will it never become any better?

Member Stories
#1
  1. Where are you from (country)?
    South Africa
  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 search: finasterdide side effects doesn’t go away
  3. What is your current age, height, weight?
    31, 1.72m, 74kg
  4. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    yes, cardio and weights
  5. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
    all
  6. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
    hair loss
  7. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
    3 months
  8. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
    27, 2007
  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
    27, 2007
  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?
    Proscar
  12. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
    1mg per day
  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    not until after I quit
  14. What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
    ED
    Put an X beside all that apply:

Sexual
[ ] 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
[x] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

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

Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] 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

[ ] Other (please explain)

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
    L-Arginine

  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.

Hi, I started using finasterdide in 2007 (more or less) I used it for a couple of months and then quit. I can’t even remember why I quit or exactly how long I had been on it, it must have been around 3-5 months. It didn’t work wonderfully for my hairline as far as I can remember, which must have been why I left it at the time. I never experienced any side effects, neither did I excpect any, as my impression of DHT was that it was a bad hormone and blocking it was good!

I went to my doctor yesterday and got a perscription for 6 months of Finpecia, a generic. He told me that he was involved in a study of finasteride, and only 1% of candidates had sexual problems from it, and all of it went away after discontinuation. (I’m sure you’ve all heard that one before. lol). Anyways, I walked away very excited knowing I would get my hair back because this time I would be on finasteride for a year before I give up.

…And then I found this forum, just because I was curious and searched the net for possible side effects… And suddenly it all makes sense because I’ve been having very weak erections for years, I never knew why and when exactly it started happening, but as I filled out this questionaire, I realized it was ever since finasteride. Ever since!! About 4 years already. And it has never become any better, perhaps only worse. I won’t continue with this new perscription now that I know this.

By the way, I found that L-Arginine works well for erections, as it increases bloodflow. But it’s still not a cure, and it doesn’t always work. I also heard that a mixture of cayenne pepper and garlic works. I hope someone can find some magic potion that can reverse the long term damage finasteride does!

Regards
D

#2

Glad to hear you are not suffering any of the terrible mental and physical sides, but the sexual sides still feel like a sick form of punishment nevertheless.

I swear a doctor told me DHT was “bad” testosterone. Makes you wonder how ill informed they were to say such bullshit.

#3

I remember a Propecia commerical calling DHT “this pesky little molecule that causes MPB”.

#4

my brother, who is doctor, told me the same thing that DHT is the cause of all males’ problem. What a lie poured into ears of these doctors by pharmas.

#5

Yes! I remember this being the “common wisdom”, the buzz in the media, etc. Nobody knew what DHT was, we were just told that it was bad, that it was to be blocked, men have too much of it, etc… No idea of the consequences, the importance of this hormone. How stupid does one feel looking back and trusting the pharmaceutical company’s marketing campaign and talking points? Ughh!!

#6

How ironic is it that blocking DHT caused us all to have real “male” problems, that I took an acne drug specifically because I believed it would help me get laid or that most of you guys took a drug to prevent baldness for the same reason and it left us all sexually handicapped.

Denarion, you may have saved what you have left in life by not eating those disgusting pills again.

#7

Hi guys,

I have to mention something interesting. Just before I wrote my first post, I had gone on finasteride again for the first time after many years. I had 2 tablets down by the time I found this forum, at which point I decided to quit again. (after everything I read, and because I had remaining side effects from the first time I used the drug). But I decided not to quit cold turkey, but to taper it down slowly over time. Stubborn as I was, I decided at one point to stay at a level of taking 1/4 pill daily, (250 mg) and hoped I wouldn’t have any side effects from such a small dose, but still some benefits of the drug. But they were all there, the sexual side effects as well as brain fog and depression. I had difficulty remembering people’s names, couldn’t concentrate, and I even struggled recalling passwords and access codes I had been using for years on a regular basis. Very weird. I remained calm though, and carried on lowering the dosage slowly. Even at an 1/8th pill daily I still had some sides, although it became better. I continued lowering the dosage until I couldn’t cut the pill any smaller, and went off it completely.

The interesting thing is that I don’t seem to have the erection problems anymore now, I get erections a lot more often now, and stronger. (Maybe still not 100%, but definately better!) Could it be that going on the drug and off again “properly” could have helped my body adjust this time? I’m not sure. I’m not even sure if this is just a temporary thing or not. But I will keep you guys posted. Hope I don’t cause unnecessary excitement or hope, or for anyone to “try this at home” but it would be nice to know if anyone else has experienced a similar thing? Or is it all just in my brain-fog mind… lol

Will give you guys another update at a later stage!

All of the best

#8

It seems completely crazy that going back on finasteride would help you but nevertheless please keep us updated!

#9

Is nobody else intrigued by this?

#10

sounds crazy, i would do this only if it’s scientifically proven
(maybe not)

#11

his first crash was not typical at all. only sides were erection issues. he even still had a libido. i am interested to see if he crashes harder any time soon or keeps the progress.

denarion, what city in RSA?

#12

it remindes me a user here JIMZIM he did the same thing with Saw Palmetto, I did not here hime back.
I also have read another story where guy used fin to correct hir problems from Accutane ( on this forum).
another guy claimed to get his sides corrected ( I don’t remember maybe it was hairlosstalk.com) to get well after re-usging SP.
But all that said I will never touch anything again.

#13

Interesting… there’s somebody here that got better with SSRIs, but I don’t remember who.

#14

I have always been interested in what may happen if I were to go back on finasteride. Given I stopped almost immediately after taking the drug, I wonder if trying a month course of the drug could help kick start my hormonal system in the case it is stuck in some negative feedback loop. Nobody knows what mechanism of action is causing our problem and it may make us even worse. However, due to the very adverse emotional and mental side effects I had while on the drug, I would be very afraid to give it another chance.

#15

that name does not exist on this forum…

#16

I am sorry it was GimZim, you know my brain is not as smart as it was.
if you search his posts his last entry was on April 22,2009
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2195&p=12844#p12844

and note here

[i]Ridiculous as it sounds, I’ve started taking saw palmetto again to see if I can test this theory. My thinking here is that SP increases estradiol, allegedly through some direct mechanism but certainly through increasing available testosterone (i.e. blockingh some DHT conversion), which creates more aromatization in turn. It’s the best way I have to ‘test’ if this will make me feel better symptom-wise. Also, since I achieved fairly good T levels at a 2pm testing, and after feeling my worst symptom-wise, I don’t feel the first run of SP did me any long-term damage and it’s hard to see how it would have done so.

Since I’ve been taking it again, I’m oddly actually feeling much, much better. I’ve had morning wood every single day this week, penis feels better overall, more frequent erections, etc. This is crazy, and I don’t know if it’s a placebo or if it’s the real deal, but it is happening[/i].

and then he sent me two PMs. I am glad I did not delete them.

[i]Sent: Fri Jun 26, 2009 2:27 am
To: spstriken

Message

Hey mate,

Yeah I did eventually recover from the ill effects of SP. It took a couple of months but I’m now pretty much as I was before.[/i]

I dont know if he was still taking SP at this point.

[i]Message subject: Re: sawpalmetto problems
From: Gimzim
Sent: Fri Jun 26, 2009 8:06 pm
To: spstriken

Message

It doesn’t really take anything complex, you just need to give it some time.

Saw palmetto really isn’t a heavy chemical. It binds to 5-alpha reductase, which reduces your levels of DHT. Once you stop taking it, your bodies level s of 5AR will come back to normal, and thus converstion to DHT will return to normal as well.

It can take a couple of weeks, but you’ll ultimately be fine. Millions of people around the world take finasteride and that still doesn’t cause problems for most guys.

If you stop thinking about it, and stop visiting this forum, you’ll probably be fine within a couple of weeks.

[/i]

#17

[

[/quote]
What a fucking idiot! Go on sps, leave the forum for a couple of weeks and you’ll be cured! You’d think he’d have more sense reading the horror stories on here, he sounds like your average GP!

#18

Are you still doing better in the ED department?

#19

Yeah, sps… just in case you were thinking of trying this, i have already tried it and it didn’t work. It was a tough treatment but fortunately it was free…

#20

Just thought I’d post an update. I am still doing very well, I definately think going on fin again and slowly tapering off has helped me tremendously. In posting this, I hope I’m not encouraging everyone to try it, as I don’t know if it will have the same effect for everyone. But hey, if you have nothing to lose…

Moonman, I’m in Johannesburg.