My blood work.

[ahmedwk]

I am on 0.625 mg finasteride (1 proscar quarter every other day) for 6 months now. Before that I was on 1 mg finasteride. I reduced the dose because of the side effects but no luck. unfortunately the side effects increased.

Symptoms:
Enlarged Breasts (Not much but there is difference)
Shrinked Testicles
Total Libido Loss
Watery Semen

So, I went to doctor and He wrote the following blood tests for me:
Prolactin (I think for the breasts problem)
FSH
LH
Testosterone

The results were astonishing for me because it indicates I don't have problems (value between brackets are for the normal range):
Prolactin: 10.4 ng/ml (2-18)
FSH: 1.72 mlU/ml (1-13)
LH: 3.34 mlU/ml (1-10)
Testosterone: 32.71 nmol/l (5.8-30.4)

as you can see my testosterone is actually higher than normal

Doctor told me not to worry about it and that I can discontinue Proscar any time to get rid of all these symptoms. so why do I have all these effects?

What I want to do is to reduce the dosage even further, like 2 proscar quarters weekly (effectivly 0.3mg finasteride daily) and wait for another 3-4 monthes and see the results. If the sides didn't go away then I will have to stop proscar (God help my hair)

What do you think?

 

[stax]

Your Doctor should have checked Estradiol, progesterone, and DHT while your at it.


Why he didnt check Estradiol (E2) is beyond me, thats the most common contributing factor in enlarged breasts, that and low DHT can be the cause aswell.


When you have high testosterone, more can be converted into Estradiol and DHT. Since you are blocking DHT, it will convert to Estradiol.


DHT is also has anti-estrogen effects in the body, and regulates and antagonises estrogen, so you can get hit with a double whammy.

 

[ahmedwk]

so you advise me to do these tests also:
Estradiol
DHT
progesterone

 

[sdm805]

2% of people taking finasteride have sexual sides. Yeah right.

 

[ahmedwk]

There is no way that I am going to do these tests specially the DHT. they cost a fortune here.

Estradiol or progesterone? I can afford only of these two tests (and if it is really required).

I think of 2 options right now:
1. stopping proscar for 2-3 months and watch my sexual side effects. Then resume on 0.25 mg Propecia per day
2. Start 0.25 mg right away and wait for the side effects to disappear. If it didn't go in 6 months period then I will try option 1.

I will use sexual sides to measure my hormone problems (if any)?

 

[Mew]

Test your ESTRADIOL!!!!!!!

Enlarged breasts is a sign of increased Estrogens in a man, you are starting to get Gynecomastia. All that extra Testosterone that would usually convert to DHT cannot since you are blocking it with Finasteride, so it gets aromatized into Estradiol.

If you only get tested for one thing, get Estradiol -- you will likely find it very high as well. If so, there are treatments to bring it down, such as Arimidex.

Others to check:
- Free/Bioavailable Testosterone
- SHBG (Sex Hormone Binding Globulin)
- Prolactin

In addition to Estradiol, these are all important since imbalances in any of them can interfere with sexual function... especially since you are reporting loss of libido. You may also want to get TSH done.

It probably isn't worth getting DHT checked since it's being surpressed by Finasteride, so its bound to be low anyway... but if you want to test it, go ahead.

Good luck.

 

[docj077]

2% of people taking finasteride have sexual sides. Yeah right.

That's actually correct. There are thousands and maybe even hundreds of thousands of men on propecia on this planet. This internet forum has 12,000 members with the majority of them never posting. Only a handful of them have ever demonstrated true side effects from the drug. Saying that you have low libido and blah, blah, blah doesn't really tell us anything about side effects. I'd have to say that 2% is an awefully good number.

The majority of time, it's not the propecia that is the problem. It's the individual physiology that is the problem and that's something that an entire company can not be blamed for.

 

[ahmedwk]

2% of people taking finasteride have sexual sides. Yeah right.

That's actually correct. There are thousands and maybe even hundreds of thousands of men on propecia on this planet. This internet forum has 12,000 members with the majority of them never posting. Only a handful of them have ever demonstrated true side effects from the drug. Saying that you have low libido and blah, blah, blah doesn't really tell us anything about side effects. I'd have to say that 2% is an awefully good number.

The majority of time, it's not the propecia that is the problem. It's the individual physiology that is the problem and that's something that an entire company can not be blamed for.

This was my opinion too before. I always believed in this. but Am I really one of the unlucky 2%?? or is the actual number higher than this? I don't know, and probably I will never know. May be the fluctuations of my finasteride intake is the reason. I.e. taking uneven dosages on undaily basis, this wasn't studied before and maybe if it was studied it would have been found to cause higher side effects that daily even dosage. maybe I had hormones problems before starting and it just got exaggerated by proscar. Maybe my testesterone was always high so when I started blocking DHT, more and more got converted to female hormones and caused all this mess.

Regarding my case, I decided to stop proscar and may God help my hair. but can you tell me of possible ways and medicines for my breasts to return to normal?

 

[docj077]

2% of people taking finasteride have sexual sides. Yeah right.

That's actually correct. There are thousands and maybe even hundreds of thousands of men on propecia on this planet. This internet forum has 12,000 members with the majority of them never posting. Only a handful of them have ever demonstrated true side effects from the drug. Saying that you have low libido and blah, blah, blah doesn't really tell us anything about side effects. I'd have to say that 2% is an awefully good number.

The majority of time, it's not the propecia that is the problem. It's the individual physiology that is the problem and that's something that an entire company can not be blamed for.

This was my opinion too before. I always believed in this. but Am I really one of the unlucky 2%?? or is the actual number higher than this? I don't know, and probably I will never know. May be the fluctuations of my finasteride intake is the reason. I.e. taking uneven dosages on undaily basis, this wasn't studied before and maybe if it was studied it would have been found to cause higher side effects that daily even dosage. maybe I had hormones problems before starting and it just got exaggerated by proscar. Maybe my testesterone was always high so when I started blocking DHT, more and more got converted to female hormones and caused all this mess.

Regarding my case, I decided to stop proscar and may God help my hair. but can you tell me of possible ways and medicines for my breasts to return to normal?

You have two-three years to at least treat it before it becomes permanent. SERMs are good start; clomiphene and tamoxifen. Removal of the agent that is causing the gynecomastia is usually your best bet, so dropping the proscar may be your only option there. After that, surgery is your only option. There are some herbal supplements floating around out there that claim to help, but I wouldn't put too much faith in them. Exercise and really working out the chest muscles has been shown to demonstrate some improvement, as well.

 

[stampede]

I thought that working the chest made the gyno subjectively worse - i.e., it would push out the breast tissue and make it more prominent?

 

[ahmedwk]

I don't think working the chest muscles will help. Spot reduction is impossible, I have to do a lot of cardio and aerobics to lose few pounds of fat and I hope I will lose the fats stored in the chest area as well. currently I am trying this topical fat burner: Yohimburn, I read a lot of positive reviews in a few body building forums.

Today I went for another blood test. I got my Estradiol measured and it may take a week to get the results.
I stopped proscar for a week now and no changes so far.

are the medicines you talking about safe? can I get it without prescription?