Welcome to our community. Please fill in the following template as a way of introducing yourself, and helping others to understand your background and situation.
Where are you from (country)? UK
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?
What specific drug did you use (finasteride, dutasteride, saw palmetto, isotretinoin/Accutane, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, leuprorelin, etc…)? Finasteride
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? 1mg
What condition was being treated with the drug? MPB
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)? 2 years
How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start the drug? 22
How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 24
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? Cold
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects? Crash was a good few weeks after discontinuing
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
Check the boxes that apply. You can save your post first, then interactively check/uncheck the boxes by clicking on them. If your symptoms change, please update your list.
Sexual
[x ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive (recovered a bit)
[ x] Erectile Dysfunction
[x ] Complete Impotence (recovering to some extent. Definitely up and down)
[ x] Loss of Morning Erections
[x ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[x ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[x ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat (improved a fair bit)
[ x] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating (Large improvements made, it varies a lot)
[ ] Confusion
[x ] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness (improved a lot)
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought (recovered)
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[x ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency (large amounts of recovery)
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks (recovered within 2 months)
[ ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts
Physical
[ x] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled) (recovered a noticeable amount, but sometimes it shrinks again)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain (recovered within 6 months)
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[x ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease (it changes but always poor sensitivity)
[ ] Weight Gain
[x ] Gynecomastia (male breasts) (not noticeable but I can feel small increase in fatty tissue)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain (recovered within 3 months)
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[ ] Prostate pain (recovered within 3 months)
[ ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ x] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems (recovered a large amount I currently sometimes have no problems and if I have small crash it correlates with digestive issues returning)
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets” (recovered)
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness (recovered)
[ ] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears) (recovered)
[ ] Hearing loss
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination (really bad at first then recovered after ~3 months)
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[x ] Other (please explain)
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Insomnia (mostly recovered. First 6 months I rarely slept at all and mind wouldn’t switch off . Then suddenly was able to get a few hours broken sleep. Currently a good night will be 7 hours without many periods waking up, but not as deep as previously. When I go through mini crashes insomnia returns)
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Fever, hot flashes and muscle twitch (Fully recovered within 3 months)
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Panick attacks (Fully recovered within 3 months)
What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
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Few days of zopiclone at the very start, but is only for short course prescription. This didn’t massively help, just made me relaxed.
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Melatonin 1mg (not slow release) I have a tablet before sleep most nights
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Proviron 200mg for 30 days. I finished about 6 weeks ago and didn’t feel as good on it but not much change noticed.
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Clomid and Nolva ‘PCT type protocol’ a few weeks after I first crashed. This reverted everything and I was cured for about a week followed by another crash back to the initial crash level.
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Exercise including weightlifting and cardio. This helps with all the mental sides to some extent
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Wild swimming. Massively helps all mental sides. Probably best short term thing
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Fasting about twice a week I’d only have an evening meal and this seemed to help. I’d feel a bit better after eating the meal
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Acting as if I’m fine for example going to clubs and general chit chat helps mental sides
If you have pre or post-drug blood tests, what hormonal changes have you encountered since discontinuing the drug (please 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?
Tell us your story, in your own words, about your usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
After I stopped taking Finasteride I felt great, trained hard and became really strong. A few weeks later I went out for new years eve drinks 2018/2019. I woke up the next day with a perpetual hangover, fever, total erectile, dysfunction and a lot of other side effects. Having all these symptoms and total insomnia for an incredibly long time was the worst torture I can imagine humanly possible. Thankfully over many months I recovered some of the side effects. I currently want my mental ability to be sharper for work (it has improved a lot) and have successful sex (I’ll try soon). I’d still be missing a lot but that would make me so much happier
If I experience a rare mini crash it is usually because a mix of sugar, caffeine and stress. My tolerance to all of these things has improved considerably, however I avoid all three when I can.
It’s not the life I had, but I’m a significant amount better than I was. Hopefully I can fit missing parts of my life together bit by bit. The old me is coming back
I believe I will eventually recover and when I do I will have a very powerful mind.
I really miss my intense feelings (sexual, love, aggression, excitement, passion), my physical ability to have sex and mental sharpness.
I reported the adverse reaction to authorities (yellow card scheme). I recommend doing this because it is anonymous, takes a minute and helps support the cause.