Should I really get on propecia? Need advice!

[Feedmemore]

​I'm finally considering taking the risk with propecia to deal with my diffuse thinning. My mind has been playing tug of war on wether or not I should do it though. My biggest fear is the sexual sides. I just don't want them to end up permanent or persisting months or years after not using it anymore if I do happen to encounter them. I know it's probably rare for that to happen but it's still scary to think about. I plan to only use 0.5mg a day. If I happen to get erectile dysfunction how do I know? Just from trying to have sex or can I notice from trying to masterbate or not getting morning wood? I also get hard easily from kissing my gf, would that be another sign if I wasn't getting hard from that anymore? How can I tell my libido has gone down? If I start to experience any of these a little bit, should I continue in hopes of things going back to normal or stop right away? Also are these studies really accurate about the low chance of sexual sides?​

 

[g.i joey]

my guess is as good as yours if the studies are actually accurate... but that is the most accurate we can get really. believe me, i was just like you before i took the plunge.. i took propecia and had no problems with the sexual sides but it gave me slight gyno, i got off and restarted a little over a week ago which is 2 months after stopping my initial try with it.. so far i have no gyno flare up, no sexual sides and i still feel great.. propecia is a drug you have to let your body adjust to. Give it a shot, you really have nothing to lose.. and in worst case maybe a couple days of sex. if you experience side effects in the first month - 2nd month you should give your body a chance to adjust, your body will find other ways to compensate for wtv problem you're having if it can, if it cant then its just not for you. Remember, if you kiss your gf and focus on getting that erection you probably wont, im sure usually when you're making out with your girl the boner just happens, you dont really anticipate it, on finasteride you probably will.

overall, my suggestion is, if your doctor permits, you should try it. its the ONLY thing we have to help us with hair loss, i think its dumb to not even give it a shot, but i could understand why you're hesitant, i was in your shoes. you will def see benefits with .5 a day.. you could even start on .25 just to ease you into taking your full dose. good luck man, and believe me i was in ur shoes, so far i do not regret taking propecia at all.

 

[Feedmemore]

my guess is as good as yours if the studies are actually accurate... but that is the most accurate we can get really. believe me, i was just like you before i took the plunge.. i took propecia and had no problems with the sexual sides but it gave me slight gyno, i got off and restarted a little over a week ago which is 2 months after stopping my initial try with it.. so far i have no gyno flare up, no sexual sides and i still feel great.. propecia is a drug you have to let your body adjust to. Give it a shot, you really have nothing to lose.. and in worst case maybe a couple days of sex. if you experience side effects in the first month - 2nd month you should give your body a chance to adjust, your body will find other ways to compensate for wtv problem you're having if it can, if it cant then its just not for you. Remember, if you kiss your gf and focus on getting that erection you probably wont, im sure usually when you're making out with your girl the boner just happens, you dont really anticipate it, on finasteride you probably will.

overall, my suggestion is, if your doctor permits, you should try it. its the ONLY thing we have to help us with hair loss, i think its dumb to not even give it a shot, but i could understand why you're hesitant, i was in your shoes. you will def see benefits with .5 a day.. you could even start on .25 just to ease you into taking your full dose. good luck man, and believe me i was in ur shoes, so far i do not regret taking propecia at all.

Thanks for the encouragement bro. So if I experience any sides in the first two months how long should I keep taking finasteride to see if my body adjusts and it goes away?

 

[bluemoon1212]

Sounds like you're going to mindf#ck yourself.

 

[Vlatch]

Sounds like you're going to mindf#ck yourself.

This. I would't be surprised if you get sides if you're that scared of them.
Just pop a pill every day and stop if your body can't handle the drug, just like any medication.

 

[Feedmemore]

This. I would't be surprised if you get sides if you're that scared of them.
Just pop a pill every day and stop if your body can't handle the drug, just like any medication.

I'm nervous now but once I start I'll be fine. If I start experiencing sides, Should I keep taking it in hopes of it going away?

 

[Statler]

Think twice!!

I'm paranoid about finasteride to. Try minoxidil first, see if you could use that. The issue with finasteride that most people report is side effects after they stopped taking it. However, the recommended dose (1mg) is 1/5th what they give prostate cancer patients. Something to think about. I think Canada has liquid finasteride for hair, which might help cutting the dose.

"Prolonged adverse effects on sexual function such as erectile dysfunction and diminished libido are reported by a subset of men, raising the possibility of a causal relationship."

Source: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.02157.x/abstract;jsessionid=1E9A21B0059065B8D21DEB6A69B63FBF.d02t01?systemMessage=Wiley+Online+Library+will+be+disrupted+3+Sep+from+10-12+BST+for+monthly+maintenance

 

[Dench57]

Finasteride won't even be a legal hairloss treatment in 10 years. Has the potential to permanently **** you up.

 

[Statler]

Finasteride won't even be a legal hairloss treatment in 10 years. Has the potential to permanently **** you up.

Propecia = Finasteride = legal treatment, approved by FDA/EMA.

 

[Dench57]

Propecia = Finasteride = legal treatment, approved by FDA/EMA.

Yeah, it's legal now. I'm saying it won't be 10 years from now, when post-Finasteride syndrome gets the clinical studies behind it (due to start soon).

FDA withdraws approval for drugs all the time. Drugs get discontinued after years of being approved. Expect to find Finasteride on this list within 10 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_withdrawn_drugs

 

[Wolf Pack]

Finasteride won't even be a legal hairloss treatment in 10 years. Has the potential to permanently **** you up.

They said the same thing 10 years ago too. I know you had an unfortunate time with the drug but please don't put off newbies with scare mongering. That goes against the forum rules and could result in a temp/permanent ban. There is a side effects sub section too.

Millions take the drug fine by the way like the trials had suggested, but you're speaking of only personal experience.

 

[Dench57]

They said the same thing 10 years ago too. I know you had an unfortunate time with the drug but please don't put off newbies with scare mongering. That goes against the forum rules and could result in a temp/permanent ban. There is a side effects sub section too.

Millions take the drug fine by the way like the trials had suggested, but you're speaking of only personal experience.

10 years ago everybody laughed at the idea of permanent ED from Propecia. Now Merck have to include it on the side effects label because it's been documented in clinical trials. Merck never followed up patients after long-term discontinuation in their original trials.

Maybe my first post was a little blunt, I'm not trying to scaremonger. Finasteride works perfectly fine for the vast majority of people. But people like the OP should be aware of the risk of persistent sides. We now have the studies showing it can happen. Which is why I think FDA will withdraw approval as a hairloss treatment after a clearer link is established. That's just my opinion, I'm not sure how that can result in me being banned from this forum.

My personal experience has nothing to do with sexual sides, I never experienced any, which I'm hugely thankful for. But the OP is scared about sexual sides so I'm just trying to balance the amount of people on this forum that tell people to jump on finasteride "because it can't cause persistent sides". I think that is dangerous and misleading.

 

[Statler]

Yeah, it's legal now. I'm saying it won't be 10 years from now, when post-Finasteride syndrome gets the clinical studies behind it (due to start soon).

FDA withdraws approval for drugs all the time. Drugs get discontinued after years of being approved. Expect to find Finasteride on this list within 10 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_withdrawn_drugs

@Dench57
OK...one point for you, but its not the FDA who withdraws many products, because of many raesons I don't like to discuss here in detail.
(The FDA works for the industry and is financed by third hand. Its just a big paper tiger and nobody in that orga likes to be responsible
for recalls/withdraws etc.)

@Wolf Pack
You're right and that occurs with most lifestyle pharma products. As long as the industry has a huge lobby, can use faked clincal studies
nobody else has access to and the weak corruption works inside of the system we all have to pay the bill at the end of the day.
The side effects of finastide are much more serious than "they" let us know PLUS the growing number of counterfeit products coming
from the countries where the active ingredients (or APIs) are produced and dirt cheap: That is not a real good combination or base
for a long term seller.

 

[Wolf Pack]

10 years ago everybody laughed at the idea of permanent ED from Propecia. Now Merck have to include it on the side effects label because it's been documented in clinical trials. Merck never followed up patients after long-term discontinuation in their original trials.

They still do laugh at it. You show a distinct lack of understanding of clinical trials and legal issues. Merck didn't add in these side effects of permanent ED LOL because it's been documented in trials. If this was added, it's because it's been reported (by mentally unwell people) and to prevent law suits. There is no cause and effect relationship between finasteride and so called Post Finasteride Syndrome. (which I think really stands for piece of f****** $hit)

Maybe my first post was a little blunt, I'm not trying to scaremonger. Finasteride works perfectly fine for the vast majority of people. But people like the OP should be aware of the risk of persistent sides. We now have the studies showing it can happen. Which is why I think FDA will withdraw approval as a hairloss treatment after a clearer link is established. That's just my opinion, I'm not sure how that can result in me being banned from this forum.

You are being a scaremonger and sounding more like propeciahelp with every passing day. This could result in a ban but you are a reasonable person so I would like to think you are just unhappy currently which is understandable. As I said there is no evidence of permanent side effects so you should refrain from passing that on as a fact! We don't have studies, you're probably talking about a crap interview that was done on mentally unwell people on propeciahelp by a Doctor.

FDA only withdraw drugs rarely and that's when they effect major systems of the body resulting in serious lethal sides. Like cardio,resp, renal, neuro sides. Once a drug has gone through 4 phases of clinical trials, then two decades of post market use, it's very unlikely to be withdrawn especially for something like "Oh my d1ck don't work but all tests are normal or I have an itch on my scalp now or brain fog but I can still use my computer". finasteride is also used for BPH, so it won't be withdrawn and doesn't interact with any other medication really.

As hard as it for some people to see, it's actually one of the safer drugs currently being prescribed.

It will only disappear IF a better treatment comes out that is safer, more effective and just as cheap. Let me know when that happens.

My personal experience has nothing to do with sexual sides, I never experienced any, which I'm hugely thankful for. But the OP is scared about sexual sides so I'm just trying to balance the amount of people on this forum that tell people to jump on finasteride "because it can't cause persistent sides". I think that is dangerous and misleading.

Then he should be told that the risk of temporary sides is 2%, which dissipate upon cessation of the drug. That's it. There's no concrete data to suggest otherwise currently.

 

[Dench57]

They still do laugh at it. You show a distinct lack of understanding of clinical trials and legal issues. Merck didn't add in these side effects of permanent ED LOL because it's been documented in trials. If this was added, it's because it's been reported (by mentally unwell people) and to prevent law suits.

You really believe a pharmaceutical giant like Merck, with their army of lawyers, would be forced to add a serious side effect like that due to some reports from "mentally unwell" people? Why would they fear lawsuits if there wasn't some truth behind the reports? Hell, maybe me and a few of my buddies will ring up Merck and tell them we started ****ting cheesecakes after using Propecia. They'd then have to add that to the label too!

 

[Wolf Pack]

People/companies get sued for a lot less these days, it's the world we live in. Very legal and everything is taken seriously, within reason of course. Yes, any good law firm opposing Merck made money from this as was their goal.

There are too many confounding factors. People with hair loss are usually depressed, other things can cause decreased libido too which are way more common reasons.

By the way, permanent ED is still not listed as a side effect by Merck, just that there are "reports" of side effects lasting after drug withdrawal. This is to prevent greedy lawyers from making money, I am sure they love these cases and hope for more fools to come to them.

 

[Dench57]

I’m not going to get into a debate about PFS. At this early stage, you either believe it can happen or don’t. I think it’s extremely rare but can happen. I don’t have any clinical data to back that up so its just my opinion, though there are 3 studies underway at US Universities to examine the link between finasteride and PFS so I think those will shed some light.

There is however plenty of studies to show Finasteride causes sexual side effects in more than 2% of users and in rare conditions can be persistent.
I don’t see how anyone can believe the 2% sides purported by Merck in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
There’s honestly so much data out there, just Google it. To claim that everything is bull****, all the studies, all the thousands of posters on hairloss forums for the last 20 years, while clinging to Merck and their original “2% study” is just wilful ignorance. I guess people believe what they want to if a drug is working for them.

Taken from the FDA website:

“On April 1, 2012, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered drug manufacturer Merck to revise the labelling on Propecia to reflect mounting evidence that it can cause persistent sexual dysfunction. Of the 421 Propecia-related sexual dysfunction cases reviewed by the FDA in its probe, 14 percent lasted longer than three months after patients quit the drug.”

Various reviews and studies:
[h=1]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4064044/ “The Dark Side of 5α-Reductase Inhibitors' Therapy: Sexual Dysfunction, High Gleason Grade Prostate Cancer and Depression”[/h]
[h=1]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21176115/ - “Adverse side effects of 5α-reductase inhibitors therapy: persistent diminished libido and erectile dysfunction and depression in a subset of patients.”[/h][h=1]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22789024 - “Persistent sexual side effects of finasteride: could they be permanent?”[/h]From that last one:
“In most men who developed persistent sexual side effects (≥3 months) despite the discontinuation of finasteride, the sexual dysfunction continued for many months or years. Although several rat studies have shown detrimental changes to erectile function caused by 5 alpha reductase inhibitors, the persistent nature of these changes is an area of active research. Prescribers of finasteride and men contemplating its use should be made aware of the potential adverse medication effects.”

Note that most of these studies are within the last 4-5 years. The evidence is just slowly stacking up in my opinion. There’s so, so much more of the same out there but I really can’t be arsed at this point!

- - - Updated - - -

For the record, I've never had any sexual sides from finasteride whatsoever. My itchy scalp is nothing compared to that. It has a reasonable safety profile and in the vast majority of cases you'll be absolutely fine. But to say it can't cause persistent sides is demonstrably untrue.

 

[Wolf Pack]

Nothing above proves anything, unfortunately you're so fixated on this that you are only looking for what you hope to see rather than rationally. Google any drug and look at side effects reported or adverse reactions. Maybe we should ban all drugs?

It's well established that many people on a forum are either depressed, anxious, hypochondriacs and so on, it's all the bad stories. Millions take it and a few hundred on propeciahelp, what's the %? Also most of these guys blame finasteride but even then it's doubtful it's the cause!

Funny, I know like 10 people on finasteride in real life, many in health care, yet they are okay. Not that personal experience is a substitute for clinical evidence, but both point in the same direction for me as they should do.

- - - Updated - - -

I guess people believe what they want to if a drug is working for them.

For the record, I've never had any sexual sides from finasteride whatsoever. My itchy scalp is nothing compared to that. It has a reasonable safety profile and in the vast majority of cases you'll be absolutely fine. But to say it can't cause persistent sides is demonstrably untrue.

I find that people believe what they want to if a drug is NOT working for them, i.e evil pill. Yet many on this forum have managed to remain unbiased which is a credit to them.

I understand what you are saying but permanent sides is far from proven so far, even for the minority. ED is a common complaint generally.

 

[Statler]

People/companies get sued for a lot less these days, it's the world we live in. Very legal and everything is taken seriously, within reason of course. Yes, any good law firm opposing Merck made money from this as was their goal.

There are too many confounding factors. People with hair loss are usually depressed, other things can cause decreased libido too which are way more common reasons.

By the way, permanent ED is still not listed as a side effect by Merck, just that there are "reports" of side effects lasting after drug withdrawal. This is to prevent greedy lawyers from making money, I am sure they love these cases and hope for more fools to come to them.

Causing prostata cancer is not on the v**** leaflet from Pfizer either, but that exists in thousands of cases.
In theory the FDA has to investigate every report of side effects - but as long as it is an american company
which is accused for that they will not do anything.
Best example was Vioxx, Yasmine & Zoloft. Many people had to die first before they startet to do something.

 

[2tite2014]

The side effects are rare and mild. Trust the clinical trials, not horror stories from paranoid anonymous people on the internet. The mind is a very powerful thing. If you even THINK you're going to get sides, chances are you will get sides. Also, finasteride will never be illegal. Even if the FDA were to take it away for hair loss, it would still be available for treating BPH, then doctors could just prescribe it off label just like dutasteride.