I will post this here, because it was one of the threads I read while I was extremely anxious about the side effects of Finasteride 1mg.
I'm 35 years old, married for 6 and have two kids, a 6 year old and a 2 year old. Me and Mrs. are very sexually active, I'm a bit of a dog, and we do the deed anywhere from 3-9 times a week. If she passes me by and rubs her *** on me I'm ready to go. I get hard day dreaming on the bus ride to work, while morning wood is not a 100%, but I'd say it is around 60-70%, occurence.
I have always had thin/fine hair. From 2-3 years back, I people started comenting I was going bald, mostly on the crown area. I went to a dermatologist and got prescribed minoxidil 5mg.
I was never able to maintain a good regimen with minoxidil. I didn't like the way my hair felt or looked (oily) after I applied it, which made using it after the morning shower not attractive, as I didn't want to look like that for work.
I work on a office all day, so sometimes when I get home I don't shower, so I didn't apply it at night either. So I gave up on it, and in my hair in general. I even shaved my head a few times to show people and myself I didn't care about being bald.
Last month, I think I got a bit of mid-life crisis, and started to really care about my hair again. I started searching online and founf a bunch of sites and discussions talking about how only finasteride really worked, and that the side-effects were overblown and the horror stories were scaremonegring. So I convinced myself of that and started taking a daily 1mg dose of the stuff. Here is the timeline:
Finasteride 1mg daily dose on the morning:
Days 1-3: Throbbing morning wood and great sex. I was thinking "see, this is actually making me work even better!"
Day 4: Started to notice I wasn't thinking about sex as much, could get erections fine when stimulated, but just wasn't as interested.
Day 5: Loss of fullblown erection to about 70-80% while having sex. Chalked it up to being tired.
Day 6-10: Libido tanked. Some anxiety, could bet 90% erection with stimulation, but lacked interest in sex. Ejaculation very thin. No morning woods. Convinced myself while surfing forums to "power through" the side effects, since I could get an erection, decided my symptoms where psychological and would fade once my body adapted.
Day 11: Mind-penis disconnect! Terrifying sh*t! Woke up bursting to piss, but my penis was completely deflated, and I couldn't feel it, it was like I was holding the urine at the base of the penis, whereas before the feeling would be more toward the center and tip, and I would have had a full blown erection. Freaked out. No libido. No penis sensation. Threw away the stuff. Freaking out more because of reading about post-finasteride sindrome. Praying to God and begging to be bald and horny instead of hairy and limp.
Recovery:
Days 1-2: Still freaking out, no improvement, trying to remain calm.
Day 3: Noticing some engorgement while urinating. Half hearted sex with wife. She keeps calming me down saying that she will love me anyways, but that this will pass.
Days 4-6: Libido increasing, penile sensation returning. Better sex. Still no morning wood.
Day 7-9: Morning wood! Relief, libido at 85-90%, erections at 95%.
Day 10: (Today) I feel like I'm, if not back to normal, at 95% in general, erections at 100%.
I will never touch the stuff again. f*** this! People should be really warned about this crap, this thing can ruin lives. These were one of the most anxiety filled 20 days of my life. Nothing in my teen years shook me up like this.
Hell I really would like not to be bald and have a nice head of hair, but in exchange to be a neutered limp dick?! f*** no!
I will hold out hope for something with stem cell, hope it will be somewhat more affordable than surgery.
And thats that people.
No scaremongering here, just an honest account from someone who was scared shitless of having poisoned myself for the rest of my life for vanity, that while not stupid in and of itself, was stupid at the potential risks and tradeoffs.
Again! Rather be bald and horny than hairy and limp!
Thank God I recovered so quickly, my sentiments go out to those on longer recovery journeys, that is an incredibly tough journey, stay strong!