Finasteride and ED

[FullMetalGear]

Hey everyone,

It's been a while since I have been on this website, but I wanted to post an update about my experience with Finasteride.

The last time I posted was in January 2015. I had decided to stop taking Finasteride after 18 months when I began having difficulty achieving an erection. I didn't think I would ever be back to normal, but, as the months went on, I got better and better until I feel like I was about 90% of my old self (by around 6 months). However, my hair began to fall out again and I remembered why I decided to take the drug in the first place: It is basically the only therapy proven to prevent male pattern baldness progression.

I began taking the drug again (1.25mg, 1/4 of a proscar tablet, the same dose I was on before) in January 2016 (5 months ago). Everything was going great until last month, when ED crept back in on me. I have been living a busy life and often miss doses completely or end up taking them at a different time than planned, so I am wondering if this maybe affected things.

I have decided that this time, I will lower the dose to 0.5mg. I obtained a prescription for generic finasteride, and am cutting the tablet in two. Taking it each morning at 10am, without any deviation. My hope is that at this lower dose (along with being more diligent), the side effect will gradually disappear, but if it does not, I may need to quit the drug altogether (at least this time I will taper off of it).

If anyone has any thoughts or experience "experimenting" with Finasteride doses, please let me know.

-FMG

 

[g.i joey]

all i could say is look into l-arginine and see if that works. works wonders for me, not trying to brag or anything but im not even worried now when i go meet a girl, i get boners just looking at chicks now. On my last run on finasteride that wasnt the case AT ALL

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

all i could say is look into l-arginine and see if that works. works wonders for me, not trying to brag or anything but im not even worried now when i go meet a girl, i get boners just looking at chicks now. On my last run on finasteride that wasnt the case AT ALL

L-aginine works by boosting nitric oxide. It's the same channel as v****, cialis, etc.

Finasteride affects erectile function by screwing with androgens and (possibly) androgen receptors. It's a different channel. It may be that you're compensating a deficiency in one channel with an excess in another channel, but that's not a cure.

- - - Updated - - -

Hey everyone,

It's been a while since I have been on this website, but I wanted to post an update about my experience with Finasteride.

The last time I posted was in January 2015. I had decided to stop taking Finasteride after 18 months when I began having difficulty achieving an erection. I didn't think I would ever be back to normal, but, as the months went on, I got better and better until I feel like I was about 90% of my old self (by around 6 months). However, my hair began to fall out again and I remembered why I decided to take the drug in the first place: It is basically the only therapy proven to prevent male pattern baldness progression.

I began taking the drug again (1.25mg, 1/4 of a proscar tablet, the same dose I was on before) in January 2016 (5 months ago). Everything was going great until last month, when ED crept back in on me. I have been living a busy life and often miss doses completely or end up taking them at a different time than planned, so I am wondering if this maybe affected things.

I have decided that this time, I will lower the dose to 0.5mg. I obtained a prescription for generic finasteride, and am cutting the tablet in two. Taking it each morning at 10am, without any deviation. My hope is that at this lower dose (along with being more diligent), the side effect will gradually disappear, but if it does not, I may need to quit the drug altogether (at least this time I will taper off of it).

If anyone has any thoughts or experience "experimenting" with Finasteride doses, please let me know.

-FMG

Finasteride has a nearly flat response curve when it comes to serum and scalp levels of DHT, so whatever is affected by DHT/estrogen/testosterone will not be significantly changed by going from 1.25mg/day to 0.50 mg/day. You might try lowering the dose to say ~0.03 mg/day whereby finasteride's effect is cut by half, or cutting body fat, or increasing muscle, or taking creatine (evidence is weak though), etc.

 

[g.i joey]

L-aginine works by boosting nitric oxide. It's the same channel as v****, cialis, etc.

would you say arginine is alot healthier than taking v**** or cialis. I was cool with being on a natural supp like l-arginine but when you classified it with v**** and cialis it kinda makes me worry ill become dependant on it... you think that could be the case?

 

[FullMetalGear]

L-aginine works by boosting nitric oxide. It's the same channel as v****, cialis, etc.

Finasteride affects erectile function by screwing with androgens and (possibly) androgen receptors. It's a different channel. It may be that you're compensating a deficiency in one channel with an excess in another channel, but that's not a cure.

Finasteride has a nearly flat response curve when it comes to serum and scalp levels of DHT, so whatever is affected by DHT/estrogen/testosterone will not be significantly changed by going from 1.25mg/day to 0.50 mg/day. You might try lowering the dose to say ~0.03 mg/day whereby finasteride's effect is cut by half, or cutting body fat, or increasing muscle, or taking creatine (evidence is weak though), etc.

Do you have any resources regarding the dose-response curve of finasteride? Also anything about elimination and how it affects the HPA axis would be very useful I think...

If what you say is true... I doubt it would be easy to isolate 0.03 mg of finasteride, but if there IS a way, and it would allow people to keep their hair and reduce side effects, it would likely be worth the effort.

- - - Updated - - -

would you say arginine is alot healthier than taking v**** or cialis. I was cool with being on a natural supp like l-arginine but when you classified it with v**** and cialis it kinda makes me worry ill become dependant on it... you think that could be the case?

He classified it with viagara and cialis because all 3 of these substances deal with nitric oxide. The actual science is more complex, but basically, L-arginine supplies your body with EXTRA nitric oxide which can be used during an erection. v**** and Cialis force the cells in your blood vessels to produce MORE of their own nitric oxide. My thought is L-arginine = safer (less side effects) but also less potent, v****/Cialis = more side effects but more potent.

Dependancy is a possibility. All of these drugs can correct the symptom of ED, but they don't CURE the source of the problem. Without these drugs, you would be likely to have the same problems as before.

 

[g.i joey]

i guess i wont have a problem because the only time ill stop taking l-arginine is when im off finasteride, and my sexual health was never a worry off finasteride. I guess i use l arginine to stay safe, a little over 2 months in and my sex drive is still great.

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

Joey, the three main widely-discussed components of erections are testosterone, dopamine, and nitric oxide.

I don't know how complete that science is, and how many other factors there may be, but it's true that at least those three components are important.

 

[g.i joey]

i never had a nitric oxide problem prior to finasteride.. i didnt even have problems at all this time around on finasteride, but i did have weaker erections last time. SO i figured id take l arginine while taking finasteride. my question was mainly, will taking l-arginine effect me in the future when i get off finasteride and l arginine?

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

i never had a nitric oxide problem prior to finasteride.. i didnt even have problems at all this time around on finasteride, but i did have weaker erections last time. SO i figured id take l arginine while taking finasteride. my question was mainly, will taking l-arginine effect me in the future when i get off finasteride and l arginine?

I suspect that isn't known.

 

[g.i joey]

hey david i want you to look at this. I know its a rat study but it would kind of prove why l arginine might help people like me when on finasteride

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7534702

"[h=1]Dihydrotestosterone is the active androgen in the maintenance of nitric oxide-mediated penile erection in the rat."[/h]

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

hey david i want you to look at this. I know its a rat study but it would kind of prove why l arginine might help people like me when on finasteride

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7534702

"Dihydrotestosterone is the active androgen in the maintenance of nitric oxide-mediated penile erection in the rat."

Hey Joey I could have easily missed this, feel free to send me a PM letting me know if you have an interesting reply in the future !

It's interesting, on the other hand, v**** also deals with nitric oxide, and tons of people on propeciahelp forums say v**** does nothing for their ED. These authors are at UCLA, so they are credible.

It's a complex issue, I don't know. Due to my ED I'm very, very, very weary about anti-androgens. I'll be starting a microdose of RU58851 in a few days, if i notice side effects after a week, I'll stop.