[libido] how long till sexdrive return after stopping PROPEC

[ohyeahohyeah]

Hi guys, I'm new here!

I have two questions:

the return of baldness - after how long?
1. Let's say I stop taking Propecia/Finasteride now. How long does it usually take for new regrown hair to fall out again?
A week? A month? Six months? A year?

the return of libido & sex drive - after how long?
2. If I stop taking Propecia/Finasteride now, how long does it usually take until my libido and sex drive are on the usual level again?
A week? A month? Six months? A year?

I have been on Propecia/Finasteride for about 9 months. My libido and sex drive right now are acceptable, but a bit weaker than before I began with these meds.

I know there's an unlucky minority who's libido doesn't return even after stopping the meds, but I'm pretty sure I'm not one of them.

 

[shineman921]

Re: 2 questions on STOPPING Finasteride - shedding+libido return

Can't answer the libido question. Remember sex drive decreases with age! In regards to finasteride i have read about people who have stopped it and it has taken them 2-3yrs to go back to baseline. All depends how aggressive your hairloss is.

2-3 years makes sense because I read somewhere that when hair is in resting phase it can stay that way for 2-3 years.

 

[ohyeahohyeah]

Re: 2 questions on STOPPING Finasteride - shedding+libido return

Wow that's a long time, not bad at all!
Thanks for the info guys.

If anyone knows how long it takes for the sex drive to return, please do tell!

I'm curious for both personal experience and generel knowledge! =)

 

[stoja]

libido can come back within a week of quitting finasteride and it could never back.. for me it took a few months...

cant remember for sure but i think merck has now included permanent ed as a side effect of the drug

 

[Wuffer]

cant remember for sure but i think merck has now included permanent ed as a side effect of the drug

No they didn't. They added to their product insert that men have reported persistent difficulty in obtaining erection after quitting Finasteride. Merck still stands by the results of their FDA trials, and states that side effects will go away after discontinuing medication.

The drug is out of your system in a couple days, and your DHT levels return to normal in a week or two at most. Side effects will go away by around a months time, maybe two if you were on it for a long time.

In terms of the hair you have kept, I think it takes about 6 months before you start seeing your hair fall out. After around a year or two, your hair will probably return to the state it would have been at if you had never taken Finasteride.

 

[setala]

Taking finasteride over 3~4months, I got ED, watery semen, huge fatigue.
I didn't test my T/estrogen ratio, but quite sure something went really wrong every since I took that sh*t. my sperm count has increased after 2months stopping finasteride, but I'm still suffering ED

 

[Wuffer]

Sorry to hear about the problems you experienced. You had your sperm count checked before and after having taken Finasteride? How much did your count drop after having taken it? I would be surprised if this was caused by Finasteride. I know there is a study out there that indicates taking it can decrease sperm quantity and quality while taking the drug, but this quickly returns to normal after discontinuation.

I have been on finasteride for almost 5 months and I would say my sexual ability has improved since when I started. I would probably attribute this to having gotten into better shape and working out regularly, but I don’t believe it finasteride has affected me in any negative way. The only side effect I noticed was testicular ache a few weeks in, and that’s it. That and fantastic results for my hair!

But yeah, before I started on finasteride, if I had even a couple drinks, it was next to impossible to get it up for pretty much the rest of the day. Last night I had 6 drinks, and was able to keep it up for over an hour with the girlfriend. finasteride does increase testosterone for most guys, so I might attribute this to that fact. I think over the last 5 months my sex drive has been better overall than the 5 months preceding.

 

[ohyeahohyeah]

Thanks again for the info..all this talk makes me nervous. I think I'll stop finasteride now and see how my hair develops in the next 12 months.

If my hair begins to fall out that would confirm that I have male pattern baldness..and then I'll have to decide what's more important to me. Normal libido levels or hair.. :>

 

[Rawtashk]

Questions:
Are you married?
(if not)
Would you attract more women with, or w/o hair?
(if the answer is "with")
Wouldn't that equal more chances at sex?
Wouldn't that balance everything out?

As for me, I would rather have 80% of my sex drive and 80% of my hair instead of 100% sex drive and 20% of my hair.

Also, my hair is pretty closely tied to my self-image. If I don't feel like I look good, then I imagine that my sex-drive would also decrease because I don't feel like I'm attractive.

Just some food for thought.

 

[Mens Rea]

Questions:
Are you married?
(if not)
Would you attract more women with, or w/o hair?
(if the answer is "with")
Wouldn't that equal more chances at sex?
Wouldn't that balance everything out?

As for me, I would rather have 80% of my sex drive and 80% of my hair instead of 100% sex drive and 20% of my hair.

Also, my hair is pretty closely tied to my self-image. If I don't feel like I look good, then I imagine that my sex-drive would also decrease because I don't feel like I'm attractive.

Just some food for thought.

That would be a fairly logical argument but it's based on a few unrealistic premises.

Firstly, you have no idea how much % of libido etc you might lose. In my case it completely fucked me sexually. Im still struggling a year after cessation.

Secondly, it's based on the assumption finasteride will keep your hair. It might, but the results vary.

Overall, it's the unknown that is the most dangerous part. If finasteride fucks you up then all bets are off.

 

[garrynw4]

I still have not recovered libido/strength see relevant threads!

watery seamen seems to recover some what.

 

[Prop]

I would rather have 80% of my sex drive and 80% of my hair instead of 100% sex drive and 20% of my hair.

if sides are limited to sex drive may i agree, but this is the prelude of ED

and the percentage can be not favorable

 

[RP3X]

When I had 6 months off dutasteride and all hair loss treatments I went from nw2 to nw3v. It took 12 months to regain.

Been nearly 2 years now off dutasteride or finasteride and libido is still gone. I get the odd alright day here and there but that's it. I don't know my reading b4 finasteride/dutasteride but now I have extremely low testosterone and extremely high estrogen.

Like I say I didn't know my reading b4 finasteride but I was horny as hell all the time, had hanging balls, used to shoot out sperm like a water pistol. Doubt very much I had low test and high estrogen.

Was thinking about this also but at the age of almost 34, its safe to say im not gonna be a horny dog like I was at age 26, I noticed late 20s/early 30s your no longer a young puppy.

I think age is a factor if I dont have sex or c*m within 3-4 days sure I can feel perky and get solid errections, once the sailors have left the ship that ship is alot more harder to sail though

Considering ive been on the big 3 for almost 3 years and my hair loss has only got worser and very little up front maintained im considering going cold turkey for 6-12 months and see if I loose these permanent sunglasses and get any better, but im seeing a little gain with a switch to kirkland minoxidil so im gonna give that a try for a while !

 

[Mothman]

Thanks again for the info..all this talk makes me nervous. I think I'll stop finasteride now and see how my hair develops in the next 12 months.

If my hair begins to fall out that would confirm that I have male pattern baldness..and then I'll have to decide what's more important to me. Normal libido levels or hair.. :>

Hey man, can you tell me how long after stopping finasteride did your hair fall out? 6 months? a year? i've been on the drug for 7 months and I'm thinking of stopping.

 

[ghg]

After I stopped the first time my libido recovered fairly quickly, or in fact it had never really gone away. But after a few years I believe I had the infamous finasteride crash, which dropped my t levels and I still haven't recovered from it. I'm fatigued, can hardly get my dick up, libido is nonexistent etc. For some reason I've been getting night/morning boners lately but still nothing during the day. Dick feels like rubber.

 

[Rawtashk]

...wow, I mean....just....wow. You stop finasteride, and you're fine for "a few years". Now something happens and you blame it on finasteride!?!!?!? That's like if your transmission blows up and you go back to the guy who changed your transmission fluid TWO YEARS AGO and accusing him of causing the problem.

Go see a doctor if you have problems. Don't blame it on finasteride YEARS after you stopped taking it.

 

[ghg]

I haven't taken anything else that could affect my t-levels. I don't think it's a coincidence that a finasteride user suffers from low libido, erectile dysfunction, testicle ache and peyronie's disease. I used the poison for 1,5 yrs so god knows what the f*** is broken in my body. When I stopped I first had uncontrollable oil production on my skin, then no oil production. So all in all, it must be pure COINCIDENCE OR PLACEBO that suddenly the same symptoms I had on finasteride return. And I never had any of these problems before finasteride. So keep on believing that the stuff is god-send.

 

[Wuffer]

ghg, maybe you can see where Rawtashk is coming from. Since the medication hasn't been in your system for years, and your body has been functioning fine since you stopped it, it is extremely unlikely that finasteride could possibly be responsible for your current predicament. Did you have your t-levels actually tested, and do you have a baseline result to compare them to? What are your current t-levels sitting at?

If you are having nocturnal ere then that is an indication that your problems may be psychosomatic in nature. Fatigue, decreased interest in sex and ED are some classic symptoms of stress, anxiety, depression, and other common mental problems. If you suffered these issues immediately after stopping finasteride then it is possible that it was the cause, but since it happened years later it's extremely unlikely. Make sure you are considering all possible causes, because failure to identify the true cause of your symptoms may prolong your symptoms indefinitely.

Also, your perception of the amount of oil on your skin doesn't indicate anything. It's likely coincidental, or it may be due to something entirely unrelated. Maybe you changed the body wash you were using, maybe you are eating different foods, drinking more or less, exercising more or less, and a thousand other things.

 

[ghg]

I had my t-levels tested after I first stopped the drug. They were over the charts and I felt it, my sex drive, libido and mood were good. My skin produced oil like it was supposed to. Then after what I believe was a post-finasteride crash (no matter what you say), the t-levels were about half of what they previously were. My libido was shot, my skin and scalp became just as dry and itchy as they were while on finasteride and I could hardly get my dick up. I was stupid enough to try finasteride again, this time I lasted 4 months and now I've been without it for about 7 months.

I'm not totally impotent but during daytime I find it very hard to get my dick up and I'm practically never aroused, so I got very low libido. I've been getting some night/morning boners lately which is weird 'cause I really don't have sexual desires or spontaneous erections when I'm awake. No matter how hard I would want to. During my first spell on finasteride my dick started to curve to the left and down. After 2nd spell it is even more pronounced, it's a full blown peyronie's disease now. I could prove this but I really don't want to post pictures of my erect dick haha. And lately I've been having ball-ache on a daily basis, just like I did during first days on finasteride.

The oily skin is not coincidental, I haven't changed anything in my diet. I also haven't changed my facial wash routines. All this time I've had the tendency to not over-wash my face. When I woke up during the better period my face would be covered in oil, I could literally feel it and see it in the mirror. Now it's just dry and dull all the time. Another change in skin since using finasteride is that I don't tan anymore. My face just goes red and sensitive if I spend much time in the sun. But no tan, nothing whatsoever. I used to tan quite normally and this can be seen in pics.

EDIT: I really don't care if you believe me or not, all I care about is that finasteride has ruined my life and searching for ways to fix it. I'm not seeking for anyone's approval here in this matter.

 

[chuckycheese888]

I've been on Finasteride for a little over two years now. Lately my libido's been very weak. Was unable to perform with my gf a couple of times last week, which led to anxiety.

It's just a scary thing not to be able to achieve wood when you want/need to. I can still get it up but just not on cue right now. My gf is becoming insecure, thinking that I don't find her attractive anymore. And I am insecure too. You don't feel like a man when you can't satisfy your lady.

My current bottle is about to run out and I am seriously debating whether to stop finasteride entirely or not.

I am trying L Arginine as another poster suggested to me and I am trying zinc too. Hopefully that improves things.