Need Your Urgent Advice: Has Anybody Here Experienced Insomnia On Finasteride?

[justbeconfident]

Everything was going smooth and felt alright, i was very hopeful and positive about the future with full head of hair on finasteride.
However it all came crashing down yesterday after i took my 6th 1mg finasteride pill back to back at night.
Usually im very tired after work and want to sleep already at 8 pm, yesterday wasnt an exception, i layed on couch for like 30 minutes half asleep and then got back up, continued doing things on my pc til 12 am, then i took finasteride pill and went to bed at around 2.30 am.
Usually im nearly dead at this time and want to sleep badly, but this time it was different, my body simply didnt want to.
If you project libido as desire to have sex, i experienced complete crush of libido for sleep.
My brain wanted to rest and shut off, but my body didnt want to fall asleep.
I spent whole night simply laying in bed, trying to think as less as possible to let my brain rest.
When this happened i nearly had panick attack, because i've never once in my life experienced or been through this.
Even on worst night, when i'd have temperature from flu or diarrhea, i'd fall asleep closer to 6-7-8-9 am, whatever the hour.
This is one of the scaries side effects one can have i believe.
Your mind is your life. If your mind doesnt rest during night, soon your life will be destroyed.
I've googled and searched this forum and seems like it's actually somewhat common side effect of anti androgens.
At this point looks like i have to discontinue finasteride, meaning i will go bald if minoxidil doesnt help or also gives me side and also i have to pray that insomnia goes away and that i didnt impair or permanently damage balance and production of neurosteroids in my body.
I feel like insomnia can make anybody suicidal.

Anybody here can give some comments or advice on what to do?
Try to take finasteride pill in the morning instead?
Switch to 0,5mg?
Should i have started slowly with dose once in 3 days, then every other day, then every day?

This is crazy that so many males haappily take this drug and save their hair and some end up having terrible side effects.

f*** this bullshit life.

 

[justbeconfident]

Yup a lot of men with pfs deal with insomnia. It's quite common if you get sides sadly.

I didn't have insomnia though.

The weirdest part is that i took finasteride previously for 2 months every day, but as 0,5 dose.
I had other sides like rubber dick, libido drop, weakened erections, slight lipomastia, but didnt experience this one..
Also dermatologist said yesterday that apparently finasteride somewhat helped, since she didnt see yellow dots on my scalp that are common for male pattern baldness, at the places of died hair follicles.

 

[justbeconfident]

@buckthorn

that being said, I experienced effects that were obviously not noted nor observed in the study -

1) insomnia - bouts of COMPLETE sleeplessness. no, not because of anxiety or anything. 3 tylenol PM couldn't even make me tired

I am not fear mongering here. Like I said, this drug is amazing for some people. I am constructively stating my opinion and hard facts behind my experience, to attempt to add to this post.

 

[Manochoice]

Everything was going smooth and felt alright, i was very hopeful and positive about the future with full head of hair on finasteride.
However it all came crashing down yesterday after i took my 6th 1mg finasteride pill back to back at night.
Usually im very tired after work and want to sleep already at 8 pm, yesterday wasnt an exception, i layed on couch for like 30 minutes half asleep and then got back up, continued doing things on my pc til 12 am, then i took finasteride pill and went to bed at around 2.30 am.
Usually im nearly dead at this time and want to sleep badly, but this time it was different, my body simply didnt want to.
If you project libido as desire to have sex, i experienced complete crush of libido for sleep.
My brain wanted to rest and shut off, but my body didnt want to fall asleep.
I spent whole night simply laying in bed, trying to think as less as possible to let my brain rest.
When this happened i nearly had panick attack, because i've never once in my life experienced or been through this.
Even on worst night, when i'd have temperature from flu or diarrhea, i'd fall asleep closer to 6-7-8-9 am, whatever the hour.
This is one of the scaries side effects one can have i believe.
Your mind is your life. If your mind doesnt rest during night, soon your life will be destroyed.
I've googled and searched this forum and seems like it's actually somewhat common side effect of anti androgens.
At this point looks like i have to discontinue finasteride, meaning i will go bald if minoxidil doesnt help or also gives me side and also i have to pray that insomnia goes away and that i didnt impair or permanently damage balance and production of neurosteroids in my body.
I feel like insomnia can make anybody suicidal.

Anybody here can give some comments or advice on what to do?
Try to take finasteride pill in the morning instead?
Switch to 0,5mg?
Should i have started slowly with dose once in 3 days, then every other day, then every day?

This is crazy that so many males haappily take this drug and save their hair and some end up having terrible side effects.

f*** this bullshit life.

I'm not on Fina but over time I did read other threads from people who complained about insomnia. Like every other function in our body, hormones will tell the body when to fall asleep because in essence this is what hormones do: they tell your body how and when to act. So, if your hormones get out of whack, there's a multitude of things that can go wrong in the body.

I'd like to note that one sleepless night does not qualify as in insomnia though. All of us get these everyonce in a while.

 

[StevenGerrard]

mild insomnia and lack of dreaming, yes (both are totally tolerable IMHO)

 

[justbeconfident]

mild insomnia and lack of dreaming, yes (both are totally tolerable IMHO)

well, i didnt have mild insomnia, i literally didnt fall asleep for 24 hours, despite being super tired.
i didnt take finasteride yesterday evening and sleep seemed to improve, prolly gona take it this morning and see how it goes.

 

[Hairs45]

if youre worried sick and have anxiety about finasteride of course youre not going to sleep.

to answer your question, I dont have insomnia or got insomnia from finasteride.

 

[badhabiz]

Not so uncommon. Used zinc and magnesium before spleeping during my last years on propecia
It wasnt that bad tho

 

[Meeee199]

I have the opposite effect. I sleep easier and dream every single minute of my sleep. I ve never ever dreamt this much in my life. 2 days ago I slept at 11pm. My stupid cat woke me up. When I woke up I found myself dreaming and I said damn is it 4 or 5 am? Beause usually when I dream it is at the end of my sleep. I looked at the clock and it was 12 am !!

I am not sure if it is related to finasteride. I have been taking multivitamins and vit d since I started finasteride so maybe the zinc in my multivitamin?

 

[justbeconfident]

@StevenGerrard i had bad insomnia last night again. Went to bed extremely tired with built up fatigue over the week, but i stil didnt fall asleep fast, then i woke up in the middle of night at like 3-4 am and panick pierced my whole body, i realized i clearly didnt want to sleep even thought i was extrenely tired.
It's one of the most terrifying feelings, when you realize your brain just simply wont shut off, even though it needs to.
Im border line considering hopping off finasteride because of it, such situation can drive a person mad.
There are even techniques, when torturing people in captivity or punishing in prison, when guards allow a inmate to fall asleep and then instantly wake him up with harsh light and loud noise.
Not sure what to do. Havent had that side effect on o,5mg, when was taking it for whole 2 months, mb need to cut down the dose, but then again, im agressive diffuse thinner and im not sure if that dose will be enough, not even mentioning finasteride itself might not be enough.

 

[StevenGerrard]

@justbeconfident I hear you, ever since I started finasteride I have had mild to moderate insomnia (every single night). I hear magnesium is supposed to help you fall asleep so I have been taking a single capsule right before I go to bed (last night it seemed to help). I just started taking it ~6 days ago -- let's see what happens.

Research indicates supplemental magnesium can improve sleep quality, especially in people with poor sleep. Magnesium can also help insomnia that's linked to the sleep disorder restless-leg syndrome. Stress reduction and mood stabilization. Magnesium increases GABA, which encourages relaxation as well as sleep.

 

[Who Farted]

I regularly stay awake for 24- 48 hours due to the nature of me work. Been doing it for years no issues. Often after 24h or even 48h and exhaustion, I sometimes have issues falling asleep regardless of my mind being in need of rest. Sometimes I only get 5-6 afterwards. It sucks but you adapt in time.

The key is to not fight it. If you’re not sleeping there is no point laying in bed doing nothing. Either that or start taking Benadryl at night before bed or get something stronger.

Honestly I think you need to relax a bit. You would think, from reading your posts that you’ve had this issue for months or something. Your brain can and will shut down if you let it, (repetitive obsessive thoughts are the enemy of sleep), you are not being tortured. As with all drugs you may choose to take, theres a chance of side effects; buy the ticket, take the ride. Best case scenario, it resolves. Worst case, you go back to lower dose.

 

[justbeconfident]

@justbeconfident I hear you, ever since I started finasteride I have had mild to moderate insomnia (every single night). I hear magnesium is supposed to help you fall asleep so I have been taking a single capsule right before I go to bed (last night it seemed to help). I just started taking it ~6 days ago -- let's see what happens.

yea, man, ive had moderate to severe insomnia every single night now, and severe insomnia, aka not being able to fall asleep at all, is border line mind destructive, losing my sanity in here, hair isnt even worth that, im just surprised that ive got this side effect, i havent had it before on 0.5 mgs.
Also im taking finasteride in the morning, so mb should switch up and take it at night, idk. Im taking magne b6, i think its magnesium, 3 times a day, 2 pills and it havent done anything for me.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5264352/

73% experienced insomnia

I regularly stay awake for 24- 48 hours due to the nature of me work. Been doing it for years no issues. Often after 24h or even 48h and exhaustion, I sometimes have issues falling asleep regardless of my mind being in need of rest. Sometimes I only get 5-6 afterwards. It sucks but you adapt in time.

The key is to not fight it. If you’re not sleeping there is no point laying in bed doing nothing. Either that or start taking Benadryl at night before bed or get something stronger.

Honestly I think you need to relax a bit. You would think, from reading your posts that you’ve had this issue for months or something. Your brain can and will shut down if you let it, (repetitive obsessive thoughts are the enemy of sleep), you are not being tortured. As with all drugs you may choose to take, theres a chance of side effects; buy the ticket, take the ride. Best case scenario, it resolves. Worst case, you go back to lower dose.

Who cares if you stay awake for 24-48 hours, the main point is that you get sleep after that and i can be all my money you dont stay awake 48h more than 2, maximum 3 times a year.
You dont get this feeling, when you go to bed, you are tired, you want to rest, but your mind simple wont turn off, its suicide thoughts inducing.

 

[justbeconfident]

just read a scary f*****g story of a guy who developed extreme insomnia like i have right now, sh*t idk, i guess it an alarm that i should drop finasteride asap and pray my neurotransmitters arent totally fucked yet

Yes, complete insomnia. I couldn't sleep even one second. No one believed but even one second I couldn't sleep. Then I went to urgent care after several nights of [sleeplessness]. I couldn't do anything. And then went to the emergency room and they prescribed me some benzodiazepine. And I took it for one night and I slept and the next night I said, "Okay, I'm fine. I guess it was just one night." Then, until now, I think some nights, I take it even after several years of quitting.

https://www.drugwatch.com/podcast/propecia-victims-warning-i-was-like-a-zombie/

 

[MaryMiller]

My sleep was always pretty good. I am a bright dreamer and can sleep for 9 hours. Since the beginning of the month, I can't go back to sleep at 2, and if I do, I wake up every hour. I even tried not to drink anything one night, and I couldn't fall asleep until 2, and then woke up every hour. I feel like I can't sleep... I don't sleep. The crazy part is that I'm only a little tired of it. I decided to try to buy a heavy blanket weighted blanket , according to reviews, it helped to fight insomnia and stress. I am extremely glad that I made this decision because it was my salvation . I hope that my experience was useful for you!

 

[AlissaLynn]

Hi, guys. I've recently faced insomnia for the first time in my life, and I have no idea what to do. I'm not sure it's all because of Finasteride, but, ugh...Who knows...So, I'd be grateful for any advice, guys. LMK if additional info is needed.

 

[IslaStephenson]

Hey there. Sorry to hear you're going through a rough patch with insomnia. It can be a real drag, but hopefully, we can help find a solution. First off, have you talked to your doctor about your concerns with Finasteride? It's always a good idea to rule out any potential medical causes before trying other remedies. As for tips for better sleep, there are a few things that have worked for me in the past. Try creating a bedtime routine and stick to a consistent sleep schedule. Cut out screen time at least an hour before bed and create a relaxing sleep environment (think cool room temp, comfortable bedding, and maybe some soft background noise). And, most importantly, avoid caffeine and alcohol before bed. Hope some of this helps!!