I Haven’t Seen Any Side Effects from Propecia, But Now I’m Worried About the Lawsuit Talk
Hello —
With all of the recent talk about the sexual side effects of Propecia and the impending class-action lawsuit against Merck I’m a bit concerned about having taken the drug since September 2008…At this point in time I have not noticed any side effects — I don’t have erectile dysfunction, my libido is fine, I havent noticed any increased tenderness in my breast. If I haven’t noticed any side effects from the drug yet — almost 4 years in — is it possible that these side effects may appear later on? Maybe 5-10 yrs later?
Thank you.
You are in the normal club of everyday patients. I would certainly not worry considering you’ve been taking the medication for years with no side effects… and if I were you, I would considering staying on the drug. Ultimately, I’m not your doctor and it isn’t a decision I am a part of, but if you’re truly concerned, talk to your prescribing physician.
It is unfortunate that we live in such a litigious society. Judging by the press releases I get via this site, the lawsuit talk is mostly generated by law firms seeking out people and looking to cash in.
While unrelated to hair, did you hear about the 80-something year old woman who is suing Apple for a million bucks, because she walked into the clear glass door of one of their retail stores?
I’ve been on finasteride for the same amount of time with little to no side effects. However, in terms of the lawsuit thing, I live in Canada, and I find Americans are always suing each other and trying to make a quick buck!
Maybe the poster should stop driving to avoid car accidents. We live in a society where there are significant risks and benefits of every action, certainly consumption of medications. If irreversible sexual side effects exist, and I do not know if they do, they are obviously rare. One has to determine the best risk-benefit balance for themselves. If I was taking a drug for 4 years with benefit and no side effects, I would be pretty pleased.
Jeremy, err, I mean Dr. Galston, err, I mean Jeremy,
Please go away. You’re not fooling anyone here. We all know who you really are.
Like thousands of Finasteride users, I lost my libido on the drug and unfortunately I’ve never made a full recovery (2 years later). First of all, I don’t think I should ever have been prescribed Finasteride as a 17 year old, but I was none the wiser. My libido now fluctuates between being at a barely functional level, and total disinterest. I restarted Finasteride after a period off it trying to dismiss my initial run of problems as a coincidence and to see if the symptoms would return. They did, but they never went away. I hadn’t heard of sexual side-effects until I experienced them for myself.
There was no psychosomatic component in my case; in fact, I ignored my side-effects for a long time and pretended that they’d go away as my body adjusted. No such luck. Right now the guys with the big money are trying to keep us quiet, on message boards and on blogs such as this. You’ll see two differing comments for every Anti-Fin post each time. But I can guarantee that new evidence and more lawsuits will arise in the next decade, as seems to be the trend with other dangerous drugs like Accutane and Thalidomide.
I’m not saying that Finasteride is a bad drug; most men who take it won’t experience any side effects. All we ask is for more acknowledgment that they are very real and not uncommon, more study into the effects of long-term use and better warnings for prospective users. DHT is a naturally occuring hormone, supressing it to unhealthily low levels is not the solution to hairloss, it’s merely a temporary means of keeping it under control.