Propecia 'risking men's sexual health'

[hairymonster]

An article on BBC about permanent side effects of propecia/finasteride

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/12040303

Merck claims only 2% may suffer side effects but of course they would only publish the best statistics and other blogs report much higher. I am taking SP supplement as I don't want to become impotent but see that can also have an affect, albeit less and temporary.

Any comments?

 

[Wuffer]

This article is quite old and I believe it's been posted and discussed several times.

 

[hairymonster]

Thanks, I couldn't find it when searching.

 

[Timi]

that makes many Drugs

Bloodpressure Drugs-Antidepressiva and so on

Timi

 

[jonsie150]

I've reported/edited for a local paper for 3 years, and in my opinion this is a really, really poorly written article. The research is totally lacking. You can tell the writer used only two sources: 1. the boy with hair loss and 2. the internet.

The writer says something like "many doctors in the UK and Ireland say that propecia has adverse effects," but doesn't bother to actually talk to one of those doctors. The article jumps to the conclusion that propecia is directly related to the guy's condition, without explaining the reasons why it might be.

Other problems with the article:
1. Doesn't explain the mechanism of finasteride, and how that could relate to sexual dysfunction.
2. Doesn't make an attempt at speaking to a Merck spokesperson. It only cites stuff from the labels.
3. And perhaps the biggest offense: the article uses only one source (the boy). With an article like this you need to talk to other people who are going through the same thing.

Anyway, I'm not saying that the story is a sham, but the reporting in this article is tabloid-grade at best. So we should really stop posting this link, and stop regarding this as a piece of useful information.

 

[powersam]

What many forget is that the small percentage of sexual side effects found in the studies, was the number found when the drug is used by a group of men with no other significant health problems.

The same cannot be said of the general public, hence the possibility that side effects are more widespread in the general population.