Snippet from the article:

Some men who take the drug finasteride (Propecia) to slow a receding hair line may also find it reduces their interest in drinking alcohol, new research reveals.

Almost two-thirds of the men in the study noticed they were drinking less alcohol than before taking Propecia, said study researcher Dr. Michael Irwig, an endocrinologist and assistant professor of medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine.

But the decrease in drinking seen in the study may not be found in all men who use the popular hair-loss treatment. (A higher dose of finasteride is also prescribed to men for an enlarged prostate, and is sold as Proscar.)

The study, which was aimed at better understanding the drug’s sexual side effects, looked at only younger men, ages 46 and under, who had quit taking the medication for male-pattern hair loss for at least three months, yet continued to experience effects such as a reduced sex drive and erectile dysfunction.

Read the rest — Baldness Drug Curbs Men’s Interest in Alcohol, Study Suggests

The study was of 83 men that claimed to have persistent sexual side effects after stopping finasteride, with 65% of them stating they drank less booze now, 32% stating no change in their drinking, and 3% stating they drank more.

I’m not sure if the study looked into the personal lives of these men to find out if there were other possible reasons for their drinking habits to change (lifestyle or psychological), but the findings were worth posting here. The study is fairly ambiguous about whether alcohol and finasteride are definitively linked, and the article points out that there was no control group. For what it’s worth, I don’t recall any patients ever mentioning a change in alcohol consumption to me.

Past studies by the same researcher, Dr Irwig, have been written about here before.

Dr. Rassman

Just wanted to thank you for your blog. Its very informative.

I don’t have a question but I just wanted to let your readers know how well Propecia has done for me. I started losing my hair in my early to mid 20’s. It has always been a stressful issue for me. It was becoming thinner each year. I am lucky because I have dark blond wavy coarse hair but it was still thinning and receding. I went on Finasteride in 1995 and than Propecia in 1997 when it became FDA approved. When I was in my 20’s I never thought I would have my hair into my 40’s. I am 45 now and not only do i have my hair but I have more hair than many people my age. People all the time come up to me and tell me how lucky I am to have so much hair. This would not of been possible without being on Finasteride/Propecia for 18 years. This is a great drug for those that are concerned about hair loss. I have also never had any side effects from it.

What you describe is not unusual, as the majority of men that take this medication likely have similar experiences with Propecia (finasteride 1mg), but the reports on the internet tend to seem skewed in the negative direction. As I’ve said in the past, those that feel slighted will usually speak out the loudest, while those men that have had success will not usualy take the time to go online to share the positive experiences they had.

I appreciate you taking the time to send in your report.

Snippet from the article:

After raw-ginger scalp rubs and walnut snacks failed to counter Shi Yang’s receding hairline, the 26-year-old Shanghai engineer says he’s ready to ditch his mother’s advice and give Western drugs a go.

Traditional herbal remedies for male pattern baldness are losing ground to treatments such as Merck & Co.’s Propecia and Johnson & Johnson’s Rogaine in China, where a full head of black hair on a man is a sign of health and virility. Shi, a slim, bespectacled college graduate, has a better chance of landing a girlfriend with a thick thatch of hair like President Xi Jinping or Premier Li Keqiang, both of whom are in their 50s, he said.

Sales of Western hair-loss treatments doubled in China the past five years, growing almost twice as fast as the broader hair-product segment, according to Euromonitor International. The hair-loss market is still small because baldness is only now being seen as a problem requiring pharmaceutical help, and Western companies have only recently begun to seize on the concern.

Read the rest — Snake Gall Bladders Ditched for Drugs by Balding Chinese

I am 23 and have been experiencing MPB since age 16. I decided to try Propecia 6 months ago. After 2 months, I started getting fantastic results (hair looked WAY thicker, nothing was falling out). However, a month or so later, Propecia seemed to stop working. I am now in month six, and for the last 3 months my hair has been shedding and falling out like it was before I started the drug and it seems it has completely stopped working. I even called Merck and they told me they had NEVER heard of anyone responding positively so quickly and then stopping. Is it possible for a “shed” to last over three months and then revert back to positive results?

Interestingly, I had the SAME reaction when I tried Saw Palmetto a year ago. It worked great for a month or so and then completely stopped. Does my MPB overpower the DHT inhibitors and create some sort of immunity? I did not stick with Saw Palmetto for more than a few weeks after it stopped “working,” but I have stuck with Propecia so far.

Please let me know if you have any advice as I am desperate for some guidance. (I am no longer with my prescribing doctor and have nowhere to turn)

An uncommon report from some people starting on the drug is that they experience shedding. When this occurs, it generally disappears after one or two months. You’re asking about three to four months of shedding caused by the drug, and I frankly have not seen that report. The real effects of Propecia take a year or so, in some people up to two years. Patience is a virtue.

It is unusual to see fantastic results in just a couple months, so I’m not really sure what you saw. Since it is a prescription medication and you’re no longer with your prescribing doctor, the best thing I can recommend is to find another doctor and have him/her handle your care. Hopefully you can get some metrics to compare your hair today to your hair a year from now to see if you’re experiencing any benefits from the medication.

You could have accelerated hair loss from the genetic impact. The hair loss cycle with those that have genetic hair loss can come in spurts and slow periods, and the only way to know is to watch it over time while you are on Propecia.

I have been on Propecia now for about 2.5 years (I am 22 now) and I noticed a receding hairline back when I was 18/19, so I decided to act on my hair loss quickly. Ever since being on Propecia I havent noticed any further hair loss. I was wondering is there a time where I should think about stopping Propecia?

I’ve heard that it can affect fertility (I know that you have said that many people do complain and the ones with positive experiences don’t) but I was just
wondering is it safe to continue? should I consider stopping? thank you in advance

These are decisions that you should speak with your doctor about. If you stop it, you will lose all of the hair that benefited from the drug from the day you started to where the progression should have taken you.

There are extensive risks and you should have read all about them from your doctor at the time you started the process. It is uncertain if fertility is one of those risks. For my own son, I have kept him on this drug as it completely stopped and reversed his frontal hair loss.