should I stop finasteride?

[davekhan]

Im 27 at norwood 2.5. Always had a receded hairline since i was a child, was born that way.

I started finasteride 2.5 months ago and here is my experience...

1st week ball ache, Gone..
3 weeks, increased Libido

current state:
can masturbate although takes much more effort,
Semen level has decreased,
difficult to masturbate in the morning, requires more focus
lower libido, although not by much

the positives:
seems i don't have more then 5-10 hair in shower compared to 40-50.

all in all, I guess I can live with these circumstances, however I wanted to ask is this the worst it will get or is this just the beginning of things to come ? Should I honestly quit? can other activities help off set some of these side effects, activities that is generally good for sexual health such as

Exercise, quitting smoking, less frequent ejaculations?

thanks

 

[multispeed27]

It can get a whole lot worse and with chances of never recovering again. Check out this guy's story: http://forum.mesomorphosis.com/steroid- ... z1ZiMvLjU0

 

[davekhan]

Then shud I give it up as I a, I guess one of the 2 percent ? Will minix on it's own work ?

 

[Rawtashk]

There seem to be 3 types of responses to finasteride

1: No sides at all (majority of people fall in here)
2: Sides creep up, then go away within a month or 2 of quitting (minority of people fall in here)
3: Sides hang around for a long time (extreme minority fall in here)


Suggestions:
Perhaps try cutting the pills in half and taking .5mg a day. I've read success stories of people doing this to "ease into" the drug. I've also read that there was a smaller risk of sides at the lower dosage.

You could try backing off the drug for a month and seeing if everything returns to normal. If it does, THEN perhaps try it at a .5mg dose and see what happens.

I took it at .5mg for 3 years and only recently upped it to 1.25mg, and .5 kept a lot of my hair on my head.

 

[davekhan]

Thanks for the replies,

I am currently on gen 5mg pills, I do the best I can using a pill cutter to get even doses, however that seems impossible, I will however use one pill over 4 days so that i am getting 1.25 a day. I dont know if the Uneven dose may be an issue, but i dont know how to make it accurate the pill is so tiny. I will try to down the dosage to .5 the best of my ability, but it seems really hard as the pill is so tiny.

 

[Rawtashk]

Ahh, you're doing the 5mg pills. I started with 1mg pills and split them in half to make .5mg. You might try getting some 1mg pills and going from there.

I don't know that it's possible to split those pills any smaller than 1/4th (which is what I do now). You might try taking those quarters and grinding them down to about half their size (rub it on a cutting board or your counter). You're technically wasting some of the finasteride, but I believe that you'll still be saving money since you're buying the 5mg pills instead of the 1mg ones.

 

[multispeed27]

There has been a study in 1998 in which Dr Frankel urged the FDA to reconsider its approval of Propecia as he found that doses as little as 0.02mg (!!!) proved to be effective. Finasteride is an extremely strong drug for something as delicate as the endocrine system. It does not just affect your prostate (and thus DHT) but also your processes in your brain - thus the often strong mental sides such as anxiety, fatigue, and depression.

Reference: http://www.physics.upenn.edu/facultyinf ... peciafda2/

 

[WillNotLetItHappen]

You can cut Proscar into 5ths, there is a video on youtube.

If would try to not think too much about the scary stories. It is a powerful drug and it's good to have respect, but don't be afraid. Your chances of succeeding with it are way higher.

Good luck! Also if you continue using it, sides may disappear. Did so in my case anyway.

 

[twenty.five]

There has been a study in 1998 in which Dr Frankel urged the FDA to reconsider its approval of Propecia as he found that doses as little as 0.02mg (!!!) proved to be effective. Finasteride is an extremely strong drug for something as delicate as the endocrine system. It does not just affect your prostate (and thus DHT) but also your processes in your brain - thus the often strong mental sides such as anxiety, fatigue, and depression.

Reference: http://www.physics.upenn.edu/facultyinf ... peciafda2/

He didn't scare you away with his first post, so he comes in again for a second try.

lol

 

[davekhan]

I don't understand why people try to scare others away

 

[multispeed27]

Nobody tries to scare anyone away. But when some users tell newbies to "definitely try finasteride and see how it works for you" then there's gotta be something wrong as most of them sure are no doctors. At the very least people should know about the potential benefits AND risks associated with prescription drugs like Finasteride they often order from dubious online pharmacies in India WITHOUT a valid prescription.

There are various studies out there that show how inhibiting 5AR2 helps fight baldness but also how it adversely affects sexuality and brain functions and processes. People have to know those - or do you want to responsible for the next person starting a thread in the side effects forum where they talk about that they are only the shell of their former self since taking Finasteride?

 

[Agahi]

The people recommending finasteride typically mention that there is the possibility of lasting serious sides. It's the people "scaring" or recommending against that never seem to mention the very low percentage chance of that happening.

 

[multispeed27]

There is no established percentage. There are all kinds of studies and numbers vary between 2% and 38%. And even ONE person out of FIFTY having such horrible side effects is pretty massive for something like hair loss treatment. It's not like we're talking about fighting cancer here.

 

[Agahi]

Im doubting its 1 in 50. Unless you can source the number that is?

 

[multispeed27]

Im doubting its 1 in 50. Unless you can source the number that is?

2% = 1 in 50 people
see Merck website

Other studies go as high as 38% which is 2 out of 5 people having serious sexual side effects.

 

[Agahi]

2% that get the sides, not 2% with persistent debilitating sides...nice try though.

 

[Rawtashk]

2% that get the sides, not 2% with persistent debilitating sides...nice try though.

And THIS is why I get frustrated with people on here trying to scaremonger people away from finasteride!! Someone will come on here and talk about some horror story about people that have had long-lasting sides from finasteride. They will then quote stats and say something like "You have a 1-50 chance of getting sides". I'll be completely honest....if taking finasteride meant I had a 1-50 chance of having long-lasting sexual side effects, I wouldn't have ever started!

Fact of the matter is, side effects could be anything from a slight ball ache, some muscle fatigue, or even difficulty falling asleep. It does not mean a sexual side effect, and it CERTAINLY doesn't mean long-term sexual dysfunction!!!

Hell, there are several people on here (Finfighter being one of them) that had sides, got off finasteride, and he's not completely normal. JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE A SEXUAL SIDE EFFECT DOES NOT MEAN THAT IT WILL STICK WITH YOU FOREVER!!!!