New to hair loss knowledge, and have not kept myself very informed until recently. I have had small crown spot since late teens that became more noticeable a few years ago (early 30s now) along with a thinning temple that is starting to show some minor bright light reflection, (Minoxril helped to thicken this a bit). Started with Nioxin shampoo 3 years ago which I have now discontinued (might start again, did not want to cross it with minoxril), then got more serious this year with Minoxril since February and now Finsteraid 1mg since August (four months on). Since then I have experienced some potential side effects that are making me question my decision to continue the treatment.
I did an A B comparison with a shot taken late September and finasteride has given me some small amount of growth in crown area. I was noticing some thinning at temple but not sure if imagined, but this seems to be normal now.
Mental
I admit to being prone to depressive symptoms, and have had 'bleak' spells in the past where some of the following symptoms have manifested. But I do not recollect having such a prolonged or exaggerated set of features before. Firstly I have had periods of quite pronounced malaise since September, which was at its worst about two weeks ago dipping into despair and some permanent solution thoughts. I have also had less motivation than usual, not doing extra activities like cycling and weight lifting because I can't bring myself to put in the effort.
My working memory/short term memory seems to be affected as well. Some examples this week that I remember are going in to get a knife and finding it in my pocket, eating a meal and forgetting I had put salt on fries, and I often go into rooms and have to think for a while before I remember why I am there. I can also struggle to recall long term memories and words, another family member has said to me a few times in the last months that my memory seems bad (they know I am on finasteride).
Physical
The last 4 weeks I have been getting eye strain/pain on a daily basis. My background is a former prescription wearer for 9 years until LASIK a year ago. I am more vigilant and concerned about my vision because of this, but apart from dry eye spells have completely forgotten about eye maintenance until recently. I have also noticed worse vision in right eye, which may just be slow focus as vision can be normal if I refocus.
Around this time I also got a high resolution laptop, so suspected it might have been using a type of screen that induced eye strain. I stopped using the laptop 4 days ago, and did not notice any difference, also I have started to wake up with one eye so dry that vision is blurred, despite using eye drops several times a day every day now for weeks. I went to see my laser specialists and they could not see anything wrong but perhaps dry eyes. That was very unusual as the night before I had given my eyes an eye bath and for months previously would not touch eye drops at all without dry or sore eyes.
Talked to my doctor who just said yeah try not using laptop, I didn't even mention that I was taking finasteride to him as I had never heard of this as a side effect nor imagined it could be. Then I looked up eye issues and finasteride yesterday and heard that there is some indication that some of these hormonal changes can affect the lubrication and visual acuity of the eye.
My biggest problem is that for as many people that report these side effects with supposed medical investigations on one vector to support their conclusions, and equal amount decry this information. It is quite difficult to know if this is really being caused by the medication and how much of it might be coincidental or imagined. So just wanted to get this out there to see if there are any interesting other takes on the situation. I have looked into hair transplant surgery but stopping finasteride seems to be bad news for this path as many want you to take it forever or risk losing all new hair. At the moment continuing or stopping the finasteride doesn't look great.
TLDR: Worried about possible depression/Memory sides and eye problems. Should I still take finasteride?
I did an A B comparison with a shot taken late September and finasteride has given me some small amount of growth in crown area. I was noticing some thinning at temple but not sure if imagined, but this seems to be normal now.
Mental
I admit to being prone to depressive symptoms, and have had 'bleak' spells in the past where some of the following symptoms have manifested. But I do not recollect having such a prolonged or exaggerated set of features before. Firstly I have had periods of quite pronounced malaise since September, which was at its worst about two weeks ago dipping into despair and some permanent solution thoughts. I have also had less motivation than usual, not doing extra activities like cycling and weight lifting because I can't bring myself to put in the effort.
My working memory/short term memory seems to be affected as well. Some examples this week that I remember are going in to get a knife and finding it in my pocket, eating a meal and forgetting I had put salt on fries, and I often go into rooms and have to think for a while before I remember why I am there. I can also struggle to recall long term memories and words, another family member has said to me a few times in the last months that my memory seems bad (they know I am on finasteride).
Physical
The last 4 weeks I have been getting eye strain/pain on a daily basis. My background is a former prescription wearer for 9 years until LASIK a year ago. I am more vigilant and concerned about my vision because of this, but apart from dry eye spells have completely forgotten about eye maintenance until recently. I have also noticed worse vision in right eye, which may just be slow focus as vision can be normal if I refocus.
Around this time I also got a high resolution laptop, so suspected it might have been using a type of screen that induced eye strain. I stopped using the laptop 4 days ago, and did not notice any difference, also I have started to wake up with one eye so dry that vision is blurred, despite using eye drops several times a day every day now for weeks. I went to see my laser specialists and they could not see anything wrong but perhaps dry eyes. That was very unusual as the night before I had given my eyes an eye bath and for months previously would not touch eye drops at all without dry or sore eyes.
Talked to my doctor who just said yeah try not using laptop, I didn't even mention that I was taking finasteride to him as I had never heard of this as a side effect nor imagined it could be. Then I looked up eye issues and finasteride yesterday and heard that there is some indication that some of these hormonal changes can affect the lubrication and visual acuity of the eye.
My biggest problem is that for as many people that report these side effects with supposed medical investigations on one vector to support their conclusions, and equal amount decry this information. It is quite difficult to know if this is really being caused by the medication and how much of it might be coincidental or imagined. So just wanted to get this out there to see if there are any interesting other takes on the situation. I have looked into hair transplant surgery but stopping finasteride seems to be bad news for this path as many want you to take it forever or risk losing all new hair. At the moment continuing or stopping the finasteride doesn't look great.
TLDR: Worried about possible depression/Memory sides and eye problems. Should I still take finasteride?