In My Late 40s and Propecia Gave Me a Decreased Libido

I am in my late 40s and have receding hair and a slight thin spot at the crown. I’ve been taking Propecia for about 2 years now and while I haven’t noticed any hair growth, my hair seems to stay consistent. I am, however, unhappy with the decreased libido side effect. I would like to stop taking Propecia and try Rogaine or saw palmetto.

Would you advise this and if you would, should I stop the Propecia cold turkey or gradually stop it?

I can’t advise someone that isn’t my patient to start or stop a prescription medication, which is what Propecia is. I can just give general advice. There’s no weaning process when stopping the medication, but please talk to your prescribing physician about the best way to change your dosing. There’s a couple points you might be aware of, but I feel I should highlight for you just in case:

1. Any benefits you’ve seen from Propecia will start to disappear within months of stopping it, so if you want to try to maintain the consistency you’ve seen you might wish to ask your doctor about taking a lower dosage (some Propecia is better than none) to see if that helps with the side effects.

2. It’s also possible that the drug itself isn’t the cause of your lower libido and there’s another issue coincidentally going on. Stress, anxiety, and age can also be reasons for a lower libido. People seem quick to point the finger at medication first, but in reality people that don’t take medications still have these same issues every day.

Propecia is entirely elective medication for a cosmetic issue (you’re not going to suffer health risks by stopping it), so ultimately it’s up to you whether you want to take it or not.