Weird symptoms panic attacks (im at 2-3 weeks after stopping finasteride)

Member Stories
#1

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)?

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?) searching

What is your current age, height, weight? 22, 6"0 80-85kg

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.) 1.25mg

What condition was being treated with the drug?Male Pattern Baldness

For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)6-7 months

How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start the drug? November December 2019

How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 5th or 6th month around 3-6 weeks ago roughly.

How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off) cold turkey

How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects? 6-7 months

What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? Panic attacks/severe anxiety and lethargy, odd paranoia, depressive thinking. Hard to breathe out of nowhere.

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.

I will update

Sexual
[ ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ x] Loss of Morning Erections
[ x] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ x] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[x ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[x ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[x ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[x] Suicidal Thoughts

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
[x ] 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
[ ] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[ ] Hearing loss
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature

[ ] Other

What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug? Breathing into a bag with anxiety attacks, was seeking benzodiazipines but know they will make a situation probably worse.

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)i am yet to check.

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

I started to begin to exspertience “weird” effects about 6-7 months in mainly with anxiety and panic attacks. The only things i personally exsperienced from finasteride was (watery semon, panic attacks, general anxiety, and thinking problems, lack of morning erection "that returned however after a week or so) I decided to cold turkey the drug because of the side effects that came out of nowhere.

The latest problems for the past few weeks or even more that are mainly causing me distress are panic attack,. breathlessness, heart palpatation/racing, twitching, chest pain, insomnia. I’m trying to wait it out

#4

Yeah, I had the same. I had panic attacks while I was sleeping for 2-3 days after quitting. They haven’t come back since.

2 Likes
#5

Same here regarding pannock attacks after cessation. Now i am more difficulties to deal wirh stress, but no atracks.

1 Like
#6

so is this due to finasteride? im two weeks + same shit

#7

Most likely. Panic attacks are not uncommon with PFS.

#12

I’m not sure if I have any good advice for you.

I waited it out and it eventually went away, but it may be different for you.
There’s a lot of unknowns about our condition. Some people experience recoveries with some of our symptoms while others get worse.

1 Like
#17

I stopped the drug after 1 month of use two weeks ago. For a whole week I experienced severe constant panic attacks and depression, they lasted for a week. I have just recovered, and do not feel any anxiety anymore. It might have something to do with your T4 levels, as high T4 will give you anxiety. Check you doctor and get medication for that.

#18

Damn. So it just resolved naturally for you after one week? Will talk with doctor hopefully they are receptive. I was just thinking of getting a anxiolytic for the meantime I will probably have to its that bad.

#19

I was fast to judge. I haven’t experienced any panic attack, but I am depressed and anxious at times. The anxiety comes from the brain fog though, I’m usually a control freak. But it’s going for the better, my nausea is over and I get meds for hyperthyroidism. Again, check for hyperthyroidism and get meds for it, perhaps that’s what is causing you anxiety and a rapid heart rate.

We will recover this together, trust in yourself and don’t let you down with bad thoughts! And for the anxiety, perhaps join some cognitive behavior therapy. I have an appointment and I bet it will help with the negative thought.

1 Like
#20

And I assure you that I was DEVASTATED by my anxious state. Constant heart beats, constant fear, anxious, depressed, no appetite, even scared to take a shower. Expose yourself to things you fear, even though you feel it won’t help, your body will remember and one day (very soon) you’ll be able to cope with everything you thought you wouldn’t be able to. Your mind might forget, your body won’t.

1 Like
#21

Thanks for the reply. I can’t help but be negative I feel heart palpatilations and breathlessness/panic it’s scary symptoms. Lasted for weeks if not month on end with a few days relief thier and here I don’t know of that is a sign of recovering or not I hope so. It’s pretty unbearable I cannot sleep. I was going to go to ER multiple times but have not.
Had paramedics check me out I think the ecg they did was normal I guess that’s reassuring at least for now? I also had a ecg when I was taking finasteride that turned out normal as well
I’m mainly scared if I’m deteriorating faster to what extent.

I will try to excersise and maybe take supplements and work through this stage but man it’s rough. All best to your health glad your doing better I don’t know what to say for my prospects.

#22

Maybe finasteride has done something to my heart communication or lungs to brain or mental control I don’t know but it’s unbearable.

#23

They also checked my ECG several times, everything seems normal. Do some blood testing, your hormones and thyroid levels (TSH, T4, T3 etc). They’ll predict if you’re producing too much thyroids (as me for some reason) which is resulting in anxiety. You can easily get medication for that.

Your body will heal, but it first has to overcome the worst… I know it’s pure pain, but you’ll be alright in the end.

1 Like
#24

It’s none. Finasteride cannot do any of that. It’s all hormonal. Hormones will determine your mental state… Again, I got some anti depressants by my doctor because we thought I had anxiety, and I got meta blockers because we thought I hate something heart related. NONE. Until we did blood testing, it was obvious that everything was hormonal unbalance.

#25

I hope so too. For us both well I’m taking your doing better now than when this begun for you?

dont wanna blame finasteride but it is most likely the culprit I had no other factors to cause this. In the past had like one or two panic attacks whole life. Now it’s a daily occurrence. I will be sure to ask the doctor regarding those levels of hormones.

I hope be ok in the end it’s not letting up making me scared bro

#26

Ok yeah it just seems heart relayed. And from things I’ve seen it seems possible. Thats the most worrisom part when you exsperience these type symtpoms it can escallate the problems evem more right.

#27

I’m doing 50% better (I had my crash 2 weeks ago, and went cold turkey 3 weeks ago). At least I can meet friends for some hours, eat and do daily stuff which doesn’t require a lot. I can’t work or study yet though. Small steps.

1 Like
#28

Your heart is fine. Your mental state is fine. Finasteride has just messed up hormones which will balance itself with a little time. You won’t feel like this forever.

1 Like
#29

I also had sudden panic attacks that started just a few weeks into taking finasteride. I would wake up in the night, gasping for breath, and then I would feel like I couldn’t breathe right for a while afterwards. The midnight panic attacks stopped once I quit finasteride. However, I still get moments of similar panic in the daytime.

Like others, the anxiety issues have remained. I have struggled with anxiety for a long time, so I view the finasteride as something that caused a setback in my long-term progress on my mental health. I encourage you to seek out psychological therapy. It’s really helped me. Although my symptoms are worse now than before taking finasteride, I actually think I’m a mentally healthier person: I’ve been forced to confront issues that were “hiding” beneath the surface.

More on panic attacks: When I was a teenager, I had a couple fainting episodes. The second one happened during school, and I after I came to, I overheard my teacher telling the paramedics that I stopped breathing. Even though that probably wasn’t true (people often mis-diagnose stopped breathing during a panic situation), hearing that put the idea in my mind that I might faint while by myself, stop breathing, and die. I struggled with panic attacks for a year afterwards. Some days I couldn’t eat a bowl of cereal without feeling like I couldn’t breathe. I share this just to say that I know how miserable it is to have frequent panic attacks. My heart goes out to you. I also know that it will get better with time.

#30

When you get your first panick attack / severe anxiety, you should assume it’s a normal reaction that even a healthy person would have on hearing horrific news. This is not PFS! I’ll explain my own case below.

I just lived through this and I can tell you it was not the result of my PFS because I’ve had PFS for over a year without anxiety (or other mental symptoms).

I had severe anxiety (just short of panic attack) for 5 straight days (minus 3 hours of sleep). I’m not an anxious person so this was super scary. I realized I had to distract myself so on day 6 I worked from work (instead of from home) was texting with a friend, and by the end of the day it suddenly lifted… Today is day 7 and panicky thoughts are WAY down and I’m able to sleep longer (6 hrs). I feel good!

My anxiety was triggered when dating for the first time again and it woke me up to the fact that my sexual problems were even bigger than I’d previously thought, and after I started researching the internet and this forum (that really intensified and prolonged it).

So for anyone panicking, this is temporary. Let it go because the more intense you make it, the higher the chance of it becoming a chronic condition (“anxiety disorder”). You’ll need a clear head if you want to make the most out of the life that is left post-PFS.

P.S. what helped me the most was “exercising away” panicky thoughts (e.g. pushups were amazing, walking it off, …). Deep slow breaths. Having some food in my belly. Being well hydrated is supposed to help a lot, too. Thinking about what I still have / can accomplish in life despite having taken this poison and enjoying the company of people you really appreciate… this all helped me break the panicky spiral.