finasteride and pregnancy

[dbaser]

Hi Guys,

I haven't posted in awhile, but I've had Moderate to Good results over the past eight years combining minoxidil and finasteride in various forms. I've kept most of my hair and I'm confident it will continue so long as the regimen continues.

What worries me now is that I'm considering proposing to my girlfriend in the next few months, and we are definitely at the age where we'd like to have kids. But I'm flashing back to 1998 when I first tried getting scrips for finasteride and two doctors turned me down because I was young and because they warned of birth defects and other horrors if I ever got someone pregnant.

Can anyone comment on this? Has anyone quit finasteride for a year and conceived a healthy child? The half-life isn't more than a month, I don't think, so I don't see why you couldn't quit it before conception. But the thought worries me and I'd hate to think over the years I've jeopardized my ability to have a healthy child.

Thanks.

 

[Bryan]

The FDA has removed all restrictions on the use of finasteride while conceiving a child, so there's no need to worry.

BTW, the half-life of finasteride in the serum is only around 5-6 hours, so the drug is pretty much gone only a day or two after the last dose that you take.

Bryan

 

[Goingat20]

how about with dutasteride, how long will it take to leave the system?

 

[Bryan]

When you've achieved the full "steady-state" level of the drug in your blood after taking the recommended dose (1 Avodart capsule per day) for several months, the half-life can be up to 5 weeks or so. The half-life is considerably shorter when taking smaller doses, however.

Bryan

 

[dbaser]

Thanks Bryan. I'm wondering now if the doctors 8 years ago were just being overly cautious at the idea of someone in their early 20s taking such a "serious" drug, as they characterized it. They even described vivid scenarios of babies being born with gross cranial deformities and so forth, and for about a year it warned me off of the stuff. In any case, 1.25MG/daily finasteride hasn't caused any noticeable side effects and it's good to know the FDA doesn't give much serious thought to the birth defects thing.

 

[Bryan]

Thanks Bryan. I'm wondering now if the doctors 8 years ago were just being overly cautious at the idea of someone in their early 20s taking such a "serious" drug, as they characterized it.

You nailed it right on the head: they were being overly cautious. Since then, this issue has been thoroughly investigated and debunked.

They even described vivid scenarios of babies being born with gross cranial deformities and so forth, and for about a year it warned me off of the stuff.

"Cranial deformities"? Huh?? I've never heard of any such claims, and that really doesn't make sense. Remember, the so-called "pseudohermaphrodites" in the Dominican Republic are a clear demonstration of what it would be like to rear a male child under the influence of finasteride; they have serious abnormalities in their sexual development, but I've never heard of them having "cranial deformities"

Bryan.