To the guys that have been on finasteride for a long period
- Thread starter Jack A
- Start date
I would get off the drug, I experienced same issues... within 3 days of starting penis began getting numb. Thought this was par for the course of "adjusting" to the drug. Stayed on it for 11 months. Quit after too many negative side effects over that period of time. Penile numbness never returned to normal.
You are depriving your prostate and penile tissues and nerves of androgen (DHT), there can be consequences from this as you are now finding out.
Initially for maybe the first month I had some irregularities. Right away, my libido was through the roof, then it was lowered and I suffered some ED as well. I am almost certain it was caused by anxiety, because basically the moment I stopped thinking about it and got away from the forums the symptoms went away, never to return.. But it could have been a coincidence also, who knows. I'm coming up on 2 years on the drug and no issues after the first month.
Are you only experiencing this numbness only in the morning? I always have low sensitivity right when I wake up. Morning sex doesn't usually go too well unless I've been up for a while, but it's been the same for me before and after starting finasteride.
Studies consistently show that side effects abate after a period of time (usually a year) so they will become less frequent over time. If your penis feels numb throughout the day, that is a little concerning, but side effects seem most common initially while your body adjusts and chances are they will go away. Contrary to what Mew is saying, there is absolutely no evidence that indicates staying on the drug for a longer period of time makes things worse and 'damages' your body in any way. If this were really the case, the guys that have been on it for 10+ years would have probably lost their penises years ago!
Are you only experiencing this numbness only in the morning? I always have low sensitivity right when I wake up. Morning sex doesn't usually go too well unless I've been up for a while, but it's been the same for me before and after starting finasteride.
Studies consistently show that side effects abate after a period of time (usually a year) so they will become less frequent over time. If your penis feels numb throughout the day, that is a little concerning, but side effects seem most common initially while your body adjusts and chances are they will go away. Contrary to what Mew is saying, there is absolutely no evidence that indicates staying on the drug for a longer period of time makes things worse and 'damages' your body in any way. If this were really the case, the guys that have been on it for 10+ years would have probably lost their penises years ago!
I like how every post you make is in favor of the drug (sarcasm).
Jack, if you do your homework (research), you'll find that androgen is critical to maintenance of penile tissues, genital ultrastructure etc. Depriving the body of DHT (the most potent androgen) can potentially have negative effects across numerous areas, and Finasteride is categorized as an anti-androgen in numerous papers.
Taking finasteride is a form of androgen deprivation therapy. Potential consequences of androgen deprivation therapy and management:
https://www.racgp.org.au/afp/200808/200808kabir.pdf
http://www.oncologypractice.com/jso/journal/articles/0402097.pdf
Androgens Play a Pivotal Role in Maintaining Penile Tissue Architecture and Erection: A Minireview
http://www.andrologyjournal.org/cgi/rapidpdf/jandrol.108.006007v1.pdf
Effect of androgen deprivation on penile ultrastructure
http://www.asiaandro.com/archive/1008-682X/5/33.htm
The effects of chronic 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor (dutasteride) treatment on rat erectile function.
http://www.researchgate.net/publica...tasteride)_treatment_on_rat_erectile_function
Incomplete Recovery of Erectile Function in Rats after Discontinuation of 5ARIs Therapy
http://www.issm.info/news/research-...-function-in-rat-after-discontinuation-of-5a/
----
There are plenty of other studies out there, as well. Anyway, if you want to listen to Wuffer who seems to want you to take the drug despite your own body giving you signs to get off, go ahead. Just don't say you weren't warned in advance of the consequences, should your issues get worse or not get better.
Best of luck.
Take a look at my post history and you will discover that I quite often warn people not to take the drug or to come off it because of side effects. Also, every single one of your posts is against the drug. Are you insinuating that I have an agenda to support the drug? If so, then you have an agenda to make the drug look bad. It doesn't matter because the facts speak for themselves.
In response to your sources, androgen deprivation therapy is a world of difference from finasteride treatment and I am amazed you would insinuate that they are basically the same thing. ADT basically eliminates Testosterone and DHT from the system, while finasteride only lowers DHT by roughly 65%. Testosterone is strongly linked to erectile function and DHT is not. Neither of the ADT links you provided say anything relevant about DHT, and the Traish article says "Androgens" (T and DHT) are important for erectile function, but doesn't quantify this. It's quite easy to determine that DHT is of almost no relevance when we see less than 5% of people have ED when they completely blow away 95% of their DHT while taking dutasteride.
Rat studies are neat, but why haven't placebo controlled studies on humans ever shown people experiencing this permanent penile tissue damage? If it's critical like you suggest, then wouldn't every man who inhibits DHT experience the issues? There are so many inconsistencies and conflicting data that you can't possibly make a sweeping statement that inhibiting DHT is dangerous.
In response to your sources, androgen deprivation therapy is a world of difference from finasteride treatment and I am amazed you would insinuate that they are basically the same thing. ADT basically eliminates Testosterone and DHT from the system, while finasteride only lowers DHT by roughly 65%. Testosterone is strongly linked to erectile function and DHT is not. Neither of the ADT links you provided say anything relevant about DHT, and the Traish article says "Androgens" (T and DHT) are important for erectile function, but doesn't quantify this. It's quite easy to determine that DHT is of almost no relevance when we see less than 5% of people have ED when they completely blow away 95% of their DHT while taking dutasteride.
Rat studies are neat, but why haven't placebo controlled studies on humans ever shown people experiencing this permanent penile tissue damage? If it's critical like you suggest, then wouldn't every man who inhibits DHT experience the issues? There are so many inconsistencies and conflicting data that you can't possibly make a sweeping statement that inhibiting DHT is dangerous.
- Reaction score
- 86
Pretty sure when you take finasteride you are only SUPPRESSING DHT as opposed to DENYING your body any of the molecule which would be bad, by around 65%. It's like peiople who take immunosuprresive drugs, they lower their T-Cells, B-Cells, TNF etc by a certain amount but their bodies still produce said molecules.
Millions of people take finasteride (for male pattern baldness and BPH) across the world. If it was such a horrible, cancer causing, penis shrinking, life destroying drug it would be banned in at least one country. I don't think it's banned anywhere?
Doctors recommend it and it's REALLY easy to get hold of. It's not like some antidepressant which needs to be prescribed with strict regulation.
Yes, it has side effects in some people, but many drugs do. It's just that finasteride's are usually sexual and people get a lot more worked up about that than they would with bad breath or brittle bones (especially men!)
I honestly think many of the side effects are caused by too much T converting to oestrogen, and why people seem to stop them with zinc.
I ignore rat studies. They're rats. I'm a human. I'm 10 times bigger, take a lot less finasteride, have a different diet, lifestyle, sex life, different DNA makeup, different hormones etc etc etc. I look at the human trials instead.
I hate that I have to take the drug and feed such a large pharmaceutical company, and that it's relatively expensive (for what it is), and that it's going to be a necessity as long as I want to keep my hair... but I have worked around my sides and they have gone.
I would love to know how people who have never checked online for the horror stories and how they get on... it would be impossible to find out since... they never come online.
Doctors recommend it and it's REALLY easy to get hold of. It's not like some antidepressant which needs to be prescribed with strict regulation.
Yes, it has side effects in some people, but many drugs do. It's just that finasteride's are usually sexual and people get a lot more worked up about that than they would with bad breath or brittle bones (especially men!)
I honestly think many of the side effects are caused by too much T converting to oestrogen, and why people seem to stop them with zinc.
I ignore rat studies. They're rats. I'm a human. I'm 10 times bigger, take a lot less finasteride, have a different diet, lifestyle, sex life, different DNA makeup, different hormones etc etc etc. I look at the human trials instead.
I hate that I have to take the drug and feed such a large pharmaceutical company, and that it's relatively expensive (for what it is), and that it's going to be a necessity as long as I want to keep my hair... but I have worked around my sides and they have gone.
I would love to know how people who have never checked online for the horror stories and how they get on... it would be impossible to find out since... they never come online.
I quit using 0.75 daily after a week because I had definite sides that I didn't want to get any worse. However I am going to see how long it takes me to get back to normal, if it is within a few weeks then I'll go on 0.25 daily with 450mg Saw P daily aswell, (been taking it for years with no sides at all) some finasteride is better than none I guess.
B
Beingbaldsucksass
Guest
That's what we got for now, the next step will be to change the hormonal system peramently to turn it to a non balder system
- - - Updated - - -
Instead off trying to cut it just take 1 mg every other day, it's nearly as effective as every day
Quadzilla99
Established Member
- Reaction score
- 14
Psychosomatic sh1t. There was a post in another thread about how the number of complaints increased exponentially once the media reported the first stories about finasteride side effects. A lot of getting and maintaining boners is mental so psychosomatic side effects are a natural thing when sh1t like this gets into people's heads
lobsterlobster
Established Member
- Reaction score
- 1
Is it possible for cognitive side effects to diminish over time? Not just the sexual ones
In some cases yes but there are others that are actually real, physical side effects. I was only on finasteride for about a week but I had definite sides, now, i'm sorry to be graphic here, but normally after I bust one off, it would be difficult to go to the toilet afterwards because my dick would take awhile to go down. On finasteride, it took about 5 seconds, see I didn't imagine that it was just something I noticed after it happened a few times.
If I was seriously affected by real long-term finasteride sides and I saw people saying that "it's just in your head" then I would be fuming.
jack A, i don't understand. you say you were affected by long term sides but you mention only taking finasteride for one week then giving up. or did you mean you were worried about other peoples long term issues? in any case i think there are definite side effects from finasteride but for most users they either become tolerable or disappear with time.
Quadzilla99
Established Member
- Reaction score
- 14
I honestly don't believe finasteride could cause sides that quickly. I've been on hardcore anabolic steroids which are guaranteed to make your ballls shrink, your erections diminish and then almost disappear and which require you to take SERMs when you come off cycle to make your body start producing its own testerone again (otherwise your body won't produce testerone for months afterwards sometimes) and even those take 2-3 weeks to begin causing sexual side effects. Maybe you're right I dunno...would like to see some science.
I've been on finasteride for 10+ yrs and once I was having problems but it turns out after researching that I was taking too many stimulants/fat burners (google "stim dick") and one time I did this program (http://www.yourbrainonporn.com/) after having trouble maintaining with a former gf. There's no way in hell if I came up today with this if all this "Finasteride will ruin ur life hysteria" was going on the first time I had problems. I would not have taken the time to consider what was really causing the problems I would have automatically assumed it was finasteride.
Incidentally, the second program is fascinating since basically I had conditioned myself by watching p**rn. Basically as I got older when I watched p**rn I would say too myself "quit wasting time here just go to the part you like and get done with it" like Chris Rock had a joke I always remembered about how every guy wastes so much time watching p**rn trying to get to the exact perfect scenario. Problem was I had conditioned myself to get aroused and then ejaculate really quickly. I thought I was doing a good thing because instead of spending 40 minutes looking for the exact perfect scene or jerking it for ten straight minutes to a porno I was getting things done quick and leaving myself more time to be productive...but as that site shows you in countless articles there's ton of science in the way p**rn changes ur brain and I was conditioning myself in the wrong way
- - - Updated - - -
All that considered though... if it ever came down to it I'd rather have a full head of hair and need to take v**** than be bald and have tons of boners all day. **** that sh !t
It was because I had slight side effects, I was looking to hear if there was any stories of people having the same but continued the drug and they went away. Mainly because i've heard people say "ride them out or quit, it's up to you" so I wanted to hear if anyone had actually done this, and I needed something to sway my mind wheter to stop or quit.
- - - Updated - - -
Quadzilla, i'm seeing the difference now I am off it, after i'm done it stays up for minutes, slowly going down instead of just flopping right afterwards. I would've been able to live with it obviously but it was just another warning sign so I got off it. What problems were you having and are you still having them now?
Quadzilla99
Established Member
- Reaction score
- 14
Like many guys I had problems here or there but as I mentioned nothing I can trace back to finasteride. When I was taking too much ephedrine and caffeine I got what was called "Stim dick" (https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1...e,mod=16&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=Stim+dick) and watching p**rn conditioned me to skip right to the parts I like during sex and hurt my endurance like I said. My point was if I had automatically blamed finasteride I wouldn't have found the solutions to my problems or even looked for alternate things.
