Are the studies for real?

[Ian Curtis]

The studies results provided by gourmetstylewellness.com show minimal percentage of sides on the sample who took it. We see tons of people who complain about real or perceived sides.
So are these studies for real or a lot of ppl with sides come here and complain?
There should be a only a few ppl here who say that they have sides.Any theories? :mrgreen:

 

[Nathaniel]

People who get no sides will not post about sides. So thats a huge part of the reason.

Then, as far as what is being posted I have mixed feelings about it. Almost 90% of sides reported here are libido related, and that, as you may know can be highly psychological. The next most common problem is ball ache, which I have to admit I did get and have read many guys getting but it goes away. In my case, it has not bothered me after the initial 3-4 weeks of treatment and it has now been over 2 years. Then, there is a minority of guys experiencing gyno, and other more exotic symptoms. Those guys should be careful.

I feel that aside from the few that are reporting extreme sides (which are possible in very sensitive individuals) a lot of what we read is just exaggerated, and possibly influenced by what they read so they get scared sh*tless and panic. But that is just my personal opinion, for those who have genuinely suffered with finasteride there is no need to flame the crap out of me.

 

[treeshrew]

Only a very small percentage of people taking propecia use these message boards.

Of those, only people who experience sides post about it.

Even propeciahelp.com, the number one place for people to talk about their side effects, is not an extremely active forum - there are only about 200 topics in its most active section (this board has over 19,000 in its most active for comparison).

 

[amsch]

Believe it or not...

Im absoultely sure, that more than 2% get side effects... If you look closer at the finasteride study, youll see that many people stopped the study and so MERK was able to set the side effect range to 2-3%.... If i'm honest, id say about 30% suffer from sides incl. Placebo effect....
Now, flame me! ^^"

 

[bubka]

Believe it or not...

Im absoultely sure, that more than 2% get side effects... If you look closer at the finasteride study, youll see that many people stopped the study and so MERK was able to set the side effect range to 2-3%.... If i'm honest, id say about 30% suffer from sides incl. Placebo effect....
Now, flame me! ^^"

Here is some flame, if you actually "look closer at the finasteride study" you will see that a higher amount 1.6% left the study were taking placebo, vs 1.4% who were taking 1mg finasteride

http://www.fda.gov/cder/foi/label/2001/20788s003lbl.pdf

ADVERSE REACTIONS
Clinical Studies for PROPECIA (finasteride 1 mg) in the Treatment of Male Pattern Hair Loss
In controlled clinical trials for PROPECIA of 12-month duration, 1.4% of the patients were discontinued due to
adverse experiences that were considered to be possibly, probably or definitely drug-related (1.6% for placebo); 1.2%
of patients on PROPECIA and 0.9% of patients on placebo discontinued therapy because of a drug-related sexual
adverse experience. The following clinical adverse reactions were reported as possibly, probably or definitely drugrelated
in ?1% of patients treated for 12 months with PROPECIA or placebo, respectively: decreased libido (1.8%,
1.3%), erectile dysfunction (1.3%, 0.7%) and ejaculation disorder (1.2%, 0.7%; primarily decreased volume of
ejaculate:[0.8%, 0.4%]). Integrated analysis of clinical adverse experiences showed that during treatment with
PROPECIA, 36 (3.8%) of 945 men had reported one or more of these adverse experiences as compared to 20
(2.1%) of 934 men treated with placebo (p=0.04). Resolution occurred in all men who discontinued therapy with
PROPECIA due to these side effects and in 58% of those who continued therapy.
In a study of finasteride 1 mg daily in healthy men, a median decrease in ejaculate volume of 0.3 mL (-11%)
compared with 0.2 mL (–8%) for placebo was observed after 48 weeks of treatment. Two other studies showed that
finasteride at 5 times the dosage of PROPECIA (5 mg daily) produced significant median decreases of approximately
0.5 mL (-25%) compared to placebo in ejaculate volume but this was reversible after discontinuation of treatment.
In the clinical studies with PROPECIA, the incidences for breast tenderness and enlargement, and for
hypersensitivity reactions in finasteride-treated patients were not different from those in patients treated with placebo.
Controlled Clinical Trials and Long-Term Open Extension Studies for PROSCAR* (finasteride 5 mg) in the Treatment
of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia
In controlled clinical trials for PROSCAR of 12-month duration, 1.3% of the patients were discontinued due to
adverse experiences that were considered to be possibly, probably or definitely drug-related (0.9% for placebo); only
one patient on PROSCAR (0.2%) and one patient on placebo (0.2%) discontinued therapy because of a drug-related
sexual adverse experience. The following clinical adverse reactions were reported as possibly, probably or definitely
drug-related in ?1% of patients treated for 12 months with PROSCAR or placebo, respectively: erectile dysfunction
(3.7%, 1.1%), decreased libido (3.3%, 1.6%) and decreased volume of ejaculate (2.8%, 0.9%). The adverse
experience profiles for patients treated with finasteride 1 mg/day for 12 months and those maintained on PROSCAR
for 24 to 48 months were similar to that observed in the 12-month controlled studies with PROSCAR. Sexual adverse
experiences resolved with continued treatment in over 60% of patients who reported them.
Adverse Effects Reported in Post-Marketing Experience for PROSCAR (finasteride 5 mg)
Breast tenderness and enlargement, as well as hypersensitivity reactions, including lip swelling and skin rash
have been reported.

 

[antonio666]

i am also 100% sure that it does not halt hairloss in 83 % of men more like 23% of men.
Not even sure if it slows hairloss

 

[R U GOING BALD]

bubka is on the Merck payroll!

 

[BARCA]

i been on it for three weeks...with no sides...except a little watery semen in the 3rd day....it went away.
but I remeber that my semen got watery a couple of times before starting finasteride.

 

[bubka]

Check out the success stories here, it's OVERWHELMINGLY the amount of success people have had on propecia :whistle: The evidence is right in front of you

 

[rusty_y2k2]

Where do people pull these numbers from?

One person think it's more like 30% who suffer from sides, one person thinks only 23% of men halt hairloss rather than 83%...

I'm sorry but I think i'll go with the scientific data rather than random numbers someone has decided to pull out of the air. Believe it or not, everyone is not always out to get you.

Yes there are people who get sides, some very serious. But for every one you read about on here there's many others who have never even bothered to look at a message board because they went to their Doctor to get finasteride and got on with their merry lives. Unless you have a controlled double blind study of your own on a statistically sound number of subjects that says otherwise, I see no reason to doubt the figures.

 

[bubka]

Where do people pull these numbers from?

they pull them from their ***

 

[ps1freak]

propecia is nota miracle drug. if your genetics have you programmed to be slick bald by the time you are 21, then all it can do is slow it down.

 

[philly]

...

 

[bubka]

:roll:

Is this your "doctor?"

 

[Dogs3]

philly, i dont have any sides whatsoever after 8.5 months. I guess im not in the 100% category.

There is one odd side effect ive noticed though after 8.5 months, my hair loss has stopped and its thickening, its the damndest thing.

 

[UK1]

I doubt the 2% thing too, many of us join these boards before we start medication, we ask questions, read about experiences and sides etc, then when we start taking it ourselves a decent amount of us get sides, even though often it can be mild, it's ridiculous to suggest that a the Mercks stats aren't going to be in some way beneficial to their own cause as a business. I think that maybe 2% get serious, life affecting sides, but up to 50% get mild ones of some description, just my opinion.

 

[NewBaldingGuy]

philly, i dont have any sides whatsoever after 8.5 months. I guess im not in the 100% category.

There is one odd side effect ive noticed though after 8.5 months, my hair loss has stopped and its thickening, its the damndest thing.

O RLY? You sound like a Merck rep.


Just sayin'......

 

[Dogs3]

haha, whatever dude, look up some of my old posts, i was freaking out about sides as much as anyone when i first started using finasteride, i almost quit after the first week because i was just psyching myself out. Im really glad i didnt though because I dont have sides.

And im no rep from merck, believe me, but if i could i definitely would be, im happy enough with the results im sure it pays pretty well.

 

[OverMachoGrande]

Hey Dogs3 hows the hair coming?

 

[Dogs3]

good man, its been 8.5 months on finasteride and 2 weeks on dutasteride now. Hair has thickened since starting treatment and hairline has come down a bit as well. Its not like a full hair line though, if you know what im talking about, its come down a bit on the temples but only superficially so far, no real dense regrowth.

But its really encouraging because im seeing a lot of small newer hair that keep appearing on and behind the hairline and temples. The "marker hair" that i used when i first started to notice regrowth along the hair line is completely covered up by new ones and ive all but lost track of it.

Im really hoping that dutasteride will work even better than finasteride, like you im taking both dutasteride and finasteride (finasteride ED, dutasteride EOD) so i think ive got all my bases covered as far as annihilating the dht.

Im confident that i'll atleast maintain what i have with this regimen for awhile. Im gonna put up pics at the beginning of august itl be about 1 year since i started.

How about you, hows the dutasteride and finasteride working for you?