time to seriously reevaluate propecia

[Eureka]

I think it's easy to discredit these types of things when you don't want to believe it and who does? No one likes the idea of their wank becoming basically useless, or effecting your ability to create a child(obviously down the road for some of us) giving you moobies or the tens of other zillions of sides that are negative.

I personally re evaluate my propecia regiment monthly I'm also still in my developing stage which is an added worry But if sh*t goes to bad I can always sue the Doctor who fixed me up before the recommended age anyways I get down about propecia constantly I'll find a link to some propecia hater, read about how he went limp perm style, got boobs to rival pam anderson or actually rosanne To me they didn't look as firm as pams more saggy...But I digress , You just gotta prioritize what's important to you, is hair really worth all of this sh*t? I mean in todays society yea for most of us it is THAT important but If you start to get sides then just end it don't wait until the damage is done or turn a blind eye like some of us, I've got sides up the ying but they haven't been serious enough for me to kick the propecia or hair addiction, Basically The way I look at it is that propecia buys us time, Hopefully in a few years something better will come out and hopefully the sides won't be irreversible by that time. Which I hope isn't what people where saying back in 92 when propecia first came out...cause it's been 16 years and still nothing.

But I wholeheartedly believe in the life ruining and what may sometimes seem over the top side effects propecia can cause but so far they haven't been enough to get me off which is what makes the whole thing kinda pointless, Better to not know then you can't blame yourself when sh*t hits the fan.

 

[Mew]

I wholeheartedly believe in the life ruining and what may sometimes seem over the top side effects propecia can cause but so far they haven't been enough to get me off

Here's the deal -- there are two types of people that have issues with the drug:

A) For the majority of guys that have sides on the drug, when they quit the side effects usually resolve and they go back to feeling like their pre-Finasteride self (horny, no ED, full of energy/ambition, etc) approximately 1.5-2 weeks after stopping, as DHT levels return to baseline. These are the guys who go on and continue to live their lives happy as a clam, because they DID return to their previous pre-finasteride hormonal profile and thus have no cares in the world.

B) Then there are a smaller subset of guys who, like group A, get the side effects while on the drug, who quit, and experience a brief resolution to their pre-Finasteride self approximately 1.5-2 weeks after stopping the drug, as DHT rebounds -- just like the guys in group A.

However, here is where the two groups diverge.

The guys in group B, for whatever reason (and nobody in the medical community has any answers yet as to why. Maybe it's a genetic predisposition?), only recover briefly from their side effects -- but instead of continuing on past the 2 week mark as normal, these guys usually find their Testosterone (often along with LH and FSH) levels crash through the floor (sometimes to hypogonadal levels), and they actually end up WORSE off than when they were on the drug -- in some cases left with total impotence, complete loss of libido, penile shrinkage/testicular atrophy, screwed up hormones all over the place, and numerous other issues as a result.

For these guys, it would appear the return of DHT (possibly combined with increased Estrogen levels, as a result of finasteride's prior upregulation of Testosterone) to the body throws the entire steroidogenesis hormonal cascade out of whack and causes a chain reaction, resulting in altered hormonal ratios which, unless you had a pre-finasteride baseline for every hormone in your body, you'd have no idea what the correct hormone levels or ratios are supposed to be.

And thus begins the hunt for answers, bloodtests, dealing with docs who tell you everything is in your head, and trying to get a medical professional to work with you to try treatments to restore your hypothalamus-pituitary axis in order to regain your Pre-Finasteride sexual function -- if that's even possible.

So basically what I'm saying is this -- you'd better hope you're in group A, because you won't really know which group you're in until you quit. So don't think you're out of the woods yet -- Finasteride has a nasty way of leaving some people, who are already unfortunate enough to be in Merck's "2%" (which is a BS statistic, btw), with a nightmarish, and in some cases likely permanent, loss of their sexual ability. And that's what makes this drug so truly scary.


PS: I know the naysayers will be out in full force and claim I am simply trying to scaremonger, and on the one hand they may be right -- as rare as it may be, this IS a possible outcome for you if you are unfortunate enough.

On the other hand, for those guys who DO end up like this -- this is simply a fact of what happened, as they (we) go through our own personal, daily hell in trying to cope with the diminished quality of life (especially sexually) the drug left us with.

 

[flimflam]

Mew:

If you guys are so certain that your life has been "ruined" by this drug, then why don't all of you unfortunate guys band together and sue Merck?

 

[bubka]

Mew: Finasteride is for MEN ONLY, it says right on label

 

[Eureka]

From what I read the way you come off it can be a big difference, Like coming off it cold turkey can cause major problems but slowly taking your dosage down over the course of 1 or 2 months can seriously help with getting your original body chemistry back, But since .5 mg of pro does about the same as 1mg or .25mg of propecia I don't see why that would have a big effect.

 

[ttroy]

bubka: Why do you keep saying that?

Eureka: I personally lowered the dose from ~1.25 to ~0.625 and the to ~0.315 and got screwed anyway. It took about a month from quitting for things to get really messed up i.e. numb genitals, gyno, weird veins popping up on my d1ck, headaches, eye pain etc. I even have pre- and postpictures so that I can prove some of these effects.

I personally would sue my Doctor, but I took the generic finasteride and self medicated. I am however making a side effect notification with my pharmacist.

Just because some side effects have not been noted in the clinical trials does not mean they could not happen for some people. Just google e.g. Vioxx and heart problems or MTX associated peyronie's disease.

 

[retropunk]

bubka: Why do you keep saying that?

Eureka: I personally lowered the dose from ~1.25 to ~0.625 and the to ~0.315 and got screwed anyway. It took about a month from quitting for things to get really messed up i.e. numb genitals, gyno, weird veins popping up on my d1ck, headaches, eye pain etc. I even have pre- and postpictures so that I can prove some of these effects.

You mean varicose veins? Have you seen a urologist?

You're probably the first to blame headaches on weaning off propecia. If it's not someone blaming a drug on their hair loss, it's someone blaming finasteride for some ailment.

 

[ttroy]

retropunk: I don't think they are varicose veins. They started (painfully) growing at the same time the numbness set in and it felt like my dick could not get blood/oxygen. Also the original veins are now more loose, as if some of the tissue is missing. The headaches could be stress-related, as I was scared shitless at that moment(still am, as 4 months have now gone by without much improvement). The headaches felt like those you get If you don't eat in a long time. Sorry about the english, not my native language.

edit: I have seen 2 urologists, one GP and two endos. Everyone is clueless. Three did not believe the case, two had other finasteride-patients and are trying to help.

 

[ttroy]

I just googled varicocele-veins, and if I understood correctly, they are veins on the scrotum, mine started appearing on the shaft.