Please tell me these vision problems go away! I just got off Propeia (have been on it for 4 years). The doctors say my vision is perfect, and I say they’re crazy. Lights look really messed up at night, and my reading speed and comprehension has become a complete joke.
Sorry, but I have had vision problems for 6 years now, and I have been off the drug for over 2 years. My vision symptoms are like my vision is tense and flickering all the time, and I have a hard time refocus. Nighttimevision is misserable, like Im halfway blind. I too have been to an eyedoc who said everything was OK.
JH
Otherwise my eyes are fine, but I have eye floaters. Only one in my right eye=normal, but in my left there are something like ten. It is a problem in bright light.
Brainfogged my eyes are getting worse to the point where everything in my field of vision shakes back and forth a little and I still cannot focus on close things.
I took finasteride for about one year and have been off them for about one year. Besides the brainfog, the most disturbing sideeffect is the one related to the vision.
I have earlier experienced floaters, prior to finasteride intake, for exampled when I looked up to a clear sky and “relaxed” my eyes/vision. It looked like small transparent worms, floating around. But those werent present in the vision otherwise.
Now I have floaters all the time and they are more clustered so that they appear like shadows in my vision. It is extremely difficult to read black text on white paper, which unfortunately is basically the only form you read text in…, because these floaters disturb the reading extremely and makes reading almost inpossible.
In very bright and up-lit rooms, when I move my focus from one side to another in my vision frame and without blinking, I experience a jelly-fish like cluster that moves with what i focus on but with a short delay
Besides the floaters, I also have another vision related side effect that also is most obvious when I read but also where there is strong contrasts (again black text on white paper makes good contrast). I experience that the edges of the contrast is pulsating. The first 6 months after I stopped taking finasteride this pulsating in my vision was extremely difficult to cope with and it often resulted in headaches frequently in forms of migraines. But nowadays I don’t get much headaches and the pulsating around contrast edges varies and are sometimes decreased in intensity.
I too have been to the eye doctor, two actually, and they both have established the diagnose that my vision is perfect. I feel like I am crazy. I experience these side effects and nobody seems to believe me…god damn it is frustrating and it gets you depressed. Additionally I have brainfog from the finasteride. I have felt symptom free at two occasions, sporadically I am sorry two say. And they lasted maybe a half an hour each time and I have tried to find out what I did/ate/ etc too get a clue how to beat these symptoms. I you guys ever find any relife from this please tell me.
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Game over,
I’ve had the same floater problem for most of my life. Kinda like a chain of bubbles in the shape of a worm(s) that constantly changes. They’ve gotten worse over time. I also used to suffer serious migraines which start with flashing lights and loss of 80% of my vision for about 45 minutes, then intense vomiting and headache for 10 hours. The migraines are better these days. Every doctor told me the floaters are harmless. The migraines always got worse when I over-used migraine meds so be careful - I went through a series of headaches (cluster) everyday for a month. Finally ended when I stuck to only Advil to relieve the pain.
So I don’t think that fin made this worse for me however other vision problems arose directly after taking it. Impossible to focus tight/close, dizzy when things move fast across my field of vision, general dizziness and fog, difficulty reading. In fact I get a headache and get somewhat fatigued when I force myself to focus tight. Never had those problems before. Came on me like the flip of a switch. The only thing that seems to help is to relax and close my eyes for a while.
RK and Gameover,
I have the same tense vision you both describe. Reading black letters on white paper is slow-going. Really, any contrasting colors (white/black or blue/yellow) throw my vision into fits. I for sure get headaches when I try to focus on anything (especially when I where my glasses- which makes my vision sharper). It’s the MOST frustrating side-effect of this. We need to keep each other updated on any progress.
Here’s my plans:
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Wait a couple more weeks to get my estrogens checked again. My high estrogen levels have caused high intracranial pressure in my head (might be the cause of the vision problems). If the estrogen levels are still high, I might try arimidex to lower them.
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If things haven’t improved in the next month, I think I will get a low-dose prescription for Xanax. Xanax acts to increase the effect of GABA in your brain. Decreased GABA has been known to cause vision problems, and a theory on this site is that we have low GABA.
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For those with vision problems like mine: you probably have pseudotumor cerebri. I went to the neurologist today, and she says I’ve lost parts of my visual field and we need to act on this now. I’m getting another spinal tap on Monday, and I recommend you do the same. Good luck.
Were you not on drugs to decrease the pressure?
Anyway, let us know what happens with you.
I just wrote my doc asking him for checking me for this. Will report back later.
JH
Check out the symptoms for men:
nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency … 000336.htm
* Enlargement of breast tissue (gynecomastia)
* Infertility
* Impotence
* Decreased sexual interest
* Headache
* Visual changes
Other symptoms can be reduced T, less beard growth, infertility, and can be aggravated by an increase in estrogen, or can be brought on by certain drugs. Do some searches for some studies.
I have every symptom (except reduced T).
“In men, prolactinomas tend to present late, because reduced potency and loss of libido - the hormonal effects of raised prolactin levels - are subtle and develop slowly.” But add a hormone altering drug and that changes.
Of course this sounds like a long shot. I know it sounds crazy. It’s scary how many causes can fit into our set of symptoms.
Another interesting article:
i think you’re increased estrogen levels have caused pseudotmor cerebri. You should get your opening pressure checked.
Brainfogged, do you have ab update on your pseudotumor? what did your neurologist say?
Yeah, sorry I should have given this update sooner.
My opening pressure on my spinal tap from a couple weeks ago shows that everything has gone back to normal (showing a definite correlation between this drug and increased CSF pressure). That’s the good news.
Bad news: I was sent to an opthalmologist for a visual fields test. The high pressure has squashed my optic chiasm (the nerve that carries information for my peripheral vision. So I’ve lost the right visual field in my right eye and the left visual field in my left eye. Stinks. However, my neurologist thinks there’s still a chance that, with time, the neurons can heal and I can get that vision back.
So, if you have vision problems similar to mine, instead of getting a spinal tap, I would get a visual field test. Have them check not only your standard visual fields (to check your blind spot) but also a neurological test (tests your peripheral vision). My neurological test was the one that was messed up. BTW, a visual fields test is a machine where you click a button whenever you see a light, and the results show how big your field of vision is.
The good news is that I’ve found insight on this matter to be the most comforting thing. Any answers I get, the better I feel about the whole thing. Plus, now that my pressure has gone back down, it’s good to know I’m not getting any worse.
Good luck, let me know if you need any other help.
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Central serous retinopathy (CSR), also known as central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC), is a visual impairment, often temporary, usually in one eye, affecting males in the age group 20 to 50. The disorder is characterized by leakage of fluid in the central macula, which results in blurred or distorted vision (metamorphopsia). A blind or gray spot in the central vision is common, along with flashes of light (photopsia).
Do you think is related to your problems?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_serous_retinopathy
Hi folks,
I found that you can test your visual field online
Is a little tricky but will give you an idea and hope this help.
Mine is normal.I have normal blind spots
Something interesting in my case.My floaters showed up in both eyes 1 month after quiting finasteride.Not before.And they appeared after a episode of high blood pressure.I presume they are corelated with some hormones flutuations(high cortisol) rather than finasteride itself.Now the floaters seems to go aways but still present.
Ok, my vision is still messed up, but all else is fixed.
- Brain Fog/ Getting Tongue-Tied
Easy fix for this. Get your doctor to prescribe Propranalol (a Beta blocker). It’s magic. You’ll notice the difference after the first week. You’ll be tired the first week, but your body adjusts, and it ends up being the greatest med on the planet for our problem. No more panic attacks. No more anxiety. And this pill is billed as a blood pressure med, so you have the added benefit of controlling your hypertension.
- Back Acne
Lay off carbs with high glycemic index (sugars, breads, pastas, potatoes, etc), and my acne was gone in a few days. And believe me, my back was covered with acne.
- Tired all the time
I only eat one meal per day, and that’s dinner. Yes, you will lose weight. Before you say, “oh, that’s unhealthy,” try it. I consume as many calories as I can for my one meal at night, and I fall right to sleep after it. When you don’t eat during the day, your “fight or flight” mechanism is firing, and I am more alert/attentive than ever before. Starving your body isn’t “unhealthy” unless you have no fat. Allowing the body to burn its own fat stores and make its own glucose and ketone bodies is actually extremely healthy. I should market this “eat only once a day” diet. I’m a medical student, and we always tell Type 2 Diabetics to stop eating until they are better. They never do, but it’s the healthiest thing for them.
These things have worked for me. I only wish there was a magic bullet for my vision problems.
I understand you didnt have any sexual side effects after fina?
buddy that’s the wrong advice to be giving to people about eating only one meal during the day. If you researched into adrenal burnout/fatigue/failure you’ll realize that by not eating and keeping the “fight flight mechanism” on your body uses up it’s own glucose stores etc. What you don’t realize is that the body can run out of it’s on glucose stores after a while and you end up in extreme adrenal burnout like myself.
I don’t get the eating part. If you eat only a few times I’d imagine your blood sugar values will be fuc*ed and that can’t be good. I too tried betablockers, they seem to temporarily help.
How is your vision still messed up? I still have mild pain and discomfort behind my right eye and it looks a bit odd, but my eyes themselves don’t hurt anymore and aren’t light sensitive.