I've been trying to research, but haven't come up with a great answer quite yet... I think it's pretty well known that sexual sides (gyno, ED, semen changes, ball ache, etc.) can safely be accounted for changes in T/E hormone levels. But do we actually have a good explanation as to what causes the mental sides?
Do We Have a Good Understanding Why finasteride Can Cause Mental Sides / "Brainfog"??
- Thread starter Donny J
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Notcoolanymore
Senior Member
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I know I will get crap for this but whatever. I believe the whole brainfog side is a bunch of BS. Another scare tactic. I can believe you can get gyno and sexual sides I wont deny that, but actual cases of sides is rare and that is a fact. finasteride hysteria is spreading like a disease. It started out with a few guys getting sides. Now the majority of guys get sides. We are at the point where the studies are all thrown out of the window, because of what we read on the internet. "I read on the internet that 75% of guys get sides, so that must be true". What a joke. Then those sides weren't enough and we had to move on to PFS, now brain fog. I even read a while ago that somebody went crazy while on finasteride, so I guess it causes that too. Bottom line is yes, there are certain sides you can get while on finasteride, but most of the garbage you read on the internet is just a bunch of nonsense.
I.D WALKER
Senior Member
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I agree overall and where's the FCC and their warning that Internet Use causes serious hazards to our health? :kaputt:
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My thoughts exactly. The conspiracy theorist in me believes some of the anti finasteride propaganda comes from pharmaceutical companies with rival (And likely inaffective) products which are in patent, whereas off patent finasteride threatens their crappy alternatives. Regardless though, once on finasteride, some people will attribute any ailment they get to the finasteride. They could be lying out all day in the midday sun and they'd still say it was finasteride that caused their sunburn. And other people will simply convince themselves they have any side effects they have read about, a lot of hypochondriacs out there... Altering your hormones is definitely not without risk, but remember finasteride only reduces one type of DHT by ~65%, the other type of DHT is unaffected, and your testosterone levels actually increase. DHT is responsible for secondary sex characteristic development during puberty and maybe early adulthood, reducing it in most adult males won't have any real affect on anything but your hair for most people
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only possible reasons for brain fog:
1. Abnormally low DHT levels from finasteride cause brain fog
False - Women, prepubescent males, etc, have similar levels or lower and do not get brain fog
2. Excess finasteride floating around in the bloodstream causes brain fog.
In this case problem could be solved by taking a lower dose, resulting in all finasteride being bound to enzymes and less excess finasteride floating around.
3. Inhibition of other processes that 5AR2 is responsible for causes brain fog
possible
I personally don't believe brain fog is real either. The FDA has not listed it as a side effect
1. Abnormally low DHT levels from finasteride cause brain fog
False - Women, prepubescent males, etc, have similar levels or lower and do not get brain fog
2. Excess finasteride floating around in the bloodstream causes brain fog.
In this case problem could be solved by taking a lower dose, resulting in all finasteride being bound to enzymes and less excess finasteride floating around.
3. Inhibition of other processes that 5AR2 is responsible for causes brain fog
possible
I personally don't believe brain fog is real either. The FDA has not listed it as a side effect
2bald2young
Experienced Member
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finasteride can't cause brain fog but dutasteride can cause it because it blocks dht type 1 and you can find that in your brains. Personal experience I switched to dutasteride 2 weeks ago and my brains just don't work very well anymore, it is very noticeable looking at my current marks.
consider yourselves lucky, because you clearly haven't had the misfortune of experiencing it. it's extremely debilitating when it occurs, and it's actually quite distasteful to write off people like myself who have had these problems as being part of a "scare tactic" or whatnot.
i've told my personal experience in a couple other threads, but to quickly repeat: i began finasteride (.625mg) per day. after the 3rd week, i experienced brain fog. i got off it and within 2-3 days my symptoms subsided. i thought that maybe it was some outside source or a coincidence, or my mind playing tricks on me, or some bs, so i gave finasteride another go. again, after the 3rd week, it kicked right back in. still not satisfied, i repeated once more, with the same results again.
i ended up changing my frequency to only taking finasteride mon-fri. once i did this, things began to normalize for a while when on the drug. which makes me think that what zzzzz says below may be true for #2:
JZA70
Banned
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Puberty is the key. Pseudohermaphrodites never had DHT in their bodies. During puberty, certain androgen dependent structures in the body are activated by DHT. It's the case with hair loss and also with other androgen dependent structures of the body such as parts of the spinal chord. A body of a pseudohermaphrodite works totally different since it never had its androgen dependent structures activated by dht. (And no: Testosterone can't do this task.)
First, look at a normal male. Before puberty everything looks different. The body isn't fully developed, the hormonal profile is different, the CNS is different too. During puberty, all of these things change and a lot of these changes are activated by androgens, especially by DHT. As the body produces androgens, genitals develop, sexual function is starting to work, the CNS develops which is also necessary for sexual function and for thinking and behaving like a male. The CNS looks different before and after puberty.
Now lets look at a pseudohermaphrodite. He goes through puberty too. But he is 5AR2 deficient so can't produce DHT. He has less body hair, a different hormonal profile, and a different CNS since the androgen dependent part of the CNS which is activated by DHT hasn't fully developed.
In the end, both went through puberty. But the normal male has another CNS, especially another spinal chord since it contains a lot of 5AR2 which the pseudohermaphrodite never had. So a pseudohermaphrodite doesn't only look different, his CNS works different since it is not fully developed like the one of a real male. Point is: He is not only sexually different but also neurologically different.
Now: A normal male goes on finasteride and artificially changes his hormonal profile to match that of a pseudohermaphrodite. THEN, demyelination of specific parts of the spinal chord who have been developed with the help of DHT produced by 5AR2 will occur because the body is now, after puberty dependent on that specific part. It can't function properly without it. A pseudohermaphrodite doesn't experience such a kind of demyelination because his spinal chord is a different, not a fully developed one. The part that experiences demyelination in a normal male after puberty taking finasteride isn't even present. His body can function without it because the spinal chord never underwent that change because he is 5AR2 deficient. It does function differently though.
You see: you can only compare the two (a pseudohermaphrodite and a normal male) if the normal male starts using finasteride BEFORE PUBERTY. But then both of them are actually pseudohermaphrodites.
http://www.propeciahelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2577
First, look at a normal male. Before puberty everything looks different. The body isn't fully developed, the hormonal profile is different, the CNS is different too. During puberty, all of these things change and a lot of these changes are activated by androgens, especially by DHT. As the body produces androgens, genitals develop, sexual function is starting to work, the CNS develops which is also necessary for sexual function and for thinking and behaving like a male. The CNS looks different before and after puberty.
Now lets look at a pseudohermaphrodite. He goes through puberty too. But he is 5AR2 deficient so can't produce DHT. He has less body hair, a different hormonal profile, and a different CNS since the androgen dependent part of the CNS which is activated by DHT hasn't fully developed.
In the end, both went through puberty. But the normal male has another CNS, especially another spinal chord since it contains a lot of 5AR2 which the pseudohermaphrodite never had. So a pseudohermaphrodite doesn't only look different, his CNS works different since it is not fully developed like the one of a real male. Point is: He is not only sexually different but also neurologically different.
Now: A normal male goes on finasteride and artificially changes his hormonal profile to match that of a pseudohermaphrodite. THEN, demyelination of specific parts of the spinal chord who have been developed with the help of DHT produced by 5AR2 will occur because the body is now, after puberty dependent on that specific part. It can't function properly without it. A pseudohermaphrodite doesn't experience such a kind of demyelination because his spinal chord is a different, not a fully developed one. The part that experiences demyelination in a normal male after puberty taking finasteride isn't even present. His body can function without it because the spinal chord never underwent that change because he is 5AR2 deficient. It does function differently though.
You see: you can only compare the two (a pseudohermaphrodite and a normal male) if the normal male starts using finasteride BEFORE PUBERTY. But then both of them are actually pseudohermaphrodites.
http://www.propeciahelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2577