I’ve Had Great Success with Finasteride, But Could Side Effects Suddenly Happen Over Time?
Hi Doc,
Had a question about finasteride…after all the scary stories, decided to take the plunge either way as hair transplants are not in my budget and am fairly young…been on it for 1.5 years now with great success (no regrowth but have seemed to stop at a norwood 3, and I was going pretty fast lol).
Anyways my question is this, do the drugs side effects increase with time, I mean by the looks of it until something better comes out, ppl have to be on this drug indefinitely ..if they want to maintain…and there are ppl like spencer kobren whose been on it for 20 years with great success…my question for you is do you personally have any patients who have been on the drug for such a long period of time, and if so how was their continued success/side effect profile
At the moment I am happy, stopped the hairloss and I decided to go with the science and not the crazy over blown stories on the net..but then again i’m paranoid too ,, you hear about people who had been on it for 6 years…great success no side effects and then boom after 6 years they are claiming ED, pain in the groin, shrinkage god knows what not…what are your thoughts?
Side effects from any drugs (including Propecia) usually are seen in the beginning and not after 20 years, but it is possible. I have seen many patients over the years and I do not recall anyone off hand who suddenly had a side effect after years of use.
If you don’t have side effect with a medication then leave it alone. If you think you have a side effect, speak with your doctor to make sure it is indeed a side effect and not an unrelated medical condition. In your case, I would just continue to enjoy the benefits of your halted hair loss.
Going with the science rather than the internet hysteria takes some thinking and courage. Congratulations on that.
All I would say to you is that this has to be an ongoing sort of courage. We are all human and our eyes are drawn to the baloney on the internet, but you cannot give in to the chaos. Even if you read 1 or 2 or 20 postings about some side effect, that is still not a scientific study so it is probable that those side effects have nothing to do with the drug. They are probably from something else, and it could very well be hypochondria, a condition that occurs in about 7% of the population.
People think I say hypochondriasis as some insult. No. It is not an insult. It is a real psychological condition that occurs in about 7% of the population that can be treated with therapy and drugs if necessary. Mental illness is not a joke.
That being said, the information you get from the scientific studies will ALWAYS be better than random posts on the internet. If propecia treated some life or death condition you had, would you choose to take the drug based on the scientific research or on the postings of some person on some internet board. I personally would go with the science, because the information and evidence from the science is better than from the random internet postings.
That is what makes the most sense to me. That is what I think would be the best decision.
thanks buddy … yeah these days I am quite content .. i’m in my mid twenties, work out like crazy and lead a very balanced diet..i’m a gymaholic and a good nutrition geek (not trying to toot my own horn, its just the truth lol)…. I don’t mean any insult, I am quite sure that there is a legitimate number of people who do actually get their sides from the drug, but at the same time I feel many people don’t address other important issues of life, such as working out, eating well etc. which can cause ED and many other problems as men get older.