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I have taken finasteride off and on now for about 16 years, starting when I was 26. I have probably gone through 5 different periods of using it, the first 4 periods using the oral pill and the most recent time I tried topical finasteride.
Finasteride has proved simply amazing for me in stopping hair loss and encouraging hair re-growth, especially the first period when I used it for maybe 2 years. However the side effect of depression for me was and continues to be very real every time I take this drug.
I thankfully practically never suffer from depression or low moods normally but every single time I have gone on finasteride, I have ended up in feeling mildly to moderately depressed on many days. This was especially confusing when I was first taking the drug back in 2008/2009 as depression was not listed as a side effect then and I had no idea it could be finasteride causing this.
It was only after 2 years of using it (roughly 2010) - during that first period - that I began to read theories developing that finasteride could cause depression. I decided to see what happened if I stopped taking the drug, and within a week, my 2 year long depression had lifted.
I have tried it again and again in the hopes I may have a different result, because it is very effective for me for my male pattern baldness, but every single time it ends up the same. The depression always comes like clockwork, and like clockwork, it always lifts within a week once I stop taking it. I hoped topical finasteride might be different but my more recent attempt with that ended the same.
I am going to try one more time, this time microdosing the oral pills. I have not felt any depression or low moods anytime in the recent past. I suspect it will come back once I start taking the oral pills but I want to try one more time with microdosing this time, before I give up and go for a hair transplant. I never experienced anything resembling severe or suicidal depression but even mild to moderate depression is not a price worth paying for avoiding baldness.
If anyone has any tips or ideas I can try to avoid the side effect of depression, please let me know.
Finasteride has proved simply amazing for me in stopping hair loss and encouraging hair re-growth, especially the first period when I used it for maybe 2 years. However the side effect of depression for me was and continues to be very real every time I take this drug.
I thankfully practically never suffer from depression or low moods normally but every single time I have gone on finasteride, I have ended up in feeling mildly to moderately depressed on many days. This was especially confusing when I was first taking the drug back in 2008/2009 as depression was not listed as a side effect then and I had no idea it could be finasteride causing this.
It was only after 2 years of using it (roughly 2010) - during that first period - that I began to read theories developing that finasteride could cause depression. I decided to see what happened if I stopped taking the drug, and within a week, my 2 year long depression had lifted.
I have tried it again and again in the hopes I may have a different result, because it is very effective for me for my male pattern baldness, but every single time it ends up the same. The depression always comes like clockwork, and like clockwork, it always lifts within a week once I stop taking it. I hoped topical finasteride might be different but my more recent attempt with that ended the same.
I am going to try one more time, this time microdosing the oral pills. I have not felt any depression or low moods anytime in the recent past. I suspect it will come back once I start taking the oral pills but I want to try one more time with microdosing this time, before I give up and go for a hair transplant. I never experienced anything resembling severe or suicidal depression but even mild to moderate depression is not a price worth paying for avoiding baldness.
If anyone has any tips or ideas I can try to avoid the side effect of depression, please let me know.
