is trying to re-learn how to ride a bicycle. It keeps falling off, but it keeps getting back on too.

#18

…side effects happen, for most men they go away in a few weeks time. If by then you still have those issues this is a forum for you. I don’t think we need day-to-day accounts.

Best thing you can do for your emotional state is avoid reading our site and look into SAFE treatments for prostatorrhea. Adopt a healthy active lifestyle, exercise and see what happens in a month. You can expect a bit of a roller coaster as you get better but right now there’s a good chance you will.

#19

yes it is the same for me and this is the most question i have : why from 30 minutes of difference i can be at zero libidi etc and after can work well?..it looks like a psychological issue but i know it is not,so it isn’t the hormones volume inside mt body cause fom 30 minutes does not change,so maybe it is a receptor problem or a brain problem…we must investigate it .

#20

Yeah, it seems psychological…