The Only Side Effect I Found from Finasteride is…
Hello, Dr. Rassman. I’ve read your blog for a while and am always impressed with your frankness and professionalism. I don’t see a lot of people that have had good results using finasteride posting, probably because once the problem is corrected you stop endlessly searching for answers on the internet. I started noticing hair loss about four years ago, and decided to control it a couple of years back.
From my experience, when I started finasteride I was looking for any of the side effects that might come with it under a microscope, but there were none. The only noticeable difference I saw (besides the shedding almost disappearing) was that I started getting morning erections again (I’m 31 and hadn’t really noticed I had stopped getting them for a few years). I would probably have been scared away from it if I hadn’t read your blog and your professional opinions. Good work, Doctor.
There are some who are vocal about Propecia’s negative side effects and you will find their thoughts readily on various forums and even the comments section on BaldingBlog. I wouldn’t be surprised if the same few men that write comments on nearly every Propecia related posting leave a comment on this one.
As you state, the many who are pleased with the results will almost never write about their experience… as they will stop reading this blog or spend countless hours on the Internet on the topic. The happy ones just move on and find other topics of interest. Those that feel slighted will spend an awful lot of time trying to drown out the rest.
Good luck, good morning to you, and thanks for your kind words of support.
I have to concur a bit. First few weeks on finasteride, my libido skyrocketed, pretty much the opposite of what the side effects “should have been”. My morning wood has always been there though, with or without the finasteride.
Well N, that the opposite of what this drug does. It works by shrinking the prostate. Bad prostate function = little or no erectile functioning. Sorry, that’s just the way it is. This is a sex-killing drug. Plain and simple. You want to have no sex life, take this drug and enjoy your hair.
The acknowledged 71 patients were simply interviews and not actually verified beyond the interview process. If you read the links you point to, it should be pretty clear. But I guess its easier to spread fear when you can pick and choose things to suit your agenda. If anything, in his ISHRS notes Dr Rassman should’ve said “there are no VERIFIED case reports”.
There you go again with throwing out terms like “malpractice” that you clearly don’t understand. The medication is FDA approved for treating hair loss at 1mg dosage. There is no malpractice here, even if there are unverified reports of side effects. Besides that, Rassman has been very clear that these are his opinions and routinely suggests talking to your own physician. If your doctor prescribed you a medication and you have a problem with it, talk to that doctor.
You need to give it a rest already. While you may think you’re smarter than everyone else, you come off as rather pathetic in your attempts to discredit a man that has helped more than you realize.
Dougie
I agree with you. This is not complicated. Finasteride, like all drugs, has side effects and a patient must evaluate the risk/benefit ratio. The key to any side effect is its reversibility. While the internet and uncontrolled interviews/surveys in 2nd rate medical journals carry the appropriate disclaimers by the authors, I have yet to see a single case history of permanent erectile dysfunction from finasteride written in the scientific/medical literature. I think Dr Rasmann has presented the issues in a very balance way
Dougie, Dougie, Dougie – An FDA approval does not wholly shield a doctor from medical malpractice. The action fits the bill quite perfectly. If a patient asks Dr. Rassman about the prevalence of permanent side effects and he says there are zero case reports that indicate this being so, the patient will have been misled into taking risks he did not agree to. In legalese, this would be an act of professional negligence that served as a proximate cause for any potential damages. Given there is hard archived evidence showing Dr. Rassman knew otherwise it would be a piece of cake to try this hypothetical case in front of any reasonable jury.
In my case, Dr. Rassman is responsible for the harm dealt to me as I made the mistake of trusting his authority over the anecdotal reports before I started to take the drug. Of course, he was not the only opinion I trusted, but the other doctors I have mentioned this to have realized their mistakes. It is of note, however, that there were only maybe 100 or so people that had been posting their stories on forums and that number has since expanded to the thousands.
BiotechMD – The completely incorrect nature of your last statement brings into question your actual status as an MD.
Case reports by definition are uncontrolled and typically investigate matters of very rare illnesses, experimental treatments, or rare side effects from drugs. Anybody involved in the biotech industry and certainly any licensed doctor should be well aware of that fact.
Your 2nd statement contradicts your third one. While you attempt to discredit the case report as being published in a ‘second rate journal’ (which is untrue) you subsequently say that you have not seen anything in the medical literature whatsoever. Even your own adjacent sentences reveal your implicit biases and lies.
Dr. Rassman has not been balanced. Only once or twice has he acknowledged the possibility of irreversibility and has subsequently reversed his patients entirely by ignoring the facts. He has an industry and a career to protect. And he is willing to risk his patients livelihoods to protect his own, against the Hippocratic Oath.
m
Dougie
I agree with you. This is not complicated. Finasteride, like all drugs, has side effects and a patient must evaluate the risk/benefit ratio. The key to any side effect is its reversibility. While the internet and uncontrolled interviews/surveys in 2nd rate medical journals carry the appropriate disclaimers by the authors, I have yet to see a single case history of permanent erectile dysfunction from finasteride written in the scientific/medical literature. I think Dr Rasmann has presented the issues in a very balance way
Jeremy, In the end, you can’t have sex… is that the worst thing in the world? Many people have it much worse than you. Can’t you get over it by now?
Perhaps you haven’t actually experienced anything horrible happen to you… So you think this is the worst thing that could possibly happen to a man… but you’re so wrong.
People with cancer would LOVE to be in your position right now. You can still live an otherwise meaningful life, do whatever you want to do… see what you want to see… experience what you want to experience. Everyone has problems man… but Life is too short to be pissed off over something like this… especially for this long.
I hope you find peace in your life, seriously.
These comments are all good information. Potential users of finasteride can be fully informed. If we assume that the reports of people suffering permanent ED are all correct, it is apparent that the number is quite small. Some men are so attached to their hair that if they thought there was a 1 in 1000 chance of permanent side effects they may still want to take a chance.
By the way if low DHT is the cause of the permanent ED, what effect would injections of DHT have?
Greg – It extends way beyond just being able to enjoy sexual activity which, by itself, is a very vital element of life. Without the ability to have sex, it has been very difficult to maintain romantic relationships which down the road will very likely prevent me from getting married and having a family.
It is one thing if I were simply dealt a bad hand by genetics, but this was caused by greedy corporations and individuals who simply benefitted from this by earning money. Sure, there are some people who are worse off but that is irrelevant. This is a matter of seeking justice and retribution from those who have dealt wrongs to others in society for the almighty dollar.
Jeremy, how long were you on finasteride before it allegedly gave you permanent side effects? Are you sure that you don’t have some other underlying problem that coincided to the timeline? I’ve been on finasteride for 6 months and haven’t experienced any side effects. Perhaps you have some sort of underlying prostate problem that finasteride aggravated, but I am only speculating.
Jeremy, you sure sound crazy to me. I’m gonna go with crazy.
N – If you think it is crazy to be very indignant about being fraudulently deceived into taking a dangerous medication and suffering severe consequences that impact one’s life, that is your right. While you are entitled to hold this belief, I personally do not feel it is worth it to engage such a person in conversation.
Johnny-Ten – I have written about this before, but I have been diagnosed with nerve dysfunction in my penile area along with some hormonal abnormalities. The doctors did not have any treatments for such problems.
M – Dr. Rassman was not my prescribing doctor but I hold him ethically responsible for disseminated false information from the authoritative position of a licensed doctor. Perhaps several years ago, he did not know any better, but he has been shown evidence which he chooses to completely ignore to satisfy his own personal needs.
Jeremy,
I feel for you, that you are clearly suffering. Unfortunately, thrown into that mix is the obvious fact that you are an imbecile. It’s entirely possible that you have incurable ed, but highly unlikely that were savaged by the medication in under a week. Additionally, you speak about the persistent ‘watery’ nature of your semen.. How often are you checking in on that, see as you have incurable ed..? You may have drawn a horrible genetic set of cards, but pull it together and use your head man!