Finasteride tablets left me half dead – can I ever be cured completely?

New here
just trying everywhere i can to get help
so I''ll just cut and past my answer from another site
personally i don't trust the internet but i really am having a serious problem as my question will tell you:

1) How did you find this forum?
Google

2) What is your current age, height, weight?
Age 18, 5' 8", 9stone 7pounds

3) Do you excercise regularly? If so, what type of excercise?
Free Hand, 5 days a week

4) What type of diet do you eat (vegetarian, meat eater, raw, fast-food/organic healthy)?
All sorts - prob too many carbs and fats.
a bit too much on the meat side and virtually nothing on the vegetarian

5) Why did you take Finasteride (hair loss, BPH, other)?
Hairloss

6) For how long did you take Finasteride (weeks/months/years)?
1 month, 30 tablets

7) How old were you when you started Finasteride?
18

8) How old were you when you quit?
18

9) How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Cold turkey

10) What type of Finasteride did you use – Propecia, Proscar, Fincar or other generic?
over here its called Recur (Finasteride 1mg)

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

12) How long into your use of Finasteride did you notice the onset of side effects?
1-2 days

13) What side effects did you experience while on the drug that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
well its been one month already most of the side effects are gone
nothing is completely broke, just not as good as it used to be


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
[ x] Watery Ejaculate
[ x] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ x] 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
[x ] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[ x] 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)
I used to have a fantastic sex drive. I never took anything for it. It was all me and now I feel inhuman. Its not that I can’t have sex anymore, its just that its so much more diminished.

14) What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
None

15) 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)?
not done yet
will wait another month

16) Anything not listed in the above questions you'd like to share about your experience with Finasteride?
I will try to keep this short. I am an 18 year old single guy from Bangladesh. I was prescribed to take a medicine by a doctor to stop my balding (supposedly he was the best) and right away after 2 days, I started noticing differences.

In two damn days, I didn’t link it with the final thing, its called recur here. I mean who would link a half dead penis and feeling like **** to the new hair medication you take. If that ******* told me of the risks, I would never have used it.

Instead I remember him clearly telling me not to tell anyone else about it. I didn’t make much of it than but it all makes sense now. It wasn’t till yesterday that I realized what I was doing to myself when I finally decided to do a little bit of research on “finasteride”.

Ironically the balding never bothered me. I made up for it in other areas. Anyways, I stopped dead today and burned the rest of the tablets. That psycho prescribed me this **** for two years. I can’t believe it.

And don’t get me started on the psychological crap this stuff does to you. I don’t want to sound like a ***** bitching about depression and **** like that but it has been definitely altered me in some way for the past month. I even checked with my family and friends and even they agree.

I took the pill for approximately a month 1 mg. I got to the part where there’s no difference if you take it for a week or a month and the side effects kick in after the first pill is taken.

I can guarantee that drug did something to me but my question is this now - can I ever go back to my old self?

Or in other words is there a full 100% recovery and how long will that take? I pray that it does.

17) Tell us your story, in your own words, about your Finasteride usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
This is my update on week 2 since discontinuing the drug.

Its been almost two weeks now and I am beginning to worry, although the mental side effects seemed to have gone away and my penis has improved but its only half of what it used to be.

I now have a considerably lowered sex drive but nothing too bad since I can get an erection again. But a couple of days ago when I rubbed one out I experienced a very weak orgasm. I tried it again today and the same thing happened, the sensation was weak, and my semen was very watery also.

18)What i want to know is am i a permanent sufferer?
i went cold turkey on the drug once i realized what i was doing to myself
looking back that wasn't a very smart idea
pretty much every side effect has improved a little since then
but nowhere near of what i used to be before the drug
mostly its the erections that get to me
i haven't had one hard erection ever since i stopped taking the drug
even if i try to masturbate it isn't as hard as it could be
and the overall disinterest in sex is just depressing
now i don't know whether any of this actually means anything

19)Most recent update.
i can see little improvements
started to get morning erections again
weak as they maybe better than nothing
anyways I'll remember the blood thing and update this section back with the results, I'll probably wait another month to see where things are going exactly
the only thing that bothers me the most as of right now is i can't get hard enough to penetrate anybody well enough or be able to get hard with girls without any physical stimulation
but maybe that''ll change in time
peace

[metropolis]

You're right, finasteride is a dangerous drug and many men don't respond well to it. In my case, I guess I was lucky. I've been taking Proscar everyday for over 14 years and I can't complain much. The drug was effective and side effects were minimal: some loss of libido, watery semen.

I'm not an expert but I suggest you stop taking finasteride at once and go see a doctor. I'm sure these side effects are reversible.

[POOLOO]

yeah if  my doctor had even gave me a hint of the side effects i wouldn't have even come close to have taken it for 30 days
i stopped dead the day i found out what i was doing to myself
my hair was never that important to me anyways
thanks for being so positive man
and i pray to God that these side effects are indeed irreversible
but when its been 65 days since you your last hard erection things start to get scary
peace

[RANDO88]

I realize that you are very young, but have you had your testosterone level checked? I am much older than you, but testosterone replacement did wonders for me.Best of Luck to you.

[POOLOO]

actually that's the first thing i planned on doing
you see i was on the drug for 30 days
so i assumed that in 60 days i should be fine or at least start reovering after i discontinued, today was day 35 and things haven't improved much and on some days things are worse
so when that timers up i''ll get my blood work done
about testosterone replacement isn''t that dangerous
i am no expert but i heard it has some serious risk of sides
and sides are what got me into this mess in the first place
peace

[RANDO88]

Testosterone is a steroid. The public has been filled with horror stories-Roid Rage,suicide,murder, all kinds of weird things happening.Any steroid including testosterone can be dangerous. Most all of the problems come from body builders who take massive amounts and add other steroids (stacking) in search of the best phystique.The vial of testosterone cypionate that I inject will last me about 2 months.Some body builders will go through 3 vials in one week( also using 3-4 other steroids in their cycle) Then after 10-12 weeks they stop their cycle and start PCT (post cycle therapy)   In my case all I am doing is bringing my testosterone level to where it should be for my age.  I think you should google Dr.E Barry Gordon and go to his site  thehiddendisease.com  This has the very best info on testosterone replacement that I have found. Best of Luck

[POOLOO]

thanks man for the info
still don't like the idea but don't mind doing a little bit of reading up on it
what i don't get is how do you know what's the right level for your age
i mean everyone has different sex drives right
how can a doctor say how many vials you needstilll glad to hear its working for you
by the way why did you have low testostorone in the first place and it sounds like you have to take it forever
peace

[RANDO88]

You are correct in that I will probably need to keep using the testosterone for the rest of my days.I am 56 yrs. old now and have no problems with this. I could stop, but without the testosterone, I am sure the depressive symptoms will soon follow. At your young age this method may not be this best course of action. I'm sure you would have a much tougher time trying to get testosterone prescribed.As to how much is needed, I do best in the upper two-thirds of what is considered "normal" for my age. Good Luck

[POOLOO]

Thanks for the info man
will keep this in mind
probably the testosterone thing will be my last option if i haven't recoverd in 5 years
the thing that i don't like about it is that it doesn't take me back to where i was
just somewhere the doctor considers normal
i mean i just want to be where i was before i took that damn drug
peace

[DunDun]

Just to provide a counter-experience, I've been taking Finpecia ordered from India 1 mg 3-4 times a week for 3 years, and I haven't had any sexual problems whatsoever.  My hair has grown back enough for people to comment on it, though.

Are you sure it's the drug that caused this?  Are you sure the pills you were given are really finasteride and not something else?  "Instead I remember him clearly telling me not to tell anyone else about it."  That doesn't sound right to me...

[blaster2011]

man i feel with you! I am taking it now for 6 months and I dont have a morning errection any more and even if I get one from watching porn it's not what it used to be it's just 1/2 as hard. this pill is ******* horrible, but on the other side bolding really bothers me as I am only 24 and most of my friends dont have this problem. but i will now stop taking finasterid, it's just not worth it!!