Weak bladder side effect after 18 months...

[jambri]

Ive been on propecia 18 months and have just begun noticing that I need to pass urine far more frequently. I guess this first started a couple of months ago. What has inspired me to post this, is that right now I'm sitting on a train... Long train journey. Been on here 4 hours so far, and have made ... Let's see... 7 trips to the bathroom! Every time I sit back in my seat I feel I need to go again! Its driving me crazy (not to mention those sitting next to me...) They must think I have a bladder condition! Oh wait, I do!

What comes out seems 3 or 4 times more than what goes in! It's like my pants must be made of silica gel, drawing all the moisture out of my body!
So... Two questions... Any foolproof ways to avoid this pissing nightmare? I'm fed up of these type of situations, not to mention my now thrice nightly trips to the toilet which are messing up my sleeping patterns. Secondly, since the finasteride is so obviously blocking DHT, why is my hair still mildly diffuse? If anyone can point me to the most common causes of non~DHT hairloss that would be great... as frankly my own body has confirmed to me that DHT is not the only problem at all.

Ok, I am sure its easy to make a joky reply, so please if poss avoid the temptation as I'm def looking for some clear advice on this now. Right, off I go to the bathroom... Again!

 

[Mew]

Reason you're pissing so much is because finasteride has shrunk your prostate.

That's what finasteride is designed to do, and was initially prescribed to old men as Proscar 5mg for BPH (Benign Prostatic Hyperlasia -- enlargement of the prostate), in order to relieve their painful symptoms and enable them to pass urine more easily.

Only solution if you've had enough of that is to quit, I'm afraid.

 

[jambri]

yes I know the reasons why, absence of dht = shrunken prostate = finasteride is working! But still mildly diffuse hair = dht is not the only cause of my hairloss, but what is? Also is there any way to reduce this specific side effect?

 

[Mew]

Hair thinning could be due to thyroid? Or something non-male pattern baldness related? Go to a derm and a Doctor (bloodwork) to get checked out.

No way to reduce the pissing side effect since it's a direct result of finasteride inhibiting DHT and shrinking your prostate. Either quit or learn to live with it.

 

[el_duterino]

I had the same issue with too frequent urination and also not being able to properly empty the bladder....bascially pissing in my pants AFTER urination.

Definitely due to a tiny prostate. I was on daily dutasteride and Flutamide topical and the symptoms started after I added Flutamide.

I had my prosate checked a few years ago and they said that it was very very small.

Since then I lowered the amount of Flutmide to just a little bit, every 2 days and replaced it with Fluridil. I also reduced dutasteride to 3 times a week.

The urination issue has recovered. Libido is back on track.

You should reduce the amount of finasteride you take until the symptoms are not bothersome anymore. Don't drop it completely, you will loose your hair.
Just reduce the amount.
And you might also look into Fluridil. That one has no side effects at all.

Good luck

 

[tembo]

el dete,

so how did the drugs impact your hair?

 

[el_duterino]

All the drugs were at that time very helpful at maintening my hair since I first started thinning 11 years ago. So basically my hairline hasen't really changed since then.

finasteride alone stopped being sufficient to stop hair-loss after 6 years, and dutasteride alone (0.5 mg a day) was not sufficient after 4 years, so I had to research into adding topicals because I was not looking forward to increase to 2.5 mg of oral dutasteride a day in order to remove all scalp DHT.

My father was pretty bald by 25, I am 41 years old now.My mother's father was even balder I think.

In terms of re-growth, I did grow maybe 3 or 4 new hair max at the hairline using the very heavy-duty dutasteride-Flutamide combo..

I was lucky that finasteride (Propecia in 1997) was released on the market just when i started to thin.

Recently I found that Fluridil has a good potential and gives great results because it attacks the root of the problem, which are the Androgen Receptors.

Fluridil inhibit (destroys) the Androgene Receptors so that DHT has no more influence on the folliucules.
How much AR are destroyed and for how long is still an open question, but looking at this research gives some idea:

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/68284 ... ption.html

And fluridil has been formulated to avoid any side effects.

Decreasing DHT using oral finasteride or dutasteride is a good shot in the right direction but eventually after being myself on finasteride & dutasteride for 11 years in total, I came to realize that our body needs DHT for libido, brain, correct prostate size etc..

I dont think that balding men are producing too much DHT. And when we age we produce less testosterone so in fact we are probably producing less DHT but still balding more.

The basic reason that the hair at the back & side of the head are not thinning is that they are DHT-resistant.
The most accurate way to fix the thinning problem is to render the follicules DHT-resistant, by inhibiting the Androgene receptors, instead of removing large amounts of DHT from the whole body.

I am slowly decreasing dutasteride every week and will see how Fluridil works alone.

 

[Mew]

You should reduce the amount of finasteride you take until the symptoms are not bothersome anymore

Unfortunately reducing the dosage will make little, if any difference, because of the near-flat dose response of the drug when it comes to inhibiting serum DHT -- until you get to microscopic amounts (ie, 0.05mg):

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

By all means you can try reducing dosage, but don't expect much change with your pissing situation unless you actually quit.

 

[Guest]

In theory this would mean finasteride would stop the water retention caused by rogaine.Anyone have any ideas?

 

[jambri]

I was looking back at some of my previous posts and came across this one. I thought I had updated this thread but obviously not... anyway just wanted to say that after reducing my dose of propecia to three times a week, the problem completely cleared up within two weeks. I then went back to once per day, and the problem has never recurred.

Also thought I'd say that at the point I originally posted this, my hair was at the 18 months mark on finasteride. I have since seen some major and obvious improvements in density as I hit 21 months. My hair now shows no signs whatsoever of diffuse loss.

 

[HT55]

More than likely you had some sort of bladder or unrinary track infection and propecia had nothing to do with your problems.

I bet you upset the "Propecia Policeman" though, lol

 

[CMartel2]

"More than likely you had some sort of bladder or unrinary track infection and propecia had nothing to do with your problems."

I'm going to beg to differ with you on this one. I've been on finasteride for about 10-years. I have definitely noticed increased dribbling, maybe starting a year or so ago. I also started to notice a slightly weakened erection at that point.

I'm decreasing my dosage now after going off for a week, and I absolutely attribute these sides to finasteride. These aren't acute changes, and nor do I have dysuria or discomfort when urinating.

Sad thing is that I don't want to come off of these meds, as they've worked so well for all these years. I've still got a full head of hair except when I'm soaking wet. Just some thinning at the crown that looks like when I was 19.

 

[fadgus]

Been on finasteride for a month and noticed like yesterday that I also have to take a piss quiet often. Now this can't be just a coincedence that I get some kind of infection right when starting finasteride, I mean that's just not very probable. However, I think it might be my mind causing this thing, since I started getting this side effect about 2 days after reading this thread. Also noticed it does not bother me at night (yet) and when I don't think about it almost seems like the side effect isn't there, so I'm hoping it is really my mind playing tricks on me.