I've been on finasteride for more than six years, and its been very effective up until this last year. I'm a diffuse thinner on my entire crown area, and there is no question that it thickened up my hair substantially. I've been taking 1/4 proscar every evening (1.25 mg finasteride). Right at the six year mark I noticed that things were getting thin again, and I went to my GP and asked him if I could up the dosage, and he said no problem, so I went to two 1.25 doses per day.
At the 2.5mg level, I am almost unable to perform sexually, due to instantly vanishing erections. Its almost like hitting an "off" switch if I get a minor distraction, such as reaching for a condom. I'm generally in excellent health, and miraculously, I clued in that maybe the finasteride was to blame.
I am such an idiot. For several years I have had sexual problems (both libido and unreliable erections), but I had chalked it up to anxiety and getting older!! (I am in my mid 40s now). It never dawned on me that my problems might be related to finasteride, because 1) My initial reaction to finasteride was to be extra horny for a few weeks - so I thought my body would simply down-regulate to "normal", and 2) The product monograph cites that only 1.8 percent of men experienced sexual problems, and half of those problems were not due to the drug! (ie. about 1 percent of men on a placebo had the same complaints.) So I figured it was highly unlikely that I would get any of these side effects.
Looking back at the past few years, I can now see a lot of problems I'd been having in a new light. Specifically:
- Fluctuating libido. I'd be horny for a few days, then nada for a week or two. Overall the trend was significantly reduced libido - I used to masturbate nightly when I didn't have a partner.. those days are gone. I figured it was age.
- Unreliable erections. I had figured this loss of erections was just psychological so I never figured it was "erectile dysfunction". Turns out I was wrong, as v**** completely resolves this issue for me.
- Less than hard erections. I got used to putting a condom on a semi-hard erection.. just figured that it was age.
- Loss of morning erections. Again I figured this was age.
Over the past couple of years I also have developed the following symptoms, which I believe are possibly due to elevated Estrogen levels:
- Soft skin. I have had several women in the past year comment how amazingly soft my skin was. It never dawned on me that this might be a hormonal problem.
- Sensitive nipples. Fortunately, no gyno breast development (which I would have definitely clued in as being hormonal).
- Migraine headaches. I've never had these in my life until the past 2 years. Quite possibly related to estrogen levels in the brain.
Overall I feel like a complete fool for not having clued in sooner that I had physical disorders rather than pyschological and aging issues. This summer I was dating an amazingly beautiful woman.. 6 foot blonde, ex-model, slim, great body, strikingly attractive, but I just never lusted after her, and things in the bedroom were not stellar. When she learned I was taking finasteride, she had BEGGED me to go off of it! But reading up on the side effects of finasteride, I figured the chances that I was a victim of side effects were extremely remote, so I said no way (I didn't want to lose my hair over a 1% chance of side effects!). Sooo... I broke up with her because I figured the sexual issues were because she just wasn't my "type"! Unbelievable, right? Wrong.
So, I just quit the finasteride for good. I have no idea how long it will take my body to recalibrate my hormones, as I think they have been out of whack for several years. In the meantime I am stuck with v****/Cialis etc. until I can recover. Once I do recover I will post again, as there seems to be not much info out there on how long it takes to get over the sexual side-effects of finasteride after long-term usage.
So here is my advice people: If you're on finasteride, don't be complacent! Listen to your body. If you feel something is not right, don't just chalk it up to getting older or performance anxiety. This is a powerful drug, and should be treated with the caution and respect it deserves. Its not a magic "get hair" pill without any risks, as Merck seems to want us to believe.
At the 2.5mg level, I am almost unable to perform sexually, due to instantly vanishing erections. Its almost like hitting an "off" switch if I get a minor distraction, such as reaching for a condom. I'm generally in excellent health, and miraculously, I clued in that maybe the finasteride was to blame.
I am such an idiot. For several years I have had sexual problems (both libido and unreliable erections), but I had chalked it up to anxiety and getting older!! (I am in my mid 40s now). It never dawned on me that my problems might be related to finasteride, because 1) My initial reaction to finasteride was to be extra horny for a few weeks - so I thought my body would simply down-regulate to "normal", and 2) The product monograph cites that only 1.8 percent of men experienced sexual problems, and half of those problems were not due to the drug! (ie. about 1 percent of men on a placebo had the same complaints.) So I figured it was highly unlikely that I would get any of these side effects.
Looking back at the past few years, I can now see a lot of problems I'd been having in a new light. Specifically:
- Fluctuating libido. I'd be horny for a few days, then nada for a week or two. Overall the trend was significantly reduced libido - I used to masturbate nightly when I didn't have a partner.. those days are gone. I figured it was age.
- Unreliable erections. I had figured this loss of erections was just psychological so I never figured it was "erectile dysfunction". Turns out I was wrong, as v**** completely resolves this issue for me.
- Less than hard erections. I got used to putting a condom on a semi-hard erection.. just figured that it was age.
- Loss of morning erections. Again I figured this was age.
Over the past couple of years I also have developed the following symptoms, which I believe are possibly due to elevated Estrogen levels:
- Soft skin. I have had several women in the past year comment how amazingly soft my skin was. It never dawned on me that this might be a hormonal problem.
- Sensitive nipples. Fortunately, no gyno breast development (which I would have definitely clued in as being hormonal).
- Migraine headaches. I've never had these in my life until the past 2 years. Quite possibly related to estrogen levels in the brain.
Overall I feel like a complete fool for not having clued in sooner that I had physical disorders rather than pyschological and aging issues. This summer I was dating an amazingly beautiful woman.. 6 foot blonde, ex-model, slim, great body, strikingly attractive, but I just never lusted after her, and things in the bedroom were not stellar. When she learned I was taking finasteride, she had BEGGED me to go off of it! But reading up on the side effects of finasteride, I figured the chances that I was a victim of side effects were extremely remote, so I said no way (I didn't want to lose my hair over a 1% chance of side effects!). Sooo... I broke up with her because I figured the sexual issues were because she just wasn't my "type"! Unbelievable, right? Wrong.
So, I just quit the finasteride for good. I have no idea how long it will take my body to recalibrate my hormones, as I think they have been out of whack for several years. In the meantime I am stuck with v****/Cialis etc. until I can recover. Once I do recover I will post again, as there seems to be not much info out there on how long it takes to get over the sexual side-effects of finasteride after long-term usage.
So here is my advice people: If you're on finasteride, don't be complacent! Listen to your body. If you feel something is not right, don't just chalk it up to getting older or performance anxiety. This is a powerful drug, and should be treated with the caution and respect it deserves. Its not a magic "get hair" pill without any risks, as Merck seems to want us to believe.
