Propecia and Peripheral Neuropathy

Dear Dr. Rassman,

I was recently diagnosed with a peripheral neuropathy in my feet. Although, i feel it mostly in my right foot. I am mailing you because i have been taking propecia for a year now and thought that maybe finasteride could have be causing my neuropathy? I recently took a blood test(diabetes,hiv,lyme disease,etc), a 24 urine sample, a chest x-ray, a pulmonary test, and a brain MRI. Everything has come back normal, except my cholesterol was a little high and out of range and my enzyme count( i can’t rememember the exact name?) was out of range. When my neurologist saw my enzyme test was out of range she mentioned it could possibly be sarcoidosis, and just to make sure to have a chest x-ray and pulmonary test to rule them out. The x-ray and pulmonary tests were both normal.

I have seen an accredited hair specialist/hair transplant surgeon and a reputable one i might add….and after telling him about my neuropathy he tohught i should stop taking propecia for 3 months to see if it goes away…actually i had already decided to stop taking it, but, i w anted to see what he thought. Anyway, i have read your blog and respect you and your words and knowledge. If it isn’t an inconvenience could you please let me know what you think. Also, i asked my doctor if stop taking propecia cold turkey would that be okay and he said yes. I also asked if i started propecia would it still be effective and he said yes. he just said i might lose some hair but it should still work if i decided to use again.
By the way, i am in my thirties and have good general health. I am also a Norwood 2.

Thank you very much

I really am not in a position to give you advice here. I am unaware of peripheral neuropathy being a known side effect of Propecia. If you stop the medication, you will lose the value of it over a 2-3 month period of time, some of which may come back if you restart it by then. Any decision to do this and any schedule on restarting it needs to be made between you and your prescribing doctor.