UK member used Finasteride for 10 days!

Member Stories
#1

  1. Where are you from (country)? UK

  2. 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?) Google

  3. What is your current age, height, weight? 65, 5’7", 12 Stones

  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise? Cardiac exercise

  5. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)? Normal heathy-ish diet

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

  7. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)? 10 days

  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride? 11 June 2012

  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 21 June 2012

  10. How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? cold turkey

  11. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic? Generic Finasteride 5mg

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

  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects? 7 days

  14. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? Low libido, erections problems, strange feelings in Testicles, headache, feeling odd generally.

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
[ ] 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
[ ] 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
[ ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[ ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature

[ x] Other (please explain) I sweat a lot.

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug? none

  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)?

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

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

I feel as if I have been chemically castrated, loss of sexual memory, no libido.

#2

sorry to hear this mate.

You planing to get any blood tests?

#3

I am currently awaiting the results of blood tests.
I still sweat quite a lot but in bursts, and have uncomfortable feelings in my testicles/scrotum, periodically.
I was never told by my GP to expect any of the problems that I encountered almost straight away, which caused me to stop taking the drug.
Does anyone have any experience of such short term use of Finasteride 5mg, that I took only for 10 days, will things go back to normal?

#4

some people took less than a pill and are having problems. I think a percent get better in 2 years.

#5

You need to give it a few months. Take good care of your body, eat well, and do light exercise. Get plenty of sleep. Chances are you’ll be all right.

#6

Thanks for your positive words, my blood test results show that my Testosterone level is within normal limits, I didn’t actually get the figure.
I have sweated quite a lot at night last week, but this week it is only an hour now and again.
I feel strange feelings in my head, not so much light headed but odd feelings, my scrotum felt uncomfortable yesterday, I went to the GP and he decided that I had some sort of urinary infection, I have antibiotics for that.
The local pharmacist told me to try wild Yam, it should help settle my hormone levels.

#7

Hi MerryChristmas,

I was carried away with my own probs. what experience have you had, and has it resolved itself?

#8

I’ve had a pretty big laundry list of problems - some which have resolved themselves, and others linger on. But don’t let that discourage you. (There’s a link to my story in my signature below.)

#9

I only took 2mg give I a month Or more at least!

#10

Since my last posting I have continued to sweat during the night, it is worse on some nights than others.
I also sweat during the day periodically which is very distressing, and along with the impotence which is worse than ever, I find it difficult to cope.
Periodically have had strange feelings in my scrotum and also feelings down the inside of my penis similar feeling to when I had a catheter inserted.
Is there any let up it has been 4 weeks since I stopped them?

#11

Can you describe the strange feelings? For me, I sometimes get a dull pulsing ache in the testes that would last for 5-10. I also get episodes of “tingling” on my scrotum that last for 10-30 seconds.

The good news is that, for me, the frequency & magnitude of these occurances has decreased over the course of the past year.

#12

Hi, sorry for delay in response, the feelings I get in my scrotum generally feels like moving feelings inside, occasionally they ache, but not painful more a slightly uncomfortable feeling.
I still have a feeling of not being connected to my libido, a sort of memory loss of of my own sexual memories.