I thought I would chime in on this; it might be a long read, but I feel it may ring true with some of you. Since Anxiety affected my life so profoundly, I think it’s important for some of you to consider this as a possible cause to your problems, as they describe exactly what I have experienced (years before I ever touched finasteride)
I suffered from generalized anxiety for over 7 years, from when I was 20 until around 27. I spent years studying all the side effects I had, saw dozens of doctors and had dozens of tests, was on dozens of medications (including self-medicating with drugs and alcohol) and unfortunately, the best decade of my life (my 20’s) was a living hell. I am 29 now, and have almost completely recovered from this disorder. After a year of hard work, from cognitive behavioral therapy, regular exercise, and tackling things in my life that have caused me great stress, I was able to get over this condition. Unfortunately, hair loss hit me right after I got over this, but it’s not nearly as disastrous as it would have been if I still had an anxiety disorder. Hair loss sucks. But don’t get me wrong; if I had to choose between losing all my hair and having anxiety, I would choose to lose all my hair. Hell, I would literally choose to lose an arm.
If you have done any reading about it, it is a complex disorder. All of the symptoms are manifested from your mind. I experienced dozens of them, including but not limited to: Heart palpitations, nausea, dizziness, weakness, fatigue, sexual disorders, depression, racing heartbeat, weight gain, weight loss, etc. This was hell; I literally felt like I was dying, and I would have given anything to fix it. The absolute worst was severe depersonalization. If you don’t know what it is; Google it. It is the worst sensation I’ve ever experienced.
This disorder was caused by my thoughts; nothing more, nothing less. Constant worry, rumination, and focusing on negative things cumulate into this massive, overblown disorder that can ruin your life. I am now extremely mindful of the thoughts that could potentially bring me back to where I was, and I am sure to put a stop to them before they take over again. It’s a disorder that can really start from some insignificant worry, and for people who can’t see the signs (because they can’t recognize them) it is a huge potential problem.
Unfortunately for me, symptoms didn’t really manifest physically. Not in any way that could be tested and diagnosed by doctors. All my tests came back healthy, so I was left to think I had some new or extremely rare disease… This of course worsened my anxiety. Eventually I discovered what my problem was, and worked towards curing it.
After my years of studying the issue, I would almost call myself an expert on the subject. I am able to recognize these symptoms in other people and do my best to help them through it, like I’ve done for several friends.
Here is an example of how the symptoms usually manifested for me:
Acute situational anxiety (for instance, being on public transit) caused a release of adrenaline and cortisol, which caused my heart to race. This triggers a sense of panic, and deep, heavy breathing (hyperventilation). This lowers C02 in the blood, raising ph, constricting blood vessels and preventing oxygen transport. This obviously made me feel like I wasn’t getting enough oxygen, which made me breathe even heavier, leading to dizziness, and inducing nausea. This made me worry I would vomit in public, causing more anxiety. For me, this usually resulted in a full blown panic attack, which included all of these symptoms plus that great feeling that you are literally going to die. There is a reason panic attacks send so many people to the hospital!
Getting back to my point here, I believe that many people experiencing a shopping list of symptoms from Finasteride are simply experiencing anxiety. I’ve seen these signs in people on Propeciahelp, and even on this board. I think that Finasteride can cause some people to feel ‘off’. Very analytical people (such as us) can look into these feelings as odd, and easily start the rollercoaster ride of anxiety. Intelligent, sane, rational individuals experience anxiety, even though they refuse to believe it.
I’m not saying some people don’t experience very real symptoms from Finasteride, but I’m just saying to consider that all symptoms are not a direct cause of this drug or from lowering/raising hormones. Constant worry about side effects and hair loss and so on can be extremely stressful!
Anyway, that is my rant. I hope that anyone who feels like they may be experiencing this would feel free to PM me for advice.
