Finasteride? Should I start it or no?

[Lculebra]

Estoy de acuerdo con la parte de finasterida, nunca tocaré ese veneno, pero el minoxidil es súper útil sin efectos secundarios dañinos. He estado tomando 5 mg por vía oral durante dos años y solo he visto resultados positivos.

Al principio se fabricó como un medicamento para la presión arterial, lo que también es una gran ventaja para mí cuando corro, ya que me hace crecer el cabello pero también mejora mi presión arterial.

¿Has notado algo respecto a la potencia sexual y las erecciones?

 

[amazonas]

¿Has notado algo respecto a la potencia sexual y las erecciones?

No problem with erections. Actually better blood pressure = better erections.

 

[Lculebra]

Wow that's good news, have you noticed any side effects in general?

 

[amazonas]

Wow that's good news, have you noticed any side effects in general?

First 3-4 days fast heartbeat and water retention (it's normal, people stop fast because they are paranoid about this). After 1 week everything is normal, no side effects for me. I started at 2.5mg and after some time 5mg.

 

[Lculebra]

Thaks for share your experince.

 

[Sampei]

I agree about the finasteride part, i'm never touching that poison, but minoxidil is super useful without harmful side effects. I've been on 5mg oral for two years now and only seen positives. It doesn't alter your hormones or make you depressed or any shit like finasteride.

It was made as a blood pressure medication at first, which is also a huge plus for me when running gear as it both grows my hair but also improves my blood pressure.

You can have the same experience asking for finasteride tho... It's not like minoxidil doesn't have any possible side effects listed. I would probably use it topical at best if I had to choose.

 

[swiftque]

After 6 months of finasteride, minoxidil, and ru 58841 my crown has completely came back. It can only get better or stay the same from here. These products do work and combining them is best.

My hairline has not been restored completely but that is ok. I have a back up plan for that.

I haven’t experienced any negative side effects. I use 1 mg oral finasteride at night, 5% topical RU solution once a day, and 5% minox topical twice a day.

 

[Lculebra]

Después de 6 meses de finasterida, minoxidil y ru 58841 mi corona ha vuelto por completo. A partir de aquí sólo puede mejorar o permanecer igual. Estos productos funcionan y combinarlos es lo mejor.

La línea del cabello no se ha restaurado por completo, pero está bien. Tengo un plan de respaldo para eso.

No he experimentado ningún efecto secundario negativo. Utilizo 1 mg de finasterida oral por la noche, solución RU tópica al 5% una vez al día y minox tópico al 5% dos veces al día.

¿Siguen existiendo el 100% de las erecciones matutinas?

 

[dan frank]

DO NOT TRY IT
Don’t do it. For a very few number of men there is what is called Finasteride Syndrome.
I assure you it is real for some men, like me. Three weeks of it and i hade the brain and emotions of a woman. I started crying, balling for no reason in a store parking lot. Even went to go check on an ex employee that embezzled from me, 5 years prior, I felt sorry for her. That was 3 years ago. I now have very little sex drive, erections difficult to achieve, inability to orgasm, lack of sensitivity in penis and general lack of desire.
Horrible. I was before F, a walking talking hard dick all day long, could screw multiple times daily. Now, I might as well be 85.
Do you need hair that badly?
Just my humble thoughts and experience.
FWIW.

 

[dan frank]

I will add, I was then and am now on Test

 

[Eddie.]

Personally i don't understand why some of you guys are taking finasteride and still dabble with masteron, primo and other DHT derived compounds. I've lost a significant amount of hair over the last years as a natty, have sometime using topical minoxidil only, hair didn't regrowth ofc but i think it keeps it under control. Now i'm thinking to add RU, second dose of minoxidil per day and dermarolling once a week. If it doesn't do anything while i'm gonna run test primo and anavar then i'll throw everything in the trash and embrace the shaved head. I'm 35, had a long ponytail for 14 years.. i was about to shave em all down in the first place but my gf is kinda meh about complete bald so i'm gonna try this last thing, but if it doesn't work i ain't gonna try fina because i'm scared af for the pfs side effects.

 

[MuayThayson]

DO NOT TRY IT
Don’t do it. For a very few number of men there is what is called Finasteride Syndrome.
I assure you it is real for some men, like me. Three weeks of it and i hade the brain and emotions of a woman. I started crying, balling for no reason in a store parking lot. Even went to go check on an ex employee that embezzled from me, 5 years prior, I felt sorry for her. That was 3 years ago. I now have very little sex drive, erections difficult to achieve, inability to orgasm, lack of sensitivity in penis and general lack of desire.
Horrible. I was before F, a walking talking hard dick all day long, could screw multiple times daily. Now, I might as well be 85.
Do you need hair that badly?
Just my humble thoughts and experience.
FWIW.

Does the PFS ever go away?

 

[Ghoul]

Does the PFS ever go away?

I had personal experience with this before "finasteride syndrome" had a name.

In my early 20s Propecia was being heavily advertised and celebrated as the first effective anti-hair loss treatment to be developed. In my early twenties I was always being complemented on my hair, but noticed my hairline was receding so I got a prescription and started 1mg / day.

Long story short, a sexual and psychological disaster, It was horrible. Borderline suicidal, Doctor was skeptical of these symptoms, but I dropped it.

It took a solid 2 months to return to baseline. I wondered if I'd ever get back to normal. At least some part was likely psychological and a loss of confidence.

As years went by those effects went from rumors, to research confirming them, to a panic about it being permanent.

I became like Dan Frank above, cursing that poison every chance it came up.

No evidence has ever emerged that Fin "breaks" anything. It has no basis after 30 years of lawsuit hungry lawyers pushing for research to find something.

But I can appreciate the effects instill so much terror initially, and ED, depression, and lack of motivation can also be induced psychologically, that it becomes "permanent" for those guys who convince themselves it is. I think if I had heard about its "permanence" I would've suffered much longer too.

I recently returned to it. It took that long to get over the trauma, for me to be convinced by the data biologically based "permanence" isn't a thing. The surprising effectiveness of very low dose fin was a relatively recent advance too opening a new option.

I quartered a bunch of pills, took .25mg, planning eod, and within 24 hours could feel the effects. Very slightly depressive. Semen volume reduced by maybe 1/3. Braced for it to get worse with subsequent eod doses it didn't. The slightly depressive effect eased off. Everything continued to function like before. Went to every day. same thing, hit a little harder, then eased off. I feel no different now and decided to stay at .25mg ED for now.

I went from regular shedding to only very rarely finding a hair after shampooing. I seem to be filling in, slowly, My scalp feels better, vs an irritation / burning sensation that I've gotten my whole life and always associated as a sign of further hairline recession coming.

I understand it's been banned in some places for causing suicide in rare instances. I could totally see that happening to the underprepared who don't get off or drop the dose.

My very bad reaction puts me in the small minority of hyper responders who have every reason to be afraid. Most guys take 1mg with no problem. Dudes with prostate issues take 5mg for a lifetime with no ill effects.

I wish I had gotten back on before I lost as much ground as I did, because without a DHT blocker as the base everything else isn't going to keep your hair around if DHT is killing off stem cells.

Play it safe. Start at .25mg ed. If things are fine, try .50, and if nothing bad happens congrats, you're probably one of the 95% that can take 1mg without issue.

But if you start to notice sides, go back to .50 or .25 ED, or even .25 EOD if you have to avoid anything intolerable. You'll still enjoy 85-95% of the protection with far less risk of sides, If you decide to come off, accept it takes a few weeks to wash out of your system, just like many of the AAS we use, or recovery after crashing E2, and then you'll be back to normal.

There's no reason to fear this drug imo, has an excellent chance of preserving your hair for a lifetime, and if you choose the dose carefully, you can dodge the sides even if you're prone to them like me.

 

[MuayThayson]

I had personal experience with this before "finasteride syndrome" had a name.

In my early 20s Propecia was being heavily advertised and celebrated as the first effective anti-hair loss treatment to be developed. In my early twenties I was always being complemented on my hair, but noticed my hairline was receding so I got a prescription and started 1mg / day.

Long story short, a sexual and psychological disaster, It was horrible. Borderline suicidal, Doctor was skeptical of these symptoms, but I dropped it.

It took a solid 2 months to return to baseline. I wondered if I'd ever get back to normal. At least some part was likely psychological and a loss of confidence.

As years went by those effects went from rumors, to research confirming them, to a panic about it being permanent.

I became like Dan Frank above, cursing that poison every chance it came up.

No evidence has ever emerged that Fin "breaks" anything. It has no basis after 30 years of lawsuit hungry lawyers pushing for research to find something.

But I can appreciate the effects instill so much terror initially, and ED, depression, and lack of motivation can also be induced psychologically, that it becomes "permanent" for those guys who convince themselves it is. I think if I had heard about its "permanence" I would've suffered much longer too.

I recently returned to it. It took that long to get over the trauma, for me to be convinced by the data biologically based "permanence" isn't a thing. The surprising effectiveness of very low dose fin was a relatively recent advance too opening a new option.

I quartered a bunch of pills, took .25mg, planning eod, and within 24 hours could feel the effects. Very slightly depressive. Semen volume reduced by maybe 1/3. Braced for it to get worse with subsequent eod doses it didn't. The slightly depressive effect eased off. Everything continued to function like before. Went to every day. same thing, hit a little harder, then eased off. I feel no different now and decided to stay at .25mg ED for now.

I went from regular shedding to only very rarely finding a hair after shampooing. I seem to be filling in, slowly, My scalp feels better, vs an irritation / burning sensation that I've gotten my whole life and always associated as a sign of further hairline recession coming.

I understand it's been banned in some places for causing suicide in rare instances. I could totally see that happening to the underprepared who don't get off or drop the dose.

My very bad reaction puts me in the small minority of hyper responders who have every reason to be afraid. Most guys take 1mg with no problem. Dudes with prostate issues take 5mg for a lifetime with no ill effects.

I wish I had gotten back on before I lost as much ground as I did, because without a DHT blocker as the base everything else isn't going to keep your hair around if DHT is killing off stem cells.

Play it safe. Start at .25mg ed. If things are fine, try .50, and if nothing bad happens congrats, you're probably one of the 95% that can take 1mg without issue.

But if you start to notice sides, go back to .50 or .25 ED, or even .25 EOD if you have to avoid anything intolerable. You'll still enjoy 85-95% of the protection with far less risk of sides, If you decide to come off, accept it takes a few weeks to wash out of your system, just like many of the AAS we use, or recovery after crashing E2, and then you'll be back to normal.

There's no reason to fear this drug imo, has an excellent chance of preserving your hair for a lifetime, and if you choose the dose carefully, you can dodge the sides even if you're prone to them like me.

I had high DHT levels ever since i jumped on Testosterone.
Hair loss was just half my problems.
What worried me was the prostate i was developing problems down there.
The usual suspects like increased frequency in urination and weak urine stream.
So I started using Dutasteride 3-4 times a week and all my problems went away.
I had 0 side effects my dht was in the lower ref range.
I quit using this drug 3 weeks ago and all hell broke loose.
Erections not so good and impossible to ejaculate.
Things are getting worse by the day.
I also wake up during the night and have a hard time going back to sleep.
The more frequent and weak urinations also made a comeback.
I know it’s said to take 5 weeks and more for the drug to clear but it’s not the case with me.
I can only expect this to get worse.
Will get bloods to make sure everything else is in check but its a messed up situation it’s not like low/high E or prolactin issues from 19nor’s.
I feel like this is PFS from what I learned researching it.
If you got side effects while on the drug maybe it was a different problem in your case.
I want to try for a kid this year so I don’t want to get back on it as tempting as it might be.

 

[Ghoul]

I had high DHT levels ever since i jumped on Testosterone.
Hair loss was just half my problems.
What worried me was the prostate i was developing problems down there.
The usual suspects like increased frequency in urination and weak urine stream.
So I started using Dutasteride 3-4 times a week and all my problems went away.
I had 0 side effects my dht was in the lower ref range.
I quit using this drug 3 weeks ago and all hell broke loose.
Erections not so good and impossible to ejaculate.
Things are getting worse by the day.
I also wake up during the night and have a hard time going back to sleep.
The more frequent and weak urinations also made a comeback.
I know it’s said to take 5 weeks and more for the drug to clear but it’s not the case with me.
I can only expect this to get worse.
Will get bloods to make sure everything else is in check but its a messed up situation it’s not like low/high E or prolactin issues from 19nor’s.
I feel like this is PFS from what I learned researching it.
If you got side effects while on the drug maybe it was a different problem in your case.
I want to try for a kid this year so I don’t want to get back on it as tempting as it might be.

I understand what you're experiencing is very real. I also know firsthand sexual dysfunction can be psychologically induced. I'm not saying that means "it's all in your head" or "you're crazy", I mean there are mechanisms that can cause what you're experiencing that aren't in your control, and therefore real and devastating, but that may have no biological cause linked to the drug, only setting off a cascade of events involving your brain that's put you where you are.

Mass psychogenic illness is also a potential factor. We are social creatures and knowledge of symptoms can spread in such a way that people experience them without doing anything other than being exposed to them.

I spent years waiting for my devastating Fin symptoms to be acknowledged as even existing, and many more years waiting for the other shoe to drop on "permanent" finasteride syndrome to undoubtedly be proven true with a biological cause found.

For symptoms that can also have a psychogenic source, 25 years of fruitlessly, diligently searching for a biological cause by an army of researchers is enough for me, an anti-dht blocker crusader, to capitulate and accept psychogenic being at the root of this being as close to certain as I can be about anything.

And perhaps this will help you. I had a different experience, decades later being unlucky enough to cause nerve damage that induced near constant pain in my penis. Nothing is more of a hardon killer than that. I went from walking around with a boner half of every single day to completely losing my ability to have an erection. After the nerve healed the problem persisted. I saw every top specialist in NYC that was related to the most obscure possible cause of my sudden, permanent, near year long ED. I started hearing "psychogenic", which they would say cautiously after endless batteries of tests, because they probably knew how angry the suggestion of ".it's in your head" could make someone. It went on so long, I started developing spongy tissue scarring from the lack of blood flow you need from daily erections to keep things healthy, and that could've permanently reduced its size.

No amount of cialis or viagra made a difference.

Finally I resorted to tri-mix, the first injection of anything I gave myself. Talk about trial by fire if you know where that shot goes, but it forces an erection no matter what.

What a relief to see my old friend after all that time. It finally allowed me to have sex, and the relief was unbelievable, but then I thought "I'm probably not going to be able to have an orgasm" and whether that was on the cards or not I didn't after getting that in my head.

Finally I was offered PT-141 after agreeing to a clinical trial, the only way it was available then, which at the correct dose is described as restoring the "dick - brain" connection, hitting the libido center. It's even used to treat spinal injury patients so they can have kids.

What it did for me was raise sensitivity to the point I couldn't possibly think myself out of an orgasm. After 3 or 4 sessions like that I thought "I can live with this if it's the only solution".

But you know what? While PT-141 can be long lasting, with effects lingering for a few days, so I was used to being able to ride a 2.5mg dose for 48 even 72 hours, I started forgetting it was 5 or 6 days ago, and just went at it like I used to, only realizing after it wore off days before.

I still took it as a "crutch" a few more times, but after 2 months I was back to normal. Everything worked fine after that. Libido, orgasm, morning wood, all of it just like before.

My libido and confidence needed to be rehabilitated. Once I had chemically induced erections and a strong libido synthetically forced on me, my brain remembered how to ride the sex bike and I didn't have an issue again.

So when I went back to discuss this with my "award winning." NYU professor emeritus of urology in NY, telling him all my severe physical symptoms, so serious and real they damaged my penis with scar tissue, were resolved this way, and there must be some undiscovered property in the trimix or PT that caused whatever was broken to heal he needs to tell the world about it, he said, "It was psychogenic".

 

[MuayThayson]

I understand what you're experiencing is very real. I also know firsthand sexual dysfunction can be psychologically induced. I'm not saying that means "it's all in your head" or "you're crazy", I mean there are mechanisms that can cause what you're experiencing that aren't in your control, and therefore real and devastating, but that may have no biological cause linked to the drug, only setting off a cascade of events involving your brain that's put you where you are.

Mass psychogenic illness is also a potential factor. We are social creatures and knowledge of symptoms can spread in such a way that people experience them without doing anything other than being exposed to them.

I spent years waiting for my devastating Fin symptoms to be acknowledged as even existing, and many more years waiting for the other shoe to drop on "permanent" finasteride syndrome to undoubtedly be proven true with a biological cause found.

For symptoms that can also have a psychogenic source, 25 years of fruitlessly, diligently searching for a biological cause by an army of researchers is enough for me, an anti-dht blocker crusader, to capitulate and accept psychogenic being at the root of this being as close to certain as I can be about anything.

And perhaps this will help you. I had a different experience, decades later being unlucky enough to cause nerve damage that induced near constant pain in my penis. Nothing is more of a hardon killer than that. I went from walking around with a boner half of every single day to completely losing my ability to have an erection. After the nerve healed the problem persisted. I saw every top specialist in NYC that was related to the most obscure possible cause of my sudden, permanent, near year long ED. I started hearing "psychogenic", which they would say cautiously after endless batteries of tests, because they probably knew how angry the suggestion of ".it's in your head" could make someone. It went on so long, I started developing spongy tissue scarring from the lack of blood flow you need from daily erections to keep things healthy, and that could've permanently reduced its size.

No amount of cialis or viagra made a difference.

Finally I resorted to tri-mix, the first injection of anything I gave myself. Talk about trial by fire if you know where that shot goes, but it forces an erection no matter what.

What a relief to see my old friend after all that time. It finally allowed me to have sex, and the relief was unbelievable, but then I thought "I'm probably not going to be able to have an orgasm" and whether that was on the cards or not I didn't after getting that in my head.

Finally I was offered PT-141 after agreeing to a clinical trial, the only way it was available then, which at the correct dose is described as restoring the "dick - brain" connection, hitting the libido center. It's even used to treat spinal injury patients so they can have kids.

What it did for me was raise sensitivity to the point I couldn't possibly think myself out of an orgasm. After 3 or 4 sessions like that I thought "I can live with this if it's the only solution".

But you know what? While PT-141 can be long lasting, with effects lingering for a few days, so I was used to being able to ride a 2.5mg dose for 48 even 72 hours, I started forgetting it was 5 or 6 days ago, and just went at it like I used to, only realizing after it wore off days before.

I still took it as a "crutch" a few more times, but after 2 months I was back to normal. Everything worked fine after that. Libido, orgasm, morning wood, all of it just like before.

My libido and confidence needed to be rehabilitated. Once I had chemically induced erections and a strong libido synthetically forced on me, my brain remembered how to ride the sex bike and I didn't have an issue again.

So when I went back to discuss this with my "award winning." NYU professor emeritus of urology in NY, telling him all my severe physical symptoms, so serious and real they damaged my penis with scar tissue, were resolved this way, and there must be some undiscovered property in the trimix or PT that caused whatever was broken to heal he needs to tell the world about it, he said, "It was psychogenic".

I will get bloods next week I hope it’s something I can fix with ease.
Last week my oragasm was hard to achieve now it is imposible.
Similar to Deca delayed orgasm.
Maybe the extra DHT just messed up some ratios and it’s an easy fix.
I have an erection it just goes away like with lowE.
My other symptoms like waking up in the middle of the night and being unable to go back to sleep are strange and similar to those of people suffering from PFS.
I have an on and off relationship with a BBW that always made me cum in every scenario possible and even so nothing worked i even took cialis and nothing.
When orgasm supposed to happen I just went limp and nothing worked after.
As the dutasteride clears my system so do my side effects increase.
Is there a chance it’s something else?
Yes it always is possible but not likely.
Maybe more dht caused less E2 and that messed things up mentally or physically or both.
Hope it goes away fast I could not imagine living like this for months.

 

[Ghoul]

I will get bloods next week I hope it’s something I can fix with ease.
Last week my oragasm was hard to achieve now it is imposible.
Similar to Deca delayed orgasm.
Maybe the extra DHT just messed up some ratios and it’s an easy fix.
I have an erection it just goes away like with lowE.
My other symptoms like waking up in the middle of the night and being unable to go back to sleep are strange and similar to those of people suffering from PFS.
I have an on and off relationship with a BBW that always made me cum in every scenario possible and even so nothing worked i even took cialis and nothing.
When orgasm supposed to happen I just went limp and nothing worked after.
As the dutasteride clears my system so do my side effects increase.
Is there a chance it’s something else?
Yes it always is possible but not likely.
Maybe more dht caused less E2 and that messed things up mentally or physically or both.
Hope it goes away fast I could not imagine living like this for months.

I hope you find some underlying cause you overlooked. Bad gear, any new recent element that you may not be considering.

The bloodwork will be helpful.

If you don't find a cause, you've likely already discovered there's no reliable "fix" for PFS, let me suggest before you go down that rabbit hole or let it affect your relationships, chemically "force" some enjoyable sex with a healthy dose of Cialis and some PT-141. Even if it's on your own, and see if that brings some relief to your symptoms over the next few days.

 

[Liter O' Test]

I had high DHT levels ever since i jumped on Testosterone.
Hair loss was just half my problems.
What worried me was the prostate i was developing problems down there.
The usual suspects like increased frequency in urination and weak urine stream.
So I started using Dutasteride 3-4 times a week and all my problems went away.
I had 0 side effects my dht was in the lower ref range.
I quit using this drug 3 weeks ago and all hell broke loose.
Erections not so good and impossible to ejaculate.
Things are getting worse by the day.
I also wake up during the night and have a hard time going back to sleep.
The more frequent and weak urinations also made a comeback.
I know it’s said to take 5 weeks and more for the drug to clear but it’s not the case with me.
I can only expect this to get worse.
Will get bloods to make sure everything else is in check but its a messed up situation it’s not like low/high E or prolactin issues from 19nor’s.
I feel like this is PFS from what I learned researching it.
If you got side effects while on the drug maybe it was a different problem in your case.
I want to try for a kid this year so I don’t want to get back on it as tempting as it might be.

you have PFS from stopping dutasteride?
Even after taking a high dose of dutasteride with a high dose of testosterone, i came off due to a brain fog scare ( i think it was just 0 carbs and bad sleep) and within a week my libido started returning, its been 2 weeks and now im having urination problems again.
i think your hormones are just disruped and youre overthinking it

 

[unid888]

It's kind of crazy that 90% of experience in this thread is negative towards finasteride. I'd say minox has a bigger chance of sides and you should be aware of that.
Also, there is no hair transplant without finasteride or dutasteride, forget it and don't endorse it.

 

[Liter O' Test]

It's kind of crazy that 90% of experience in this thread is negative towards finasteride. I'd say minox has a bigger chance of sides and you should be aware of that.
Also, there is no hair transplant without finasteride or dutasteride, forget it and don't endorse it.

im pretty sure like everyone who has PFS is natty AND has a propensity to be a hypochondriac AND doesn't take care of themselves. this is just how i read things online, not my intention to offend anyone.

Most of the time when I see someone who said they have it or had it, they ramble about a bunch of nonsense and dont understand medical things fully, i wouldnt be surprised if a lot of them are not native english speakers to contextualize what they read. they make huge leaps in thinking to make connections between trivial things

Low/crashed DHT definately reduces libido and can cause brain fog, but permanent effects i think are due to more mental than physical .. just my opinion