Propecia - 5 days on and already quit - sides?

[Wuffer]

Gynecomastia is defined as a female shaped breast on a man. Are your breasts large, and do they look female? If not, you basically don't have gynecomastia. Feeling small lumps along the side of your chest doesn't indicate gyno. If an ultrasound didn't find anything, if they aren't growing or painful, and if your doctor isn't concerned, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Are you certain these weren't there all along? Did you actually spend time digging around all over your chest at any point before you took finasteride?

I just dug around in my chest and found a few small random lumps. I also feel them in my stomach, my legs and my biceps.

 

[HairLossHelpWanted]

Gynecomastia is defined as a female shaped breast on a man. Are your breasts large, and do they look female? If not, you basically don't have gynecomastia. Feeling small lumps along the side of your chest doesn't indicate gyno. If an ultrasound didn't find anything, if they aren't growing or painful, and if your doctor isn't concerned, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Are you certain these weren't there all along? Did you actually spend time digging around all over your chest at any point before you took finasteride?

I just dug around in my chest and found a few small random lumps. I also feel them in my stomach, my legs and my biceps.

Yes, the breasts are starting to appear more feminine, but I believe they are still in the beginning stages. I had two people make slight comments on them. They are tender, and I feel a discomfort there/tightness. Most of the time, I feel this later on in the day...in the morning, I often feel like they are better than at night. I'm not sure if that is even possible. As I write this, I just left the bar and the right side is very painful. This was not there before, and developed within 5 days of taking propecia. The doctor was originally very concerned to get my test results done overnight and to get the appointments set up for the next day. The ultrasound,though, came back negative...and I do not believe I really have any hard lump underneath my nipple. However, the breasts are more feminine, and I have never felt anything quite like this before. I will keep you updated with the results of the MRI

 

[Wuffer]

Have you gained any weight or anything that could explain the shape change?

I'm not trying to write off your explanation, but trying to help you determine what it is. Gyno is either all fat, all glandular, or (most commonly) a combination of both. Obviously the lumps you feel on the side of your chest aren't the direct cause of your breast enlargement. If glandular tissue were growing in your breast, you would be able to feel a rubbery mass that moves around under your skin as you massage. Not necessarily behind your nipple, but usually that's where it starts.

If you don't feel anything obvious in your breast (aside from tiny lumps, which are probably normal) then it's likely caused by fat. This is usually completely reversible by losing weight. It's possible that a raise in estrogen levels from finasteride caused a fat buildup in your breast.

It could also be that your nipples are more 'full' which is potentially also a result of increased estrogen, and make your breasts look more feminine. This is not really gyno. Do you drink often and do you smoke marijuana? Both of these can cause breast enlargement.


I'm not an expert, but I know quite a bit about it. I have some minor glandular gyno left over from puberty symmetrically in both breasts. If I gain some weight it becomes sort of noticeable, but at a healthy weight it isn't noticeable. What you have seems very minor, and if finasteride did cause it, it's not going to continue to get worse after you stopped the stuff. If you smoke weed and drink a lot, try cutting them out for a month and I wouldn't be surprised if it starts to go away.

Best of luck, keep us updated.

 

[HairLossHelpWanted]

Thanks for the good reply. I am tall and have always been skinny, with little fat. During this time I have lost 8 pounds, and have no fat anywhere else. I was diagnosed with fructose malabsorption 2 years ago, and since then have been having a little trouble putting weight on. Other than that, I have been completely healthy my entire life.

I do not do any marijuana or any drugs, and generally do not drink at all. On average, over the last few years, I have averaged probably 1 drink every two weeks...very minor drinker. However, during the last 5 months I have been drinking more. I now average around 7 drinks per week or so; mostly including some type of pop (I've heard caffeine can be bad). Other than these past 5 months, I can count on one hand how many times I have had caffeine in the past few years...I cut it out completely due to the fructose malabsorption. I brought this up to the doctor as well.

The timetable goes like this, though. 5 months ago, start propecia for 5 days. Notice breast enlargement...more like fatty buildup. Quit propecia, make post. Two weeks later, the social drinking started increasing....I've only been drunk twice in the last 5 months, but the number of times i have gone out for 2-3 drinks has increased a lot. For a month after this, things improved. Had testosterone tested while things were better...testosterone and free testosterone actually increased. Estradiol was relatively high, but not out of the reference range. Free Testosterone was still at the lower end of the range. Testosterone was great.

Then, during the last 3 months, things are worse. I have been off propecia for nearly 5 months now. It feels like things are still growing in my breast area. The mass is about 2-3 fingers wide, and from my armpit down to about 2 inches from my nipple..and a little outward towards the center of my nipple. My right breast seems worse than my left. The area affected is the same, though. I feel no bump or hard spot underneath the nipples on either side. It seems worse at night, than during the morning. I also have headaches, often times at night. Some mornings, I wake up, and things seem much better.

EDIT: also, I noticed that my nipples were slightly enlarged on finasteride...it seemed like. This went away within a week of stopping finasteride and has not returned. The nipples are the same, they are just pushed forward from the increase in fat, tissue, or whatever has happened.

- - - Updated - - -

Here is a picture taken a month ago. Things are slightly worse now. I wish I had a baseline photo, but I had always had an extremely flat chest. No weightlifting, weight gain, or anything else happened during this period. The change happened in 5 days, appears to get better, and then has progressively gotten worse. I do not feel tenderness/pain all day, but rather mostly at night. Photos appear much worse when I lay down on my side, or bend over a bit. Upon feeling the area in person, the doctor requested immediate tests done and believed it was potentially gynecomastia or some fibrocystic cysts/lumps.

The highlighted area shows where I feel what may be better described as a rubbery mass underneath my skin...I do not feel this underneath or around my nipples in the parts not highlighted. Possibly a small amount over the top of my breast, but not of the same type of mass as the area highlighted. I run a lot, and noticed a large change in how much my breasts bounce while running....from almost non existant to quite a bit...I had to change running shirts actually. In the large photo, you can see the outward appearance starting to form...this has been getting worse. My chest was extremely flat, and I had two people comment on a slight difference in appearance already, but it's not super noticeable yet.

I am hopeful that this is in the beginning stages and may be able to stopped and hopefully reversed a little without surgery. Could things like drinking and normal work stress be affecting this? I'm not talking about long term effects, but rather daily issues...I feel like my breasts are worse at night, and after drinking anything, and also while I undergo any mild stress. They seem better in the morning. Edit: Note that these photos were first thing in the morning. I was going to do a comparison that day of morning/night.