I started taking Propecia in 1/2007 and experienced very strange mental side-effects almost immediately. I thought "maybe it's the Propecia" but then I read over the FDA documents and convinced myself that maybe I had brain damage from one of the illegal drugs I used. I knew something was wrong, but as time went on I just figured maybe I was just a weird kid (in retrospect it was a very stupid assumption as I was a completely different person). In 4/2008 I started taking Dutasteride and developed severe psychotic symptoms, complete lack of emotion, massive alcohol intake (which I suspect I was using to attempt to counter-act the effects of the medication). I grew extremely ill and slept almost 24 hours a day for two months, I grew breasts, had skin texture changes to a feminine style, my penis started bleeding/became sore and numb, I developed penile fibrosis, lost night-time erections, my scrotum tightened up to the size of an 8 year olds, my face became fatty and wrinkly, prostatic fluid disappeared, developed extreme testicular pain. In my psychotic state I figured I would switch back to the Finasteride as I didn't have the most devastating side-effects from the Dutasteride. I still wasn't "with it" think that maybe I should go see a doctor-- I thought the excruciating bleeding pain from the penis was from the type of soap I was using. The symptoms persisted and two months later I stopped the Finasteride. I was behaving extremely strangely and my parents thought I was going schizophrenic.
It has been two months and mental clarity is much better. I am completely conscious and "with it" but all my emotions are completely absent, memory is shot (I don't remember ANYTHING from the past including my childhood-- photos and old keep-sakes don't elicit any response from me what-so-ever), my sleep is completely fucked up (I will sometimes stay up for two days straight with no apparent reason or effects), and perhaps the worst part is I CANNOT LOVE OR FEEL LOVED. It is not psychological or situational, but chemical. I look at my mom and dad and feel nothing. I don't get happy, sad, angry, hungry, scared, frustrated, motivated... nothing. I have no passions for anything, my affect is completely blank. I used to be a social butterfly-- my friends LOVED to hang around me, I was everyone's best friend, and now I have difficulty hanging out in even comfortable social situations. I have extreme fatigue and peripheral neuropathy (I can't feel my body properly).
I used to be terrified of dying, care about the world and it's ills, I was amazing at work-- I now don't care if I live or die (not depressed, I just don't care), I don't "recognize" my parents or loved ones, I don't care to bathe myself or even watch TV (TV is all about the emotional responses-- drama, or comedy for example). I don't care about politics because I have no opinions (another emotional response). Without emotions nothing elicits pleasure or pain. NOTHING. The whole world of people runs around doing things like hugging and kissing and laughing and crying which I can no longer relate to. I used to be the EXACT opposite of what I am now-- a over-sensitive loving person.
Dutasteride erased my "soul". The ONLY positive side of this is that I also don't feel any negative emotions otherwise I would have already killed myself. I will give it more time but I have no reason to exist if this persists.
LIVING AND LOVING IS ALL ABOUT EMOTION. Without it you have nothing...