Finasteride/Propecia Side Effects Survey

jd_uk

Senior Member
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If you have taken Finasteride/Propecia then please respond to this survey:

1. How old are you, when did you start losing your hair and for how many years have you been using Finasteride/Propecia?

2. What level of baldness are you currently at on the Norwood scale?

3. How long have you taken Finasteride/Propecia for?

4. What dosage do you/have you taken?

5. Are you happy with the results achieved?

6. Has Finasteride/Propecia -

a) Regrown hair which was lost?
b) Maintained hair which you think would have been lost?
c) Not in your opinion slowed down or helped with your hair loss?

7. Have you experienced any negative side effects from using Propecia?

8. If you have, to what extent did they affect you and did they subside or stop?

9. Have you found Finasteride/Propecia affected how you felt sexually in ANY way? e.g. Was your sex drive lowered (AT ALL) or did you experience any erectile dysfunction which would't have otherwise been present in your opinion?

10. Has Finasteride/Propecia affect how you looked OR felt in any way other than expected?

11. Have you experienced any 'brain fog' which is sometimes mentioned as a side effect of Finasteride/Propecia?

12. Do you still use the drug and if you discontinued use then why?

13. Overall, would you recommend the drug to someone else experiencing male pattern baldness?

14. General - Please give any other info which you feel may be useful to others affected by hair loss.


I'm currently looking into taking this drug to combat my hair loss and it is really important to me that I consider all the risks first because I'm really concerned about how it works by altering the body's sex hormones. I hope these responses will help me to make an informed decision but I also hope it will help anyone else considering using the drug too. Thanks for your responses.
 

crohm

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This is not a good way of making a decision. Your sampling method is not only flawed by the sample on this forum NOT being random, but it's also flawed in the sense that you're going to obtain a voluntary response sample... Who do you think is more likely to answer? The people who've either had really bad experiences or really good experiences OR the people who just got on with their lives. I'm just saying that the people who will answer your survey will likely feel very strongly about the product, as such making them more likely to complete your survey. The replies you'll get to your survey will be very biased and highly unrepresentative of the general population of men taking finasteride...
 

Wuffer

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crohm beat me to it; I was about to say the exact same thing (though he probably did a bit more eloquently than I could have).

Everything you read here; from me, to him, to all the anti-propecia and pro-propecia individuals shouldn't affect your decision. In the end, it's you making your decision. There are studies out there that both vouch for propecia's safety, as well as ones that question it. Whether these articles meet your criteria of legitimacy are ultimately up to you.

I am a proponent for the safety of Propecia. I've read a ton of articles, and concluded personally that it is a safe drug. Others have concluded the opposite. It doesn't necessarily mean that I am right, just that it is what I believe.

We all know it causes side effects in a statistically significant number of individuals; it's right on the propecia website. In my opinion, the subject of permanent side effects has not been conclusively proven yet; there simply isn't nearly enough relevant data available. This doesn't mean that it doesn't and can't happen; it's just that I haven't seen proof that concludes it based on my personal level of criteria.

You can't base your decision on the fact that say 10 people had good experiences with it and 12 had a bad one. It's likely to be extremely biased, and you can find hundreds if not thousands of people describing their positive and negative experiences on this forum.

I know that there is an absolute ton of information and thousands of opinions on this drug. This makes for a very difficult decision! What I did was literally write down a pro’s and con’s sheet. I do this for a lot of difficult decisions in life, and I find it helps a lot. I found personally that the pro’s outweigh the cons. This doesn’t mean that the cons are suddenly gone, but that the pro’s outweigh them.

You should also keep in mind that you should go into this with a 100% attitude. You’ve made your decision to go on it, so stick to your decision. If you go into it with a “jeez, I hope I don’t have permanent side effects†mentality, there is a good chance you won’t have success with the medication.

However, in the interest of filling out a survey based on the fact that surveys are entertaining, I will probably end up filling it out :)
 

Prop

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Wuffer said:
I am a proponent for the safety of Propecia. I've read a ton of articles, and concluded personally that it is a safe drug. Others have concluded the opposite. It doesn't necessarily mean that I am right, just that it is what I believe.

wuffer, i saw u just started finasteride right?
if u can get blood test and spermiogram as soon a possible

u will have some baseline if something go wrong
 

Wuffer

Experienced Member
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Propecia, I've been on it for about 3 months. I am having a checkup in a few weeks and plan to get a blood test.

I'm undertaking a pretty intense exercise routine, and I am interested in seeing how it affects my testosterone and DHT levels.. This is more of a personal experiment to see testosterone output compared to different types of exercises.

I'm curious, I know you have had some unfortunate problems with finasteride. While i'm not aware of your entire story, do you lift weights? I am curious to know how heavy weight lifting might help you out; since it really increases testosterone production, you may see some improvement in your symptoms. I've been doing a heavy weightlifting and cardio routine for the last month, and I honestly feel better than I did at 20; sexually, mentally, and physically. I am curious to know if you guys would see a benefit from this type of routine as well.
 

jd_uk

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Hi guys, thanks for the responses.

I'm not planning to base my decision completely on the responses which I receive here and am not planning to get statistical data from this or anything. For me, the responses will still be a very useful tool for a number of reasons:

- If you type in Propecia side effects in Google, all you get is people talking about their horror stories. On this forum you get many people who are using Propecia for their hair loss currently and they may or may not have side effects...i dont know, I just want to hear their responses.

- Much of the research into the safety of the drug carried out so far (including the often quoted 'only 2%' statistic) has been done by the manufacturer. Now I was taught never to blindly trust things like this...if I can see a fairf few people on this forum saying they have had no negative side effects whatsoever then I'm going to feel much more comfortable about at least trialling this drug.

- The 2% 'sexual side effects' statistic isn't very detailed. I want more info on how people felt...has there been even the slightest bit of difference sexually or the slightest change in mood and ability to think. For example, some people might not have had a high sex drive before...many users might be older with a naturally lower sex drive anyway so might not have noticed a difference (hence the age question).

I hope you can see why it is important that I asked these questions. I like to hear REAL responses for myself...if that includes a greater (and false representation) of negative responses than is normal then so be it but I would love to hear all good and bad experiences. Hair loss is something which is bothering me to the extent that I can't enjoy life as I'm always thinking about it...I'm going to see a specialist in two months but until then I want to gain as much first hand knowledge as possible on the subject.

Lastly, I was really disappointed that this thread was moved from the general antiandrogen board to the one about dealing with side effects, because now you're right - I probably only will get responses from people with largely negative experiences. I'd be really grateful if it could be moved back at least momentarily so I can get general views from all Propecia users. if you want me to add a disclaimer at the top of the thread then I will.

Thanks
 

Mens Rea

Senior Member
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jd_UK, good roundup; some excellent points.

No doubt you'll hear some biased accounts of finasteride. It's also true that the people most willing to share their experiences are the people who have been aggreived by using it. Someone who's used it for many years without problems isn't going to sit on this forum talking about sides all day.

So you have to balance that against things.

That said, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to notice a trend of problems. Propeciahelp has about 3 or 4 new members stories every single day. Most of these guys have messed up sexual function after very short spaces of time. It is worrying.

Also, notice alot of guys on here have been unable to tolerate finasteride and have went off it. Many of these aren't even posters in this section. Read the anti-androgen section about alternative topicals, there is ALOT of interest in these new topicals as many of these guys had to stop finasteride.

2% isn't accurate whatsoever imo. The incidents of really bad "Post-finasteride syndrome" are low, though. By that i mean the subcategory of guys who are potentially ruined for life (severe mental problems, severe depression, complete ED, muscle wastage etc) but guys like myself who had lasting effects on simply the sexual side of things doesn't seem to be such an anomoly despite the "studies" suggesting same isn't even possible...
 

Wuffer

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jd, of course if you type "propecia side effects" into google, all you will get is horror stories! Type "(x medication) side effects" and you will find the same thing. If you actively seek out biased information, that's all you are going to find. For example, using this message board is EXTREMELY biased. If you spend any amount of time here, it seems like everybody that ever uses propecia has some side effects. Just keep in mind, this message board represents maybe 1% of finasteride users worldwide, if that. Everything here tells you that it's an accurate sample, but it really isn't. It's quite likely that most of the the other 99% of users are out there side-effect free enjoying their lives.

It is also untrue that all the studies were done by Merck. The studies you read on their propecia webpage were funded by Merck, but not biased by them in any way. They were a result of the FDA trials. If you read up about this FDA process at all, it is impossible and extremely illegal for companies to misrepresent the results.

Type "Finasteride" into google scholar and you will be bombarded with dozens if not hundreds of Finasteride studies. I won't bother listing all the big ones, because they are all in there. I'll mention the biggest though; it involved approximately 18,000 individuals (roughly half on placebo) taking 5mg finasteride to study prostate cancer. Merck did not perform this study.

The 2% statistic is true as a result of the trials. People continually refute it based on their own interpretation of the situation, but it's been seen time and time again in studies, and also independently reported by doctors. Of course when millions of people start taking the drug, you see an increase due to the 'nocebo' effect. Quite simply, if a person knows a drug can potentially cause side effects, you see a huge increase in reported side effects based on this knowledge.

When someone tells you 'facts' about propecia, you need to be able to back these up with proof. 99% of what people tell you about this drug is not based on proof. Everything I tell you: check for proof. Everything anyone else tells you: check for proof. You can't base your decision to take a drug on other people's experiences. That would be pretty shortsighted. Anyone here giving you advice is biased. Including me.

The only people you can turn to for the most valid information are doctors. Doctors base their recommendations on proof.

But as a fun exercise, I’ll fill out your survey!
 

Wuffer

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1. I’m 29, been losing my hair slowly since I was 25.

2. Before I started finasteride, I was a NW3V. I am now a pretty solid NW2.

3. Just over 3 months

4. 1.25mg generic Proscar (cut into quarters)

5. Extremely happy. Hair loss halted at about a month, and significant growth in the crown started shortly after. Hair loss in the crown is no longer detectable, and I am beginning to see thickening in the front as well

6. Has Finasteride/Propecia -

a) Yes for loss in the crown, no for recession in the front.
b) TBD, but at this point, yes.
c) If you mean do other people see improvement, then yes. Many of my friends have remarked on my progress.

7. I had a testicle ache for about 3 days in my 3rd week of treatment. I also experienced psychosomatic symptoms (sexual and mental including brain fog, ed, loss of libido) a little over a month ago for a week. These are completely gone now, after realizing they were a result of anxiety. I also experienced a legitimate decrease in morning erections for the first couple months, but this has also gone away in the last couple weeks. Right now, I feel exactly the same as I did pre-finasteride. Just with more hair :)

8. As I mentioned above, the two legitimate sides I had (testicle ache and decrease in morning erections) have stopped completely.

9. The extent of my sexual problems while on this drug (ed / loss of libido) were completely attributed to anxiety I felt while reading horror stories from other users. After a break from the forums, I realized these things were in my head and they quickly abated.

10. I’m not sure what you mean by this question. If you are talking in terms of hair loss, I no longer think about that anymore. In my mind, it’s cured.

11. Again as above, I experienced this as a result of anxiety for about a week. People don’t know that brain fog is one of the most common symptoms experienced during anxiety. When the anxiety went away, so did the brain fog. I continue to excel in a job that requires constant mental focus and effectively tackle complex computer-related tasks on a daily basis (I am a software developer). Finasteride has not affected my mental capacity in any way.


12. Yes I still use it; I have no reason to stop using it. If I happened to experience side effects that I was not able to deal with, I would quit.

13. Absolutely. Any man that is over 18 and is experiencing male pattern baldness should take finasteride. I am extremely happy with my results. I have recommended it to over a dozen friends with male pattern baldness, and several of them have already started. They were very impressed by my results and I hope that they experience the same.

14. I’ve been open about my opinions on Finasteride; I believe it is safe and effective. However, if you aren’t entirely convinced of its safety, don’t even bother taking it. Even as a relatively intelligent, well-grounded individual, I was swayed by the masses after reading all the finasteride horror stories. I experienced all the symptoms; they were 100% real to me at the time, and I came very close to quitting. Anybody is susceptible to being swayed by these stories; we are all human. I fully admit that I was, which is the main reason I am so adamant in my beliefs that people need to understand how to identify symptoms as real or psychosomatic.

Hope this helps! I gain nothing from you starting finasteride; I don’t benefit in any way. However, as a fellow balding brother, I hate to see someone not take the step to fix their hair just because they are scared. I am so much happier now than I was even 3 months ago. It’s a huge relief to not have to think about my hair anymore. It’s honestly a huge weight off my shoulders, and I can go back to focusing on life again.
 

Mens Rea

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Wuffer said:
14. I’ve been open about my opinions on Finasteride; I believe it is safe and effective. However, if you aren’t entirely convinced of its safety, don’t even bother taking it. Even as a relatively intelligent, well-grounded individual, I was swayed by the masses after reading all the finasteride horror stories. I experienced all the symptoms; they were 100% real to me at the time, and I came very close to quitting. Anybody is susceptible to being swayed by these stories; we are all human. I fully admit that I was, which is the main reason I am so adamant in my beliefs that people need to understand how to identify symptoms as real or psychosomatic


The undertone of these posts is becoming ridiculous, quite frankly.

"Swayed"

"Stories"

"Susceptible"


........


Just because you had potential "psychosomatic" experience means very little, really. Most people's experiences consist of physical things like semen changes, loss of morning wood etc etc. I dare say most people have a decent gripe of their sexual function. Most people don't read all these "horror" stories you speak off until they put two and two together and realise why they have ED etc, that's the actual reality.
 

Wuffer

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Mens, the guy asked for our personal stories and that was my story. It wasn't meant as a slight at you or anyone else; it's me answering his questions and giving him advice based on my experience. You are welcome to share your opinion as well. You need to stop taking my posts so personally! I'm not trying to piss anyone off.

Lets all present our differing opinions and let jd_uk decide on his own.
 

Wuffer

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btw jd_uk, yes your responses in this section of the forum will be very biased. I recommend you message an admin to request to move this topic back, or re-post in the original section without the phrase: "side effects" in the title. Maybe call it: "Propecia Experiences Survey". When an admin sees 'side effects' in the topic, it will be moved pretty quickly.
 

Mens Rea

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Wuffer said:
Mens, the guy asked for our personal stories and that was my story. It wasn't meant as a slight at you or anyone else; it's me answering his questions and giving him advice based on my experience. You are welcome to share your opinion as well. You need to stop taking my posts so personally! I'm not trying to piss anyone off.

Lets all present our differing opinions and let jd_uk decide on his own.


Why the constant references to other people then? Stick with your own story :p
 
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