Topical Finasteride overdose???

[teartray]

I decided to stop taking finasteride after around 2 years on it because I've read too many horror stories. Totally regret taking it now. However, I had about 6 Fincar pills left over, so I decided to make a topical solution thinking it would be safer. I crushed the remaining pills and put them in a container, added a little minoxidil and some water and shook. I then applied around 5 mil of this solution to each temple, along with my usual dosage of minoxidil. About 15 minutes later, I seemed to feel light headed and a mild ache and irritating feeling appeared around my testicle area, kind of underneath my testicles.

It's a few hours later and it's still there.

What is going on???

 

[iamme_]

I am not going to lie but I kinda laughed at that. I mean where did you get the recipe to make a topical solution like that, with no information.
I think finasteride is supposed to be taking orally and thats what it is meant to be, using it topically could probably increase the side effects? Can you get an erection?

 

[teartray]

I don't know. Just a last, desperate measure I suppose.

Yeah, I can still get an erection.

I really didn't think it would make the side effects worse taking it topically.

 

[BodyDysmorphic]

i believe your suppose to mix crushed finasteride with everclear "grain alcohol"

to create a "topical finasteride"

i read it on this forum about 2 years ago

i dunno i may be wrong

 

[Rabid]

I nominate this best post of 2010. :fun:

I decided to stop taking finasteride after around 2 years on it because I've read too many horror stories.

So you weren't having any sides yourself, but decided to stop because of reading too many horror stories.

Totally regret taking it now.

Why? Because of the horror stories? True, it can cause terrible sides. But were you having any sides yourself?

However, I had about 6 Fincar pills left over, so I decided to make a topical solution thinking it would be safer

Safer than all the horror stories?

I then applied around 5 mil of this solution to each temple, along with my usual dosage of minoxidil.

But how much solution did you actually make? 5ml alone tells us nothing without knowing the total amount you made.

In all seriousness, people have taken much more than 6 pills and survived. You'll be fine.

As for your goal to get rid of sides, I think it's widely held that topical finasteride ends up getting absorbed into the blood stream, the only place where it can only do its thing anyway. So it's going to give you the same side effects that you might not have ever had but that the horror stories were chalk full of.

Also, when making homemade topicals, precision is everything.
You have to know exactly how much of every component is to be used. Your situation could have been much worse if you had overdosed on RU, for instance.

 

[Ende]

Also, when making homemade topicals, precision is everything.
You have to know exactly how much of every component is to be used. Your situation could have been much worse if you had overdosed on RU, for instance.

Agree.

 

[teartray]

When taking the pills, the only side effect I noticed at the time was reduced ejaculation. When I first started taking the pills, I was suffering from severe anxiety. This got a lot better over the two years however, yet I still appeared to be experiencing the symptoms of anxiety, even when I was not feeling anxious. After reading some stories of people experiencing brain fog, this is what made me decide to quit. This was just over a week ago, and in the past few days, I have felt that my mental clarity has improved and I seem to be able to converse with people more fluidly.

So Guess I thought I'd try and take the finasteride topically, as I still wanted to retain the piece of mind that I am doing all I can to prevent male pattern baldness, yet not suffer the side effects. I am totally clueless when it comes to anything medical, and I suppose I was very naive in thinking that taking finasteride topically would not really have much effect. How wrong was I!

More than 18 hours has now passed since I applied the finasteride topiccally, and I am still aching. It is blatantly my prostate aching, as the ache is in between my testicle area and my anus.

I mixed the solution in a small bottle that was probably only about 20 ml. I used around 5 or 6 1/2 pills, can't remember exactly, and I guess I used about a third of the solution. If I just estimate that I mixed 30 mg of finasteride, as they were fincar pills, then I applied around 10 mg. Very silly, but I just assumed that it wouldn't absorb very efficiently, so I applied more than I should have.

I never suffered any aching over the two years I was taking the pills, no aching that was sufficient enough to recall anyway. And I sometimes, on occasion, took the whole 5mg pill, and still no aching.

This has scared the hell out of me, to say the least, and I just want this to stop. Does anybody have any ideas why the aching is occurring and when it is likely to stop?
Do you think I may have caused myself any permanent harm?

I have learnt my lesson and will never experiment like this again. I am just very worried about any permanent effects.

 

[Wuffer]

I seriously doubt that doing this caused any side effects. Just by crushing up the pills and dissolving them doesn't mean that they will easily be absorbed by your skin. On top of it, as mentioned, ive heard of people taking over 10MG of finasteride a day and not having any problems. I think that either this ache was caused by something else, or more likely, you are just freaking your self out and your mind is playing tricks on you (don't get me wrong; your mind can do some pretty amazing things, including creating intense pain that isn't even existant).

If you haven't had any side effects on the drug by taking it orally for over 2 years, why did you stop? If you haven't had any within the first few months, I don't see how you could just magically start getting them afterwards!

I'm reading about people freaking out about taking this drug because of what they are reading on the internet. If you don't have side effects on the drug, there is absolutely no reason to stop taking it unless you aren't seeing any results after 12 months!

 

[captain_que]

I´ve used topical finasteride for about two years. Can´t say that I noticed any sides, and haven´t really heard of many that did. Oral finasteride gave me sides after five weeks use though.
You´re most likely just fine and it´s a coincidence

 

[teartray]

I seriously doubt that doing this caused any side effects. Just by crushing up the pills and dissolving them doesn't mean that they will easily be absorbed by your skin. On top of it, as mentioned, ive heard of people taking over 10MG of finasteride a day and not having any problems. I think that either this ache was caused by something else, or more likely, you are just freaking your self out and your mind is playing tricks on you (don't get me wrong; your mind can do some pretty amazing things, including creating intense pain that isn't even existant).

If you haven't had any side effects on the drug by taking it orally for over 2 years, why did you stop? If you haven't had any within the first few months, I don't see how you could just magically start getting them afterwards!

I'm reading about people freaking out about taking this drug because of what they are reading on the internet. If you don't have side effects on the drug, there is absolutely no reason to stop taking it unless you aren't seeing any results after 12 months!

I stopped because of the anxiety symptoms. I didn't just notice this after reading the horror stories, I always wondered why I struggled in conversations with even my closest family members. It seemed to get better in the past few days. I also just feel I've wised up a bit and started regretting the idea of messing with hormones.

I had been aware of male pattern baldness since age 18 as I receded somewhat around 16/17. I started rogaine around age 20 and even though hair loss become much worse, I started finasteride around age 24. I'm now 26 and although I feel my hairline is slightly worse, friends and family have told me it's not.

I would really hope that it is my mind playing tricks on me, though I do doubt it as having never suffered sides when taking the pill, I completely was not expecting any taking it topically. The ache is not severe, just very noticable.

I just read so many stories of having their body "crash" long time after quitting finasteride, and even heard of infertility rumours, it is just starting to worry me.

 

[teartray]

I´ve used topical finasteride for about two years. Can´t say that I noticed any sides, and haven´t really heard of many that did. Oral finasteride gave me sides after five weeks use though.
You´re most likely just fine and it´s a coincidence

Maybe it's because, in my case, I used an excessive amount topically??

 

[Wuffer]

Anxiety and depression is not a documented side effect of Finasteride use, but it is an extremely common side effect of hair loss! Have you considered that it is just coincidence that your anxiety begun when you were on Finasteride?

I have been through the worst of anxiety; it most commonly starts at around the age of 20 (which is when it started for me). I had crippling anxiety for about 5 years, and have only recently gotten over it. None of this was related to hair loss; it was caused by certain events that happened in my life that I couldn't let go, and that caused constant worry and rumination. It was also exacerbated by drugs and alcohol (BAD coping strategy!), but that's another story.

I would consider myself a non-medical expert on anxiety and depression, it's causes, symptoms and treatments, since I spent 5 years of my life studying everything I could so that I could understand what was wrong with me.

But anyways, I do beleive some people with a very unfortunate genetic makeup may have very negative reactions to Finasteride, I don't think it's worth worrying about. The fact that this drug has been out for 10+ years, millions of people have taken it, and I have yet to see one medically documented case that conclusively states Finasteride can cause these problems. Hell, look up "severe side effects" for any medication, and you will find pages and pages of people claiming terrible life changing side effects. Not to say that these people arent experiencing these symptoms, but whatever drug you are taking while experiencing them is usually the most convenient place to aim blame.

Again, i'm NOT saying that I know everything; I think that it is very possible for Finasteride to cause permanent sexual side effects. However, I would put it in the realm of 1 out of 10,000 people at most.

 

[teartray]

Anxiety and depression is not a documented side effect of Finasteride use, but it is an extremely common side effect of hair loss! Have you considered that it is just coincidence that your anxiety begun when you were on Finasteride?

I have been through the worst of anxiety; it most commonly starts at around the age of 20 (which is when it started for me). I had crippling anxiety for about 5 years, and have only recently gotten over it. None of this was related to hair loss; it was caused by certain events that happened in my life that I couldn't let go, and that caused constant worry and rumination. It was also exacerbated by drugs and alcohol (BAD coping strategy!), but that's another story.

I would consider myself a non-medical expert on anxiety and depression, it's causes, symptoms and treatments, since I spent 5 years of my life studying everything I could so that I could understand what was wrong with me.

But anyways, I do beleive some people with a very unfortunate genetic makeup may have very negative reactions to Finasteride, I don't think it's worth worrying about. The fact that this drug has been out for 10+ years, millions of people have taken it, and I have yet to see one medically documented case that conclusively states Finasteride can cause these problems. Hell, look up "severe side effects" for any medication, and you will find pages and pages of people claiming terrible life changing side effects. Not to say that these people arent experiencing these symptoms, but whatever drug you are taking while experiencing them is usually the most convenient place to aim blame.

Again, i'm NOT saying that I know everything; I think that it is very possible for Finasteride to cause permanent sexual side effects. However, I would put it in the realm of 1 out of 10,000 people at most.

I was suffering from anxiety for years before I started finasteride and it started to get better shortly after starting it. But the symptoms of anxiety still persisted. Thats why I decided to quit finasteride in the end because I wanted to see if the symptoms stopped and I really did begin to feel mentally fresh a few days after stopping. Also, I figured that I Maintained my hair pretty well for the years leading up to starting finasteride so I probably don't even need it. If anything, it's gotten slightly worse since being on finasteride. But who knows what it would have turned out like if I hadn't taken finasteride for those 2 years. The whole universe of male pattern baldness is just so ambiguous, it's hard to predict anything.

I'm starting to feel better now, with much thanks to you and others. I just found it so scary when I started getting these effects. If it is my mind playing tricks, WOW!

Thanks

 

[zephyrprime]

People are way to paranoid about finasteride. I started getting sides from taking finasteride which was too bad because it was very effective for me. I then thought I would try topical finasteride. I mixed up a batch like the op did using a minoxidil base and crushed tablets of fincar. I calculated the number of pills necessary to match the concentration of Dr Lee's formulation. Using my concoction had no discernable affects at all. I then doubled the concentration and there was still no effect so I stopped using it after a few months.

 

[Mew]

As of December 2010, depression has been added as a possible side effect reported in post-marketing use by Merck themselves:

http://www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_cir ... ia_ppi.pdf

Bottom of pg. 2:

In general use, the following have been reported: breast tenderness and enlargement; depression; allergic reactions including rash, itching, hives and swelling of the lips and face; problems with ejaculation; testicular pain; and, in rare cases, male breast cancer.

Since the drug is documented to inhibit 5AR-neurosteroid synthesis in the brain (low THDOC = anxiety; low allopregnanolone = depression), which interferes with proper GABA-A receptor function in the brain, its no wonder.

Time to wake up to reality, this is a real side effect that can occur from this drug.

 

[Ende]

I don't get it, how do they get away with ignoring claims of irreversible damage after stopping treatment with Propecia? I've seen a couple of updates over the past to years, but they're still hiding information. They don't mention that the side effects are progressive, and they still encourage the patient to keep using the drug, despite of side effects, which usually turns out to be fatal.

 

[Ende]

Talking about depression. An interesting fact, is that Proviron, a DHT derivative, has been used to treat depression in men suffering from andropause.