Mild Depression from Finasteride?

Doctor,

Love the site, check it out routinely.

I noticed someone previously had written you having had bad side effects from Propecia. You said for him to send you what the effects were to see if he was doing enough to counteract them.

Well, I tried three go-rounds with finasteride. Twice via Propecia (for about 1 year each), and once via Xandrox 15% w/Finasteride as a topical solution. All three times I experienced noticeable mood changes; I would describe it as almost a mild-depression as well as loss of libido. What do you prescribe for patients like myself with these problems to counteract these side effects?

Thanks

Coincidentally, I was going to post something today about a recently published article in Prague Medical Report discussing the relationship between finasteride and depression in some people. From time to time I’ve gotten comments about changes in mood, possibly resulting from finasteride use. Although these are reported in the Merck studies, there is not much information on the mechanism of such side effect possibly because they are very rare. I found this quote from an abstract in a medical journal, which might shed some light on the mechanisms of finasteride action…

“In the course of finasteride treatment the decrease of the concentration of circulating steroids with known inhibitory activity on GABA-ergic excitation in the brain is very probably an important factors contributing to the development of the symptoms of depression seen in some isolated cases of finasteride administration.”

Read the full abstract here — Finasteride treatment and neuroactive steroid formation.