I got a question- Do you think that finasteride is safe for people in their 20's to take? Since it shrinks and affects the prostate, do you think that it may cause an early form of prostate cancer, since you're tampering with it? Also if you start it, and then stop eventually, would it mess with the prostate's cell division and cause cancer?
Propecia and Prostate Cancer?
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Cornholio
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iseras said:
http://www.detnews.com/2003/health/0306 ... 201775.htm
Studies so far have mixed results, finding fewer less aggressive cancers in users of Proscar, which is good. The problem is that of cancers discovered there was a marginally higher risk that they would be more aggressive (higher grade). More studies are needed to see if this is a significant finding (caused by proscar) or just a fluke of the study. You are correct to wonder if this would affeect safety for a 20 year old... If taken for decades a negative effect would be amplified. However, I am hoping that more studies will follow to clarify the issue before I have taken it for decades. Additionally, you should be reassured that in your 20's the risk of prostate cancer is quite low...
For now I think I would say they " aren't sure" if proscar reduces total incidence of prostate cancer or slightly increases risk of a more aggressive cancer... More study is needed. It is certain that it can't be recommended to reduce risk of cancer.
It is known that Proscar reduces your PSA (the blood test used to detect prostate cancer)... Therefore your doctor needs to know you are on Proscar to interpret your PSA results correctly. Lower PSA levels or smaller increases in PSA may be important if you are on Proscar.
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iseras said:
As far as the health of the prostate is concerned, I think finasteride is safer to take the YOUNGER you are. People don't seem to remember that the "pseudohermaphrodites" in the Dominican Republic are an analogue of what it's like to take finasteride FROM CONCEPTION ONWARD. Those individuals apparently never develop prostate enlargement, and never get prostate cancer their entire lives. It may be only when you start taking finasteride relatively late in life that these issues possibly develop about whether or not DHT reduction may nudge pre-cancerous or early-cancerous cells into a more dangerous form.
Bryan
I tend to agree with Bryan so long as you stay on finasteride your whole life (assuming total tolerance doesn't set in).
However, theres been a lot of speculation over the years as to upregulation that goes on to compensate the use of an external drug. If this is the case, the upregulation may increase up to the point where it overcomes the finasteride and eventually wins out.
In this case, it's possible in a long enough period your prostate will be worse off. I'm not sure about this though. Also, if you ever get off the drug, it's probably bad news as any 'inhibition' drug causes bounceback rebound.
but this is all speculation and I'm too lazy to look up studies or whatever:
However, theres been a lot of speculation over the years as to upregulation that goes on to compensate the use of an external drug. If this is the case, the upregulation may increase up to the point where it overcomes the finasteride and eventually wins out.
In this case, it's possible in a long enough period your prostate will be worse off. I'm not sure about this though. Also, if you ever get off the drug, it's probably bad news as any 'inhibition' drug causes bounceback rebound.
but this is all speculation and I'm too lazy to look up studies or whatever: