Is everyone against finasteride now?

[Joe-1991]

I have noticed that there are a lot of people avoiding finasteride now. Or people on the drug admitting that the side effects are very unpleasant.

Have times changed?

When i was on here 2 years ago everyone was pro finasteride and real side effects were written off.

 

[TheGrayMan2001]

I am pretty sure everyone recommends finasteride as the first line of defense, with the exception of a few people who have had terrible experiences with side effects and refuse to acknowledge that most people don't have side effects.

 

[Wuffer]

This is an interesting topic. I agree, looking back at posts 2-3 years ago, there weren’t even close to as many negative posts about propecia. Some people may conclude that more people now get side effects than they did 3 years ago, but that's ridiculous. You could also say that individuals weren't as vocal and forthcoming as they are now. I don't believe that's it either.

It's true that the anti-propecia campaign (argue as much as you like - it is a campaign) has been very successful in swaying the masses. I also would like to point out that many of the people against finasteride are quite vocal about their experiences (rightfully so). Another thing I noticed is that a lot of people badmouthing finasteride have never even tried the stuff, but just decided to take a stand against it for whatever reason.. Probably to justify their decision in their mind that they aren't taking the significant step to halt their hair loss. That's fine and dandy, but it's confusing to me why these individuals go out of their way to convince others not to take it as well?

There is no doubt that individual opinions have changed dramatically over the last couple years, primarily because of propeciahelp. The campaign is extremely successful, and it seems now that there are more people against it than for it.

However, in the end, nothing has really changed. The drug hasn't changed and neither has its effect; it's all about opinion now. Just my observations.

 

[Prop]

This is an interesting topic. I agree, looking back at posts 2-3 years ago, there weren’t even close to as many negative posts about propecia. Some people may conclude that more people now get side effects than they did 3 years ago, but that's ridiculous.

maybe people that suffered sides never related it to propecia, due to merck biased studies/commercial campaign.

doctors, relying on that, labelled "mentals" the side sufferers that try to blame propecia

now awarness is spreading everywhere.
is a bad thing?


also conference on post finasteride syndrome will be taken in sept
what is ur opinion about it?

 

[Wuffer]

Propecia,

I don't agree that Merck showed any undue bias in their FDA approval, but then again, i've never really investigated this matter or seen any evidence that suggests this. However, I admit it could be possible, and I think the current ongoing lawsuits against Merck would shed light on this. BTW, has anybody seen what's come from these lawsuits? I know there was a Canadian one filed early this year, but I haven't heard anything about it since.

I don't think awareness is a bad thing at all. My problem is that in the past (not quite as much now) the awareness was spread through a blatant scare tactic campaign. Much of it was very biased and used fear and misinformation to convince people that propecia was bad. I think that worked very well, and now that so many people have changed their opinions, there is much more attention from the medical community and the media. Like I said before, a very successful campaign run by some very smart and determined individuals.

I still maintain my beliefs that much of PFS is primarily perpetuated by the placebo effect and psychosomatic symptoms. However, I no longer believe it accounts for ALL cases. There are just too many people out there that are having these types of problems, and even though it is almost completely based on anecdotal evidence, its pretty clear that there is a relationship between Finasteride and these problems. To what extent? Is it a direct cause? A secondary or tertiary result of some currently unknown mechanism or predisposition? Nobody knows. Clearly, it's extremely complicated.

There is no hard evidence yet that links PFS to Finasteride. There seem to be new theories every day, but none of them have gained any ground. I think the PFS conference is an excellent thing. I don't know much about it, but the only way it will be cracked if there is a multi-disciplined approach to the problem. If you have a bunch of endocrinologists in a room looking at only hormonal solutions, I think they will be spinning their wheels for a long time. I hope that the committee consists of endocrinologists, urologists, psychologists and neurologists, will be assembled at the very least.


I am also aware of another study taking place (actually, I believe you posted this a while back) through the ISHRS:

http://www.ishrs.org/articles/finasteri ... cement.htm


There is also an annual ISHRS meeting taking place in September in Alaska. From what I understand, the topic of PFS will be discussed there. However, I’m not sure if these discussions will be published, but I am interested to see if the 'trichology task force' from the link above will reveal any of their results.

 

[virtuality]

Have you ever considered the fact that those who don't get any side effects just get on with their normal lives and don't come back here.

It's usually the ones with the side effects that are desperate for an alternative treatment that hang around the forum.

so, the representation you see here isn't proportional.

 

[Prop]

Have you ever considered the fact that those who don't get any side effects just get on with their normal lives and don't come back here.

It's usually the ones with the side effects that are desperate for an alternative treatment that hang around the forum.
.

not necessary

who don't get sides hang around mainly in "antiandrogens blockers forum"
and takes finasteride happily

who gets sides for first time , go around here,
but with time search other forums (sides focused).
here i see no more enden, mens rea, and others.

 

[misterpharmacist]

People are more aware of the dangers now, and that's a good thing.

 

[fml]

I think you guys are overestimating the amount of "awareness" there is about finasteride. Your view is skewed by the fact that you are on hairloss message boards every day. You are not even in the majority online, nevermind in all users. I doubt there is a significantly greater number of people "against" finasteride than a couple of years ago. A few dozen or couple of hundred more people posting on the web is not significant. Maybe it is significant in the internet hairloss discussion community, but it isnt significant among finasteride takers in general. And we really dont know how many of those "people" are legitimate unique usernames. As mentioned above, there is definitely a propaganda campaign being waged against finasteride. And I think it is genuinely debatable whether that campaign, on balance, does more harm than good. But Im pretty sure the campaign has never come close to touching the vast vast majority of finasteride takers worldwide anyway. Its insignificant. And I think Im leaning to the side of that being a good thing.

 

[Prop]

I think you guys are overestimating the amount of "awareness" there is about finasteride.
I doubt there is a significantly greater number of people "against" finasteride than a couple of years ago.

we can't see statistics so we can rely only on unaccurate web reports
some could be mentals, others not, but the new "great number" was enough big to attract scientific investigation on this.

This means objectively that "unaccurate web reports" are relevant in some way

i guess ther's not a greater number of people "against" but only a grat number of people that experienced sides

 

[cuebald]

It's just the board groupthink at the moment. A few vocal posters rant against finasteride, the lurkers read this, think the same, become posters themselves, and the momentum builds.
If you go over to HLH you'll see the opposite of what's happening here - people are taking their finasteride without second thought, but there's a huge anti-minoxidil campaign there - all the posters are claiming they've been aged rapidly, their skin has become puffy, etc etc.