I was on finasteride for 10+years... good success. I had good coverage and maintained decently throughout. I had a few sides to start with, but I was high libido to begin with and finasteride actually improved a few things there. Throughout the 10 years, I had sides, but I always attributed them to anxiety combined with stimulants (caffeine/nicotine) or alcohol.
Over the years, they all went away. (I quit smoking around the time I started finasteride and that helped quite a bit) I stabilized or just got used to them. Some of the ones that came up along the way were panic issues, general anxiety (started ssri a few years back to combat) some weight gain off and on, some dizziness at times (I figured it was inner ear related/vertigo), heart skip a beat (had that checked out... PVC's), elevated blood pressure, maybe gyno (not sure). Anyways... nothing debilitating... just annoying and I never attributed anything to finasteride.
Anyways... on to today... Recently, my doctor said he was trying dutasteride and asked if I was interested. I said sure, I'll give it a try. I started taking it about 6 weeks ago. Lately I've had some sides... a little scatterbrained, was pretty irritable last weekend, seems like I'm a little less libido driven (no issues). Again nothing major, but made me start reading a little deeper.
The recent rabbit hole of reading exposed me to the mechanics of 5aRI's and the impact on testosterone and estrogen. I had a decent high level understanding before, but after some lengthy reads, I think combining propecia with bad health habits (not sleeping enough, drinking more/often than I should, not getting enough exercise over the 10 years, etc) was causing an imbalance in estrogen (estradiol/esterone) to testosterone in me. This is all conjecture, but I suspect that has been causing sides to come up/go away over the years.
I've been reading up on supplements/drugs to manage this DIM and other estradiol inhibitors, Amirex, TRT, etc. I've seen people reporting success on some of these. I know people (i.e. bodybuilders) have been using these things for a long time to combat sides associated with messing with hormones. I could quit it all and go with a bald look (I have a size 8 head so this kinda worries me). I could cut out one of my life's guilty pleasures, beer. I started a fitness camp a few months back and have been going regularly 4x/week to improve my health, bp, etc. My problem is that I want to have my cake and eat it, too. I want to keep going with the hair... I figure I've gone this long... I have a better understanding of what is going on... why not give it a few more months and try and figure this thing out.
I have a few options... talk to my GP, talk to the dermatologist that is on the meds and prescribed them to me, see a specialist in the testosterone domain or try a little DIM or other aromatase inhibitor and see how it affects me.
Has anyone else had any similar experiences? Any advice on the direction/next steps? I posted in here to get opinions of people taking finasteride/dutasteride or that did at one time. Thanks in advance!
Over the years, they all went away. (I quit smoking around the time I started finasteride and that helped quite a bit) I stabilized or just got used to them. Some of the ones that came up along the way were panic issues, general anxiety (started ssri a few years back to combat) some weight gain off and on, some dizziness at times (I figured it was inner ear related/vertigo), heart skip a beat (had that checked out... PVC's), elevated blood pressure, maybe gyno (not sure). Anyways... nothing debilitating... just annoying and I never attributed anything to finasteride.
Anyways... on to today... Recently, my doctor said he was trying dutasteride and asked if I was interested. I said sure, I'll give it a try. I started taking it about 6 weeks ago. Lately I've had some sides... a little scatterbrained, was pretty irritable last weekend, seems like I'm a little less libido driven (no issues). Again nothing major, but made me start reading a little deeper.
The recent rabbit hole of reading exposed me to the mechanics of 5aRI's and the impact on testosterone and estrogen. I had a decent high level understanding before, but after some lengthy reads, I think combining propecia with bad health habits (not sleeping enough, drinking more/often than I should, not getting enough exercise over the 10 years, etc) was causing an imbalance in estrogen (estradiol/esterone) to testosterone in me. This is all conjecture, but I suspect that has been causing sides to come up/go away over the years.
I've been reading up on supplements/drugs to manage this DIM and other estradiol inhibitors, Amirex, TRT, etc. I've seen people reporting success on some of these. I know people (i.e. bodybuilders) have been using these things for a long time to combat sides associated with messing with hormones. I could quit it all and go with a bald look (I have a size 8 head so this kinda worries me). I could cut out one of my life's guilty pleasures, beer. I started a fitness camp a few months back and have been going regularly 4x/week to improve my health, bp, etc. My problem is that I want to have my cake and eat it, too. I want to keep going with the hair... I figure I've gone this long... I have a better understanding of what is going on... why not give it a few more months and try and figure this thing out.
I have a few options... talk to my GP, talk to the dermatologist that is on the meds and prescribed them to me, see a specialist in the testosterone domain or try a little DIM or other aromatase inhibitor and see how it affects me.
Has anyone else had any similar experiences? Any advice on the direction/next steps? I posted in here to get opinions of people taking finasteride/dutasteride or that did at one time. Thanks in advance!
