Finasteride induced Serious Problems

[Sobot]

7 years ago i used finasteride for around 6 weeks.

I stopped due to drop in sperm count, no libido and loss of morning erections and inablity to hold erection.

Recovered partly for a couple of weeks and then more side effects came around like pain in testicles and prostate, drop of penis size slowly over the following months and testicle size and others.

I had no libido no matter what, no erections nothing for 2 years.

Then i started heavy lifting and recovered to 50% but i could last very little and still my balls where smaller and penis not so strong and big. I kept training very badly and developed overtraining twice and then adrenal - hpa related issues. I guess the HPTA problems had started from fina use since after i had stopped this drug i would felt exhausted when i would ejaculate and had some strange panic attacks at times, like my stress system was affected.

Problem is now and after i stayed around 2.5-3 years in bed from serious HPA issues, extreme fatigue, dizziness, headaches nausea, hypoglycemias, my testicles keep decreasing in size and i dont really thing its a low LH, FSH issue since both LH and FSH are normal. I have found very low activity of 3adiol-g the metabolite of 5-ar II enzyme (T to DHT conversion) and also understand that DHT is needed for proper size of testicles and prostate and genital ducts, so now i dont know if i can use HcG and some SERM only to recover as much as i can or if i need to add some Proviron/masteron to this mixture and for how long.

Any one with any experience with finasteride or recovering from it?? I am also considering some long lasting cortisone (dexamethasone) + thyroid use because all my system is affected and dont thing that i can handle using nolva for quite a while.

Anyways, problem is why and how my testicles can decrease so much in size and also change size, they are like 3.5 cm long but only 1.2-1.3 cm wide, not round like they where before but really elongated

Is this normal when testicles drop in size to elongate?? Or do they only become smaller but remain round at all times???

Fuck very confusing, and still LH/FSH always normal, i guess the GnRH is affected and it directly connects to the testicular receptors or something else is going on at higher levels which i cannot locate at this time

Any thoughts?????

 

[dialtone]

i too am experiencing some of these sides (libido, testicle size) and ran finasteride for roughly six months. I am starting to research this as I am also concerned. Ill keep you updated on what I find.

 

[thatotherguy]

I couldn't get off when I was on.

 

[Dreaded Pirate Roberts]

The sides will go away with Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) and Clomid. I experienced these sides years ago. I use fiasturide for 6 month every few years to thicken up my hair. If your using it and having problems keeping it up lower the dose and up your test.

 

[dialtone]

dpr, i used finasteride during my last cycle which ran Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) throughout and 5 wks post cycle therapy (pct) clo/nol. its been almost 3 months since i finished up post cycle therapy (pct) and one of my testicles has not fully grown back.

are there any concerns with running Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) although my test levels are normal? if not, how would you run it in this case?

 

[dialtone]

I couldn't get off when I was on.

"In December 2008, the Swedish Medical Products agency concluded a safety investigation of Propecia and subsequently advised that the use of Propecia may result in irreversible sexual dysfunction. The Agency's updated safety information lists difficulty in obtaining an erection that persists indefinitely, even after the discontinuation of Propecia, as a possible side effect of the drug"

Many men continue to experience sides and have not taken finasteride for years.

 

[Sobot]

The problem is that this drug messes up the activity of 5-ar II for life. It depresses several axes in your CNS and not only, but also intratesticular, intraprostatic systems. I doubt my testicles will get back to their normal shape, they have completely wacked out, look like fat spaggheti now, nothing like what they were before. I am about to start HcG but its already 7 years after finasteride use so i dont expect a lot, yet any improvement would be welcomed.

Fuck i dont know, noone i know has actually managed to recover from fin use completely. How long am i supposed to use HcG and
nolva for and in what doses? i am not used to taking these drugs at all, as i have never run a cycle.

I suspect that while my 5-ar II activity has locked to a very low level i might need to increase that too with some proviron/andactim while taking the HcG and Nolva. Who knows, i am about to experiment but normally each experiment i have done on me further decreased the testicular size. My body has gone wild really

 

[joshag]

I am not trying to back up the drug companies with this because I too have felt the effects of finasteride in my life. My family is "folically" challenged. At 45 I am trying to hold on to everything that I have.

When I felt the negative effects it was because I was mixing the dosage myself and would occasionally get careless. This would amount to daily doses of more than 5mg (again, sloppy on my part). I can say that I have probably suffered some testicular shrinkage and difficulty in maintaining an erection but my johnson never got any smaller. It wasn't right away that I put 2 + 2 together but I eventually figured it out.

I have recovered, to the best of my knowledge, from these effects. When I have done research on finasteride I find that a very small percentage of users experience this effect and it is generally from larger doses. In one study the negative sides actually decreased after the first year???

I am not trying to cover for the medication but........ I don't think the evidence supports saying that "the majority" of men suffer effects for life. I could be wrong and I would love more info on this topic. If you can point me to some research suggesting negative lifelong serious complications please link me. I will dump the rest down the drain immediately.

 

[Sobot]

Joshag

its too complex to explain. Things that are not easily measurable like the axes' sensitivities and the changes in brain neurotrophism, the alteration of several feedback systems, the intratesticular hormone ratios, these are things that cannot be evaluated at this time.

People who use finasteride, no matter what they are made of, are prone to eventually develop problems of various nature. It becomes evident and annoying when one looses his libido and testicle size or gets prostatic problems or pains or gynecomastia but this is just what is seen. What really happens in your brain and testicles, prostate, genital ducts and adrenals are too hard to measure and explain. I became a chronic fatigue syndrome sufferer after fin use, and so did many many other people i know. Its just that its too hard to notice this at first glance. After some years and under circumstances like an average stressful period, practicing for a challenging sport and various physical and work strains that previously went unoticeable in every day practice problems arise that are very serious to deal with.

I was a very competitive athlete for as long as i remember, yet after finasteride use i started to decline in performance, had nervous breakdowns, panic attacks out of nowhere at the age of 24 without any obvious trigger, constant hunger even after eating a great meal,hypoglycemias, dizziness, inability to put on muscle like before, everytime i ejaculated it took me 2-3 days to recover from the fatigue. I can describe a myriad conditions i ve been through and yet noone can get an idea if he hasnt seen it himself.

The biggest problem is now, is the body able to recover with any pharmaceutical assistance possible this depletion of a very important enzyme that controls so many metabolic processes or are we going to spend another ten years searching as we did till now. Its so sick that companies that make drugs like that arent even bothered of coming in contact with communities of many thousands of sufferers yet they hide until theres an official FDA dissaproval.

well

 

[joshag]

I wish you nothing but the best of health. I only stated that it is hard to say that finasteride was the cause.

Like you, at an early age I was suddenly stricken with panic attacks, anxiety and was very close to a nervous breakdown (28yrs old). Who to blame? This was years before the drug was even patented and decades before I ever used it.

I just went through an illness with a 40lb weight loss (not trying). Who to blame?
Shit happens! Most of the symptoms you described can be caused by using anabolic steroids but that doesn't stop anyone.

Again I will say this:
I wish you nothing but the best of health.
I am not advocating the use of finasteride.
Saying that finasteride is the sole cause of many health problems is a stretch at best but still possible. There is a 1% to 8% of people who experience side effects (I googled everything I could about finasteride side effects) but.......
I have trouble finding anything proclaiming "life long" side effects. For people, not you, to say that "many men" suffer these effects for life is just disingenuous.

I come to these boards to share experiences but most of all to gain knowledge.

I mean you personally no offense. Quite the opposite. From someone who is trying to overcome a medical issue myself I wish you well.

I have to update this. I did find info about "life long" side effects from propecia/finasteride. It was an ambulance chasing web site offering me a chance to join a class action lawsuit. It also read word for word like one of the previous posts. There is a study being conducted by a doctor. If you would like the info just PM me. I would believe the doctors study before the class action suit.

 

[Sobot]

Man sorry to say that but the doctor you are refering to is one of the many we conducted to help us. He is just doing a statistical research on finasteride users nothing more or less. He at least wants to do something, even at this preliminary level.
We have set a lab in the university i ve been studying, recently and allready are gathering data from patients all around and seeing patients every other week.
You probably dont know what finasteride is in reality so i understand why you say things like that and acclaim for the percentage of drug related side effects, percentages which are deliberately skewed from pharmaceutical companies.
I am finishing medicine the forthcoming year and already spent 3-4 years solely investigating as much as i could into this post finasteride condition. You would be surprised if i start mentioning the amount of money i spent, the medical personel i have come in contact with and the institutions and labs i have visited.
I never had health problems prior to fin, nor did so many others who have used it, we were young and strong as horses, i played in a semi-professional basketball league and was very confident about what i did in my life, studies sports and relationships. After this devious drug i got into a huge mess which i didnt realize initially. Just like you i discredited everyone who said that their health deteriorated as years went by after fin.
While problems started arising i thought it was due to too much stress or work related fatigue. Today i have understood many puzzles of the picture unfortunately.
Three years of reading and testing is enough i think, i have this huge library of neuroendocrinology, metabolic, psychiatric, toxicology, genomics, proteomics, computational endocrinology, steroid, stress and neurology related books and finasteride related research papers just behind me and i look at it and cant believe i have spent so much time of my life into this.

I wish i could move forward and forget all about it i was even planning on quiting med school after this mess but now i am more determined than ever to find a hole in this mystery.

 

[robbocopp]

realize this is an old thread - if you're still checking it - but, I too have problems with finasteride.. big ones... I wrote about it and argued against its use other than for prostate protection ...

I had "similar" problems - but not as drastic.

I "cured" (harder erections, significantly increased sperm production and higher testosterone levels) my own using

a.) t4 at full replacement dosage ...in my case 150mcg-200mcg/s day -- this took me some of the way back, better erections and better sperm production (250testosterone levels before and 400after) ... BUT - during finasteride use I developed HYPOTHYROIDISM (not saying it is DIRECTLY connected to but, damn it WHAT a coincidence at 34 !!) so perhaps this is why the t4 helped.

and for a completely UNKNOWN reason (not one I can explain medically)

b.) after an injury I took Dexamethasone - ONLY for 5 days - but, once I stopped, within a week my erections were GREAT and after retesting my testosterone levels were great (700)... I started growing again naturally, and felt great...

Cannot explain it ... but, this is my experience

 

[Brentipold]

Robo, that is great news! Why have you not joined propeciahelp.com and told everyone your story?

I having been suffering from these sides for a long time from taking propecia and no ome seems to be able to figure out as to why. It's interesting because I've suspected the immune system to play a factor in this syndrome, and dexamethasone supresses the immune system. Please join and tell everyone your story, there are a 1000 guys on that site who need help and new ideas.

-Brent

 

[JOWS6]

Your improvement in testosterone scores with T4 (thyroxine) is supported by a few studies such as this one:

"Testicular dysfunction in men with primary hypothyroidism; reversal of hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism with replacement thyroxine

OBJECTIVE Primary hypothyroidism can cause disturbances in normal gonadal function. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship in men between hypogonadism and primary hypothyroidism and the extent to which free and total testosterone levels rose after introduction of replacement thyroxine.

DISCUSSION We conclude that primary hypothyroidism can induce a state of hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism in men that is reversible with thyroxine replacement therapy. A derangement of gonadotrophin secretion must be present and could be due to either a direct effect of hypothyroidism on the hypothalamus or pituitary, or mediated by perturbations of prolactin levels. Importantly, some of the clinical manifestations of primary hypothyroidism in men may be due in part to a reduction in free testosterone. Further evaluation of this potential clinical interaction would require a controlled trial of androgen replacement in the hypothyroid state. However, the data support the resolution of hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism with thyroxine replacement and restoration of normal thyroid function."

 

[Fecharaba]

Robbocop how long you take thyroxine.. and after how much time do you get better?

 

[EnhancedAthlete]

I've been on Finasteride for over 10 years as a preventative measure. I have a full head of hair just like when I was in my early 20's. Best thing I ever did was to start on this before I even began any recession of any kind. My family on both sides are bald and my cousins who are all younger than me look older due to hair loss issues.

 

[Fecharaba]

exesmetane

Robbocopp you still need to take exesmetane after fin or you stop?

 

[coolhandjames]

I'm bumpin this old ass thread.

Got me thinking about it and i know another dude was threading about propecia too.

 

[maxxmill17]

above dread pirate said he uses fin to thicken hair every 6 months..

i am going into my 6th year trt...have tough time with anti e's . they kill my joints even at low doses.

i have lost hair in my temple area and now feel hair thinning on top just not as full. scalp itches alot even with scalp shampoo's. seems when i crash my E my scalp settles down..

my grandfather 92 has full head of hair ad do both sides of family.

i would love to think this could thicken back my hair...i read it could but never heard guys say it did..most people say it stops further hair loss but you will shead first