Sides from Saw Palmetto will I get them worse with finasteride ?

[Rich78]

I was waiting to hear back from my testosterone testing before I start propecia. My testosterone levels are lower but in range so my doctor gave me the go ahead.

Here is my question ...

I took saw palmetto 2 months ago for about 3 weeks. I stopped using if because it made all my problems worse.

I was wondering if propecia will give me the same issues or worse ?

I'm still trying to figure out what to take for my hair loss.

It seems the more I read here the more I get confused on what to do.

Anyone experience bad effects from saw but none or less from propecia ?

 

[Rich78]

Re: finasteride vs. Saw Palmetto ?

Nothing ?

 

[Mens Rea]

Re: finasteride vs. Saw Palmetto ?

in general, id say, if you are suspectible to sides like that from saw , finasteride will hit you with sides too (sooner or later). be careful.

 

[Rich78]

Re: finasteride vs. Saw Palmetto ?

This is what I'm thinking but really want to give it a try. Man what to do what to do...

The one thing I will say is that I was taking GNC brand SP and was taking 500 mg a day ( as this is the dosage that is recommended on the side). . I'm just wondering if this massive dose is what gave me the side. I'm still wondering if it was less would have made me all crazy.

And the sides I got where shedding, anxiety, depression and lowered testosterone levels. Even now I still feel a little off although that could be in my head and its just the hair loss that is making me depressed.

 

[flamingpie]

im kind of in the same boat as you. I took saw palmetto for almost a year. got some bad side effects from them, honestly not even 100 percent recovered and its been a year since i stopped taking it.
I really wanna try finasteride but im terrified that since i got these awful sides from sp, ill get it from finasteride as well.

 

[Rich78]

I have been thinking more and more about the sides I got and I'm starting to reconsider them a bit. I started taking saw JUST as reality set in that I was losing. At that time I had just got a bad haircut and was totally paniced and depressed. I may have not been in the right mind state and just blamed it on SP. I say this as this as I was just looking at the contents of my multi vitamin and it actually has a small amount of SP in it. I think it was all the stress of all this that may have lowered my testosterone levels at that time.

I decided to start propecia so atleast know I know mentality I'm ready and I'm a little stronger now .

 

[Primo]

Did you take Saw Palmetto orally or topically?

Finasteride give me bad mental and sexual sides, but the sides did at least disappear completely after I stopped taking it, so try it for at least a month and see how you go.

 

[Rich78]

I took it in pill form which I bought from GNC.

Just curious when did you experience side from finasteride, right off the bat or a few weeks in ?

I'm thinking of starting out on .5 mg every other day so I don't shock my system.

I took my first full 1 mg pill last night just to see how I would feel and today I don't feel anything out of the normal. Time will tell I guess.

 

[nickypoos]

Probably will expierience sides if your body can't handole the small DHT supression of Saw Palmetto. Still like anything, give it a try.

 

[Primo]

Just curious when did you experience side from finasteride, right off the bat or a few weeks in ?
.......................................................................

I had sides within a week, I was on 1mg a day... the mental sides were bearable but ED was what really scared the sh*t of me. Even if I'd stayed on finasteride for 6months, I don't see how I ever could've got my morning wood back.

I think I may be unusual/very unlucky in that my sexual function is hyper-sensitive to reductions in DHT/Testosterone because I'm having the same sides, albeit not as severe, with topical spironolactone Cream. It's not something that I'm willing to accept just for the sake of saving my hair.

With Regards to finasteride, my advice is start off on 1mg and if after 2weeks, you're feeling sides then cut it down to 0.5mg/0.25mg... one guy on here even takes 0.25mg every other day, which still manages to inhibit most of the DHT while giving less sides effects.

Anyway it is a safe drug in the sense that any sides you experience will disappear after you stop taking it, so you must give it a fair go. Also, there are many people on this forum who've been taking finasteride for years and maintain that they're sexual function is a good as ever (I'm extremely jealous of them), so don't be put off by my story or any others.

 

[Hoppi]

I believe they work in different ways. I think that SP/b-S work by blocking androgen receptors, and finasteride works by inhibiting type 2 5-alpha reductase. Just stick to low doses and be careful I think

 

[Rich78]

Yeah I remember seeing that somewhere your right.

I actually started on .50 and so far so good. Time will tell.

 

[Hoppi]

Do bear in mind that 0.5 finasteride is probably just as strong as 1mg finasteride. finasteride is active for quite a few days, and so by the time you have taken 0.5 for a few days running, your 5ar2 inhibition will be as strong as someone on 1mg, where it will sit for as long as you take the drug. For this reason, 0.5mg ED is around the same strength.

0.25mg ED is a little weaker I think, and any lower than that or alternate day doses, and that's when it really starts getting milder.

There is a graph somewhere that illustrates this a little clearer but I can't find it right now!

 

[louidoui]

Hey man I was just wondering what you experienced from saw palmetto. I only took it for 5 days and in those days, I got erectile dysfunction and loss of sex drive. Now a week later and I still have the affects. Do u think its possible for the sexual side affects to be permanent?