my dermatologist opinion on propecia& top spironolactone absoption

[StoptheMadness]

My dermatologist told me today:

1) that (after he consulted with some of his more expert colleagues in the past 3 days) Propecia's only known sexual side effects are decreased ejaculate. The levels of hormones that are inhibited are not enough to cause ED (which was my symptom that I experienced).

2) topical spironolactone (or topical anything) can easily be absorbed into the body through the scalp. He said something or other about the scalp being extremely soft tissue. If this is the case then it seems topical spironolactone can and should be absorbed into the body??

Do we really know definitively if topical spironolactone can be of no harm? Really curious.

 

[StoptheMadness]

My dermatologist told me today:

1) that (after he consulted with some of his more expert colleagues in the past 3 days) Propecia's only known sexual side effects are decreased ejaculate. The levels of hormones that are inhibited are not enough to cause ED (which was my symptom that I experienced).

2) topical spironolactone (or topical anything) can easily be absorbed into the body through the scalp. He said something or other about the scalp being extremely soft tissue. If this is the case then it seems topical spironolactone can and should be absorbed into the body??

Do we really know definitively if topical spironolactone can be of no harm? Really curious.

your physician is apparently ignorant about these matters, find a new Doctor! ED is a listed side effect, it's on the bottle, LOL!

He's a good dermatologist. He did call me back today like he said he would do on Monday when I visited with him to consult re: my recent ED. How many a**h** doctors would do that? anyways he just only knows so much I guess.

It's the whole conceptual idea that an M.D. (who by training and experience) theoretically knows infinitely more about this than you, but in reality doesn't. It's cognitive dissonance when you are told one thing by an MD and yet experiencing the exact symptom that he/she is saying you can't have (due to the "known" experience of their consultations and references).

btw....what is your opinion on his statement that topical spironolactone can systemically be absorbed into the bloodstream?

 

[Mens Rea]

Stopthemadness.

He isn't an a**h** or anything like that. I'm sure he's a good guy.


He's just relaying information (bad information) that he has been told himself. Considering many of these guys don't even fully understand how finasteride work, it's not surprising that they don't know details about specific sides.

Even the MERCK study, yep - the one mad them the maker of propecia!! , acknowledges the different side effects. The Proscar study shows even more side effects.

The European label for propecia carries a warning of permanent sexual dysfunction including infertility. Go to PH and you'll see why.


Take whatever information you wish. End of the day no matter what it is you'll always find an opposite opinion if you look for it.

As for the note that the hormone changes aren't strong enough to make sides such as ED. It's not just about hormones. Secondly, it can because the body can get itself in a negative feedback loop. My estrogen is skyhigh thanks to finasteride.

 

[Mens Rea]

It's the whole conceptual idea that an M.D. (who by training and experience) theoretically knows infinitely more about this than you, but in reality doesn't. It's cognitive dissonance when you are told one thing by an MD and yet experiencing the exact symptom that he/she is saying you can't have (due to the "known" experience of their consultations and references).

I'm glad you've said this.

People are too quick to assume because someone has a title their information is golden. But the reality is, each guy will have different expertise (and different opinions!) than others.

Propecia is a little bit of a gray area for most docs. They genuinely don't know much about it and the definately don't have the interest levels to spent hundreds of hours reading studies like I have.

My endochronologist admitted to me I probably knew more about propecia than him. And he's a damn good endo.

Fact of the matter is, these guys read and rely on the same studies and articles as are available to us. His opinion will be based on those - if he even reads them. So why not read them yourself? It's not as if these docs have a special book with all the answers that we aren't allowed to read.

These articles are in plain english and don't need medical expertise to understand (for the most part). Myself and my endo read one study together and both discussed what it was telling us.

A good example is Dr Irwig's study. Despite it being very, very basic and uninformative to the likes of myself and Enden, it hit headlines and made shockwaves amongst many doctors etc. Many are changing their opinion on simples studies like this. They just read what is most readily available to them, after all.