Can you push through anxiety? (finasteride)

[Oh really]

Hi everyone, I’m 35 - one week in on finasteride 0.25mg every day. Sides have been ok, tired for a couple of days but the past 4 I’ve had rising anxiety to the point today I was quite unsettled by it. It rises and falls throughout the day. It’s different to normal anxiety I’ve experienced.

Is it something that my body can adapt to or could I be neurologically incompatible with this drug?

I’ve been preparing to take finasteride since covid and was ready to push through anything but anxiety is a strange thing that I wasn’t prepared for

 

[Oh really]

Took one day off and switched to 0.1mg applied topically. Feeling 90% better. The brain fog and anxiety was real for me, I just wasn’t the same person.

Will check in again! Mental health is really everything especially with a young family.

 

[mary_jones]

I strongly agree with the statement that mental health is as important as physical health. I often suffer from anxiety disorders and am still learning how to cope with them. But it's good that I found a way to get out of this condition in time. Currently, I am most often helped by medicines from Pharmacy B2B. This really makes me feel better and I realize how important it is to take care of myself and my health.

 

[otis]

I strongly agree with the statement that mental health is as important as physical health. I often suffer from anxiety disorders and am still learning how to cope with them.

See a specialist for anxiety

 

[Cenabby]

Starting something like finasteride can definitely shake things up in unexpected ways. Someone once balanced their own anxiety with natural supplements from places like gomicromagic, which seemed to ease some tension without messing with their meds. It might be your body adjusting, but if the anxiety feels too intense or different, checking in with a Doctor is key.

 

[Quaylechar]

I had some anxiety early on too, mostly in the first couple of weeks, but it got better over time. Lowering the dose helped me feel more in control mentally.

 

[Mr. Slap Head]

You should give it some time to see if you will adjust.

Only thing you can really do to compensate would be to do things that will increase testosterone.

I would also keep in mind that 0.25mg, while it sounds like a low dose, it still blocks about 60% of DHT, compared to about 70% at the full dose. If the goal is to reduce side effects, you would likely have to go even lower, to a dosage around 0.25mg every other day in order to allow for more DHT. I think it reduces it to something like 50%, which might be a better balance for you. Hard to say for any given person. It's all trial and error.

 

[castleren]

I had a similar spike in strange anxiety early on. Dropping the dose or taking a short break helped me figure out if it was the med or just startup jitters.

 

[Elithair]

What you're feeling is real and it's known, so you're not imagining it. Finasteride blocks the same enzyme that makes a neurosteroid called allopregnanolone, which is one of the things that keeps anxiety regulated in the brain. For most people it isn't noticeable, but for some it is, and anxiety that feels different from your usual kind is one of the more common ways it shows up.

Here's the honest part though. Mood and anxiety aren't the kind of side effect to push through. A bit of tiredness or a libido dip early on can settle as your body adjusts, but anxiety often does the opposite and builds the longer you stay on. This isn't about willpower, and staying on it to prove you can handle it isn't worth the risk.

I'd come off it and speak to whoever prescribed it before going any further. One week in is early, so stopping now is clean and simple. If you still want to treat the loss, there are options with far less systemic effect to ask them about. Topical finasteride keeps most of it at the scalp, and minoxidil doesn't touch this pathway at all.

You spent years getting ready for this, so I understand not wanting to bail at the first hurdle. But anxiety isn't the one to gamble on. Get it looked at before you make any decisions.