Update. Been on finasteride/dutasteride for 6 years now. I switched from finasteride to dutasteride maybe 2-3 years ago. It's achieved its purpose of allowing me to maintain a hairstyle. My hairloss doesn't really look any worse than when I started at age 20. I'd 100% be fully bald by now had I not taken it. As a note I've shaved my head in the past and I am diffuse thinning rather severely on top. I may have been when I started finasteride though.
I've developed a more nuanced take to finasteride and dutasteride in recent years. I have fell into a deep depression in the last couple years and it's hard to pinpoint what caused it. I ended up drinking too much alcohol, eating bad, isolating myself etc which is no doubt the primary cause but there's a niggle in the back of my mind; Did dutasteride/finasteride set me off on that path? I've always been a schemer and in recent years I have nothing going on in my mind when it comes to work. I was extremely enterprising in my teens. I am financially ruined as a result. It's hard to say because my lifestyle is so bad. Im working on fixing my lifestyle currently.
I have read that dutasteride can block conversion of a steroid that appears to have wide-ranging benefits. I'm unsure if finasteride does the same. This is what has led me to develop a nuanced take on finasteride/dutasteride and I would advise people to do their due diligence and be on the lookout for side effects. Anecdotally I began having extremely severe anxiety a few years ago where I struggle to even sit in a room of strangers if Im not drunk.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allopregnanolone
I'll write a follow up in approx. 1 years time to let you all know how my self-improvement journey went and whether my old-scheming enterprising self returned. I've quit alcohol and started exercising / eating better. I'm hoping my life decline is a matter of my lifestyle. We'll see. Cheers
In summary, if you happen to drop onto this thread pursuing the internet for hairloss advice. I would say
assume these negative effects arent directly caused by dutasteride. My lifestyle has been beyond terrible in recent years that would make anyone depressed. I just thought I'd mention it for full disclosure. Im expecting my life struggles to resolve after a period of good living. Cya in a year.