Depression / mood

Hey, did anybody experience depression while using finasteride?

Im almost 2 month into my finasteride therapy with daily 0,5 mg and i think that it is causing some depression for me.
I have good days or weeks but then apparently i have 3-4 bad days where my mood is really depressed and i feel very tired even though
i slept enough or didn't change anything. Could this really be inducted by finasteride after such a short time?
Any advise for me? Should i stop the medication? I really want to stick to it...

It caused severe fatigue and apathy for me as well as an overall more volatile mood - no doubt from the elevated estrogens. I experienced these adverse effects, along with many others, after just a few days.
If you had high DHT before, finasteride will cause you to have high estrogen now. Having the extra DHT, androstenedione, neurosteroids and countless hormones and organic compounds that finasteride deprives you of probably help you function, believe it or not.

I also experienced side effects before ever reading about them on the internet - the nocebo effect is not the case.

Try reducing dosage by every other day and or taper down to .25 mgs. per day fwitw.
I'ld try to ride it out for at least another year if you can. Add some cardio exercises and more sun into regimen if you have not done so.
Who knows if finasteride. achieves enough gains you may forget about your depression.
Seriously depression is no joke. Get in touch with your GP and go from there. GoodLuck

Kevlon said:

Hey, did anybody experience depression while using finasteride?

Im almost 2 month into my finasteride therapy with daily 0,5 mg and i think that it is causing some depression for me.
I have good days or weeks but then apparently i have 3-4 bad days where my mood is really depressed and i feel very tired even though
i slept enough or didn't change anything. Could this really be inducted by finasteride after such a short time?
Any advise for me? Should i stop the medication? I really want to stick to it...

Click to expand...

My thoughts:

2 months is around the period people experience a shed. The shed can cause a change in your appearance (as it did for me) and it it isn't for the better.

A negative change in appearance can cause depression.

Consider this to be a possibility you are experiencing.

I had good or bad days before as everybody has them occasionally but i think this is something different. Ill get a call back from my GP tomorrow and will se what he will suggest.
I would like to ride it out but its pretty stressful at times. Thinking about quitting finasteride will make me also depressiv. Im so afraid of the thought that it will not work for me. The first time i quit finasteride after 3 days (breast pain) i was pretty depressed for 2-3 weeks because of the thought it won't help me and the feeling of helplessness with this hair loss.

Im actually doing cardio / fitness and trying to get as much sun as possible.
Also i don't think this has something to do with a shed cause my hair looks "good" when i style them. Its definitely something else. I feel like in a vicious circle.
Do you think going with every other day will help with this? As i read finasteride is not working like this because its causing low dht levels for a few days.
thanks for you help

One pill reduces dht for up to a week. The every other day thing is a myth spread on hair loss sites. I would stick to how it is prescribed. It's just more consistent, easier to remember, etc.

The drug is pretty flexible though so one could get by taking it eod. But I think it would only have a placebo effect on you if you did it.

This image gives you an idea. The reason why you take it once a day is because the studies have proven that to be the most effective. The 1 mg dose is also the most effective with less sides. People should just take the drug as prescribed and stop their nonsense broscience theories.

It only proves that dht is reduced. It doesn't prove its effectiveness on hair loss...

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That's just the thing that people don't get. It doesn't matter about dht being reduced. It matters on what's going I save your hair. Take the pill everyday is your best bet.

Only if you subscribe to it everyday. (-:

Flippant said:

So placebo effect is important...?

Click to expand...

so how long will it take to feel better if i quit finasteride for a while to make sure it is related to the drug?
And will it make a difference in my results if ill stop for 2-3 weeks? Can my hairless catch up that fast?

Flippant said:

So placebo effect is important...?

Click to expand...

What I'm trying to say is this. The chart only shows plasma levels of DHT. Finasteride is a 5a-reductase inhibitor. In theory reducing dht is what is saving our hair. But there may be more at play that the drug is doing to save our hair than just reducing the plasma levels of dht. In theory, taking the pill every other day may still be just as effective. But this hasn't been proven in a study. The drug does only have an 8 hour half life, and there are a lot more going on with our hormones than just our blood's plasma level. I don't think one can simply conclude that taking the pill every other day is a for sure thing. I say this: Just take the pill every day the way it is prescribed. There are enough damn worries and decisions people have to worry about related to this drug. The recommendation on this site should be set in stone to just be every day. End of story.