Having Blood Work Done Before and During Propecia Use?
A comment received from the recent post about Propecia and free testosterone levels –
doctor…as an athlete, this is something about propecia which interests me greatly – but there just doesn’t seem to be enough information available about it.
Would there be anything to stop doctors like yourself taking bloodwork of patients before and during finasteride use so that you (as someone in a position who sees finasteride users daily) could report back to us – so we could make informed decisions taking into account not only our hair, but other matters also of interest to us like hormone levels?
Would really appreciate a response. Thanks.
This can be done, but insurance may not cover these tests. If someone wants to pay for the tests out of pocket, it would be in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars. And even if these tests were free, what would we do with the results? What significance or interpretations would come from the tests?
If you look in the literature, I am sure there have been similar studies done before Propecia or finasteride was approved by the FDA. You need to know what you’re looking for before searching for data points.
Hi, Thanks for taking the time to respond.
The reason for asking was that I’ve now seen two completely contradictory studies on this. The one you posted where every single patients free testosterone went down (a big negative of the drug for someone like me) and then another where free testosterone actually increased slightly.
On hair loss forums – nobody seems to have a clue what is correct. The information just isn’t widely available, or if it is then it is not publicly known about.
I would hope that some doctors would want to be able to give patients who are interested in the effects on other hormones the full facts before they decide whether to treat their hair with propecia.
If you do have knowledge of any other trustworthy studies showing what actually happens to this hormone (and others even) then I (and I’m sure many others) would greatly appreciate it if you could post them on your blog.
thanks.
Which study did you see where free testosterone levels went up slightly?
I don’t have the study to hand but I read about it on a hair loss forum – it said that in patients under 26 years the free testosterone increased and in those over 26 it dipped with finasteride but only slightly.
It contradicted the study on here which was unanimous in saying that free testosterone dropped on finasteride.
There needs to be more information available on this subject.
Interesting. Please post it here if you do come across this again in the future. I agree, there is little information available about this particular subject.