Took my first dose of Propecia yesterday - Having difficulty

[sjackson]

Hello and thanks in advance for your advice.

I took my first dose of 1mg Propecia about 22 hours ago. I have several friends that have been taking the medication for years with no side effects and solid results. I'm 37 and my hair has thinned considerably over the last few years and finally decided to start Propecia. However, I feel I'm having difficulty tolerating the medication. Here's how it made me feel:

I took it with lunch yesterday and about 20 minutes after taking it I felt drugged. Some users described almost a "brain fog" and I definitely understand what they mean. Also, my level of anxiety increased. I found myself with a lot of energy and my thoughts were racing. I did not feel like myself.

About 2-2 1/2 hours later I felt a little better. The anxiety dissipated but I still felt "drugged". Almost hyper-aware if you will. My heart was beating at about twice it's normal speed and I felt slightly short of breath. I had been nervous about sexual side effects but I was feeling almost the opposite as my sex drive seemed to be a little bit increased.

I felt a bit more tired than normal as the night grew later and throughout the day felt like I was spaced out a lot. My stomach was a bit upset as well. I was extremely gassy as well (didn't smell normal either) . I fell asleep and woke up in the middle of the night and was sweating a lot. I fell back to sleep and had a pretty vivid dream about nailing some college coed (good side effect there). I slept longer than normal, about 8-9 hours. This morning when I woke up I felt almost hung over. More tired than usual, headache and still feel slightly short of breath.

So my question is: Is this in any way normal? Am I having a bad reaction to the medication? Will these effects go away over time? I can't imagine taking this medicine indefinitely if it's going to make me feel this way. Would cutting the dose and then increasing up to 1mg over time help in any way? I know I have a sensitivity to certain meds and I'm afraid this is another one for that list. Any one have any advice? I'm thinking about stopping the meds and seeing my regular doctor after the holiday and discussing with him if maybe this stuff just isn't right for me. Thanks in advance and please let me know if you've experienced anything similar and if it went away over a short period of time when you were getting acclimated to the drug. Thanks!

 

[lucas.renoh]

I don't believe you have enough time of usage to get those effects... sincerely.

 

[Bryan]

I took it with lunch yesterday and about 20 minutes after taking it I felt drugged.

Do a placebo-controlled test on yourself, to see if you can duplicate that result when you DON'T KNOW if it's the active drug or the placebo that you're getting!

 

[sjackson]

I don't believe you have enough time of usage to get those effects... sincerely.

Thanks for the response. I assure you these effects were not in my head. I felt drugged. I did not feel "normal". The vivid dream, the night sweating, the gassiness, even my normal BM this morning was abnormal. The anxiety was not from thinking about the drug, it was from the drug itself. I have no other reason to feel sore and hungover other than that drug. My heartbeat was about twice faster than normal. It's normal right now and I haven't taken the drug yet today. I just feel a little tired and my stomach is a little off but pretty close to normal otherwise. I can take the drug again with lunch and I'm certain I'll feel the effects again like I described in my first post. I'm leaning toward not taking the drug again until a visit with my GP. Or I can take it again and describe exactly what I'm going through. It was a tough day yesterday, it was tough for me to physically tolerate. It wasn't in my head.

 

[Petchsky]

I took it with lunch yesterday and about 20 minutes after taking it I felt drugged.

Do a placebo-controlled test on yourself, to see if you can duplicate that result when you DON'T KNOW if it's the active drug or the placebo that you're getting!

Although you didn't acknowledge this post, this is the only way to tell if it's psychosomatic or not, and very scientific Bryan, no surprises there.

 

[sjackson]

I took it with lunch yesterday and about 20 minutes after taking it I felt drugged.

Do a placebo-controlled test on yourself, to see if you can duplicate that result when you DON'T KNOW if it's the active drug or the placebo that you're getting!

Although you didn't acknowledge this post, this is the only way to tell if it's psychosomatic or not, and very scientific Bryan, no surprises there.

I saw it, just thought he was kidding. Obviously a placebo test is only accurate if the subject doesn't know he's getting a placebo.

I assure you my reaction to the medication was physical. Just wondering if others have gone though anything similar and if the effects go away over a short period of time. I'd love to get the benefit from the drug but not at this physical cost.

 

[Petchsky]

Others have reported this side effect, if you look in the side effects sub forum you will find a range of effects, some common, some not so common. Our physiologies are all different so we all have a myriad range of outcomes from the same drug unfortunately, be much simplier if we all reacted the same.

 

[sjackson]

Others have reported this side effect, if you look in the side effects sub forum you will find a range of effects, some common, some not so common. Our physiologies are all different so we all have a myriad range of outcomes from the same drug unfortunately, be much simplier if we all reacted the same.

Thanks! I didn't even know that forum existed. Will post there.

 

[Bryan]

I saw it, just thought he was kidding.

Even though I put a "smiley" at the end of that post, I was serious as a heart attack.

Obviously a placebo test is only accurate if the subject doesn't know he's getting a placebo.

Obviously.

I assure you my reaction to the medication was physical.

Look, I think you should PROVE that by doing a placebo-controlled test. I just find it difficult to believe that you could notice such an effect only 20 minutes after taking a dose. That just SCREAMS OUT for some serious testing in a controlled fashion!

 

[sjackson]

I saw it, just thought he was kidding.

Even though I put a "smiley" at the end of that post, I was serious as a heart attack.

Obviously a placebo test is only accurate if the subject doesn't know he's getting a placebo.

Obviously.

I assure you my reaction to the medication was physical.

Look, I think you should PROVE that by doing a placebo-controlled test. I just find it difficult to believe that you could notice such an effect only 20 minutes after taking a dose. That just SCREAMS OUT for some serious testing in a controlled fashion!

I don't know what to tell you. I'm positive I can sense when I have a physical reaction to something. This was one of those times. I take other supplements like fish oil, vitamin C. I've taken other over the counter meds. They didn't affect me like this did. I didn't notice any physical effect they had. After taking this medication I assure you what I was feeling wasn't imagined. You can tell me what I went though yesterday may be psycho-sematic, I'm telling you I'm 100% sure it wasn't. Don't know how to be more clear.

Either way, how could I do a placebo study on myself?

 

[Fundi]

He could be right about it being physical - It may have also been anything other than the finasteride though, a reaction to food, coincided with a fever etc. (I sometimes have days I randomly feel sh*t but feel ok the next). I'd try waiting a bit, then trying again with a reduced dosage. The problem with a placebo test now is that if the problem is psychological, you take the finasteride (not the placebo) and get the same reaction as you know there's a 50% chance you've taken finasteride again and therefore experience the same psychological sides, although this is unlikely.

Although the power of the human mind is strong. I thought I had a lower libido/weaker erections and mild ball ache. Then I realised it was all in my head, I 'had' mild ball ache only when I really thought about it and concentrated on it, and weaker erections only when I stressed myself out about it so it was a product of stress (e.g. you won't get a hard on if someone's pointng a gun to your head either).

 

[sjackson]

He could be right about it being physical - It may have also been anything other than the finasteride though, a reaction to food, coincided with a fever etc. (I sometimes have days I randomly feel sh*t but feel ok the next). I'd try waiting a bit, then trying again with a reduced dosage.

Although the power of the human mind is strong. I thought I had a lower libido/weaker erections and mild ball ache. Then I realised it was all in my head, I 'had' mild ball ache only when I really thought about it and concentrated on it, and weaker erections only when I stressed myself out about it so it was a product of stress (e.g. you won't get a hard on if someone's pointng a gun to your head either).

I felt fine yesterday morning and ate nothing odd for lunch. My libido was through the roof after taking this.

If I reduce the dosage should I just cut the pill myself? Then gradually increase? I'm really torn on what to do here. Was going to try and tough out another day but decided against it. Going to schedule an appt. with my GP and hold off taking another pill. Maybe I have a hormonal issue that this drug does something with. The last 24 hours were not physically pleasant. Crapping my brains out today as well.

 

[Bryan]

I don't know what to tell you. I'm positive I can sense when I have a physical reaction to something. This was one of those times. I take other supplements like fish oil, vitamin C. I've taken other over the counter meds. They didn't affect me like this did. I didn't notice any physical effect they had. After taking this medication I assure you what I was feeling wasn't imagined. You can tell me what I went though yesterday may be psycho-sematic, I'm telling you I'm 100% sure it wasn't. Don't know how to be more clear.

I don't care how sure you are about it. I'll only believe it if you can do a careful test that demonstrates it.

Either way, how could I do a placebo study on myself?

You'll have to get a friend to help you with the test. Get something like some muffins or cupcakes, and while you're out of the room, have your friend insert a Propecia tablet into HALF of them, leaving the other half intact (although with a small hole even in the placebos, so you can't tell which ones have the active drug). He randomly labels each muffin 1 through 10 (or however many you're using), and makes a list of which muffins contain the finasteride, and which are placebos. He keeps the list with him, so you can't tell which is which.

Then you start eating one muffin every day, and keep a diary of whether or not you're getting any of these supposed "side effects". After all the muffins are eaten up, your friend breaks the code and reveals which muffin was which. Compare that information with your written daily record, and see just how accurate you were at identifying the muffins with the drug!

 

[treeshrew]

That's an awesome method Bryan - more people should do that!

I agree feeling effects just 20 mins after taking the pill seems kind of odd.

Even more weight to the fact it's in his head is the dream - banging college coed - obviously hair is something weighing heavily on his mind right now.

And whatever you do don't read propeciahelp.com!

 

[sjackson]

I don't know what to tell you. I'm positive I can sense when I have a physical reaction to something. This was one of those times. I take other supplements like fish oil, vitamin C. I've taken other over the counter meds. They didn't affect me like this did. I didn't notice any physical effect they had. After taking this medication I assure you what I was feeling wasn't imagined. You can tell me what I went though yesterday may be psycho-sematic, I'm telling you I'm 100% sure it wasn't. Don't know how to be more clear.

I don't care how sure you are about it. I'll only believe it if you can do a careful test that demonstrates it.

Either way, how could I do a placebo study on myself?

You'll have to get a friend to help you with the test. Get something like some muffins or cupcakes, and while you're out of the room, have your friend insert a Propecia tablet into HALF of them, leaving the other half intact (although with a small hole even in the placebos, so you can't tell which ones have the active drug). He randomly labels each muffin 1 through 10 (or however many you're using), and makes a list of which muffins contain the finasteride, and which are placebos. He keeps the list with him, so you can't tell which is which.

Then you start eating one muffin every day, and keep a diary of whether or not you're getting any of these supposed "side effects". After all the muffins are eaten up, your friend breaks the code and reveals which muffin was which. Compare that information with your written daily record, and see just how accurate you were at identifying the muffins with the drug!

What will happen is this:

If I eat the mudffin with the drug I'll have a reaction similar to what I described in the first post. If I eat the one without the drug I'll have a muffin. I can't be more clear. I'd ask for my sake you just assume my reaction is physical. I'm not looking to debate whether or not what happened yesterday actually happened physically.

 

[sjackson]

That's an awesome method Bryan - more people should do that!

I agree feeling effects just 20 mins after taking the pill seems kind of odd.

Even more weight to the fact it's in his head is the dream - banging college coed - obviously hair is something weighing heavily on his mind right now.

And whatever you do don't read propeciahelp.com!

The dream was lucid for sure but it was abnormally lucid for me. I woke up sweating, my sex drive was through the roof after taking the drug. I'm saying the dream was a product of the drug and not a product of anxiety about my hair loss.

 

[Mew]

My friend, if you are having (or believe you are having) an adverse reaction from the medicaton you have a few choices:

- don't take it again
- continue taking it
- talk to a doctor about it (allergic reactions are possible), or it could be your body does not agree with massive DHT surpression.

In either case, it comes down to 2 options -- either taking it or not taking it. It depends on what YOU want to do and feel comfortable with, regarding any risks.

 

[Bryan]

That's an awesome method Bryan - more people should do that!

Yes indeed. Whenever someone claims to be having really rapid-onset "side effects" from something, I always suggest they do a placebo-controlled test to see if it's for real. It's a really obvious thing to try, isn't it? And yet I've been shocked by how few people want to try something that simple and obvious...

I agree feeling effects just 20 mins after taking the pill seems kind of odd.

Hell, the pill isn't even completely ABSORBED after only 20 minutes! If I remember correctly, blood levels of finasteride reach a peak about two hours after an oral dose.

And whatever you do don't read propeciahelp.com!

LOL!

 

[Bryan]

What will happen is this:

If I eat the mudffin with the drug I'll have a reaction similar to what I described in the first post. If I eat the one without the drug I'll have a muffin. I can't be more clear. I'd ask for my sake you just assume my reaction is physical. I'm not looking to debate whether or not what happened yesterday actually happened physically.

LOL!! So you're saying that you don't need to do such a test, because you already know how it would turn out?

What if a pharmaceutical company said the same thing to the FDA: "Look, damnit, we don't NEED to test our new drug with a big, expensive clinical trial; we already know for sure that it works great. We KNOW how the trial would turn out. We can't be more clear about this. We're not looking to debate whether or not our drug works great!!" :mrgreen:

 

[sjackson]

My friend, if you are having (or believe you are having) an adverse reaction from the medicaton you have a few choices:

- don't take it again
- continue taking it
- talk to a doctor about it (allergic reactions are possible), or it could be your body does not agree with massive DHT surpression.

In either case, it comes down to 2 options -- either taking it or not taking it. It depends on what YOU want to do and feel comfortable with, regarding any risks.

Well I stopped taking it. I was hoping someone had gone through something similar and it just kind of went away after time or by cutting the dose then building up to 1MG gradually. The GI symptoms alone make it almost intolerable for me. Had about 6 BM's the day after taking it, and was gassy all night before and morning after.

Going to see my GP after the 1st, see if he has any advice. If he has nothing to offer, how does one go about selling 89 finasteride pills? Or will Merck take them back?