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Where are you from (country)?
USA -
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 -
What is your current age, height, weight?
25, 5’11", 145 -
Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
6 days a week, mostly bodyweight but some weight training included -
What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
Anything -
Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hair loss -
For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
About 9 weeks -
How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
25, Started end of May 2014 -
How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
25, Ended beginning of August 2014 -
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Cold turkey -
What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
Proscar -
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
1 mg/day -
How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
Maybe around 7 weeks -
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
[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
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[X] 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
[ ] Testicular Pain
[X] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[ ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[X] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[X] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[X] 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
[X] Frequent urination
[X] Lowered body temperature
[X] Other (please explain)
INSOMNIA (this is what is killing me. I cannot sleep anymore.), Sunken/hollow eyes (probably the second worst thing after insomnia, since short of plastic surgery this is irreversible.)
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What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
Nothing -
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)?
No pre-Fin bloodtests, but post-Fin shows I have low T (free and total), low DHT, low Estradiol, high insulin -
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
No -
Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
I literally feel like I am in a nightmare that I cannot wake up from. Usually, in my pre-Fin life, when I had a bad day or was depressed about something everything would seem much better and ok the next morning after a good sleep. Now, every day is bad and I am depressed and when I wake up (after a terrible 5 hour sleep) nothing is better. In fact, it just keeps getting worse. I don’t have the motivation or energy to do anything. I have been avoiding all social contact for the past month or more since I am just waiting for a night when I get good sleep, and that has never yet happened. I can’t do this anymore. I can’t live like this. The worst part? Next paragraph.
THE WORST PART OF ALL THIS: I had never had a girlfriend before and had quite a bit of self-confidence issues (which is the reason I even got on finasteride in the first place; I always had great hair but lately it was receding more than I liked and was thinning all over; this seems like such a small problem to have now and I hate myself for it), but I met an amazing girl who seriously LOVED me (no idea how) just at about the same time I stopped using finasteride. We had been seeing each other a lot recently, but last weekend I BROKE IT OFF. I broke it off because I had to use Viagra everytime I was with her and couldn’t function properly otherwise, I broke it off because I was just so tired and unmotivated the whole time we were together (CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS SHIT? I MEET THE GIRL OF MY DREAMS WHO QUITE POSSIBLY COULD HAVE BEEN THE ONE AND BECAUSE OF PFS IT DIDN’T HAPPEN), I broke it off because MY BODY AND FACE WERE LITERALLY DEGRADING OVER THE 3 MONTHS I WAS WITH HER. My eyes have now sunken fully in, so I look terrible, old, tired, and sick ALL THE TIME. My muscles on my body have completely WASTED and I used to be pretty much purely lean muscle. Now I’m just a SKINNY GUY WITH NO MUSCLES WTF. I can’t even look at myself in the mirror and I know that this girl deserves better than me, she deserves either MY PRE FIN SELF or someone else. I seriously think that if I had met her just two months earlier I would never have started fin and WE WOULD PROBABLY BE MARRIED NOW. I HATE THIS. FIN HAS SERIOUSLY RUINED MY LIFE. AM I EVER GOING TO FIND A GIRL LIKE THIS AGAIN? NO. I CAN’T EVEN LOOK AT MYSELF IN THE MIRROR ANYMORE. I WILL BE ALONE. EVEN IF MY INSOMNIA AND SEXUAL PROBLEMS RECOVER, MY FACE IS PERMANENTLY FUCKED. I WILL DO ANYTHING, ANYTHING I CAN TO REVERSE AS MUCH AS I CAN. I NEED SLEEP. I NEED MY FACE AND BODY BACK. I NEED A GODDAMN TIME MACHINE SO I CAN GO BACK 6 MONTHS. I NEED TO WAKE UP FROM THIS NIGHTMARE.