Well guys, I am not saying what he’s going through is “psychological” - I’m saying that it’s normal to have Propecia side effects, and for them to linger for up to a month.
Anything after that, and you have long-term health damage…AKA us.
Wasn’t that an even longer period?
I’m still trying to get over my glorious two whole days on Finasteride 5mg, and I’m on day 17 of being off of it. I’ve had so many freaking side effects from testicle pain, erectile disfunction, loss of libido, emotional flatness, dizziness, brain fog, etc. It’s starting to get better, but I’m still on the rollercoaster.
About a week ago my anxiety shot up to ridiculous levels, my emotional state suddenly started going flat, and I went totally impotent. While I was wallowing around in bed crying my eyes out, I accidentally bashed my head on something (it was dark!). The pain felt somewhat pleasant, like having a nice yawn after a stretch. I figured it felt good because it made me feel something besides anxiety, so I didn’t pay it much attention. Soon afterwards my anxiety started letting up, my emotions came back, and impotence started to wear off (though not completely).
Today I suddenly had the same happen, and I couldn’t do a thing to stop it from consuming me. I started freaking out because I thought I was relapsing (after almost feeling normal again), and I pretty much went into an anxiety attack. My brother came over to give me a few words of encouragement, and then punched me in the shoulder a few times (for good measure). Very soon after my anxiety plummeted and my emotions and erectile function started coming back online, and like before the pain felt good.
Now I’m no masochist or emo cut-to-feel sorta guy, so this kind of weirded me out. Pain has never been something I ever felt anything good from, and whenever I did have an anxiety attack (non-fin) pain would only make it worse. I had my brother punch me again, and like before, it pushed my anxiety back down.
I’m not really sure what to make of it. If I had to theorize I’d say some imbalance in my hormones is causing my anxiety to boil out of control, and physical pain somehow overrides the effect. I’m certainly not advocating we start beating ourselves up, but does anyone have any idea what could be happening?
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.
Well crap, they scheduled someone over my doctors appointment, so I’ll have to come back on Monday.
I’ve had a few more changes in the last few days. All non-sexual side effects went away, which is allowing me to actually function at work. My erectile function keeps fluctuating from darn near impotent to working normally, and my libido/emotions are operating in a similar fashion. Sensetivity is still pretty bad, but gets slightly better from time to time throughout the day.
I’ve been sort of stressing myself out over the whole emotional blunting problem. It’s really frustrating when I’m talking with my girlfriend and not being able to feel the huge amounts of affection I’m used to. Even though this is one of my least debilitating sides, it probably pains me the most inside. For about 3 hours yesterday I could suddenly feel again, but it eventually faded back into an almost borglike state. Even when I can hardly feel anything, I still manage to leak tons of precum in situations where I should be feeling emotion. Maybe there’s something worth considering here, being that I have a condition that can actually measure my emotional state, but it seems to work even when I’m feeling emotionless inside. Maybe I actually really am having emotions, but there’s some breakdown in the neural pathways that’s preventing me from feeling them. I don’t know! (ohh prostatorrhea, I’ve learned to love you!)
I’ve been perodically making myself get erections since this whole mess started to both make sure I’m ensuring bloodflow and to check how things are working down there. Some days it feels pleasureable, others it feels painful. Sometimes I start to get a slight burning sensation and it feels pretty dry, and I’ve found applying vaseline to it helps tremendously.
It’s been a few days since I’ve ejaculated so I decided to give it a go this morning. I was surprised how much better the orgasm felt than before, as it almost felt normal. I did notice my muscle contractions (although fairly intense) seemed like they were out of rhythm with eachother. The amount of ejaculate was normal, but to my dismay, was quite watery. Soon afterwards my penis shriveled up like a scared turtle and felt pretty much dead. After about 2 hours it eventually began to un-shrink and now it’s just regular flaccid.
I’ve started to get these little bursts of feeling 100% about once or twice a day, and it feels so good to have myself back, if only for a little while. My symptoms continue to fluctuate, and it feels like I’m in a roulette game. Am I going to land on lucky red 27? Or maybe good ol’ black 14? Or maybe I’ll lose it all on 00. Only time will tell.
I guess I’ll post another update. I couldn’t get to my doctors appointment due to scheduling problems, but I’ll try again this week.
Things have still been fluctuating for the last few days. My emotional blunting/libido keeps switching on and off to varying degrees. A few days ago I suddenly felt extremely stressed out, like my cortisol was jumping through the roof or something. The next day my libido and emotional state improved dramatically, but has been unstable since.
Last night before I went to sleep I felt great. My numbness was almost all gone, and I felt like I was just about over this whole mess. Today I woke up feeling almost completely numb. I had no libido, I had no emotion, and I could barely even feel pain. I knew I wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn’t come. I tried to see what I could work with: genital sensetivity was terrible, orgasm was almost non-existant, and ejaculate was extremely low (maybe 1/4 the usual amount), but at least it wasn’t watery.
Aside from all this crappyness, I do have a few good things to report. My erectile function seems to be back to 100%, I’m not having any noticeable digestion problems, and I haven’t had any mental issues for the past week. I bought a juicer and have been juicing fruits and vegetables everyday, so I hope that’s been helping.
Anyways, I just wish I could feel again. I’m starting to get really down.
Wellllllll, I’ve been gone for a month, and things are looking kinda lousy for me.
I went to my doctor and spilled the beans, and he basically told me I’m probably getting these symptoms from stress, and that finasteride is a “very weak inhibitor.”. He said getting blood tests would cost a ton (and I’m near broke and without insurance), and that if I really wanted to I could get my Testerone tested and it would tell me everything I need to know.
The rest of the appointment basically devolved into me trying to convince him I’m not getting this from stress, and going on about how important 5AR2 and DHT was. I showed him this site and he said something like, “Well, people on the internet say lots of stuff that usually isn’t true. You need to talk to doctors.”. Yadda yadda yadda, I’m sure you guys know how this goes. So no tests, no wisdom, just doctor bills.
Around the middle of September (my birthday!), I made a pretty much complete recovery. It was very very gradual, but everyday I felt a little better than before (aside from an occasionally toned down libido). For 2 weeks this recovery lasted, and then only a few days ago, things started to go haywire again.
It started when my testicles started to very lightly hurt, and then a few hours later I was hit with impotence and emotional blunting, followed by dizziness the following day. Then, for a few magic hours, things went back to normal (like 100% normal). Soon my testicles started to hurt again (though not as bad) and the impotence and then dizziness came back (less severe as well). My testicles are getting very breif pains now, and they seem to be getting less frequent (as well as all subsequent symptoms).
So now, I’m just a little broken. Erections are slow, but can still be brought up to full power and sustained, and emotions and libido keep coming and going throughout the day, but aren’t falling off completely. I suppose the most worrisome thing is that I’m getting this after a recovery. I’m really hoping this is just part of the process and not a full blown relapse.
I’ve had a few lifestyle changes too. I’ve stopped eating pretty much anything that could be considered junk food. I bought a juicer and have been drinking craploads of vegetable and fruit juice for the past month and a half. It takes a lot of work to keep doing it, but it’s more productive than just moping around depressed all day. I’ve also been taking omega 3 capsules and calcium magnesium zinc tablets. Finally, I’ve been doing my very best not to be so danged worried all the time and just deal with everything day by day.
I’m hoping for the best, for all of us.
Fantastic news!! 3 months off and I’m feeling wonderful again!
It looks like my crash (the 2nd one) turned out to be short lived. The typical symptoms were all there (dizziness, ED, vision problems, weakness, emotional blunting, etc.), but it certainly didn’t come back in full force. After about two more weeks everything came back online. I can have erections pretty much whenever I want to, women look attractive again, I have energy and a sense of contentment inside of me once again, all that good stuff.
I still notice a few small problems that are still trying to work themselves out, but it’s nothing too signifigant, and I’m still feeling better everyday. I’d say I’m at 99.9% and I really hope this is it for me. A recovery after 3 months is pretty much the longest you can go with the syndrome and still consider it, “what’s supposed to happen.” Please God, make it last!
Welp, I’m gonna go pray for everyone some more. I hope all of you guys get better soon too!!
My body keeps doing weird stuff 
I’m still getting little bouts of ED, drops in libido, numbness, fatigue, and minor prostate pain but I’m otherwise doing pretty good. Lately my vision has been getting sharper than it normally is (better than pre-fin normal). Maybe it’s the rediculous amount of carrots I’ve been juicing?
In addition my mind seems to be working more sharply than it usually is. Like when I listen to music I can deconstruct the layers of instruments in my head and comprehend the mechanics of the song much more thoroughly, whereas before it would all mash together. My memory seems to also be on overdrive, both short term and long term.
Unless juicing has some freaky magical benifits, it’s almost as if my body went too far trying to correct the almost retarded state fin put me in. I’m happy my mind is working really well, but dangit, I want to feel again!
I’ve been through the same symptoms and roller coaster. Right now I’m on a down because I can’t work out (waiting for a root canal). The symptoms picked back up again very quick and I wouldn’t even want to try sex with a girl I wanted to impress now…
Hey folks, just wanted to chime in with an update.
Around the beginning of December, things started feeling really normal again. I stayed with my juice diet until the end of the month, and then eased back into my regular diet through Janurary. I’m drinking coffee, eating sugar and chocolate, and my body feels fine. I’m not drinking anything alcoholic, but I don’t really like alcohol anyway, so that’s never been a problem.
Pretty much as far as I can tell I’m completely recovered. Emotions, concentration, vision, libido, erectile function, orgasm, mental cognition, etc. feel like they’re back in order. The only unusual thing I still have is my ejaculate quantity is a little bit lower than usual, but it’s rediculously thick (It’s like jam) and yellow (but it’s always been yellow).
I’m praying that my body is over this whole thing, and I’ll be praying for all of you too!
Lately my erectile function is starting to decrease (getting more difficult to achieve and maintain), and ejaculate volume is getting lower and lower (and thicker). My penis is also bending to the left further than it was before, and I often feel like I’m in a daze for a couple of hours after I wake up.
It’s been about 9 months since I’ve been off Fin, and about 4 months since all my symptoms went away. It’s strange that I’m getting problems again (though much lighter) despite the time I’ve been well. Hopefully this is just a phase or some sort of unrelated episode that will pass soon, but I’m not going to delude myself into writing off whatever fin did to me.
I’m going to start taking some supplements again to hopefully help things out. I’m trying not to take anything heavy-duty for now, but I’d appreciate anyone’s input on what they think of this combination (taken daily):
Omega 3 1200mg (400mg EPA, 200mg DHA)
Calcium 1000mg
Magnesium 500mg
Zinc 15mg
Vitamin D3 1000IU
I would up the dose of D3 to 15,000 IUs for a while, taken spread out with meals and Omega 3. The calcium can come from milk or dairy if you eat it, take the D3 with milk. The others look ok IMO…
I’ve read that magnesium should be taken at night due to its relaxing effect on the nervous system. It may even help with sleep if that is an issue for you.
Well it’s been awhile. I’m feeling pretty depressed right now, and I don’t know where else to talk about this.
After a year off of fin, I mostly felt back to normal. My mental and physical side effects went away, and my sexual sides got drastically better. Still though, my libido never fully came back (except for a short time), and the numbness down there never fully went away. Now at 1.5 years off I’m starting to lose my morning erections, and it’s starting to feel more cold and detached. The sides seem to be coming back, even after months of improvement.
Reading everyone’s stories, I know I should be thankful to have recovered so much, but I can’t help feeling anguished. The libido-driven thoughts and fantasies I used to have all the time, the pleasure I used to get, all gone. I don’t have any insurance or any money for tests, though I doubt they would be help much anyway. I just want to be me again.
It just, it just sucks so much. 
Prostorreha / spermotorreha is another word for dhant or jaryan. This is a cause of sexual issues. you did not need Proscar. West does not understand these conditions and hence cant treat prostorreha / Dhant.
You had dhant / jaryan. This is effetively cured by unani and ayuverdic medicine. Do an internet serach. this is well recognised in many parts of the world.
The western medciine science is way behind alternative therapies in many areas, sexual health being one.
I don’t really care about that condition anymore, just like how everyone else stopped caring about their hair. It’s just a stupid minor problem I used to be obsessed with curing.
PFS symptoms are coming back. Erection & libido have gotten substantially worse, feeling fatigued, weak, emotions are getting flatter, can’t sleep through the night, depression and anxiety attacks getting more frequent, starting to get disturbing suicidal thoughts.
After being nearly recovered for a year, I’ve been trying to keep my worsening condition somewhat of a secret from my friends and family. I already burned my boss’s patience when I first crashed and was more or less useless for 5 months. I’m afraid I’ll get fired if I bring it up again. My girlfriend is always supportive, but we have a long distance relationship and communication is limited. I don’t really have much of an outlet with talking about this stuff other than with you guys.
I’ve been juicing 2 pomegranates a day for the past two weeks to see if it would help anything, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference. I’m not sure what to try next.
It’s hard to keep living like this.
I can understant your pain. I have the same feelings. I don’t know where to go from here. I don’t care for sex but want some energy and get rid of numbness and feelings like thousands of needs poking in me feet and hands. No energy, extreme fatigue drained completely.
are you still alive？