I'm 7 months in on 1.25mg of finasteride every day (5mg finasteride cut up into quarters).
During the first couple months of taking it, I experienced side effects of loss of libido and difficulty maintaining an erection. I read that these sides go away after a month and if they don't,to discontinue usage (tapering off) and most likely everything will be fine. Everything did return to normal.
Well, a little over two weeks ago, I got a terrible haircut and my self-esteem/confidence took a major hit. It seemed like no one noticed how bad the haircut was except me, I even got a compliment on it saying it looked nice (I didn't bring up my haircut). I still hated it and hated the way it looked in the mirror. I started experiencing a much lower libido. I could still get it up with stimulation, but I wasn't interested in having sex.
Now, in the past three or four days, it seems like while I can still get it up, it's about 60-70% of what it used to be and rather soft. It also won't stay up without stimulation. If I sit back and calmly reflect on the first time I got sides, it's about the same. Almost no libido, difficulty maintaining an erection.
At first, I thought this all came from my self confidence being shot. Now I'm worried about getting sides again, maybe permanently. I never tapered off or lowered my dosage when I previously got sides and it corrected itself 100% the first time in about a month or so. Previously, I remember reading Rawtashk's post saying: "You have about a 1 in 100 chance of having any sexual side effect. If you get it, then you have a 99 in 100 chance of it resolving itself within 3 months. If it doesn't, then you have another 99 in 100 chance of it resolving within 3 months of stopping the drug." and then just forgetting about it and eventually it returned to normal.
I also realize that one of the sides is anxiety/depression. What worries me is that I got complimented on my hair and I still think it looks horrible and have very low confidence because of it. I'm VERY scared this time to say the least because I did not expect it to come back, nor have I read anything so far of it coming back.
I didn't take my dose today, and upon reading this sub-forum, I think I will start lowering my dosage to see if it'll do anything to help the issue. I plan on skipping today's dose and taping 1/2 of 1.25mg tomorrow (.625mg) every day at first, then every other day if that fails.
Do you guys think this is the correct course of action? Anyone experience anything like this before?
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I just looked up other probable causes and apparently the months leading up to this was pretty bad. It's noted that caffeine, alcohol, and bad sleeping patterns could also cause ED/low libido.
During the months leading up to whatever this is, I had on average around 40oz. of coffee per day, sometimes more. My sleeping patterns were also pretty bad, averaging around 5 hours a night (still the same). Stress levels were slightly higher than normal, and weekends were filled with a lot of late nights and drinking.
I am hoping anything but finasteride caused this right now, and I'm not sure if I'm clinging onto false hope or not.
During the first couple months of taking it, I experienced side effects of loss of libido and difficulty maintaining an erection. I read that these sides go away after a month and if they don't,to discontinue usage (tapering off) and most likely everything will be fine. Everything did return to normal.
Well, a little over two weeks ago, I got a terrible haircut and my self-esteem/confidence took a major hit. It seemed like no one noticed how bad the haircut was except me, I even got a compliment on it saying it looked nice (I didn't bring up my haircut). I still hated it and hated the way it looked in the mirror. I started experiencing a much lower libido. I could still get it up with stimulation, but I wasn't interested in having sex.
Now, in the past three or four days, it seems like while I can still get it up, it's about 60-70% of what it used to be and rather soft. It also won't stay up without stimulation. If I sit back and calmly reflect on the first time I got sides, it's about the same. Almost no libido, difficulty maintaining an erection.
At first, I thought this all came from my self confidence being shot. Now I'm worried about getting sides again, maybe permanently. I never tapered off or lowered my dosage when I previously got sides and it corrected itself 100% the first time in about a month or so. Previously, I remember reading Rawtashk's post saying: "You have about a 1 in 100 chance of having any sexual side effect. If you get it, then you have a 99 in 100 chance of it resolving itself within 3 months. If it doesn't, then you have another 99 in 100 chance of it resolving within 3 months of stopping the drug." and then just forgetting about it and eventually it returned to normal.
I also realize that one of the sides is anxiety/depression. What worries me is that I got complimented on my hair and I still think it looks horrible and have very low confidence because of it. I'm VERY scared this time to say the least because I did not expect it to come back, nor have I read anything so far of it coming back.
I didn't take my dose today, and upon reading this sub-forum, I think I will start lowering my dosage to see if it'll do anything to help the issue. I plan on skipping today's dose and taping 1/2 of 1.25mg tomorrow (.625mg) every day at first, then every other day if that fails.
Do you guys think this is the correct course of action? Anyone experience anything like this before?
- - - Updated - - -
I just looked up other probable causes and apparently the months leading up to this was pretty bad. It's noted that caffeine, alcohol, and bad sleeping patterns could also cause ED/low libido.
During the months leading up to whatever this is, I had on average around 40oz. of coffee per day, sometimes more. My sleeping patterns were also pretty bad, averaging around 5 hours a night (still the same). Stress levels were slightly higher than normal, and weekends were filled with a lot of late nights and drinking.
I am hoping anything but finasteride caused this right now, and I'm not sure if I'm clinging onto false hope or not.
