I've been lurking and reading these forums for quite a while but have never posted. I hate to be the guy with my first interaction consisting of me asking for help but I could really use some right now. Thank you in advance for reading, and especially if you respond... I really appreciate it.
I will be as concise as possible here, I'm sure many of you can relate to being able to fill a page with superfluous details about this type of thing very easily.
I was prescribed finasteride a few years ago after lobbying my doctor to prescribe it to me because I realized I was losing my hair and aside from surgery, finasteride was the only clear choice. It sat on my desk for over a year because I was too scared to take it based on everything I read regarding side effects and PFS, etc. About 10 months ago I reached a point of desperation where I decided I had to roll the dice before It went too far, so I started taking 1mg per day. To my surprise, I didn't seem to get any noticeable side effects even after a couple of months. I also noticed some small hairs growing around my hairline and seemingly less shedding so I felt confident it was working.
SIDE NOTE: I will report this here just for posterity, but around 5 months in I realized I was developing Peyronies, perhaps this had been happening before, or a couple of months into finasteride and I just didn't notice until 5 months... I can't say for sure but at this point, it is very clear that it's active and happening. Obviously, I can't say that this is related to finasteride, but after being perfectly straight for 33 years then all of a sudden curving over a few months with no apparent incident or injury... I find the timing very suspicious. I know there is no clear link to finasteride and this issue but I figured I'd at least mention my experience take it FWIW. I plan to speak to my doctor about this in my upcoming appointment but I'm not holding my breath for any resolution but luckily so far this hasn't caused any real sexual or physical issue other than being a jarring experience to observe happening.
Back to the main issue: I have been taking finasteride now for 10 months or so @1mg per day and realize I am experiencing gynecomastia. Around 4-5 months into taking finasteride I starting going to the gym and lifting 5 days a week for the first time in my life. Due to this big lifestyle change over the last few months, I've been seeing a lot of changes in my body and did notice that my chest was getting bigger but I assumed it was from the lifting. My chest continued to grow and around 6 weeks ago I grew concerned and started cutting because had gained about 20lbs (mostly fat) since I started lifting and figured it was just fat in my chest. I lost 10lbs but my chest did not get any smaller. I cut down finasteride to .5 EOD and about two weeks later or so I noticed my left nipple was becoming puffy and I recognized that it was gyno, and probably bi-lateral pseudo-gyno before that... not muscle. Over the course of a week I went from not feeling any lump, to a few days later feeling a lump, to a few days later feeling a band and a lump... also visibly progressing and getting worse despite the weight loss. I scheduled an appointment with my PCP which had a lead time of over 3 weeks which I am still waiting for.
Here are my questions. I don't want to be bald, bent, and breasted. Ideally, I can fix this gyno issue and stay on finasteride in some capacity, but maybe not. My guess is that the finasteride is creating too much estrogen, in which case I have no way of knowing if I can safely stay on finasteride. I never got bloodwork before taking finasteride so I have no baseline other than total T from when I was in my 20s. Waiting to see my doctor and watching this get worse every day has been rough, and for all I know he's going to just send me off to an Endo with a month or longer wait time. My vague understanding is that gyno becomes permanent sooner or later as fibrosis sets in... the timeframe of this I have no idea and haven't found clear info.
I have purchased Raloxiphene but haven't started taking it yet. I wanted to wait to see the PCP which is in about 2 weeks but the rate that this is advancing I'm getting extremely antsy waiting, I don't want it to become permanent if it is not already. I have continued more or less taking.5mg finasteride EOD. I don't know if I should just stop cold turkey or keep taking it to see what the bloodwork shows. I had been on 1mg but I can't justify going back on that much just to see what the bloodwork shows.
All decisions will be my own but I'd love some advice as some of you guys really seem to have a good understanding of hormone balance and methods to achieve them. Should I start taking the Raloxifene and continue the finasteride while I wait to see the PCP? Should I quit the finasteride and take the Raloxiphene? or some other combo? Is there something I should bring up with my PCP that he may not be aware of?
Looking back this is a ramble but I can't cut it down much more. Thank you for reading.
I will be as concise as possible here, I'm sure many of you can relate to being able to fill a page with superfluous details about this type of thing very easily.
I was prescribed finasteride a few years ago after lobbying my doctor to prescribe it to me because I realized I was losing my hair and aside from surgery, finasteride was the only clear choice. It sat on my desk for over a year because I was too scared to take it based on everything I read regarding side effects and PFS, etc. About 10 months ago I reached a point of desperation where I decided I had to roll the dice before It went too far, so I started taking 1mg per day. To my surprise, I didn't seem to get any noticeable side effects even after a couple of months. I also noticed some small hairs growing around my hairline and seemingly less shedding so I felt confident it was working.
SIDE NOTE: I will report this here just for posterity, but around 5 months in I realized I was developing Peyronies, perhaps this had been happening before, or a couple of months into finasteride and I just didn't notice until 5 months... I can't say for sure but at this point, it is very clear that it's active and happening. Obviously, I can't say that this is related to finasteride, but after being perfectly straight for 33 years then all of a sudden curving over a few months with no apparent incident or injury... I find the timing very suspicious. I know there is no clear link to finasteride and this issue but I figured I'd at least mention my experience take it FWIW. I plan to speak to my doctor about this in my upcoming appointment but I'm not holding my breath for any resolution but luckily so far this hasn't caused any real sexual or physical issue other than being a jarring experience to observe happening.
Back to the main issue: I have been taking finasteride now for 10 months or so @1mg per day and realize I am experiencing gynecomastia. Around 4-5 months into taking finasteride I starting going to the gym and lifting 5 days a week for the first time in my life. Due to this big lifestyle change over the last few months, I've been seeing a lot of changes in my body and did notice that my chest was getting bigger but I assumed it was from the lifting. My chest continued to grow and around 6 weeks ago I grew concerned and started cutting because had gained about 20lbs (mostly fat) since I started lifting and figured it was just fat in my chest. I lost 10lbs but my chest did not get any smaller. I cut down finasteride to .5 EOD and about two weeks later or so I noticed my left nipple was becoming puffy and I recognized that it was gyno, and probably bi-lateral pseudo-gyno before that... not muscle. Over the course of a week I went from not feeling any lump, to a few days later feeling a lump, to a few days later feeling a band and a lump... also visibly progressing and getting worse despite the weight loss. I scheduled an appointment with my PCP which had a lead time of over 3 weeks which I am still waiting for.
Here are my questions. I don't want to be bald, bent, and breasted. Ideally, I can fix this gyno issue and stay on finasteride in some capacity, but maybe not. My guess is that the finasteride is creating too much estrogen, in which case I have no way of knowing if I can safely stay on finasteride. I never got bloodwork before taking finasteride so I have no baseline other than total T from when I was in my 20s. Waiting to see my doctor and watching this get worse every day has been rough, and for all I know he's going to just send me off to an Endo with a month or longer wait time. My vague understanding is that gyno becomes permanent sooner or later as fibrosis sets in... the timeframe of this I have no idea and haven't found clear info.
I have purchased Raloxiphene but haven't started taking it yet. I wanted to wait to see the PCP which is in about 2 weeks but the rate that this is advancing I'm getting extremely antsy waiting, I don't want it to become permanent if it is not already. I have continued more or less taking.5mg finasteride EOD. I don't know if I should just stop cold turkey or keep taking it to see what the bloodwork shows. I had been on 1mg but I can't justify going back on that much just to see what the bloodwork shows.
All decisions will be my own but I'd love some advice as some of you guys really seem to have a good understanding of hormone balance and methods to achieve them. Should I start taking the Raloxifene and continue the finasteride while I wait to see the PCP? Should I quit the finasteride and take the Raloxiphene? or some other combo? Is there something I should bring up with my PCP that he may not be aware of?
Looking back this is a ramble but I can't cut it down much more. Thank you for reading.
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