Dutasteride - Shortness of Breath and Chest Discomfort?

[Sir Gilgamesh]

Hello Everybody.

Has anyone here taken dutasteride and experienced a combination of shortness of breath and chest discomfort? I would describe the chest discomfort as heart burn on the low end and a pounding at it’s worse that is very uncomfortable. I was on the dutasteride for about a month when I started experiencing mild gyno symptoms so went from taking it daily to several times per week (finasteride on the other days) which seemed to alleviate those previously mentioned symptoms.

Fast forward another month and I woke up in the middle of the night with what felt like a pounding heart and I ended up going to the ER since I wasn’t sure what was going on and my chest felt very uncomfortable. ECG, bloodwork, and X ray of my chest came back fine.

Ever since waking up in the middle of the night I’ve had continued chest discomfort and shortness of breath when laying on my back and sometimes even sitting. This has continued for over two months and within the last 3 weeks I’ve stopped taking dutasteride and the chest discomfort has slowly been getting less noticeable although still present. I mostly only have shortness of breath when laying down at night (I’ve had to elevate using pillows for the past 2 months or so).

I had additional tests done such as holter monitor, ultrasound of my heart, and a stress test all of which came back fine per the nurse that called me (follow-up is with the doctor today).

I’m not sure if this might just be a lung issue caused from the Dutasteride that results in the shortness of breath, if it might be some type of long haul symptoms from COVID-19 which I had in July of last year, or something else entirely.


So has anyone else experienced anything like this while on Dutasteride?

 

[Sir Gilgamesh]

No, never. I have used both since 1998 and concurrently for several years.

By what mechanism would finasteride cause these effects?

I’ve been on finasteride since 2015 I believe and haven’t experienced any side effects except minor gyno like symptoms.

It was about two months into Dutasteride where I woke up with the pounding chest and started experiencing the shortness of breath. My initial thoughts were it could possibly be due to long haul covid symptoms or something else, but when I cut out the dutasteride the symptoms started to get less severe. I know some websites have shortness of breath and chest pain as symptoms, but I assumed the chest pain had to do with Gyno and after scouring the internet I can’t find any mention from anyone saying they’ve had shortness of breath from Dutasteride.

Ideally I would like to start taking Dutasteride again, but if it is the cause of the chest discomfort and shortness of breath then I won’t be able to as quality of life is very low.

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

I’ve been on finasteride since 2015 I believe and haven’t experienced any side effects except minor gyno like symptoms.

It was about two months into Dutasteride where I woke up with the pounding chest and started experiencing the shortness of breath. My initial thoughts were it could possibly be due to long haul covid symptoms or something else, but when I cut out the dutasteride the symptoms started to get less severe. I know some websites have shortness of breath and chest pain as symptoms, but I assumed the chest pain had to do with Gyno and after scouring the internet I can’t find any mention from anyone saying they’ve had shortness of breath from Dutasteride.

Ideally I would like to start taking Dutasteride again, but if it is the cause of the chest discomfort and shortness of breath then I won’t be able to as quality of life is very low.

You could titrate lower or go back to finasteride. I am not saying it is impossible but why would dutasteride have this effect but not finasteride. Who knows. I hope it sorts itself out because dutasteride appears to be a pretty good med and I have used it for several years and at times, concurrently with finasteride.

Best,
Janey

 

[Mustang]

Yes. I had shortness of breath on Oral Dutasteride.

It was quite bad and lasted about 3 months. From April to July before getting better. The half life of the drug is long

I don't have this problem with Topical Dutasteride

 

[jazz1]

No, never. I have used both since 1998 and concurrently for several years.

By what mechanism would finasteride cause these effects?

Hows your hair?

 

[Sir Gilgamesh]

Yes. I had shortness of breath on Oral Dutasteride.

It was quite bad and lasted about 3 months. From April to July before getting better. The half life of the drug is long

I don't have this problem with Topical Dutasteride

Did you happen to go to the doctor after experiencing the shortness of breath? Im just curious about what’s going wrong within our bodies resulting in the shortness of breath. Did you experience it all the time while dutasteride was in your system or only when laying down/sitting?

 

[Mustang]

Only when sitting down
I could run, walk, lay down, no problem but sitting it was terrible. In the car or waiting for a flight, like oxygen was not filling my lungs.
Never understood why.

 

[Stating facts]

Were you simultaneously on minoxidil?

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

No, never. I have used both since 1998 and concurrently for several years.

By what mechanism would finasteride cause these effects?

Stating facts states no facts, no facts at all.... Just another angry bald anti-finasteride guy. Nobody deserves to be bald but some lack the karma to complain so let's hear your facts, again. Are you mute, unable to type and only able to click?

 

[Mustang]

No, have not taken minoxidil since 2007

 

[Sir Gilgamesh]

Stating facts states no facts, no facts at all.... Just another angry bald anti-finasteride guy. Nobody deserves to be bald but some lack the karma to complain so let's hear your facts, again. Are you mute, unable to type and only able to click?

I’m confused as to what this in reference to.

 

[Sir Gilgamesh]

Only when sitting down
I could run, walk, lay down, no problem but sitting it was terrible. In the car or waiting for a flight, like oxygen was not filling my lungs.
Never understood why.

I gotcha. I definitely get what you mean when you say it doesn’t feel like oxygen was filling your lungs as I mentioned for me it was mostly laying down, but it would also be randomly when I’m sitting down. It’s rough when it randomly gets hard to breath when I’m just sitting and very weird it’s never an issue when I workout.

 

[Derelict]

I honestly can't think of any mechanism of dutasteride that would cause what you are experiencing.

 

[Sir Gilgamesh]

I honestly can't think of any mechanism of dutasteride that would cause what you are experiencing.

I can’t either which made me initially think I was experiencing these issues from something else, but when I dropped my dosage and eventually stopped taking it the symptoms started to get less and less severe. When I would start taking it again the symptoms would get worse again.

Shortness of breath is listed as a side effect though, but I can’t find any information as to what dutasteride does to potentially cause this side effect.

 

[Mustang]

Me neither
I do know that when sitting down my Oxygen saturation would drop to 94% and when standing up it would be 98% on average.
So I know I was not imagining this.

Bare in mind Covid was around and could have cause some lung scaring that could have been asymptomatic.

I don't know to be honest.