Am I Breaking Out in Hives from Propecia?
Hello Doctor,
Thanks for maintaining such a great blog.
I am a 20-year-old student who started taking Propecia about a month ago. Since then, I’ve broken out in hives about once every two weeks. The breakout lasts for about 3 days.
I have three questions for you:
– Do you think that this is an allergic reaction to Propecia?
– If I am indeed allergic to Propecia, do you think that it will be less effective?
– I have experienced a noticeable increase in shedding since starting Propecia. The Internet tells me that this could be a good sign, but we both know there’s a lot of misinformation out there.Again, thanks for the great blog.
First of all, if you are breaking out in hives I would see a doctor. This is not a place to get a medical diagnosis or treatment. Any medications can cause a reaction or side effects, but I do not know anything about your medical history or health or habits to even guess why you are breaking out in these two week intervals. Are you doing something different every two weeks?
In general, patients do not shed after taking Propecia. Patients lose hair with or without the medication from natural genetic causes. The “increased shedding” people refer to is very abstract and hard to quantify. This is one of the main reasons you need to see a doctor before you start Propecia and have some form of documentation of where you are starting from (such as a picture of your hair, miniaturization study, or even a bulk measurement). Without anything objective to compare to, it is just anyone’s guess.
Finally, I would guess there are people who are allergic to Propecia, but I have not met anyone face to face at my medical practice who have these allergies people write about on the Internet.
I am 43 and started to take Propecia 13 years ago. I have experienced hives has well on and off in the past and no doctor could find the cause to date. Combined with an overall concern for health in April ( very tired, bad mood, poor sleeping and concerns about low libido and weaker erections) ( doc also unable to diagnose anything wrong from full tests). He concluded that it was work, stress not enough sleep. But I also noticed is that I had almost no more morning erection and my penis looked smaller (at rest ) and I had for the first time in my life, weird reaction from my penis with my wife ( we have been together for 22 years now). Her on top, I would suddenly loose my erection in the middle of the intercourse. I know sometime you drink yew much and it is longer to get an erection and sometime it is softer. But this was sudden. I was a bit concerned but I though that ” hey I am just getting a bit older” as we see the stats on this blog. Yes I was influenced by Internet reading and I have to say that I did not feel like having a problem with ED throughout all these years. So, true it could be the age or other medical conditions but I went to see the doc and I got no scientific answer either from him. Because I was so concerned to loose my virility, I really started to weight the positive and negative. I can already see my hair thinning again. Doc has also prescribed to me Viagra to try. I was reluctant because I did not think I needed it. But I can tell you, the 100 Viagra had a huge effect ( too much). So what I am doing now is using a quarter and it is plenty. I have basically panicked and now at least I now I can perform for sure ( no problem with testosterone I guess or some irreversible thing that I scared me to death. Now’ next step for me is to regain confidence . I have notice though that my morning erection are coming back. I still have libido. But honestly, I had enough signs to stop. Something has changed recently in my body and I am trying to do everything I can to eliminate risk. The hives are still there and it bothers me. As for my appearance,I have either to accept loosing my hair or go for hair transplant. I am looking into the surgery. This blog is the best thing I have seen so far on the topic. I also believe that we have to be careful about what we read.