Having finasteride Side Effects 8 Months In

[Hscorpio]

I’m 8 months on finasteride. During the first few weeks i had a side effect and was experiencing water semen. This lasted for two weeks and my semen returned to normal. I’m now 8 months in and having watery semen again and not that interested in sex. Has anyone else had sides after some months?

 

[StevenGerrard]

watery semen (which has yet to go away) is literally the first side effect that I noticed and since when is having a low libido considered a bad thing? time to focus on other things besides sex

 

[Hscorpio]

When your planning kids soon sex is kinda important. I’m going to come off for few months and see what happens thanks for replying guys

 

[StevenGerrard]

When your planning kids soon sex is kinda important. I’m going to come off for few months and see what happens thanks for replying guys

to my defense I wasn't aware that you are trying to have a kid, my apologies.

but yeah.. just get off finasteride and your libido will come back (post finasteride syndrome is a myth) -- it's probably wiser to taper off the drug as opposed to quitting it cold turkey

 

[Hscorpio]

to my defense I wasn't aware that you are trying to have a kid, my apologies.

but yeah.. just get off finasteride and your libido will come back (post finasteride syndrome is a myth) -- it's probably wiser to taper off the drug as opposed to quitting it cold turkey

No worries mate it’s fine. Yeah I’ll taper off that seems the best way

 

[INT]

but yeah.. just get off finasteride and your libido will come back (post finasteride syndrome is a myth)

False

 

[StevenGerrard]

False

there is literally no scientific evidence that post finasteride syndrome exists

 

[JeToker]

Yes, common side effects.

Get off and pray these side effects aren't permanent.

What are you basing this on? The only cases of people having permanent libido issues I've seen are anecdotal. Have you got any studies that suggest that there are long term libido issues with fina?

 

[JeToker]

False

I'd love to see some evidence that isn't anecdotal.

 

[INT]

I'd love to see some evidence that isn't anecdotal.

Have a look at the leaflet of propecia. There you will see that Merck themselves mentioned that side effects can be persistent.

 

[ScaredOfBalding]

Lower ur dose. If that doesn't work, quit. But don't listen to Pigeon and his bs. Sides can be persistent but its uncommon and its not permanent.

 

[HLV]

In my opinion the majority of people will be fine on Finasteride 1 MG. in rare cases there will be those who cannot tolerate the drug and even rarer cases where the side effects are persistent. Persistent side effects are very rare but possible.

HLV

 

[BigOl'BaldingHead]

When your planning kids soon sex is kinda important. I’m going to come off for few months and see what happens thanks for replying guys

Well you shouldn't be on finasteride anyway when trying to conceive a child regardless of the fact whether you have sides or not.

 

[JeToker]

This has been done to death already. I'll copy past an old post of mine:

Most of the studies claiming fina to be safe are done by special interest groups or are short term.

The original studies are also not to be trusted, look up vioxx and Merck.

DHT is a very important hormone, fina/duta are slow killers and most will only notice side effects after a longer period of time. But it's logical, it's hormone treatment, even transexuals use fina for their transition.

Okay, and I suppose we're going to get on to some studies you trust that show otherwise?

Wish I could say it's safe but it's not by any means, especially in long term usage. I was on it for 2 years, and yes it did help for hairloss...but at what cost...

I don't know, but this anecdotal and therefore meaningless, there are countless people who have been on these drugs for decades who claim to have had no issues, it all comes out in the wash.

Recent article again pointing out how corrupt these "studies" and pharma companies really are.

A REUTERS SERIES

Court let Merck hide secrets about a popular drug’s risks

Lawsuits claim baldness drug Propecia causes sexual problems and depression. The judge sealed evidence – uncovered by Reuters – suggesting the maker downplayed the side effects. A widow wants the truth out.

Summary about Vioxx, it's another product from Merck:

Approval by the FDA should mean that the substance in question is reasonably safe for use in the wider population. Sadly, despite FDA approval, many drugs have had to be subsequently withdrawn from the market after wider use showed severe consequences which were not adequately assessed or communicated by the very institution that was supposed to protect the public from such outcomes. Take another Merck (makers of propecia) drug, Vioxx, which was approved by the FDA. Withdrawn from the market after five years, it caused approximately 100000 heart attacks and thousands of deaths. The revelations that resulted from the ensuing scrutiny offer a chilling insight into the machinations of a pharmaceutical company that nakedly prized its profit margin above its duty not to harm its consumers. It also exposed the FDA’s rank inadequacies in preventing such a tragedy from happening in the first place. https://www.ucsusa.org/manipulating-...out-drug-vioxx

“Merck Manipulated the Science about the Drug Vioxx”
Scientists from the pharmaceutical giant Merck skewed the results of clinical trials in favor of the arthritis drug, Vioxx, to hide evidence that the drug increased patients’ risk of heart attack.

Tragically, Merck’s manipulation of its data—and the FDA’s resulting approval of Vioxx in 1999—led to thousands of avoidable premature deaths and 100,000 heart attacks.?Dr. David Graham, the Associate Director for Science and Medicine in FDA’s Office of Drug Safety, testified in 2004 before the Senate Finance Committee that the FDA's failure to recall Vioxx earlier had resulted in as many as 55,000 premature deaths from heart attacks and stroke, calling it the equivalent of allowing "two to four jumbo jetliners" to crash every week for five years. Even years after discontinuing use of the drug, patients who have taken Vioxx continue to experience complications. https://www.newscientist.com/article...aths-cover-up/


“Drug giant Merck accused of deaths cover-up”
When a study suggested that Vioxx was more dangerous than a rival drug, for example, the company is alleged to have decided not to publish the results or properly inform the FDA.

Egilman says the documents also contain an email in which a Merck employee tells a co-worker that “this is a very serious result and you will hardly be surprised by the idea of keeping this VERY TIGHT for the moment”. https://www.news.com.au/news/drug-c...6c8559abf?sv=1f029b17d33bdbde184dbc4c4fed7126

“Vioxx maker Merck and Co drew up doctor hit list”
An international drug company made a hit list of doctors who had to be “neutralised” or discredited because they criticised the anti-arthritis drug the pharmaceutical giant produced.

The email, which came out in the Federal Court in Melbourne yesterday as part of a class action against the drug company, included the words "neutralise", "neutralised" or "discredit" against some of the doctors' names.

"We may need to seek them out and destroy them where they live," a Merck employee wrote, according to an email excerpt read to the court by Julian Burnside QC, acting for the plaintiff.
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/09/b...s/09merck.html
“Merck Agrees to Settle Vioxx Suits for $4.85 Billion”
Three years after withdrawing its pain medication Vioxx from the market, Merck has agreed to pay $4.85 billion to settle 27,000 lawsuits by people who claim they or their family members suffered injury or died after taking the drug, according to two lawyers with direct knowledge of the matter. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/m...1804dgtest.pdf

----

Okay so all of this was about Vioxx, not dutasteride of finasteride. I guess you're building a case that massive corporations/drug companies will sometimes do bad sh*t, f*** with studies and the FDA can make mistakes. This is nothing so far.

DHT is biologically important for sexual differentiation of the male genitalia during embryogenesis, maturation of the penis and scrotum at puberty, growth of facial, body, and pubic hair, and development and maintenance of the prostate gland and seminal vesicles. It is produced from the less potent testosterone by the enzyme 5?-reductase in select tissues, and is the primary androgen in the genitals, prostate gland, seminal vesicles, skin, and hair follicles.[2]

This is stuff anyone on this site should know at this point, there's nothing scary here. It's vitally important in development of sexual characteristics during development in the womb and puberty. The best you have here is maintenance of the prostate, so that's why you've bolded it, and yet the vast majority of people who take the drug even at higher doses for BPH or MPHL suffer minimal drawbacks. Specifically finasteride has been taken for decades by literally hundreds of millions of men. If there was any such serious drawbacks they would be demonstrated by now, not in spooky descriptions or broad attacks on the pharmaceutical industry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihydrotestosterone

Finasteride, sold under the brand names Proscar and Propecia among others, is a medication used mainly to treat an enlarged prostate or hair loss in men.[2] It can also be used to treat excessive hair growth in women and as a part of hormone therapy for transgender women.[3][4] It is taken by mouth.[2]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finasteride

Some more info:

Objective differences between PFS patients and control groups has now been established.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ar...0237#abstract0

The ratio of AR positive stromal cells % to serum testosterone concentrations was 2-fold higher in cases than in controls (P?=?0.001). Our findings revealed that modulation of local AR levels might be implicated in long-term side effects of finasteride use. This provides the first evidence of a molecular objective difference between patients with long-term adverse sexual effects after finasteride use versus drug untreated healthy controls in certain tissues.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28408350

We also reported abnormal somatosensory evoked potentials of the pudendal nerve in PFS patients with severe ED, the first objective evidence of a neuropathy involving peripheral neurogenic control of erection.

Data obtained on neuroactive steroid levels also indicate interesting features. Indeed, decreased levels of pregnenolone, progesterone and its metabolite (i.e., dihydroprogesterone), dihydrotestosterone and 17beta-estradiol and increased levels of dehydroepiandrosterone, testosterone and 5alpha-androstane-3alpha,17beta-diol were observed in CSF of PFS patients.

Finally, finasteride did not only affect, as expected, the levels of 5alpha-reduced metabolites of progesterone and testosterone, but also the further metabolites and precursors suggesting that this drug has broad consequence on neuroactive steroid levels of PFS patients.

https://www.jsm.jsexmed.org/article/...817-9/fulltext
Using novel ultrasound technology, 96% of men with PFS and ED demonstrated heterogeneity in their corporal tissue at maximal pharmacologic erection. This new protocol is able to show that PFS men complaining of ED may have an underlying biologic pathophysiology.

So, three objective differences in men with PFS

1. Double the androgen receptor expression compared to non-PFS control group
2. Cerebrospinal fluid readings of PFS patients showed significantly lowered levels of several hormones and neuroactive steroids and “abnormal somatosensory evoked potentials of the pudendal nerve were reported”
3. Ultrasounds of PFS patients’ genitals showed evidence of a potential biologic pathophysiology

And here's 120 pages full of science that explains why blocking DHT is a very bad idea.

https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=FDA-2017-P-5787-0001

So I've checked your studies and I find them wholly unconvincing, especially in the face of staunch criticism they have faced from the scientific community, PFS is not a recognised condition. You can go full conspiracy memes if you want, but without a stronger set of studies, and in the face of decades of use by millions of men, and the absence of a biological description of how said penile damage is caused, I find this extremely unconvincing, as I said.

Most people on AA's like fina or duta are emotionally invested and they see critique as a personal attack. They like to convince themselves long term hormone treatment to save their hair is "safe", of course anyone with a few brain cells can figure out hormone treatment like fina/duta will fck you up sooner or later, it's just a matter of time.

Most people posting against fina/duta are people who suffering psychogenic symptoms after getting scared about hormone-altering drugs, and have become convinced that it must be physiological. These people like to convince themselves with half-baked studies and case reports that an unrecognised condition exists for which they have almost zero evidence of. This is not how I would normally argue, but I'm just doing exactly what you're doing right back at you.

The final statement on having braincells, that's not how we do things, we don't just say 'messing with hormones bad so checkmate'. As stated, finasteride has been taken for a long time by a lot of men. There's nowhere near the weight of evidence we should expect to see at this point, to justify your fear-mongering.

 

[StevenGerrard]

if it wasn't for guys such as Pigeons I wouldn't be in this predicament I'm in now (fighting for dear life to save my hair) -- the truth is I should have been on finasteride years ago but alas I let all the fear mongering get to me.

@Pigeon what you are doing is dangerous and extremely unethical, let people take the medication and figure out for themselves; if it's worth it or not

 

[Derelict]

if it wasn't for guys such as Pigeons I wouldn't be in this predicament I'm in now (fighting for dear life to save my hair) -- the truth is I should have been on finasteride years ago but alas I let all the fear mongering get to me.

@Pigeon what you are doing is dangerous and extremely unethical, let people take the medication and figure out for themselves; if it's worth it or not

Sad to hear the fear mongering got to you and delayed you getting on finasteride earlier, the anti finasteride brigade are probably well intentioned(even if a bit fanatical) they got bad sides so are very vocal about it, but side effects are minor and rare when it comes down to it and im not entirely convinced PFS is actually a thing....if it its then it's so rare that again, it's a minor thing to worry about happening to you, millions of men use finasteride.

 

[INT]

if it wasn't for guys such as Pigeons I wouldn't be in this predicament I'm in now (fighting for dear life to save my hair) -- the truth is I should have been on finasteride years ago but alas I let all the fear mongering get to me.

@Pigeon what you are doing is dangerous and extremely unethical, let people take the medication and figure out for themselves; if it's worth it or not

And on the other side, there is me who lost 3 years of his sex life because of the drug. I wish I took the 'fear-mongering' a bit more serious at the time.

 

[StevenGerrard]

Lol, oh man how the tables have turned...

I was exactly in the same position as you. Losing hair, reading the "fear mongering" stories about fina and trusting in the official study results. (I didn't know anything about Merck's past or endocrine science at that time) and deluding myself that there is no problem with the drug....

Your post is a flashback of me pre fina. I was also mad about all the men who posted their stories about side effects, of course I was mad since I saw fina as my ultimate salvation, just like you.

which side effect bothered you the most? your personal vendetta against the only medication that works is hmmm... inexplicable

had I started finasteride sooner I'm certain that I wouldn't even have to touch duta. I'm not basing my experience (as far as side effects) on clinical studies I'm basing it on personal observation and how it affects me and so far it's all pretty tolerable.

trust me... I get that depleting my body of DHT isn't a good idea but as of right now it's what is available to us (balding men)

 

[BigOl'BaldingHead]

Btw, why not use topical AA's first? Do everything to minimize the risks of AA's.

I don't know how much safer topical finasteride is as I have experienced all the common side effects associated with finasteride: ballpain and brain fog for example. While also only using a 0.1% formulation. I also suffer from erection issues right now, it's so bad that I can't get hard without manual stimulation, so I've quit temporarily. But this could just be my body adjusting to the drug as I've only been on it for 2 months (I like to cope).

 

[Kambrira159]

I don't know how much safer topical finasteride is as I have experienced all the common side effects associated with finasteride: ballpain and brain fog for example.

Topical finasteride has lower side effects full stop. It amazes me that people still take the pills.