Think I'm going to quit finasteride

[rescue hair]

I know the side effect of 'mental fog' is considered somewhat of a myth by many people, but I truly believe that I have been suffering from this side-effect. I am going to grad school in the fall and plan to be a professor - my brain is essential to my future, and I've notied that it is harder for me to write, and harder to think of the right words, and harder to analyze anything deeply. My memory is a little cloudy too. You don't have to tell me that this might just be entirely in my head - I am well aware that it may all be psychosomatic, but I will not know unless I quit, at least for a while. Besides, finasteride has not saved my hair at all. In fact, I think I've continued to lose at the same rate that I was before starting. I just hope it doesn't all fall out within the next month.
I know Gilgamesh refuses finasteride for this reason, and that Traxdata for one also quit for this same reason. Have you noticed an improvement in mental performance since quitting?
Now I need to think about what alternatives I can take to finasteride to preserve my hair...

 

[Lizzad]

I think there may be some truth to the "mental fog" hypothesis. Try quitting for a month or two and see if you notice a difference. Subjective i know. Then report back.

 

[kris50]

I think the mental fog condition is a side effect of taking finasteride.

When I first started taking .5mg of proscar I had problems thinking straight on certain days, though it subsided after a week or so. Then I upped my dosage to .75mg of proscar and the same thing happend, but then subsided.

Again I upped my dosage to 1.25mg and the same thing happend and went away again. Basically I think my body just needed time to adjust to the new dosage, though saying that I might have days when the brain fog reappears.

You could try lowering your dosage to see if that helps rather than quitting altogether.

 

[Melbs]

The only thing giving you this mental cloud thing is you mind. You have decided to blame some "Mental Fog" on finasteride and therefore your fogging your brain on your own. Essentially you have decided to diagnose yourself with this condition, blamed it on finasteride for some random reason (probably because you read it on this post, from someone else making up "Mental fog" as a side effect) and now your stuck in a rut... blaming finasteride when its not. Do what you want, but i think this "Mental Fog" crap is a bit far fetched. Its doing work on Alfa-5 and Testosterone... not you left or right brain.

Next you'll decide its causing lower sex drive... and BANG... its all fins fault and not in your own mind.

So if you stop and go bald... your going to be pretty pissed off...

 

[Sir_LagaLot]

uhh....low sex drive is one of the KNOWN s.e's of finasteride...almost EVERY other person goes through it/ends up with it.. you might wanna try http://www.askdocweb.com and check out the feedback on proscar and the rest..there are Very VeRy few who didnt go through any sides at all.

 

[Melbs]

Im aware Sex Drive is a side effect... "mental fog" (whatever the hell that is) seems a bit too "blame it on finasteride" for my liking.

I still firmly believe in the power of the mind with alot of these sides. Before i ever knew about lower sex drive i was on finasteride for 3 years... no worries at all... i mean at all. Once i came on this forum and heard of all these horror stories of low sex drive... it began effecting me too in the sack... because i was thinking of it. NOT because finally finasteride suddenly after 3 years kicked my sex drive in the guts.

I like to see someone who was told to start finasteride and knew NOTHING of ANY sex related issues with the drug and see if they ever came up with the diagnosis themselves. A hell of alot of sex performance is in the mind. Even premature ejaculation... luckily something i dont suffer from... so the ladys keep coming back for more

But to close... yes some people suffer from the finasteride in this way, but i think its alot less than we hear about here on the forum. What about those thousands, or millions of others who never post here or even know about the website? Were a small unhappy minority here, who come for comfort because something is wrong.

 

[VWdude]

Im aware Sex Drive is a side effect... "mental fog" (whatever the hell that is) seems a bit too "blame it on finasteride" for my liking.

I still firmly believe in the power of the mind with alot of these sides. Before i ever knew about lower sex drive i was on finasteride for 3 years... no worries at all... i mean at all. Once i came on this forum and heard of all these horror stories of low sex drive... it began effecting me too in the sack... because i was thinking of it. NOT because finally finasteride suddenly after 3 years kicked my sex drive in the guts.

I like to see someone who was told to start finasteride and knew NOTHING of ANY sex related issues with the drug and see if they ever came up with the diagnosis themselves. A hell of alot of sex performance is in the mind. Even premature ejaculation... luckily something i dont suffer from... so the ladys keep coming back for more

But to close... yes some people suffer from the finasteride in this way, but i think its alot less than we hear about here on the forum. What about those thousands, or millions of others who never post here or even know about the website? Were a small unhappy minority here, who come for comfort because something is wrong.

Absolutely true... Good job.

 

[fritz96]

Great, another wannabe psychologist.

 

[Guest]

Hi Rescue Hair,

Good news
Yes things have improved a great deal. The mental fog is clearing and I do feel better.

Bad news
I have lost all my hair. I went from Norwood 1.5 to Norwood 4 in a month. Only joking by the way.........

 

[Melbs]

Frits 96... im not a psychologist... nor did i attempt to be one in that post. I happen to think that its in your mind and I firmly stick with my belief because im right from MY experience. You can either read it and try and understand where im coming from or get fucked pretty much... i couldnt give a rats arse. Im more interested in hearing what others have to say about this "Brain Fog" crap than get shot down for bothering to write a constructive paragraph or two.

 

[fritz96]

If you had written "in some cases", your post would have been constructive. Instead you claim that everyone suffering from brain fog is causing it themselves, as are most of the people getting the sexual sides. Of course the mind is powerful and some people cause their own problems and/or make existing problems even worse. Just don't assume this is always the case. There are too many cases of people having these problems without even knowing they are possible side effects.

 

[kris50]

Well, if it's all in my head then it's doing a very good physical job of making me feel like a zombie on certain days.

Luckily I haven't been caught out at work during one of these 'cloud' moments, though I don't want to push my luck if I can help it. I'm hoping it will subside once my body get's used to it.

Remember though, everyones different so though it doesn't effect all people it doesn't mean it doesn't exist!

 

[Guest]

i started taking propecia 2 months before my second year in college, and my marks were almost exactly the same each year, although i did drop three classes in the second yr, but dropping them wasnt cause of the finasteride

 

[Solo]

I haven´t experienced this "mental fog" thing while on finasteride.


I was quite foggy past years at university when I smoked joints everyday, but I quit and now I feel all right.


The thing that mosts cleared my brain was exercising, without it I would have been living like a zombie.


And, IMO, I don´t think finasteride has anything to do with brain, at least in my case. Well, I´ve just get the best qualifications in my entire life, nearly 5 months after I started finasteride. My hair is not doing Ok, but my brains still are doing their job.

I´m prepared to change some brain clairvoyance for a bit of regrowth.
:hairy:

 

[fritz96]

at least in my case. :hairy:

That's the key sentence.

 

[Solo]

Solo wrote:
at least in my case. Hairy


That's the key sentence

Yes, that was my opinion and my experience, but I think there´s some studie showing the low presence and activity of type II enzyme in the brain via isotope markers.

Also, presence of significant amounts of type I enzyme are detected using the same technique.

I cannot be more precise, but you have the same internet as me, so you´ll find if you use the right "key sentences". :lol:


P.S.: I find this "mental fog" thing very very vage. If people want to panic I think is easier with horrendous sexual side effects or monsterous physical deformations. This doesn´t scare.

I´ve got a friend whose grandma told him that if he wanks too much he would go blind. He told us when we were boys, and we laughed about it many times. When he was twenty a doctor said he had to wear glasses. Guess what he said me in a conversation last year (he was 24y old an sober, mechanical engineer student)??. "I think that finally my grandma was right, I think that I have to wear glasses becouse I wanked so much when I was a teen. Old people have seen a lot of things, and we think that we know it all just becouse we live in a much advanced world.".

It´s the human nature, I guess. You insert the square piece in the round hole, pulling with all your strength, then you hear "click", raise your head smiling and say everyone "Have you seen how exactly it matches???"

 

[techprof]

I know the side effect of 'mental fog' is considered somewhat of a myth by many people, but I truly believe that I have been suffering from this side-effect. I am going to grad school in the fall and plan to be a professor - my brain is essential to my future, and I've notied that it is harder for me to write, and harder to think of the right words, and harder to analyze anything deeply. My memory is a little cloudy too. You don't have to tell me that this might just be entirely in my head - I am well aware that it may all be psychosomatic, but I will not know unless I quit, at least for a while. Besides, finasteride has not saved my hair at all. In fact, I think I've continued to lose at the same rate that I was before starting. I just hope it doesn't all fall out within the next month.
I know Gilgamesh refuses finasteride for this reason, and that Traxdata for one also quit for this same reason. Have you noticed an improvement in mental performance since quitting?
Now I need to think about what alternatives I can take to finasteride to preserve my hair...

rescue, i hear you. i am a prof .myself. when i started finasteride, i had mental fog. i started with 1.25 mg M, W & F. I had mental fog with the initial dosage. then i went 0.625 M, W & F. No fog at a lower dosage. After three months I went 0.625 every day with Sundays off. Mental fog for the first 3 weeks and then no fog. Then I went to 1.25 every day after three months. No fog. Stayed on it for 2 months. Now I am on 2.5 every other day.
So try to phase out your finasteride dosage to see if you it helps.