Work In Progress

  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 propecia side effects

  3. What is your current age, height, weight?
    38, 5’11", 75kg

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

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

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

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

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

  9. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
    same as above

  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?
    propecia

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

  13. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    day 9

  14. 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
[X] Memory Loss / Forgetfullness
[X] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[X] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[X] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts

Physical
[X] 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
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[X] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[X] 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
[X] Frequent urination
[X] Lowered body temperature

[X] Other (please explain)
insomnia

  1. What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
    trying to exercise and eat healthy

  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.
    Was recommended to try Propecia for hairloss. Trusted the clinic who said any side effects would pass. Not doing my own research was the stupidest thing I have ever done. 9 days in my penis shrinks. I think what the f*** is this and stop immediately. Here I am 18 months later, with the symptoms you see above. There has been some improvement but I’m far from better. Am trying to stay positive. Been lurking here a while but thought it was time to join.

Been eating veg based diet for the last few months - has made a significant improvement to brain fog. Am no longer getting that feeling of pressure and poison running around in my brain. Will stick with it a while and see if any further improvements occur.

Still some cognitive issues though, focus, memory and the will to do anything are still not great.

So just past my 2 year mark now. Brain fog never returned after my last diet change, so I slowly started to introduce meat back again - happily no more brain fog!

My Chinese herbalist gave me a formula a couple months ago which was high in Eucommia bark. Since taking this my shrinkage has vastly improved. Penis is back to normal flaccid size a lot of the time now, and feels a lot warmer to the touch. My testicles are also harder more of the time, but still go soft randomly at times.

Insomnia is still not great. Can’t seem to push much beyond 6 (broken) hours sleep a night, as opposed to 8-10 solid hours pre-fin.

That’s great to hear bro. Can you give us an update on your symptoms? Also, if you haven’t already try a good zma or magnesium supplement. I can piece together eight or nine hours now whereas I was lucky to get two on z drugs.