Finasteride Side Effects: Will They Go Away?

tdma

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I am 2 weeks in on 0.5 mg /day on finasteride.

Side effects: some strain in my left testicle, no more morning erections, reduced sex appetite. I've also been feeling very tired, but guess it could be because of any other reason, especially this time of year.

Many report that those finasteride side effects "go away" on their own. After how much time would that typically be?
 

Dhldan

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I am 2 weeks in on 0.5 mg /day on finasteride.

Side effects: some strain in my left testicle, no more morning erections, reduced sex appetite. I've also been feeling very tired, but guess it could be because of any other reason, especially this time of year.

Many report that those finasteride side effects "go away" on their own. After how much time would that typically be?

I’ve heard these normally go away in a week or few days. Maybe keep it up a little longer and if it’s still ongoing search for professional help after.
 

INT

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I am 2 weeks in on 0.5 mg /day on finasteride.

Side effects: some strain in my left testicle, no more morning erections, reduced sex appetite. I've also been feeling very tired, but guess it could be because of any other reason, especially this time of year.

Many report that those finasteride side effects "go away" on their own. After how much time would that typically be?

There is no typical time line for finasteride side effect.

Based on my experience, I can only advice you to stop taking it. If I would get a time machine and could pick 1 moment of my life to travel back in time I would go back to my third week on finasteride when my sides kicked in and I was doubting whether to quit the drug or 'ride out the sides'. I picked the latter what would be one of the dumbest decisions of my life.
 

Zwillard90

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There is no typical time line for finasteride side effect.

Based on my experience, I can only advice you to stop taking it. If I would get a time machine and could pick 1 moment of my life to travel back in time I would go back to my third week on finasteride when my sides kicked in and I was doubting whether to quit the drug or 'ride out the sides'. I picked the latter what would be one of the dumbest decisions of my life.


Sorry to hear bro, you still have sides??
 

Zwillard90

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It is 28 months after I quit and yes there are still some lingering sides.

f*** man so shitty sorry to hear, I hope everything gets better for you in the future man! how long were you on finasteride, I am thinking about starting it, check my thread if you can, would like to hear your thoughts!
 

INT

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f*** man so shitty sorry to hear, I hope everything gets better for you in the future man! how long were you on finasteride, I am thinking about starting it, check my thread if you can, would like to hear your thoughts!

Thanks. Yes it has been a slow, painful process but at least I am able to have sex again.
 

tdma

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Thanks for sharing your experience and I am sorry to hear that you are still fighting the side effects.

Based on "offline" opinions by friends and my hairdresser, it seems like the majority of younger men who start taking finasteride suffer sexual side effects. I really don't understand where they got this 2% figure from... Perhaps it was because the studies were done for prostate issues, which mainly apply to older men, who are more likely to have a lower libido anyway just because of age. But in guys in their twenties I haven't found a single person in my city who hasn't suffered side effects...

I'm looking into the topical formulations now. Waiting for Polichem's 3rd clinical trial results coming out. Meanwhile also looking into doing one myself, but it's difficult to pick a recipe and also to get hold of pure finasteride powder.
 

ButWhyTho

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Yes the studies were done in men between 40-75 so the sexual side effects are severely under-represented for the general population. I've been on 1 mg finasteride for a couple years now. I currently have side effects that have never gone away. Specifically: no morning erections, lower libido, watery semen, and slight breast enlargement.
I personally made the decision to continue the drug because the mental toil was worse then the physical symptoms. The thing is that there is no getting away from this. This is exactly what the drug was developed to do.
 

tdma

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Yes the studies were done in men between 40-75 so the sexual side effects are severely under-represented for the general population. I've been on 1 mg finasteride for a couple years now. I currently have side effects that have never gone away. Specifically: no morning erections, lower libido, watery semen, and slight breast enlargement.
I personally made the decision to continue the drug because the mental toil was worse then the physical symptoms. The thing is that there is no getting away from this. This is exactly what the drug was developed to do.

Have you tried lowering your dose to 0.25 mg/day?
 

Bigbone

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Thanks for sharing your experience and I am sorry to hear that you are still fighting the side effects.

Based on "offline" opinions by friends and my hairdresser, it seems like the majority of younger men who start taking finasteride suffer sexual side effects. I really don't understand where they got this 2% figure from... Perhaps it was because the studies were done for prostate issues, which mainly apply to older men, who are more likely to have a lower libido anyway just because of age. But in guys in their twenties I haven't found a single person in my city who hasn't suffered side effects...

I'm looking into the topical formulations now. Waiting for Polichem's 3rd clinical trial results coming out. Meanwhile also looking into doing one myself, but it's difficult to pick a recipe and also to get hold of pure finasteride powder.
Wrong. There are a bunch of studies done that includes all ages and they all say the same thing.
 

ButWhyTho

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Have you tried lowering your dose to 0.25 mg/day?
I haven't.
I've seen graphs were the efficacy was shown to be marginally less for lower dosage, but not much. So you could try different dosages for yourself.
But making decisions based of one or two studies is a bit iffy.

Big bone is probably referring to this studyhttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.2164/jandrol.108.005025

Their conclusion:
In this review, we surveyed studies on erectile dysfunction in patients treated with 5 α‐reductase inhibitors and critically examined the evidence that associates 5 α‐reductase inhibitors and erectile dysfunction. We conclude that 5 α‐reductase inhibitors do not lead to erectile dysfunction to a significant degree, and we support the position that dihydrotestosterone is less relevant than testosterone in erectile function.

^That study was a sort of meta analysis. So to understand it fully you need to go through each cited study and look at the mean age population. You'll see that there are statistical problems with their inclusion criteria.

Again everyone can quote studies back and forth until we're all sick. But just look at the biochemistry, anatomy and pathological process of DHT and the prostate gland. DHT functions as a secondary sex hormone, allowing for full development of male genetalia at puberty. and the prostate gland functions primarely to produce seminal fluid. DHT also has systemic effects and prostate gland is also responsible for

A collection of nerves that is located in the fascia covering the prostate is named the prostatic plexus. They arise from the lower (inferior) portion of the pelvic plexus and are distributed not only to the prostate but also to the corpora cavernosa of the penis and urethra. Injury or damage to these nerves impacts on the mechanisms of erection and can thus cause erectile dysfunction

Further if you remove your prostate gland, you will have dramatic negative effects on penile tissue. See:
https://synapse.koreamed.org/search...534/wjmh.2017.35.1.1&code=2074WJMH&vmode=FULL
"In addition to urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction, several other impairments of sexual function potentially occurring after radical prostatectomy (RP) have been described;"

Overall I agree that in the studies, ED did not seem to be a serious complication to people taking finasteride, it was slightly higher than a placebo effect. And I do not want to discount the studies outright, there were double blind, controlled studies with thousands of users. But I do believe the studies underreported sexual side effects because they relied on self assessment and because their mean age groups were middle age and older.
I personally put more credence in the physiologic process of the body than studies.
 

Bigbone

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I haven't.
I've seen graphs were the efficacy was shown to be marginally less for lower dosage, but not much. So you could try different dosages for yourself.
But making decisions based of one or two studies is a bit iffy.

Big bone is probably referring to this studyhttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.2164/jandrol.108.005025

Their conclusion:
In this review, we surveyed studies on erectile dysfunction in patients treated with 5 α‐reductase inhibitors and critically examined the evidence that associates 5 α‐reductase inhibitors and erectile dysfunction. We conclude that 5 α‐reductase inhibitors do not lead to erectile dysfunction to a significant degree, and we support the position that dihydrotestosterone is less relevant than testosterone in erectile function.

^That study was a sort of meta analysis. So to understand it fully you need to go through each cited study and look at the mean age population. You'll see that there are statistical problems with their inclusion criteria.

Again everyone can quote studies back and forth until we're all sick. But just look at the biochemistry, anatomy and pathological process of DHT and the prostate gland. DHT functions as a secondary sex hormone, allowing for full development of male genetalia at puberty. and the prostate gland functions primarely to produce seminal fluid. DHT also has systemic effects and prostate gland is also responsible for

A collection of nerves that is located in the fascia covering the prostate is named the prostatic plexus. They arise from the lower (inferior) portion of the pelvic plexus and are distributed not only to the prostate but also to the corpora cavernosa of the penis and urethra. Injury or damage to these nerves impacts on the mechanisms of erection and can thus cause erectile dysfunction

Further if you remove your prostate gland, you will have dramatic negative effects on penile tissue. See:
https://synapse.koreamed.org/search...534/wjmh.2017.35.1.1&code=2074WJMH&vmode=FULL
"In addition to urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction, several other impairments of sexual function potentially occurring after radical prostatectomy (RP) have been described;"

Overall I agree that in the studies, ED did not seem to be a serious complication to people taking finasteride, it was slightly higher than a placebo effect. And I do not want to discount the studies outright, there were double blind, controlled studies with thousands of users. But I do believe the studies underreported sexual side effects because they relied on self assessment and because their mean age groups were middle age and older.
I personally put more credence in the physiologic process of the body than studies.
I'm pretty sure I've looked it up before because I did have the same concerns regarding the age of the participants. I'll see if I can find something when I have time.

I get your point and I would love an alternative option to finasteride, but there isn't at the moment. However, I'm still not convinced DHT is such an important hormone after puberty and personally I believe hormonal imbalance is the cause of side effects not specifically DHT. There are even people that lived their whole life without DHT and still are healthy. On top of that, finasteride doesn't inhibit all of it.
I believe the majority of people that get on finasteride are fine without any noticeable side effects. 10 years down the line I'm not as sure about it though.

As someone who's been a hypochondriac, suffered from anxiety and depression I know what the mind is capable of. I will never tell another person that sides are in their head, but there's always a possibility.
 

tdma

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I'm pretty sure I've looked it up before because I did have the same concerns regarding the age of the participants. I'll see if I can find something when I have time.

I get your point and I would love an alternative option to finasteride, but there isn't at the moment. However, I'm still not convinced DHT is such an important hormone after puberty and personally I believe hormonal imbalance is the cause of side effects not specifically DHT. There are even people that lived their whole life without DHT and still are healthy. On top of that, finasteride doesn't inhibit all of it.
I believe the majority of people that get on finasteride are fine without any noticeable side effects. 10 years down the line I'm not as sure about it though.

As someone who's been a hypochondriac, suffered from anxiety and depression I know what the mind is capable of. I will never tell another person that sides are in their head, but there's always a possibility.

I agree about the mental effects, but wanted to add a side note there. Let's talk about morning erections. It's the first thing you feel when you wake up, in that sense it is not something that the mind "controls". So if they suddenly disappear, to what extend can we be sure that this is a side effect vs something caused by self-induced anxiety...?
 

Bigbone

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I agree about the mental effects, but wanted to add a side note there. Let's talk about morning erections. It's the first thing you feel when you wake up, in that sense it is not something that the mind "controls". So if they suddenly disappear, to what extend can we be sure that this is a side effect vs something caused by self-induced anxiety...?
You're right, lack off nocturnal erections is a good way to determine if someone has ED. However, just because you don't wake up with one it doesn't mean you don't have them.

Here's a way to check. Take a thin piece of paper or something else that is easy to rip apart. Wrap it around your dick, use a bit of tape and if it's ripped apart when you wake up you probably had boners during the night. Yeah I know, sh*t's weird but it's worth a try if you're concerned.
 

ButWhyTho

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I'm pretty sure I've looked it up before because I did have the same concerns regarding the age of the participants. I'll see if I can find something when I have time.

I get your point and I would love an alternative option to finasteride, but there isn't at the moment. However, I'm still not convinced DHT is such an important hormone after puberty and personally I believe hormonal imbalance is the cause of side effects not specifically DHT. There are even people that lived their whole life without DHT and still are healthy. On top of that, finasteride doesn't inhibit all of it.
I believe the majority of people that get on finasteride are fine without any noticeable side effects. 10 years down the line I'm not as sure about it though..

Yes I agree with you, the majority of people do not seem to get noticable sides and there isn't a better alternative. But we do have a physiologic explanation that explains why those side effects exist. And we should also remember that the main studies were done on people with enlarged prostates. Now we have younger guys taking it for specifically APA. So you're going to have a less than normal size prostate glands as well as less than normal size surrounding tissue. And this is where DHT AR receptors are really pronounced.
 
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Bigbone

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But we do have a physiologic explanation that explains why those side effects exist
You're right. However, there could be plenty of reason to why someone would get side effects.

And we should also remember that the main studies were done on people with enlarged prostates
I looked it up and to my surprise most of the studies are on BHP patients. I didn't look at all of them though but these are the ones I found:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11763381

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/article-abstract/422032

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1346-8138.2011.01378.x

These are specifically for treating hair loss. And we also have the Merck study of course.

Now we have younger guys taking it for specifically APA. So you're going to have a less than normal size prostate glands as well as less than normal size surrounding tissue. And this is where DHT AR receptors are really pronounced.
What does this mean, what's the downside?
 

ButWhyTho

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^ simply means that smaller size prostate is one that has atrophied. It's size is reduced so it's function is reduced. But again DHT is not the main factor in erections but it does play a significant role.
In the end it's up to the user to weigh the risks and benefits and make a decision that works for you.
 
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