Stress and the side effects of 5mg Proscar

[EricD]

So I started noticing some thinning on one side of my hair line (just the right side of my head for some reason), so I went and asked my doctor about it. He prescribed 5mg Proscar to me, with instructions to use a pill splitter to cut it into four pieces and then take one quarter per day. I did so. However, last Thursday I began to notice some of the side effects, which my doctor had told me specifically not to worry about due to the small dosage of finasteride I was taking. These included:

-Depression
-Mild difficulty maintaining erection (I could get it up, but it went away quicker and easier than before)
-Lessened ejaculatory volume
-Increased shedding (Before I started taking Proscar, I would run my hand through my hair in the shower and two to five hairs would come out. Now I run a hand through my hair in the shower and seven to ten hairs will come out)

So I went online and did some research. I read some of the horror stories about people experiencing these side effects permanently, so I stopped taking the pills this last weekend and the side effects seemed to subside somewhat, though the shedding is continuing. I also went to my barber and asked him about my hair loss, and he took a look at the one thinned out area of my scalp and said it was stress based in nature. I'm only 19, so that would make sense. I want to ask my doctor about it, but he'll be out of town for the next month or so, so I came on here to ask a bit about it.

Do the side effects of finasteride show up when first starting taking the drug and then gradually go away as your body becomes more used to the medication or something like that?

Are the stories about permanent side effects just typical internet hype or are have they shown up in peer-reviewed scientific studies?

Would a reduced dosage of finasteride per day still have the intended effect with lessened side effects?

If my hair loss is just stress-based, what would the effects of finasteride be?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

To help you guys understand my situation, I've attached two pictures of my hairline. "Hairline" is the thinned area, "Hairline2" is the other side of my head, where the hair loss isn't so bad, for purposes of comparison. Ignore the dark spot in the thinned area, that's just a scab from banging my head at work recently.

 

[Rawtashk]

Your hair will shed when you start any hairloss medication, finasteride included. I got an increased shed as well when I started....then all of a sudden one day my hair just stopped falling out (for the most part). I would suggest riding out the shed.

As for the side effects, they should go away or lessen with time. It could also be your mind playing tricks on you. How much did you pay attention to every little detail of your life before? You'll find that you can always find a problem if you look hard enough .

Personally, I've been on finasteride for almost 4 years now, with great success and little to no side effects.

 

[EricD]

I'm not so sure about it now. I've heard some real horror stories from a lot of people about how finasteride really messed up their lives. I'm looking into options like S5 cream, though I am wary that the product reviews on this website seem to feature a lot of five star ratings and don't exhibit much criticisms it seems. It also sets off alarms in my cynical mind that this website sells these products as well as reviews them. Maybe I'll just wait a little while until stress levels decrease and see what my hair does. Although I'm only 19 and I'd like to keep as much of that head of hair as I can, my hair is not nearly as important to me as my hormonal health and properly functioning sexual organs are.

And if my barber is wrong and it really is hair loss and not just stress related, which is very possible considering that my father is bald, then there's always this:

http://artofmanliness.com/2010/07/14/ba ... lding-men/

I would still appreciate anybody else's input on this though. I'd like to make a fully informed decision and my doctor is going to be out of town for a while yet.

 

[antman]

Maybe I'll just wait a little while until stress levels decrease and see what my hair does.

regardless of diet and stress your androgenetic alopecia will almost certainly continue.

I'm looking into options like S5 cream,

5S cream is absorbed by the skin and exhibits anti-androgen effects but i've yet to see a study on its effectiveness again Androgenetic Alopecia

finasteride has an excellent chance of saving your hair and a low chance of doing you harm.

depression and low vitamin D can cause low testosterone. if u wanna research on what to do next, you can use google scholar. just type whatever symptom you have and the word treatment and it will come up with a list of studies that will inform you of their effectiveness.

 

[Rawtashk]

As far as medications go....there is nothing (that is FDA approved) that comes close to what finasteride can do for you. Remember that there is risk in everything you do in all walks of life. There is a 1-in-77 chance that you will die in a car accident in your lifetime....but that doesn't stop everyone from driving.

Everyone's comfort level with different situations is different. Some people aren't willing to take the risk. I was, and it paid off. If you're not, that's completely understandable and acceptable.

 

[EricD]

One other question: If you stopped taking finasteride as a shed was starting, will the shed hairs be lost permanently or will they still come back?

 

[Chris87]

Hairloss from stress is very very rare and usually doesn't happen just dealing with regular everyday work/school/relationships stress. Its usually like an extremely traumatic event or serious illness. also stress related hair loss looks a lot different. It is patchy and weird looking..not in a pattern like male pattern baldness. Yours definitely looks like male pattern baldness and being 19 doesn't really matter. I was 22 when I first started losing my hair. I knew a guy in highschool who was visibly thinning at 16 or 17, and was bald by 20.

As far as side effects, they do often go away. I personally started taking finasteride last year at .5mg a day...i had sides and quit in less than a month. A month ago I re-started finasteride this time taking .25mg every other day (and planned on moving up if side effects werent a problem). I had sides the first couple weeks (although more mild than the first time). The sides got better every couple days, and now a month later I would say that I am currently experiencing 0 side effects, and 2 weeks ago I switched to taking .25mg every day (I have seen no sides since upping my dose) and I plan on upping to .5mg a day next month if I'm still not seeing sides.

If i were you, I would give it a few weeks off to "reset" your body. I would then start taking .25mg (either get propecia if you can afford it, or you can order 1mg generic finasteride online from inhousepharmacy.biz) every other day. Also start taking 50-100mg of zinc before bed every night (this will help ensure that your estrogen level is kept in check and help prevent sides). If you get sides, try to ride it out for 3-4 weeks and see if they get better. If you make it a month or 2 taking .25mg every other day and you still have bad sides then quit, but..you may be like me and be able to have your body adjust by introducing it slowly and taking precautions.

I've also seen an even more conservative plan that has worked for some people that goes like this

Week 1 & 2: take 1 mg on monday only
week 3&4: take 1 mg mon and thurs only
week 5&6: take 1 mg mon wed fri
week 7&8: take 1 mg every other day
week 9: take 1 mg every day

People who experience persistent side effects from finasteride are a very small minority. People who experience side effects on finasteride are a very small minority...people who experiences persistent side effects even after stopping are a small minority within an already small minority..so you're talking about a small minority of people within an already small minority of people.

Now of course I'm speaking positively right now because my side effects seem to be a non issue at this point..but I do understand it is possible that maybe in the future they will return...i'm hopeful that it will be smooth sailing from here on out..but i'm also not going to get arrogant about it so I remain cautious.

I also believe that people should'nt just quit cold turkey if they've been on the drug for even a month or 2. I think the sudden rush of DHT into your system can throw hormones off balance and cause your system to crash. I think it is smart to taper off and allow your DHT to gradually return to normal.

 

[EricD]

Well because I was cutting my 5mg pills into quarters and taking a quarter every day, I was taking dosages of about 1.25mg. I haven't taken any since last Thursday, so I think I'll give it another week, then I'll have been off it for three weeks and I'll start taking it again in a reduced dosage (.5mg or less) every other day. I'll try to keep in mind what you guys have told me about the side effects to prevent the placebo effect from giving me side effects unrelated to the finasteride. If side effects redevelop, I'll ride it out for a few weeks to see if they improve. If they don't, I'm going to stop taking it and seek another solution.