r/FinasterideSyndrome

Thanks for this Subreddit

I have a decent head of hair, it's thinning diffuse over the top. Still looks ok (55M) but was thinking about options. Every dick on YouTube sez to do finasteride / dutasteride, so naturally I checked Reddit.

Then I see the tear-jerking horror stories of the blokes here. God bless you all--seriously--you saved me from this.

I see a lot of pain here and I wish there was something I could do about it. But I owe you huge thanks and in fact likely many millions of men do or will.

I can only imagine the anguish of some of the people here. But you all have my thoughts, blessings, thanks, love, respect and prayers.

If there's any consolation to the "survivors" of this bullshit drug--I hope you know that in your pain you are saving the lives of countless people who owe you a massive debt of gratitude.

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u/Ghostmaxxer — 4 hours ago

How do I forgive myself after knowing this and still taking it?

I feel like the most foolish human alive. I’ve been losing my hair since 2019 and it was easily the most devastating thing I’ve gone through, or so I thought…

I had ordered finasteride in 2020 and my mom actually found it and begged me not to take it. So reluctantly I threw it away and told myself this was a sign not to take it. Fast forward to 2023, my hairloss had progressed to the point that I needed to shave my head. I was insanely insecure over being essentially bald despite having an incredible physique and being very successful with business and just buying a brand new house. My life was essentially perfect outside of my crippling insecurity about balding.

The photo is a conversation I had with a friend about my hairloss in 2023. This is after I had read a few posts about finasteride causing horrible issues and I was pretty adamant about not risking it for my hair…

I had shaved my head and excepted my fate until one thing happened.. I spoke to my brother in law about how upset I was and he told me that he was taking finasteride and that he had zero problems. He explained that he had done research and that PFS was all bs. That it was just neck beard redditors that have pre-existing conditions. He sent me Haircafe videos and More Plates More Dates videos and introduced me to the Tressless subreddit.

After that I was almost jealous that he was going to keep his hair and I was gunna be bald. I was convinced that there was nothing to worry about even, if I got sides I would just stop. In July 2024 I got a hair transplant and started fin then switched to Dutasteride. I also started topical minoxidil and then switched to oral minoxidil about a year later..

Everything was fine until December of 2025 when my life turned upside down. I didn’t even know what “the crash” was but I had it. Within a few weeks my beautiful, perfect life as I knew it was gone and these are the symptoms I’m experiencing for the last 7 months:

- Horrible eye floaters, like life ruining eye floaters
- Visual snow syndrome
- Tinnitus
- Insomnia
- 24/7 bounding pulse
- Derealization
- Brain fog
- Soft thin rubbery skin
- Loss of muscle tone, muscle hangs like fat
- Can’t drink caffeine or alcohol without everything getting worse

I know that I am beyond blessed to not have major sexual issues and my heart goes out to those of you affected in that way.

I don’t know how to cope with the fact I was aware of potentially horrible side effects and still convinced myself otherwise. I mean granted, I thought they were only sexual side effects.

I miss my old life so much it makes me sick. I wake up and can’t believe this is actually real life. I can’t believe what I did to myself. I wish more than anything that I could go back and just be happy with my life and forget about stupid hair. It hurts so much and I don’t know how to stop ruminating.. I see bald men now and I’m bitterly jealous of them.. I don’t know how to forgive myself for being so vain and foolish.

Just had to vent and get this out here. I hope we all recover soon.

- Jordan

u/jordanjtb — 14 hours ago

Anyone else feel so soft and wierd since getting pfs?

Yes I feel like this since getting pfs,it gets reduced if I take testosterone

It's just the feeling of not able to feel your testosterone at all I think? Isn't it?

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u/healthecns — 18 hours ago

Can muscle and soft tissue wastage improve,?

By far the most debilitating symptom for me is muscle and soft tissue pain and wastage. iIs there any chance for improvement?!? severe nervous system deregulation is a close second.

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u/LaruePDX — 15 hours ago

5 year experience.

Reaching that 5 year mark for pfs. Tried a lot of stuff. Clomid damaged my eyes. PEA and Fish oil help the most. If I had to guess it's a gaba signaling issue. Increase gaba signaling at all costs. Eventually allopregnanolone may come back. I take magnolia extract too.

Edit: I did some more research because of this post. While I do feel better taking pea it probably doesn't work for everyone who is totally crushed. Fish oil is ok but does block 5 alpha in peripheral tissue. And magnolia does have a bad effect for 5 alpha type 1 in the brain. So do research and see what's best. Grass fed butter might be better than fish oil. And valerian better than magnolia. As for increasing gaba I would just take a pharmaceutical to avoid this stuff.

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u/wontbeforever — 1 day ago

What do people who are considering taking Finasteride need to know?

Hello, given how much the individuals in this subreddit have thought about Finasteride and the associated side effects, what do people who are considering taking the drug for hair loss need to know that doesn't get commonly discussed or come up when searching for information? Specifically, the things that don't show up in search or AI results.

I realize this is a broad question but I am sure you all have great insight and I am hoping you will share your unique thoughts on this topic with those wanting to learn.

Thank you very much.

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u/Ok-Neighborhood-2203 — 2 days ago

Is full recovery possible?

It’s basically the title.
Has anyone here who suffered from sexual side effects managed to make a 100% recovery? I only see people discussing the problems here (and i understand because anyway, that’s the forum's focus), but it would be really good even mentally for everyone who suffers to hear stories from people who managed to recover or return to normal (if that’s even possible).

Btw, i’m 21 and it’s been 7 months since I stopped taking dutasteride, and I feel like my erogenous zones and libido are non-existent.

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u/nvrmindOnun — 2 days ago

Can androgen receptor blockers cause PFS?

Has a PFS type long term sexual dysfunction been recorded in the scientific literature after taking AR blockers? I understand heavy doses of oral AR blockers are given for some diseases, do those cause PFS?

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u/themainheadcase — 1 day ago

Promising protocol Underway

Hey fellas been seeing some awesome recovery protocols on here! Currently executing a protocol that has been the most promising yet. Gonna give it some more time to stabilize before reporting. Stay strong!!!

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u/Normal_Tomato_6740 — 2 days ago

Feeling Alcohol

For those who lost their ability to feel alcohol, which I think is everyone though I’m not really sure I have PAS, did you ever regain the ability to feel alcohol again and if so when?

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u/TransportationSlow72 — 3 days ago
▲ 18 r/FinasterideSyndrome+2 crossposts

Why do I feel dopamine and healed after ice cold showers?

Had this for 1.5 years. Only thing that helps anhedonia and the nervous system which is in freeze (google it) is ice cold showers. The shock of the cold must release either norepinephrine or something similar that I think is missing from my neuro transmitter transmission.. I read others that had theory’s of norepinephrine being an important role in this

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u/Powerful_Teacher_453 — 2 days ago

Has anyone found anything helpful for PFS insomnia?

Hey all; to get right to the point the insomnia is destroying my life. I couldn’t tell you the last time I slept a legit 8 solid hours; I have the craziest eye bags and my eyes are always bloodshot nowadays, horrible exercise intolerance, horrible cognition, etc.

The only things I’ve noticed unquestionably makes it worse is eating a lot of carbs anywhere remotely close to bedtime (I’m talking many hours beforehand) and any type of exercise at all; it’s to the point where getting my 10000 steps, which I’ve done for years now, seems to raise cortisol enough that I am HORRIBLY restless that night.

Completely at a loss on what to do right now; being inactive ALSO leaves me with excess energy / restlessness and not eating any carbs for 5+ hours before bed puts me into a stress state. Seeing a doctor on the 13th but don’t really expect to get anything out of it.

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u/QuizzyP21 — 3 days ago

I took two doses of fin and I’m already feeling side effects.

I took 2 doses of 1mg fin and I lost my morning wood and I can get hard but I’m like flaccid at the same time…

I regret trying this at all, I’d rather be bald than have a non functioning member.

I’m immediately hopping off and I’m curious if there’s anything I can do to get the drug out of my system faster. Any help is appreciated…

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u/anthropologicaltruth — 4 days ago

How do u “fix the gut”

Im at the end of my rope with this bullshit just trying anything now. I def have sibo bc I did a biomesight test and had stupidly high levels of methane and hydrogen. The rest of my gut was actually pretty good with lots of good bacteria and I had no issues besides that.

I’ve definitely had GI issues ever since this started so might be something to look into. Sibo seems like a bitch tho because rifaximin is insanely expensive and neomycin is dangerous af. I tried the herbal route of allicin and berberine and it did nothing

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u/Initial-Table-4762 — 4 days ago

Ketotifen

Does anyone know if ketotifen is safe to use with post-finasteride syndrome (PFS)? Since developing PFS, I’ve been struggling a lot with histamine intolerance and food intolerances. Please answer... I'm at the end of my rope... it's my only hope left... I want to get out of here... I can't take this anymore after 16 months.

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u/Ok_Connection3207 — 4 days ago

Weird experience

Hello guy, so I wanted to share my experience to see if there people who had a similar experience to me.

I'm late 20's, started fin around 3/4 years ago, when I started I got sexual side effects, and gyno, I decreased the dose, and the sexual side effects went away nearly completely, sadly my gyno kept getting bigger.

Every 3 to 6 months, I would stop for a month to decrease the sensitivity in my nips, around 3 months ago I stopped and thought I don't wanna hop back on.

I was okay, around 2 months after stopping I noticed extremely high libido, prolonged erections it was weird but great, I was like maybe my body is getting back to normal.

One day I noticed that I don't have much sensation down there, like there is no connection between there and my brain, it was weird, it's not getting up whatsoever, and if it did get up, after a very long time, it's a half erection, and it goes away in a second, there was a connection from my brain down there, but now it's gone, it's a weird feeling, I've been like this for two weeks, and now I'm three months after stopping, everywhere I see that a lot of people recover after 3 months of stopping, but in my case that's the opposite of what happened, anyone had the same experience?

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u/GoatKenKaneki — 5 days ago

post finasteride syndrome symptoms. Do you feel anxiety?

Hey was wondering how many here actually lost ability to feel all emotions. Including anxiety and depression? Or do most of you have anhedonia with ability to feel anxiety?

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u/Affectionate_Fox5710 — 5 days ago

I Need Your Help

Hi everyone,

I'm someone who has experienced Post-Finasteride Syndrome, and I'm really scared right now.

Tonight I ate a meal with fish that had a small amount of basil sauce on top.I only ate a very small amount of the sauce because most of it was left on the plate.
I also ate four small pieces of focaccia that had little pieces of rosemary on top.

Do you think eating these small amounts of basil or rosemary could realistically trigger a crash?

I'm really scared.

u/RequirementAgile4797 — 5 days ago

Estoy jodido?

Hoy tuve un encuentro con una chica, había tomado muy poco alcohol y fumé marihuana, nos comenzamos a besar en mi sala y estaba muy caliente, pero al momento de subir en mi cuarto la calentura se fue, tenía una erección pero se fue bajando y no regresó, es la segunda vez que me pasa algo así. Antes ya había pasado con mi ex (hace 1 y medio) yo desde pequeño he visto porno, me he masturbado y en general soy demasiado caliente. Tengo erecciones matutinas, me masturbo todos los días por calentura y si tengo erecciones firmes y duras, pero las 2 únicas veces que he estado con chicas el libido me abandona. Ya no se si estoy dañado por el porno en exceso o sea la medicación. Únicamente hubo una vez en la que estuve con una dama de compañía, no tuvimos sexo pero si me masturbo y tenía una erección firme. No sé qué me pasa, en estos días veré a mi dermatóloga y le preguntaré. Ustedes qué opinan?

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u/Patient_Pianist_9415 — 5 days ago