Does Finasteride "brain Fog" Go Away With Continued Use?

[Funnyguard]

First post here, sorry its so long...

So a little background story: about a year ago I started noticing an increase in the amount of hair I was losing in the shower and in my hands after running them through my hair. Like most people I didn't think much of it at first, and looked for any possible reason other than typical male pattern baldness. I was 20 (21 now) and just didn't believe it could be happening to me.

Fast forward 6 months and nothing had slowed down. still didn't believe that it was male pattern baldness, but began to legit worry. as the next months passed I sort of noticed my hair looking a bit thinner. I started to panic a bit, but my hair was still relatively thick and no one commented on it. in fact I still got a lot of compliments on my hair as I always have (I got named "best hair" in my grad yearbook just a couple years ago).

I made an appointment with my GP and he basically told me I was worrying about nothing, however he didn't even examine my scalp and didn't seem to take it seriously. this was about 4 months ago. about 6 weeks later I saw him again when things didn't get better and he agreed to refer me to see a hairloss specialist, and sent me to get bloodwork done. all my blood work came back fine and he informed me that the wait to see the specialist was 12-18 months which made me panic.

I asked him about finasteride and told him I was aware of the potential side effects and wanted to give it a shot. he basically told me that he still thought I was worrying about nothing (still hasn't examined my scalp) but said that quite a few of his male patients were taking finasteride, and said that if I am seriously worried and convinced ive seen change that he would write me a prescription for generic Proscar to cut into quarters. At first I was happy, but after filling out my prescription I started to worry about side effects and ended up waiting almost 3 weeks to take my first dose. Ive now been on it for just 5 days.

No side effects for the first two days, everything was in check and my mind was at ease but at the end of the second day I started to feel extremely tired and kind of out of it. I dont know exactly how to describe the feeling but I just feel almost stoned (I don't smoke anymore because I dont like the way that it makes me feel) , and like I can't concentrate or think clearly and extremely tired. other than that ive had no sexual sides at all, was with a girl last night and everything performed as it should.

I should mention also that I have a history with anxiety and that depression seems to run in the family. The only thing that was making me anxious prior to starting finasteride was losing my hair.

Long story short, I would like to continue the medication but this feeling is very unpleasant and is distracting me from doing things like working out. I was wondering if anyone who has been taking finasteride/propecia has experienced this so called "brain fog" in the first couple of weeks of treatment and they went away with continued use after your body has "adjusted" to the new hormone levels. Thanks in advance!

 

[Seıja]

First post here, sorry its so long...

So a little background story: about a year ago I started noticing an increase in the amount of hair I was losing in the shower and in my hands after running them through my hair. Like most people I didn't think much of it at first, and looked for any possible reason other than typical male pattern baldness. I was 20 (21 now) and just didn't believe it could be happening to me.

Fast forward 6 months and nothing had slowed down. still didn't believe that it was male pattern baldness, but began to legit worry. as the next months passed I sort of noticed my hair looking a bit thinner. I started to panic a bit, but my hair was still relatively thick and no one commented on it. in fact I still got a lot of compliments on my hair as I always have (I got named "best hair" in my grad yearbook just a couple years ago).

I made an appointment with my GP and he basically told me I was worrying about nothing, however he didn't even examine my scalp and didn't seem to take it seriously. this was about 4 months ago. about 6 weeks later I saw him again when things didn't get better and he agreed to refer me to see a hairloss specialist, and sent me to get bloodwork done. all my blood work came back fine and he informed me that the wait to see the specialist was 12-18 months which made me panic.

I asked him about finasteride and told him I was aware of the potential side effects and wanted to give it a shot. he basically told me that he still thought I was worrying about nothing (still hasn't examined my scalp) but said that quite a few of his male patients were taking finasteride, and said that if I am seriously worried and convinced ive seen change that he would write me a prescription for generic Proscar to cut into quarters. At first I was happy, but after filling out my prescription I started to worry about side effects and ended up waiting almost 3 weeks to take my first dose. Ive now been on it for just 5 days.

No side effects for the first two days, everything was in check and my mind was at ease but at the end of the second day I started to feel extremely tired and kind of out of it. I dont know exactly how to describe the feeling but I just feel almost stoned (I don't smoke anymore because I dont like the way that it makes me feel) , and like I can't concentrate or think clearly and extremely tired. other than that ive had no sexual sides at all, was with a girl last night and everything performed as it should.

I should mention also that I have a history with anxiety and that depression seems to run in the family. The only thing that was making me anxious prior to starting finasteride was losing my hair.

Long story short, I would like to continue the medication but this feeling is very unpleasant and is distracting me from doing things like working out. I was wondering if anyone who has been taking finasteride/propecia has experienced this so called "brain fog" in the first couple of weeks of treatment and they went away with continued use after your body has "adjusted" to the new hormone levels. Thanks in advance!

Yo, i just started 5 days ago, and right off the bat felt the same thing, lol. Except without the fatigue. I read another post, speaking about this v subject, and another user mentioned the same thing. There was also some talk about ADD, which i also have, and which may make us more sensitive to the drug (at least as far as this brain fog).

I'm not going to lie to you, i kind of like it. At the same time, i know for sure, that it is not imaginary. The difference is subtle, but very much real. I feel slightly high, a little buzzed. And def hyper aware, unless i focus on something.

I am though, taking a super small dose. I'm actually breaking donw the 1mg pill to 1/8 of the size. It isn't perfect, but i say, if tiny amounts can have a similar effect, even if less pronounced, i'm in.

I wonder if this feeling will get old, or go away. I def want to talk more about this brain fog though. Because i know i am not imagining it. In fact, i feel the difference, minutes after taking it.

 

[sprout]

I posted about the same thing last week. Looks like I can't post links yet, but my post is titled "Seeking Advice: Finasteride Dosage and Brain Fog".

I took 1mg finasteride daily for a month and got brain fog, some days being pretty bad and I couldn't focus and felt disoriented. I slowly reduced the dosage to 0.25mg every 2 days and I haven't experienced much brain fog since. I might change it to 0.25mg daily or 0.125mg daily as I continue to monitor side effects.

You should play around with the dosage to see what works for you since people have different sensitivity levels. Even with 0.125mg you can reduce DHT levels by almost 50%, so it doesn't hurt to use a lower dosage even if the prescribed dosage is 1mg. FYI, the prescibed dosage in Japan is 0.2mg daily and there is also literature showing that lower dosages work. If you look deeper in these threads you'll see some posts about microdosing (<1mg) and people claim that it works for them.

If you google "finasteride dht curve" you'll see some charts showing the relationship between finasteride dosage and DHT inhibition levels.

 

[Seıja]

I posted about the same thing last week. Looks like I can't post links yet, but my post is titled "Seeking Advice: Finasteride Dosage and Brain Fog".

I took 1mg finasteride daily for a month and got brain fog, some days being pretty bad and I couldn't focus and felt disoriented. I slowly reduced the dosage to 0.25mg every 2 days and I haven't experienced much brain fog since. I might change it to 0.25mg daily or 0.125mg daily as I continue to monitor side effects.

You should play around with the dosage to see what works for you since people have different sensitivity levels. Even with 0.125mg you can reduce DHT levels by almost 50%, so it doesn't hurt to use a lower dosage even if the prescribed dosage is 1mg. FYI, the prescibed dosage in Japan is 0.2mg daily and there is also literature showing that lower dosages work. If you look deeper in these threads you'll see some posts about microdosing (<1mg) and people claim that it works for them.

If you google "finasteride dht curve" you'll see some charts showing the relationship between finasteride dosage and DHT inhibition levels.

All great info. Not my thread, but same concerns. Thanks!