- Where are you from (country)?
Norway
- 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?)
- What is your current age, height, weight?
30, 175cm, 85kg
- Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
Yes. Running, weight lifting, crossfit.
- What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
Clean, low carb,
- Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hair loss
- For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
16 days and 1 day
- How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
26 and 30
- How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
26 and 30
- How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Cold turkey
- What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
Propecia and Avodart
- What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
0,5 avodart and 0,25 mg propecia
- How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
Two weeks, one day
- 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
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ x] Loss of Morning Erections
[ x] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ x] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ x] Watery Ejaculate
[ x] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ x] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[ x] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[x ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[x ] Confusion
[x ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[ x] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ x] Slurring of Speech
[ x] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ x] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ x] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts
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
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[x ] Lowered body temperature
[ ] Other (please explain)
- What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
Natural
-
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)?
-
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
-
Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
Hi!
This story is in two chapters as I did try treatments of Hair Loss twice.
First time: I was 26 and went through a dreadfull break up. Maybe not dreadfull in others eyes, but for me it was devestating. I had a lot of things going for me: Young, intelligent, was doing well with my education and a rich social life.
My self esteem was at the rock bottom, and I was noticing that my hair loss had increased. At that time I was a NW2, so most people did not notice it.
Anyways, did I google a bit, and found out that Dutasteride was the best bet when it came to dealing with hair loss. YAY, did I think. I read the side effects, and that only a few % got it.
Went to the doc, and he told me that I was a intelligent guy who knew what I was doing. He gave me a years prescription and of to the pharmacy I went and bought the pills. Same evening I popped one, and continued for two more weeks when suddenly I woke up and could not feel my penis.
I knew that this had to be because of the dutasteride and flushed them all in the toilet at once. I freaked out, and turned on some porn. It did not help… After some horrible days with googling, a lot of researching, did I feel my penis more and more, but I could not maintain an erection. It was getting a bit better, but I went to another doc and asked for help.
He did a quick read on avodart, and told me that this could not be the medicine because it should be out of my system by now. He gave me a prescripton of levitra and told me it was all in my head. I explained to him that my jizz was watery, and that I had all the symptoms of low testosterone and high estrogen. I also told me that I had been doing a lot of reading on this topic. Again he told me that it was in my head, and that it was like that to get older and that was something I had to get used to. He also pointed out that he was a doctor and had all the answers. His advice was to stay of the internett.
The levitra helped out, but I did not feel any libido at all. I used to be a very sexual guy who jerked of all the time, and had a lot of sex with women i hooked up with. Now I felt like a shadow, a pale guy who losted 10kg in just some weeks. Things did not get any better with anything. I was very depressed. I could not read, and started to drink a lot of alcohol. I hooked up with a lot of different women, just to feel like half the man I was. I popped some levitra and had unjoyfull sex with anyone who was down with it, just to see if I would enjoy it after a while. The weird thing is that a lot of women were willing, but I did not enjoy any of it. I fucked my boss at work, a nurse who did my blodwork, co workers, students from uni, women I met online, my housekeeper. This was a crazy time for me, but I could not have sex without levitra and I did not want to and I did not enjoy it.
It was just my way to try to see if I would enjoy it. My penis did not feel alive, and orgasms were hardly there. It felt if I had a fake dick that was connected to my body.
My studys went to hell, I was to depressed to read, to depressed to work out.
One day I woke up and said enough. I will fight this. I bought a bunch of supplements, healthy food, and managed a regime and routine. I would eat healthy, cut out the alcohol, no sex, and a lot of training.
Sloooowly things improved…It went up and down, but after a year my libido was good again. So was my sperm, my body and my mind. The lifestyle with healthy food, and especially heavy weight lifting was the thing that turned it around. I’m SURE.
I was SO greatfull and I found a girl and went steady with her. My hairloss did also come back and I saw this as a sign that my body was back in balance. I did not care about my hair loss. I buzzed it down, and everything improved month by month to the point I would say I made a full recovery. This took me maybe 2,5 years. I could litterealy feel that my body was back on again. I gained a lot of muscles, I could get angry again, I would stick up for my self. It was GREAT.
It went another year and I did not think any more about the bad side effects I had or the harsh time that went with it. My health was great, and so was my physique and everything else.
A friend of mine who is a doc asked if I wanted to start with propecia. He was on it, and he said that his results was good. I did not tell him about my own experience, but told him that I thought it was crazy to mess with your hormones like that. Again I listened to the whole speech about that I was not a doctor and blablabla, no scientific data, fear mongorors, anti medication activists with lies.
Life went on and me and my girl grew away from each other. This break up was not so bad, but again I was single. Again I looked in the mirror, and I could tell that my hair loss had become very bad the last year.
Again did I start to read about medications, and I felt that my problems I had was due to avodart. It was my fault that these things happened because I started of with a WAY to strong medication. The chance of this happening with propecia would be far less, since it was FDA proved. Actually I knew better deep down, but I made these excuses for my self.
I went to my new doc and asked for a prescription. I told her it was a medication with some controversy around it. For the third time, did I have to listen to the whole speech about me not beeing a doctor. What is fucking wrong with these people???
The truth is, she had no idea what this medication does with the body, but she read FDA approved and approved in Norway. We have one of the worlds strictest medication laws. This gave me also a false security.
Again did I get a prescripton, and again were I told to stay of the internet, and leave the medical oppinions to the proffesionals.
This time I wanted to start of easy so I popped 0,25 mg on munday. Woke up the next morning and I could not feel my dick.
I must be the most stupid man on this planet!!!
This time I also have a bunch of mental side effects. I feel this brain fog, and I have never ever felt anything like it. Fuck… I stumble over words, cant formulate sentences…etc…
This “confession” is two sided. There is a possibility to recover to all sufferers out there. It just takes time, patience and dicipline.
Good luck, and please feel free to ask me any questions.