Well it’s been about a month since I’ve been off finasteride, so I figure I’ll post an update.
About a week and a half ago my side effects started to rapidly alternate throughout the day. I’d have brain fog and chest pain, then it would switch to dizziness and glaring vision, then to weakness and nausea, then emotional blunting and erectile disfunction, and so on and so forth. Eventually I started feeling better most of the time, and feeling sick less and less.
After going through this mix of symptoms, everything started coming back online. The past week has been pretty good, the only major symptoms were penile/orgasm sensitivity and weird digestive problems where I would have to poop very soon after eating and feeling nauseous until I cleared everything out.
The last 3 days were especially strange since my erectile disfunction went the other way and I had these massive almost nonstop erections that would pop up faster than even pre-fin. Even though I had poor sensitivity and weak orgasms, it was like I was on viagra or something. Eventually it started to settle down and now it’s just a little sub-par.
So things have been going good for me, until later in the day yesterday. I was suddenly hit with glaring vision, weakness, nausea, and very minor testicle pain. Secondary Hypogonadism is a terrifying possibility, and like my namesake, I was trying not to worry. It’s just so hard when you’ve come so far into recovery, only to get knocked back down with a freakin’ relapse.
I went to bed earlier than usual, and woke up in the middle of the night still feeling awful. Usually I’m a very heavy sleeper, and it takes me awhile to completely wake up, but I was awake like someone flipped an ON switch in my head. Unable to sleep and still feeling the same as yesterday, I started to feel really depressed. After about 4 hours of moping around, my nausea transitioned into hunger, and I started feeling much much better. It’s a freakin’ rollercoaster!!
At times I feel like I’m getting over everything, and other times I feel like I’m sliding back down. I’m not sure whether to take that as a good sign or a bad sign, or maybe it won’t make a difference in the long run. I just hope I get better and stay better. No hypogonadism! Bad! No biscuit!
I have a doctor’s appointment on Friday, so I’ll probably see if I can get a blood test done. I’m not sure what he’ll tell me, but I’ll make sure I’ll post what goes down.