Zero Sex Drive, Energy Loss, Weight flux and more... WOW THIS SUCKS

Member Stories
#1
  1. Where are you from (country)?
    -USA
  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 for ‘Propecia Side Effects’
  3. What is your current age, height, weight?
  • 25 years old, 6’1" 215lbs
  1. Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
    -Yes, Weight lifting, cardio workouts and outdoor activities
  2. What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
  • I stay away from most fast foods and junk foods. I eat lots of Quizno’s sandwiches for lunch, fruit, veggies, meat and protein. I like a moderately healthy diet.
  1. Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
  • I wanted to stop my hair loss, my older brother has the same type of hairline as me and I didn’t want mine to get as far as his.
  1. For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
    -I began Finasteride about November 2008, so now about a year and a month.
  2. How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start Finasteride?
    I was 24 years old, date of starting was 11/1/08 approx.
  3. How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit?
    I quit today after reading about other guy’s stories on this forum and other websites.
  4. How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
    Cold Turkey
  5. What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
  • Propecia non-generic
  1. What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)?
    -1mg/day
  2. How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
    -About 4 months
  3. 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
[ x] Complete Impotence
[ x] Loss of Morning Erections
[x ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ x] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ x] Reduced Ejaculate
[ x] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ x] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[ x] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ x] 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
[ ] Depression / Melancholy

Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[x ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ x] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ x] Muscle Wastage
[ x] Muscle Weakness
[ x] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[x ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ x] 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?
    -None Yet, I just quit today
  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)?
    -I will get a blood test soon.
  3. Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
    -I will tell all below.
  4. Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
    -Here is my story:

Hey guys, I started in the fall of 2008 with 1mg/day of propecia prescribed by my long time dermatologist. I have a moderate receding hairline at the sides of the front (think Jack Nicholson) of my head. I didn’t want to keep losing the hair, so I tried Propecia. All seemed fine for the first couple months, but I began to really experience changes a few months in.

My girlfriend and I went on a 10-day trip to the Cayman Islands to getaway at the end of February. I figured I would be as horny as possible, but I had hardly any desire for sex. We had some, but my girlfriend had to basically initiate whenever we did. This continued for the following months. Other things I began to notice aside from the low libido were much lower performance at the gym, little to no ejaculate when masturbating or having sex, excessive tiredness during the day and weight fluctuation.

I easily put on 15-20 lbs by April of 2009 (bringing my weight to about 230lbs), which doesn’t make much sense since I workout 2-3 times a week, run around a lot on Friday (literally) and play paintball all day on Sundays. It didn’t make sense, but I just figured I was eating too much or something. I never really addressed the eating problem, I just eat until I am about full. Now, I weigh 212lbs and I am still doing almost nothing different from what I was doing in January.

One thing is for sure, I can barely get through a weight lifting routine at the gym anymore; not the routine I was doing in January 2009, but a greatly reduced version of it. In January 2009, I could bench press 205lbs for 5 reps, 185 for 7 reps and 135lbs 15 reps or more (as a warm up). Now, I can barely get 125 up for 10 reps…pathetic, huh? Curls have been reduced from 35lbs to 25lbs, sit-ups used to be 100 reps at the beginning and the end of the workout, now it is 50 at the beginning and maybe 25 at the end if I am not already depleted and feel like a wet noodle.

I honestly think I am eating better now than ever; little to no candy and fast food, lots of protein and vegetables and fruit as a snack. I drink mostly water and juice, no coffee, soda or energy drinks at all, some beer, but no more than 3 or 4 a week. There is no reason why I am so drained of energy during these workouts except for that little pink pill I take every morning…

Fast forward to December 2009 and I have no desire for sex with my girlfriend despite her beauty (I know exactly what you are thinking, that she must be some nasty troll from the boonies or something…but she is actually very hot, all my friends stare at her :open_mouth: and ask where I found her, she used to be a billboard/magazine model and a stage actor in Palm Springs, CA if that helps any). I don’t really care about finding a job (although I am trying) or what is going on on a daily basis. I feel very numb about a lot of emotions. I would normally be excited about going out on saturday nights to dance and be active, but now all I want to do is watch a movie and go to sleep. I don’t enjoy things like I used to. The most exciting thing I have done in recent memory was winning a new loader for my paintball guns on ebay.

I used to get erections so easily, at night, in the morning and even just sitting at my desk, but now they are NONEXISTENT. When I do end up watching porn and somehow get hard, I cannot ejaculate at all. I know this sounds crazy, but I used to have lots of ejaculate, my girlfriend called me Peter North because of how much was there. Now it is like the well is all dried up.

I know I just stopped using it today and I hope to Christ I regain my Mojo and all the other stuff, but after reading all these other stories I am really nervous… I will report back how I feel as the days go by now that I stopped using it. Hope this helps, guys>

#2

If you are like most people you should recover within a few weeks. If you like us, you might be stuck int his state for who knows how long. I hope you aren’t stuck with persistent symptoms, but if you are, we’re all here to help tot he best of our ability and you aren’t alone. Keep us posted in your recovery.

#3

Good luck bro. This sounds very similiar to my story. I lost all energy to work out before I stopped taking it. When I started again I could literally bench press 45 lbs maybe twice. I’m back up to 10-15 reps of 100 lbs after 10 months of pretty constant exercise. I took fin much longer than you just didn’t realize what was causing me to feel so horrible…

Word of advice: don’t overdue anything on the recovery. Try to be moderate. If you find something that helps don’t overtake it or over-exercise. Listen to the body. Push a little with exercise but if you become fatigued get some rest and keep your sessions under 45 min to prevent cortisol buildup. Don’t overdue sex either.

#4

Hey, thanks for the tips and support, guys. I am headed to the gym in a few minutes and am not planning anything ridiculous.

Last night, my girlfriend and I watched ‘Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me’ when Dr. Evil travels back in time and steals Austin’s mojo, then has trouble getting horny…how ironic…

#5

Yeah, i wish i could go back in time and slap myself in the face for even giving a shit about my hair.

#6

Give it 3 weeks to a month; I think that’s what Merck claims to be the bounce back period for side effects (correct me if I’m wrong). Your body can still recover in the first few weeks post-Propecia. Wish you the best.

#7

Alright, I have been off Propecia for just under one full month and here is an update on how I feel:

Not too much is different, but there have been some changes. I am starting to get erections back now, but they are still tough to make happen when I would like them (such as when my girlfriend and I are laying in bed). I am occasionally starting to get them back at random times like sitting at the office, driving around in my car and sitting at a movie theater. At least this lets me know my cock is still getting blood flow…

Libido (Mojo) is still gone for the most part, little to no desire for sex unless I am looking at porn or something. Cumshots are still like a dry well, occasionally a little trickle, but mostly always nothing. This feels like the worst of all the side effects…

My performance at the gym is still at a reduced level, but there was a recent glimmer of hope when I bench pressed 135lbs for 12 reps and wasn’t completely juiced afterwords. I was able to get through my reduced routine with a bit more endurance then before, so hopefully that is a taste of things to come.

Overall, I would say a few erections are showing up on the map and my strength seems to be leveling out instead of dropping. I weigh about 210lbs, so I am back to my old jean size that I was when I started taking it. Other than that, no real changes.

I really feel deceived about Merk’s claim that side affects are restored soon after stopping use. I really feel like a retard for even caring about my hair enough to risk my nut’s performance like this.

I am reading about getting a testosterone shot to help get me back to normal. I figure that since Finesteride (Propecia) messes with Testosterone, I may want get some more to replace what seems to be missing as of late. Still just in the thought stage, I won’t do it until I read more and consult a doctor.

Lets see what happens during this next month…

#8

My advice, if you are seeing improvement then stay away from injecting yourself with exogenous hormones for now. A little bit of research will help you realise why.

Have a look in the natural supplements section, get your diet in check and keep pushing those weights. Again, you are improving so give it time, it’s only been a month, the most likely thing is that you will be fine.

#9

ditto what mariobros posted. Much of our problem is how our body reacts to the hormones. Your’s could react by upping the estrogen instead of DHT

#10

king what is your current state ?
are you fully recovered?

#11

Hey, thanks for the advice, guys. after reading about it, I do not think I will be doing any kind of hormone therapy.

Thankfully, I am noticing more improvement now in some areas, but not all areas. My weight is still between 207-212, which is what I was before I started Propecia. I am really happy to be able to fit into my old sz36 jeans again instead of this size 40 shit. My performance at the gym has finally come back! I am still not taking any pills, multivitamins or anything as of right now with the exception of protein powder only after workouts, 3 days a week. Diet is the same as well. Alcohol is 1-3 beers max per week, but usually not even that. No smoking or anything like that, either.

I am finally able to do workouts without feeling totally juiced afterward (or during). I am slowly upping my weights as the workout routine progresses, but I am not doing very heavy stuff. I do 3 sets of each exercise, with a slow addition of weight each set. So, I bench press 115lbs for 12 reps, 125 for 9 reps and 135 for 7 reps. I am also able to do 100 situps without taking a break, which is what I was doing when I first started Propecia. I am very happy I am getting back to real workouts as opposed to half-routines of minimal weight like a couple months ago…

I get random erections more often now than a month ago or so when I last reported, but I still need to massage myself sometime if I want to get hard and masturbate to porn during other times.

Something that has NOT improved hardly at all is my cumshot. It is still totally gone and it is very difficult to orgasm when having sex with my gf or when beating off. This is really frustrating. I am trying different things such as waiting 3-5 days without beating off or having sex to ‘save up’ for a cumshot; or if possible I try doing it numerous times a day to see if that results in more cum, but neither result in much of anything. Literally, I’ve had only one cumshot while having sex for the last month (probably longer than that). If there is anything that comes out, it is about one tenth the amount as before Propecia, if that.

As far as libido (mojo) goes, I still don’t get hard when laying with my gf in bed or during all the times with her when I normally would. This is just as bad as the paragraph above^. If she didn’t instigate sex, we would probably never have any…

So, that is my current status. Let me know if any of you guys felt this way and what I can look forward to. I will post again in a few weeks or so>

#12

My sperm hasn’t got better either: transparent, low amounts, doesn’t fly etc. FSH levels are also low and I’m infertile.

#13

Alright, here is my March update:

I have noticed a slow improvement in some areas along with no improvement in other areas. Here is a breakdown of what is going good and what isn’t:

I am getting random erections occasionally, but still not as often as pre-propecia. I still have real trouble getting erections at the right time when my girlfriend and I are laying there, unless I massage myself for a while. I have noticed that my cock also doesn’t get nearly as hard as it used to; Don’t get me wrong, it gets hard when I massage it and stuff, but not hard like a rock the way it used to pre-propecia. My girlfriend and I are trying to have sex more, but I am just not horny to do it often the way we used to, but we are having sex, which is a step towards getting back on track. Regardless, I am still struggling with the whole lack of mojo-libido issue that has been plaguing me.

Another big problem that I have been talking about is the cumshot; my cumshot was gone for a long while and in the past couple months it has started to return (thankfully), but it still barely comes out during orgasm, if at all. I also do not orgasm nearly the same way I used to when I have sex or masturbate, it really isn’t the same at all. I used to have a great buildup and when I orgasmed (even if during a 5-10 minute quickie) I has a nice solid cumshot with a good pumping orgasm that lasted 5-10seconds. Now, the orgasm feels way smaller and they are much harder to make happen, plus my cumshot is honestly 1/10 what it used to be. I used to have such a big cumshot, just like Peter North and that isn’t any bullshit either. Not only that, but I have to have sex for at least 30-40minutes to get to the point where I could even blow my load- it is much harder to get to the orgasm point than before. All this put together, I don’t think I could get girl pregnant even if I wanted to…

I do feel my gym performance is mostly back and I can finally lift some real weights, which makes me feel great considering my sex life is one click above total crap. I would say I am 75% or so back to full strength in the gym and I don’t get winded in the middle of workouts anymore.

I really hope there isn’t any permanent damage to my nuts and cock as a result of the propecia. One thing is for sure, side affects DO NOT go away upon stoppage of use of propecia, which is what it claims in the directions… I am scheduling an appointment to meet with the dermatologist who prescribed it to me, so lets see what he has to say now that I have stopped use for a few months>>

#14

I say jump on vitamin D

If nothing else it’s helped well for erections and for the gym.

#15

Hi. Any updates? Your story seems very familiar to mine.

I have adrenal fatigue since one year ago.