We have more and more data about that as well:
- 5-AR inhibition may result in the development of kidney dysfunction (
R)
- Dutasteride, a 5-AR inhibitor, treatment increased activities of liver alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase, suggesting dysregulation of liver metabolism (
R).
- Inhibiting DHT synthesis impairs corpus cavernosum growth and trabecular smooth muscle relaxation, endothelial function and increases connective tissue deposition. This all contributes to erectile dysfunction, even in the presence of physiological levels of total testosterone (
R)
- Low DHT or lowering DHT with a 5-AR inhibitor, such as finasteride or dutasteride, is associated with an increase in blood glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin A as well as the risk of type 2 diabetes (
R,
R,
R).
- Androgens, especially DHT, upregulate insulin receptor expression and activity and increase glycogen synthesis and cholesterol uptake in the liver (
R).
- DHT increases the synthesis of nitric oxide through eNOS phosphorylation thus improving circulation and vascularity (
R).
- DHT promotes stress resiliency. Blocking 5-AR enhances cortisol release during stress, whereas DHT blunts it, most likely through CRH suppression (
R,
R).
- DHT promote spatial memory (
R).
- ...
There are lot more studies but these are just some. I posted a ton scattered through this thread too.
Exactly and there have been several studies showing how bad this is. All
@user394587 is looking at is the bought-off studies paid off By Big Pharma to fool people.
There are so many people on this very forum alone and every other hairloss forum that complains of sides that are often permanent. You even got people on websites like Hairlosscure2020, Follicle Thought, etc always in the comments section talking about how they had sides on Finasteride when the topic of initial conversation wasn't even about Finasteride. It is highly common. So common that you can not even go online and not here about people who haven't experienced side effects on Finasteride.
Even multiple dermatologists I went to said in their experience Finasteride users do quite often get sides but they don't like to tell patients about the side effects before prescribing it because they don't want to scare people away.
It's a business for even Dermatologists. Imagine you go to a dermatologist and they be straight honest with you for a change and tell you look:
" There's only 2 FDA approved treatments, Minoxidil rarely works unless accompanied by Microneedling but Microneedling is not FDA approved for Hairloss so I don't tell my patients to use it, and then we have Finasteride that blocks the 2nd most important hormone in males, can have a cascade effect on your hormones, cause you ED that could be permanent, low libido, low sperm count, depression, possibly never have kids, etc etc" - you would get almost NO one going to take the stuff prescribed from a Dermatologist especially the Finasteride.
However, hairloss is a business for Dermatologists and hair loss surgeons. There's a reason they will understate the sides, especially when hairloss patients make a large % of their salary.
That's also a big reason how it's so easy for Big Pharma to hit that 2 million annual prescriptions of Finasteride and why that number doesn't mean sh*t because most often dermatologists don't tell you the bad side of Finasteride in such detail as any sane person would be scared off.
Since there are tens of millions of Balding people every year in the US, and millions of those see a dermatologist soon after they notice hairloss, dermatologists almost as a reflex just downplay Finasteride sides and quickly prescribe finasteride to almost everyone experiencing hairloss. That's how they are so easily able to hit that 2 million prescriptions a year and that is why that number doesn't mean sh*t about the safety or efficacy.
Also, most people who get sides don't even report it, even to their dermatologists. They just stop use. They don't report it because:
1) Fear of embarrassmet as men
2) The complaint process to actually register their side effects as a statistic is far longer, tedious and inconvenient in comparison than those who simply can say they just responded positively or didn't have any sides and so don't even have to register their experience as a statistic.
Where these studies get it wrong also it they just take the number of prescriptions in the US for Finasteride which is 2 million and they only look at number of people who went through the whole tedious process of registering their negative side effects as a statistic. Most people don't even know how to go about doing that nor do they want to. Especially after getting sides all their looking for is a way to get their health back, not to mention how their probably too depressed which is another side of Finasteride to go through that whole lenghty process.
That is the reason these statistics of how many people actually got side effects are Farrrrrrr lower than what they actually should be.
