Oh snap...I got some finasteride sides (A cautionary tale. Read it)

[Rawtashk]

I'd been reading a lot on these forums and was trolling through the Side Effects ones quite a bit. As much as I am a fan of finasteride...I still don't want to get sides, and I'll drop it if I start to get them.

So, I read about people who had chronic fatigue, and some that had a lack of dreams for years because they couldn't hit REM sleep stage. I started freaking out. I've been fighting exhaustion since early this year (Been on finasteride for over 3), and I couldn't really remember the last time that I had a vivid dream. I remember earlier this year where I'd take 2 naps a day, just to get through work! I'd upped my finasteride dosage from .5 to 1.25mg, and that scared be because it was probably a sign that pointed to sides.

I freaked out, like, literally. I could feel the fear in my chest. "NO! I don't want to stop finasteride, I don't want to be bald like my old man and older brother! I still want to make the trek out to LA and try to transition from these low-budget movies to something that people might actually see!" etc etc. It was full on panic. I felt like I wanted to throw up and cry at the same time.

My next step was to decide to figure out if it really was the finasteride. I ordered 30 1mg pills, and I was going to cut them in half and go back to .5mg and see if that helped. I also decided to sleep upstairs on the futon in my "man-cave" for a few nights. My wife wasn't sure about this decision, she was sure that it was a sign I wanted a divorce because I didn't want to sleep with her. Nope, I'm just a very meticulous person, and I didn't want to wait 3 weeks to find out if going to .5mg would help anything.

Day 1 (Wednesday night): I went to bed at 11pm (it's rare to be in bed before midnight for me) and woke up at 8am. Had a dream, but I don't remember what it was. Work was fine, no need for a nap. Felt pretty good all day. Had a basketball game (city league) and scored 31 pts with 14 rebounds and 11 assists. Good day overall.

Day 2: Went to bed at 1am, woke up at 8am. Had another dream, but don't remember it now. Work was still ok. Took a nap during lunch break, but overall not bad. Built 2 computers for people.

Day 3: Went to bed around midnight, got up at 10am. Had a dream that I was living in Las Vegas and working for Gold and Silver Pawn (the shop from Pawn Stars). Rick confessed to me that he was hooked on valium because his days are so stressful. He also had some pretty violent mood swings when the cameras were off. I got off my shift to go play basketball and he gave me a Florida Gators hat that he signed for me. (I'd say that was a pretty vivid dream)


So, I feel like 3 nights are a pretty decent sample size. I sat down today after drinking my morning AMP Energy Drink and thought it out.....and then it all made sense to me.

Back at the start of January I got cast as the lead male role in a movie called "Embrace". The role required 2 sex scenes and a few shirtless scenes. I started working out 2x a day (during lunch, and after work) to buff up. "If I'm going to be shirtless on camera, then I'm gonna be proud of it!". Work also kicked into overdrive that month (always busy from Jan-April) and I was working an average of 55hrs a week. I still try to workout 2x a day, and I also play Basketball 2x a week now. In spite of all this, my sleeping habits had not changed. I was still getting only 5-7hrs of sleep, even though I was at LEAST twice as active.

My wife and I share a full bed (bed sizes go King > Queen > Full > Twin > Single). She moves around a lot in her sleep, so I end up sleeping in an area less than the size of a single mattress. I was probably getting woken up every few hours because of her moving around, which prevented me from hitting REM sleep.

I remedied these 2 situations for 3 days, and I feel better than I have in months!


So, just a word of warning out there to you guys who are on finasteride, but scared shitless of sides. Your mind is a POWERFUL tool! If you've seen my posts, you know that I'm one of the largest finasteride supporters on this board....and even I had convinced myself that I had some sides, and was contemplating dropping finasteride and going bald. Humans are a curious bunch, and they need answers to everything. If your mind has a question, it will find an answer....even if it's not truly the right one.

 

[johnbbbb]

People will blame Propecia for anything. Look at this forum and other hairloss forums. I've seen people blame Propecia for things like cavities, acne, back aches, etc.

I don't think this int phenomenon is restricted to Propecia. For instance, I take a statin for my cholesterol (has worked great, btw). But if you look at reviews for it on the internet, they're 90% negative. People blame this drug for giving them arthritis, wild mood swings, loss of muscle mass, etc.

 

[Wuffer]

Great post, man!

It's funny because I went through pretty much the exact same thing as you did. It's amazing how quickly the panic starts to set in when you obsess about it 24/7.

I was experiencing pretty much every symptom in the book about a month after starting. It was scary as hell, and I came close to quitting finasteride. Someone on this forum suggested I get out of town and take my mind off things, so I did just that. It was a long weekend, so my girlfriend and I headed out to a resort town in the rocky mountains. I ate good food, spent time outside, went drinking, and had a great time. Even though I was worried about performing in the sack, a few beers was all it took to remove that fear and I realized absolutely nothing was wrong, and had fantastic sex the whole weekend. After coming back, I was able to put the pieces back together and not let myself fall into the same trap again. I believe if not for that trip, I may be in a horrible situation right now.

Of course i'm not saying finasteride can't cause side effects, but I personally believe it's much more likely to experience something like we did. The trick is really to get it out of your mind. Stop obsessing about hair, finasteride and get all those f*cking negative thoughts out of your head.

I think enjoying life within reason is so much better than obsessing about being perfect and completely healthy. This weekend I went camping. Probably drank 30 beers, smoked 4 cigars and got high out of my mind. I feel great because i've actually unwound, and purged some of that negativity from my mind. Men need to do this. Hang out with some friends, just let loose, ingest drugs or do whatever you need to forget about 'life'. It's therapeutic! Even though this weekend probably removed a couple years from my life.. ugh.

 

[Prop]

finasteride pride here :whistle:

it's curious to know why this psycosys involved mainly finasteride and not other
hair therapies like laser comb (maybe some can claim that got deep burns from it ) ecc

in some bad selfish way is better a large use of fina
so more cases come up and more sides studies will follow :sobbing:

 

[Wuffer]

It's nothing about 'finasteride pride' Propecia, don't be rediculous. Both Rawtashk and I had a very similar experience, and I believe others go through it also. Please understand we aren't saying finasteride is perfect and that all side effects are fake.

In answer to your question though, I believe the reason for this is simply because of the internet. I strongly believe individuals that spend time on forums and reading about finasteride side effects are much more prone to these types of effects than the average person.

Actually, i've got an example. I got my twinrix (Hep A/B) shots a few months back. After my first shot, I went home and went about my day with no problems or side effects. A week later, I had my second shot. Same thing, no problems. However, this time I decided to do some research and found a travel forum with a ton of people complaining about headaches and dizziness after their shots. Lo and behold, after my third shot I almost instantly got a headache and was so dizzy I could barely drive home. It is possible that it only affected me on the 3rd dose, but more likely that my mind made it all happen because I was expecting it to happen.

You see the exact same with minoxidil as well, mind you. People complain of insane side effects from that stuff. I've never used it so I can't comment on that, but i'm guessing the same thing is going on. Some even swear it causes sexual problems. No evidence of that, but if people start posting it on forums, it suddenly becomes truth?

I can almost guarantee you that if people started coming out saying laser combs caused headaches in numbers, many more would say the same thing. It's like an avalanche!

Anyway, that's our point. It's not an I-heart-finasteride thread. In fact, I do NOT enjoy taking this stuff, and the second a better treatment is available, I will switch.

 

[Mens Rea]

While i agree with the thrust of this post in the sense that people need to be rational and tell the difference between the mind and physical issues, i have to say this:

You guys who can't tell the difference between mental and clearly physical side effects do the whole "post finasteride syndrome" subcategory a HUGE injustice. Sadly, no doubt, there IS some guys convinced they have sides from finasteride when it's self induced but that shouldn't detract from the reality that several thosand guys face, including myself.

My tip: if you've such an unstable mind not to guage the difference then i suggest you dont NO medication of any kind. The mind is VERY powerful if you don't know how to handle it.

 

[Rawtashk]

I have no doubt that PFS is real, but I seriously doubt that it is as widespread as people posting on the internet would have you believe. Every drug as a potential for sides. Hell, penicillin is probably the greatest modern advancement in medical history. It's saved hundreds of thousands of lives....yet some people are allergic to it and will die if they take it.

 

[Prop]

It's nothing about 'finasteride pride' Propecia, don't be rediculous.

please don't get offended
your arguments r always posed in a very diplomatic and perfect form and i like that

i think we can have a metadiscussion on sides

here we can see two different schools of thinking about fina sides

1) wuffer school that emphasize the power of mind

2) pfs sufferers school that emphasize the dangers of fina

both have reason in some way and both have no grounds to state if someone that claims sides is a "mental" one or "effective" one

if 2° school mistakes, the worst consequences can be that someone lose hair instead of keeping it by fina.
But we suggest only to choose another treatment that maybe can also be effective for hairloss and less dangerous for health

if 1° schools mistakes, the worst consequences can be lifetime suffering and lose hair at same (i'm assuming that side sufferer quit the fina treatment)

What is the best deal?

Surely my judgement is biased by my experience, but rationally i suppose that
my opinion is not so crazy

 

[Wuffer]

Sorry Propecia, I shouldn't have gotten defensive like that! I took your comment the wrong way.

Good post though, I do agree with you somewhat. Of course, when a better treatment is available, everyone and their dog will drop finasteride and switch over. But for the time being, it's a decision that needs to be made right now. male pattern baldness can progress very quickly for some guys, and immediate action is required to halt it.. If not to save time until the next effective treatment is out.

We both have biased opinions, based on our very different experiences. Unfortunately we probably won't see eye to eye on our opinions, but it's still important to hear both sides of the fence.

 

[Prop]

Of course, when a better treatment is available, everyone and their dog will drop finasteride and switch over. But for the time being, it's a decision that needs to be made right now. male pattern baldness can progress very quickly for some guys, and immediate action is required to halt it.. If not to save time until the next effective treatment is out.

oh yes, for sure when i was not messed up and hair were my priority, i would have done the same.
(and i did it)

hairloss is very annoying

But i think that we have to wait some more generations to solve definitely alopecia

it's all a priority problem. healt vs beauty

 

[barcafan]

People will blame Propecia for anything. Look at this forum and other hairloss forums. I've seen people blame Propecia for things like cavities, acne, back aches, etc.

I don't think this int phenomenon is restricted to Propecia. For instance, I take a statin for my cholesterol (has worked great, btw). But if you look at reviews for it on the internet, they're 90% negative. People blame this drug for giving them arthritis, wild mood swings, loss of muscle mass, etc.

That's because a statin is one of the worst "medications" you can ever take. lol