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Hi all,
Now, before any of you jump down my throat, please note that this is completely anecdotal -- only my experience. In no way is anything I say empirical, nor should it be interpreted as such. This post is not meant to dissuade anyone from taking 5α-Reductase inhibitors.
My (brief) story: I started puberty rather early -- around 10 -- and was pretty much sexually developed by the time I was 16. I haven't grown taller since I was ~15. Honestly, I think my early development caused me to begin balding early. I started receding at ~15-16. My hair line isn't great (NW3, started to thin too), but I have almost no crown balding or diffuse (I fortunately look pretty good with a shaved head due to decent face genetics and muscular body...so, there's that I guess. Needless to say, I want to keep my f*****g hair).
I've messed around with various hair loss elixirs and have been on and off different regimens for a while. I'm 24 now. Over the past year or two, with intermittent random breaks, I started taking 320-740mg of saw palmetto extract with beta sitosterol. For the past ~3 months, though, I have been taking it daily. I took breaks because I felt saw palmetto was causing me serious mental and psychological issues: severe anxiety, extreme fatigue, a veil of depression (not overly serious, just there and numbing), panic attacks, and legitimately serious brain fog. My recall and short-term memory have deteriorated.Even when I was young and dumb and experimenting with various substances, I didn't feel this way.
I'd typically take one capsule at night and be fine in the morning, but by afternoon I could barely function. My focus died and I could no longer form complex sentences or hold intelligible conversations -- things that I pride myself on. I've always been an excellent speaker and very sociable. Recently, I am tired by 1:00pm and anxiety-ridden. I typically like to hang out with friends, but I have no desire to do so when taking saw palmetto for any duration.
I have experienced zero sexual side effects. Everything down there is working just fine and I am grateful for that. But I feel as though the anxiety and tiredness are not nocebo. I can't say for sure that this is from saw palmetto, but it sure feels like it, and my personal experience of being on and off of it is my only testament.
I do have finasteride, but am fairly scared to take it. If I am feeling this mentally and psychologically distressed on SP, why would I jeopardize my quality of life for hair? I do not want to conflate my experience with "PFS" though (while I think it exists, I question both how common and permanent it is. There are undoubtedly rare cases, but psychological causes can't be ruled out).
TL;DR: I think saw palmetto isn't for me, and I am unsure that any other 5α-Reductase inhibitor is for me either. While inhibiting DHT is obviously the only proven treatment we currently have, I fall into the belief that inhibiting DHT for Androgenetic Alopecia is like shooting sparrows with cannons (or however it goes). We all know about the studies that suggest it may cause neurological distress, particularly with regard to neurosteroids such as allopregnanolone. My goal is not to dissuade anyone from taking 5α-Reductase inhibitors. I am just sharing my experience. Perhaps it's psychosomatic, I dunno!
Now, before any of you jump down my throat, please note that this is completely anecdotal -- only my experience. In no way is anything I say empirical, nor should it be interpreted as such. This post is not meant to dissuade anyone from taking 5α-Reductase inhibitors.
My (brief) story: I started puberty rather early -- around 10 -- and was pretty much sexually developed by the time I was 16. I haven't grown taller since I was ~15. Honestly, I think my early development caused me to begin balding early. I started receding at ~15-16. My hair line isn't great (NW3, started to thin too), but I have almost no crown balding or diffuse (I fortunately look pretty good with a shaved head due to decent face genetics and muscular body...so, there's that I guess. Needless to say, I want to keep my f*****g hair).
I've messed around with various hair loss elixirs and have been on and off different regimens for a while. I'm 24 now. Over the past year or two, with intermittent random breaks, I started taking 320-740mg of saw palmetto extract with beta sitosterol. For the past ~3 months, though, I have been taking it daily. I took breaks because I felt saw palmetto was causing me serious mental and psychological issues: severe anxiety, extreme fatigue, a veil of depression (not overly serious, just there and numbing), panic attacks, and legitimately serious brain fog. My recall and short-term memory have deteriorated.Even when I was young and dumb and experimenting with various substances, I didn't feel this way.
I'd typically take one capsule at night and be fine in the morning, but by afternoon I could barely function. My focus died and I could no longer form complex sentences or hold intelligible conversations -- things that I pride myself on. I've always been an excellent speaker and very sociable. Recently, I am tired by 1:00pm and anxiety-ridden. I typically like to hang out with friends, but I have no desire to do so when taking saw palmetto for any duration.
I have experienced zero sexual side effects. Everything down there is working just fine and I am grateful for that. But I feel as though the anxiety and tiredness are not nocebo. I can't say for sure that this is from saw palmetto, but it sure feels like it, and my personal experience of being on and off of it is my only testament.
I do have finasteride, but am fairly scared to take it. If I am feeling this mentally and psychologically distressed on SP, why would I jeopardize my quality of life for hair? I do not want to conflate my experience with "PFS" though (while I think it exists, I question both how common and permanent it is. There are undoubtedly rare cases, but psychological causes can't be ruled out).
TL;DR: I think saw palmetto isn't for me, and I am unsure that any other 5α-Reductase inhibitor is for me either. While inhibiting DHT is obviously the only proven treatment we currently have, I fall into the belief that inhibiting DHT for Androgenetic Alopecia is like shooting sparrows with cannons (or however it goes). We all know about the studies that suggest it may cause neurological distress, particularly with regard to neurosteroids such as allopregnanolone. My goal is not to dissuade anyone from taking 5α-Reductase inhibitors. I am just sharing my experience. Perhaps it's psychosomatic, I dunno!
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