Finasteride sides - Doctor appointment log & help request

[chrisis]

Hi,

I've finally booked an appointment with a doctor next Wednesday, with regard to persistant side effects after taking finasteride for 2 months.

I am starting this topic with twofold purpose:

1) to log exactly what happens in my appointment, and any further appointments, and
2) to seek advice from others about what I need to be saying and asking for, specifically.

If anyone on the forum can help me with 2) I will provide 1) to help other people in the same position, either now or in future.

Thanks!

For any naysayers, it's the first time I've been to a doctor in my adult life. Let that speak for itself.

*No arguments please*

[UK_]

Get a full bloodwork done regarding hormones and post it up on propeciahelp.

What are your full symptoms?

[Maradona]

Hi,

I've finally booked an appointment with a doctor next Wednesday, with regard to persistant side effects after taking finasteride for 2 months.

I am starting this topic with twofold purpose:

1) to log exactly what happens in my appointment, and any further appointments, and
2) to seek advice from others about what I need to be saying and asking for, specifically.

If anyone on the forum can help me with 2) I will provide 1) to help other people in the same position, either now or in future.

Thanks!

For any naysayers, it's the first time I've been to a doctor in my adult life. Let that speak for itself.

*No arguments please*

If you are experience sexual sides there is hope with hormone replacement therapy. It is likely that your androgen receptors at your - you know what - have become under sensitive and will only respond to a high amount of testosterone or DHT.

This is the easiest way to cure PFS but it will also have an impact in your hair.

My dick did heal pretty well without therapy and functions normally now except for complete loss of morning wood and random erections.

However, the other side effects are far more difficult to cure. For example I have lost coordination, can no longer run and move as I used to and have experienced the opposite in the prostate which is inflamed all the time.

I'll give it a year but please ask him all the options you have to treat this.

However I don't think I'll hear anything new because propeciahelp.com pretty much has the best info you can get.

Hopefully you can get a full blood test evaluation that would really help a lot.

Good luck.

[chrisis]

Oh the irony of trying to cure this and potentially causing hair loss!

My symptoms are lower libido, less sensitivity in the penis, and my ejaculate being less forceful with much lower volume. Every time I do anything sexual it seems like I'm wondering how difficult it will be, rather than just enjoying it.

I can do "stuff", it's just not the same.

[UK_]

Thing is with testosterone therapy (TRT) is that your body will shut down its own production of Test and you will be on it for life.

HCG might be useful (ask your doctor first), steroid users use this to kick-start the production of natural testosterone after the end of a heavy cycle on roids. You have to kick-start your body into producing more testosterone, test is the single component that can address sexual issues & the lack of sensitivity may have something to do with reduced desire which is all to do with the neurosteroids in your brain.

The thing is, DHT is several times stronger than testosterone, which is why its not a good idea to block it.

Finasteride is a bastard of a drug and it has probably had an impact on the neurosteroids in your nervous system which is causing the numbness and lack of sexual desire.

[UK_]

If you are experience sexual sides there is hope with hormone replacement therapy. It is likely that your androgen receptors at your - you know what - have become under sensitive and will only respond to a high amount of testosterone or DHT.

This is the easiest way to cure PFS but it will also have an impact in your hair.

My dick did heal pretty well without therapy and functions normally now except for complete loss of morning wood and random erections.

However, the other side effects are far more difficult to cure. For example I have lost coordination, can no longer run and move as I used to and have experienced the opposite in the prostate which is inflamed all the time.

I'll give it a year but please ask him all the options you have to treat this.

However I don't think I'll hear anything new because propeciahelp.com pretty much has the best info you can get.

Hopefully you can get a full blood test evaluation that would really help a lot.

Good luck.

The fact that you have no morning erections is a clinical indicator that your issues are physical and not simply psychogenic -

and yes propeciahelp is a god-send for people suffering from PFS.

I hope they can find a cure for this, they have only recently started studying these issues so there could be hope.

Sorry to keep posting on ur diary page Chrisis, hope the appointment goes well.

[Maradona]

The fact that you have no morning erections is a clinical indicator that your issues are physical and not simply psychogenic -

and yes propeciahelp is a god-send for people suffering from PFS.

I hope they can find a cure for this, they have only recently started studying these issues so there could be hope.

Sorry to keep posting on ur diary page Chrisis, hope the appointment goes well.

I think it depends on people. Chrisis I will give it a full year before jumping on any treatments for PFS.

I don't think waiting will have an impact on your recovery.

The reason I say this is because of what UK mentioned. Your body will become dependent on it and you will have to be on TRT for life. So it's a big decision to take and maybe you might not need it later.

For example, it took some time for my erections to get stronger. Also my prostate it's not as bad as before. Before I had to pee all the time and only drops ! Could not sleep because I had to wake up 3 to 4 times a night.

Now I wake up one time at night and my flow of urine is better but far from pre-fin. I used to sleep like a bear on the winter before fin 12-14 HOURS no joke !

[NotBelievingIt]

Morning erections, sans a true medical drug side effect, are entirely about when you wake up in the sleep cycle as well as whether you actually get to REM sleep.

If you don't have any sleep based erections then yes, there is a problem. Short of monitoring for it ( LOL ) you have no idea whether its happening or not. It should though.

[Maradona]

Morning erections, sans a true medical drug side effect, are entirely about when you wake up in the sleep cycle as well as whether you actually get to REM sleep.

If you don't have any sleep based erections then yes, there is a problem. Short of monitoring for it ( LOL ) you have no idea whether its happening or not. It should though.

I don't want to go into details but I haven't spotted a morning erection ever since I dropped fin.

Prior to fin, I would be embarrassed to walk around in the morning, lol. Please notice I wake up at night because of my prostate problems as I cannot get a full night sleep and I don't notice an erection.

[UK_]

If you are experience sexual sides there is hope with hormone replacement therapy. It is likely that your androgen receptors at your - you know what - have become under sensitive and will only respond to a high amount of testosterone or DHT.

I think DHT can repair the nerve damage caused by finasteride, testosterone is unable to do so, but DHT can, please read the following article and let me know what you think (btw it is in RAT model).

http://endo.endojournals.org/content/136/4/1495.short

Five-month-old rats were either castrated or left intact. The orchiectomized rats were implanted with SILASTIC brand silicon tubing (Dow Corning) containing testosterone or DHT with or without daily injections of the 5 alpha-reductase inhibitor finasteride. After 7 days, rats were submitted to EFS and the intracavernosal pressure was recorded. Castration reduced the EFS-induced erectile response by 50% in comparison with intact rats and testosterone restored this decrease to normal. When finasteride was given to these testosterone-treated castrate rats, erectile response was not restored. DHT was as effective as testosterone in restoring response to EFS in castrates and this effect was not decreased by finasteride.

When androgens are restored using testosterone it seems to bring the EFS score back to baseline however when finasteride is used it does not work, it can only work in this instance with the direct use of DHT itself, probably because the test is being programmed by the estrogen dominated endocrine system to favor the conversion of test to estradiol and reject DHT. The only problem here is how long do the benefits last, are they permanent?