Mar 20, 2020
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)? Sweden
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?) Search
What is your current age, height, weight? 40, 190 cm, 90 kg
What specific drug did you use? Finasteride
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? 0.5 mg/day
What condition was being treated with the drug? Hair loss
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)? 5 months
How old were you, and WHEN (date) did you start the drug? 29
How old were you when you quit, and WHEN (date) did you quit? 30
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? cold turkey.
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects? Quit because of gyno, side effects started after I quit.
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation? Had ED, extreme fatigue, brain fog, no libido and lethargy.
Sexual
[*] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[*] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[*] Loss of Morning Erections
[*] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[*] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[*] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[*] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[*] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[*] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[*] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts
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
[ ] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[ ] Hearing loss
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[ ] Other (please explain)
What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug? Tried TRT and just about everything under the sun.
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)? Didn’t have pre-bloods but they were fairly normal afterwards.
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.
Took finasteride for 5 months. I felt fine while taking it but it gave me gyno so I stopped. After stopping, I got ED, extreme fatigue, brain fog, no libido and lethargy. I tried just about everything over 11 years. I also tried testosterone treatment but it had almost no effect regardless of dosage. I read a case study by Neurologist David Clark (link) where someone had similar symptoms but there was no mention of finasteride or PFS. His issue wasn’t the hormones being too low but rather too high which caused receptor issues so they decided to down regulate them. My take on PFS is that the receptors become hyper sensitive due to getting so little DHT for a long period of time. So when things compensate or go back to normal, they are too sensitive and you end up in a miserable state. I decided to test that by supplementing DHT (proviron) and despite it being a general feel-good hormone for most, I felt absolutely dreadful when taking it. My symptoms increased by 10x and I couldn’t function but it made me realize I was on to something. I felt like my options were either to permanently decrease DHT in some way or decrease the sensitivity of the receptors. The receptors likely became hyper sensitive by getting so little DHT for a prolonged period of time while taking finasteride. So I tried the opposite to reverse the situation. I took a large amount of DHT (proviron) for 7 weeks at 200 mg per day to reduce receptor sensitivity to DHT. At first, I felt absolutely miserable when doing so, it is the worst I’ve felt in my life and I was unable to do almost anything but after some weeks it became more tolerable as the receptors lost some of their sensitivity. After stopping 7 weeks later (when I ran out of my proviron), things felt off for a few weeks but then after around two months I got back to my pre-PFS state. Now and for the past six months, I feel great, my libido is great, mental issues are gone, ED is gone. This after having PFS constantly for 11 years. My life is finally back. I know people have strong opinions regarding PFS but I thought I’d post my story as perhaps it may give some insight to some or help someone.
Took finasteride for 5 months. I felt fine while taking it but it gave me gyno so I stopped. After stopping, I got ED, extreme fatigue, brain fog, no libido and lethargy. I tried just about everything over 11 years. I also tried testosterone treatment but it had almost no effect regardless of dosage. I read a case study by Neurologist David Clark (link) where someone had similar symptoms but there was no mention of finasteride or PFS. His issue wasn’t the hormones being too low but rather too high which caused receptor issues so they decided to down regulate them. My take on PFS is that the receptors become hyper sensitive due to getting so little DHT for a long period of time. So when things compensate or go back to normal, they are too sensitive and you end up in a miserable state. I decided to test that by supplementing DHT (proviron) and despite it being a general feel-good hormone for most, I felt absolutely dreadful when taking it. My symptoms increased by 10x and I couldn’t function but it made me realize I was on to something. I felt like my options were either to permanently decrease DHT in some way or decrease the sensitivity of the receptors. The receptors likely became hyper sensitive by getting so little DHT for a prolonged period of time while taking finasteride. So I tried the opposite to reverse the situation. I took a large amount of DHT (proviron) for 7 weeks at 200 mg per day to reduce receptor sensitivity to DHT. At first, I felt absolutely miserable when doing so, it is the worst I’ve felt in my life and I was unable to do almost anything but after some weeks it became more tolerable as the receptors lost some of their sensitivity. After stopping 7 weeks later (when I ran out of my proviron), things felt off for a few weeks but then after around two months I got back to my pre-PFS state. Now and for the past six months, I feel great, my libido is great, mental issues are gone, ED is gone. This after having PFS constantly for 11 years. My life is finally back. I know people have strong opinions regarding PFS but I thought I’d post my story as perhaps it may give some insight to some or help someone.