Propecia: Lawsuit and Permanent Sexual Side Effects - What the Experts are Saying

[Bill - Seemiller]

Given the news related to the alleged possibility of "permanent" sexual side effects associated with Propecia and lawsuits against Merck, is it really worth the risk to take Propecia?

 

Visit "Propecia for Treating Hair Loss: Is it Worth the Risk? What the Experts are Saying" to see what leading hair restoration physicians are saying about Propecia.

 

What are your thoughts on this important topic?

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

Edited June 26, 2012 by TakingThePlunge

[chrisdav]

Great post Bill.

[NEWHAIRPLEASE]

Well written article Bill. Glad to see you poll some of the experts. I have no problem with propecia either.

[newby1234]

The link doesn't seem to work?

[Bill - Seemiller]

newby (and all),

 

The link is back up if you'd like to view and provide your comments.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[zenmunk]

Bill,

 

I've taken 1mg Propecia daily for 13+ years. I recently had a series of medical and blood tests done, because of my concern about the safety of long-term finasteride use. You may find the results interesting:

 

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/163746-those-considering-starting-finasteride-therapy.html

 

Best,

 

Z

[Bill - Seemiller]

Zenmunk,

 

I appreciate you taking the time to respond and to share your own personal experience with finasteride over the last 13 years. I've personally never seen any real evidence that Propecia (finasteride) effects DHEA levels, but it will be interesting to see if the steps you are taking to remedy this will increase your DHEA levels. It's encouraging however, to hear and see that everything else is normal though :-).

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[zenmunk]

Bill,

 

Retested DHEA and results are normal. The low reading from the first test probably had something to do with stress and nothing to do with finasteride.

 

Best,

 

Z

[OttawaJay]

Given the news related to the alleged possibility of "permanent" sexual side effects associated with Propecia and lawsuits against Merck, is it really worth the risk to take Propecia?

 

Visit "Propecia for Treating Hair Loss: Is it Worth the Risk? What the Experts are Saying" to see what leading hair restoration physicians are saying about Propecia.

 

What are your thoughts on this important topic?

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

 

 

 

Hmmm... the link seems dead.

[TakingThePlunge]

OttawaJay,

 

Thank you for pointing out the dead link. Hub pages decided to censor our content. Thus we've opted not to publish on their site anymore. I have just republished the above article to our Q&A Blog and updated the link in Bill's original post. For convenience I've included it below as well.

 

Propecia for Treating Hair Loss: Is it Worth the Risk? What the Experts are Saying

[Mikeylad]

my own personal experience on propecia was awful - I had all of the sexual side effects that got worse gradually over time - and continued to worsen even after I reduced to 1 mg per week. I gave up on the drug as it was ruining my personal life and I had become virtually impotent.What was even more worrying for me is that it took 2 years after stopping the drug for complete normal sexual function to gradually come back. Any research, reports or findings might conclude that only 2% suffer side effects - if you are one of these apparent 2% like I was then you know how awful and devastating this drug can actually be. There is no research on this earth that cannot convince me that propecia messes up hormone levels and can be very dangerous for some people - I have been there and would never touch the stuff again...

[blowdry]

I agree with the Lad, that propecia is a bad drug and sooner or later dependent upon your age will feel the adverse effects of the drug. It gave me prostratis.

 

So I asked my urologist if propecia is given to patients who suffer prostratis, how can it cause it. His head looked straight down.

 

2% my ass..........................................................:mad:

[RCWest]

I take Finasteride, and the much stronger Dutasteride. I have no sexual side effects at all. I believe a lot of these reported side effects are either placebo effects, or the subjects were already having problems.

[gasto]

Dr. Steve Gabel of Portland, Oregon has been prescribing Propecia for years. Dr. Gabel reports that only a select few had experienced side effects.

 

A "select few"? Perhaps you mean a "few". A "select few" sounds like the Dr. Chose who were the patients to suffer side-effects.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Gasto,

 

A "select few" represents a small group of people. And if you want to get technical, it was nature that "selected" the few who suffered from side effects.

 

If you have any actual thoughts on the content, feel free to share.

 

Bill

[aim4hair]

IMHO any drug you take most likely will create some sides, if it's not in the short term then it is in the long term, as you know propecia is still considered new and has not been really tested for the long term.

However, if it's guranteed that the sides would go once you quit the drug then it could be worth taking the risk, but looking at the side effects from propecia site:

 

"In clinical studies for PROPECIA, a small number of men experienced certain sexual side effects, such as less desire for sex, difficulty in achieving an erection, or a decrease in the amount of semen. Each of these side effects occurred in less than 2% of men and went away in men who stopped taking PROPECIA because of them."

 

The above part is OK, since it mentions that sides wll go away once you quit the drug, but then the next paragraph:

 

"In general use, the following have been reported: breast tenderness and enlargement (tell your doctor about any changes in your breasts such as lumps, pain, or nipple discharge); depression; decrease in sex drive that continued after stopping the medication; allergic reactions including rash, itching, hives, and swelling of the lips and face; problems with ejaculation that continued after stopping medication; testicular pain; difficulty in achieving an erection that continued after stopping the medication; male infertility and/or poor quality of semen; and, in rare cases, male breast cancer. Tell your doctor if you have any side effect that bothers you or that does not go away."

 

Looking at the possible permanent sides makes it not worth the risk for me, the second paragraph does not even mention the percentage of people who reported or suffered from those sides.

 

I just can't beleive we still don't have an FDA approved drug similar to propecia that can be applied directly on the scalp instead of taking a pill that can effect your whole body.

[Bobilero]

"I just can't beleive we still don't have an FDA approved drug similar to propecia that can be applied directly on the scalp instead of taking a pill that can effect your whole body.

 

Exactly for me as a treatment it is just not good enough. Its like cutting off your foot because you have a pain in it. DHT is key for many functions. Some that we are not even aware of it seems. I came off Fin due to bad side effects which really became apparent after 3 1/2 years or so.

 

I thought i didnt have any sides up until then but i can say now after 9 months off it sure was affecting me. The changes happen so subtlly a lot of people dont notice and dont remember how they felt before they started on it.

 

I would say to all long term users to do a year off and see if they see a difference. Then confirm if you have had no side effects.

Edited July 2, 2012 by Bobilero

[blowdry]

Well said Bobilero. People get use to the New Normal.

[gasto]

Bill,

 

I still think you should correct it. The meaning is not as you put it, according to the thefreedictionary.com .