Official Thread: Have you experienced side effects from finasteride? (Poll)

[NARMAK]

24 minutes ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

Mate just look at the results of this poll... But as Ciaus said, I'm sure most of the people who voted "Yes" are just folks  creating duplicate results to juice the numbers with fake data on some obscure internet forum... .Sure

I don't need to look at the poll. If you even take the idea that a "tolerable" side affect like lower libido is taken into account, its easy to see why people would vote "Yes" in the poll if it included everything listed. 

The question should be if somebody has experienced much more serious side affects that led to them needing to stop the medication and then asking how long it took them to recover to baseline and if not, how long it's been since they stopped. 

These conversations need to include the nuance of exactly how people are affected. To boil it down to a rudimental "Yes and No" takes that away imo when the question is worded very basic. 

[GoliGoliGoli]

Just now, NARMAK said:

I don't need to look at the poll. If you even take the idea that a "tolerable" side affect like lower libido is taken into account, its easy to see why people would vote "Yes" in the poll if it included everything listed. 

The question should be if somebody has experienced much more serious side affects that led to them needing to stop the medication and then asking how long it took them to recover to baseline and if not, how long it's been since they stopped. 

These conversations need to include the nuance of exactly how people are affected. To boil it down to a rudimental "Yes and No" takes that away imo when the question is worded very basic. 

You're overly complicating things. The question of the poll is "Have you experienced side effects" not "Have you considered side effects that you would consider intolerable". The first question is fairly objective, the second question is much more subjective. 

 

Personally I would never consider a drop in my libido to be "tolerable" on any level.

[NARMAK]

45 minutes ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

You're overly complicating things. The question of the poll is "Have you experienced side effects" not "Have you considered side effects that you would consider intolerable". The first question is fairly objective, the second question is much more subjective. 

 

Personally I would never consider a drop in my libido to be "tolerable" on any level.

Looks like my point flew over your head, but considering its already been mentioned this threads always descending into arguments, i have no intention to continue this conversation further. I've made my point, others can decide for themselves on what i said and whether they feel its valid. 

[GoliGoliGoli]

7 minutes ago, NARMAK said:

Looks like my point flew over your head, but considering its already been mentioned this threads always descending into arguments, i have no intention to continue this conversation further. I've made my point, others can decide for themselves on what i said and whether they feel its valid. 

No, I don't think the point flew over my head. Your simply trying to spin the poll results to fit your pre-conceived opinion because you personally view side effects like lower libido "tolerable". I doubt many other guys who value their libido would see it the same way. 

[LookMaxx]

On 8/30/2022 at 3:26 PM, BaldV said:

NW6 or NW7 is basically the same lol, you are bald in both cases, quit fin and go on with your life, take care of your health, of your diet and enjoy your life mate.

 

On 8/30/2022 at 7:34 PM, ciaus said:

 

If you're experiencing rapid weight loss and increased depression, you've got bigger issues than finasteride. Go see doctor(s) for these symptoms if you aren't already. Don't worry about helping others at this point, in fact pouring out your thoughts and experiences on the forum in your current condition is more likely to do harm than good.

If I have PFS I should be hopeless and doctors not be able to do anything. That’s what I keep hearing.

Nothing new to report, I can definitely see the psychological aspect of PFS more and more and experience it, the more I read the fearmongering and content of PFS foundation, my heart sinks and depression increases but when I am distracted I feel fine, happy even. 

I wonder how long before I snap out of this gloom and doom PFS like brain fog and depression. I feel like it’s just around the corner, probably need to not visit PFS forums Hahaa 

 

 

 

 

 

[mafpe]

12 hours ago, NARMAK said:

The Internet being the internet, we find that a minority group can be super vocal and then there's a silent majority who just get on with their lives. That's why even a site like this has people that come on here, get the help they need and disappear to go on and enjoy their lives with the follicle security achieved. 

^^^

i've been less active here compared to when i'm researching, and waiting for the HT. because now all i can do is just wait, and enjoy the result later. i doubt i'd be staying here after the final result aside from posting my own observation / random visits. i've gotten my answers to my research, and would move to other topic to improve myself or my look. otherwise i'd still be here pretty much everyday in hope of an answer.

the side effect exist, and is much higher than the producer claims to be, yes.

for some people, side effect disappear in 3 months of continued use for some people, and other are affected minorly and doesn't consider it much. but these things aren't quantifiable in numbers except our blood test result, which doesn't always correlates to the same thing to each people.

then there are those who are very sensitive to the med that taking it mean a ton of change to their life.

i mean, who can say how much libido loss is a quantifiable result? at most we can only do it similar to hospital's "how in pain are you from 1 to 10?", which is pretty much subjective. the other more serious effect on the other hand, we can see better, such as if they are unable to get erect, or if it is severe enough like PFS that  

the medicine isn't as innocent, nor as evil as it's made to be, it's mostly tolerated by it's users that even now it's acknowledged that finasteride is one of the most effective meds for hair loss, in which many thinks that the risk is well worth it because of the low occurrence and severity. 

i myself do feel the slight libido decrease, heck, there are even rare moments of ball ache that is pretty much a question mark for me, as i don't know if it's the med, or something sinister such as testicular torsion / cancer, or maybe just plain blue balls. *apparently blue balls is a thing, and heck it's annoying af. i thought before it's just a joke.

[LookMaxx]

2 hours ago, mafpe said:

^^^

i've been less active here compared to when i'm researching, and waiting for the HT. because now all i can do is just wait, and enjoy the result later. i doubt i'd be staying here after the final result aside from posting my own observation / random visits. i've gotten my answers to my research, and would move to other topic to improve myself or my look. otherwise i'd still be here pretty much everyday in hope of an answer.

the side effect exist, and is much higher than the producer claims to be, yes.

for some people, side effect disappear in 3 months of continued use for some people, and other are affected minorly and doesn't consider it much. but these things aren't quantifiable in numbers except our blood test result, which doesn't always correlates to the same thing to each people.

then there are those who are very sensitive to the med that taking it mean a ton of change to their life.

i mean, who can say how much libido loss is a quantifiable result? at most we can only do it similar to hospital's "how in pain are you from 1 to 10?", which is pretty much subjective. the other more serious effect on the other hand, we can see better, such as if they are unable to get erect, or if it is severe enough like PFS that  

the medicine isn't as innocent, nor as evil as it's made to be, it's mostly tolerated by it's users that even now it's acknowledged that finasteride is one of the most effective meds for hair loss, in which many thinks that the risk is well worth it because of the low occurrence and severity. 

i myself do feel the slight libido decrease, heck, there are even rare moments of ball ache that is pretty much a question mark for me, as i don't know if it's the med, or something sinister such as testicular torsion / cancer, or maybe just plain blue balls. *apparently blue balls is a thing, and heck it's annoying af. i thought before it's just a joke.

I felt better on fin mentally than without lol, don’t know if I have PFS or what 

[BaldReaper]

8 hours ago, LookMaxx said:

 

If I have PFS I should be hopeless and doctors not be able to do anything. That’s what I keep hearing.

Nothing new to report, I can definitely see the psychological aspect of PFS more and more and experience it, the more I read the fearmongering and content of PFS foundation, my heart sinks and depression increases but when I am distracted I feel fine, happy even. 

I wonder how long before I snap out of this gloom and doom PFS like brain fog and depression. I feel like it’s just around the corner, probably need to not visit PFS forums Hahaa 

 

 

 

 

 

Lol, this is definitely not PFS, sounds like you try to persuade yourself you have PFS, like I said, go on with your life as a confident bald man

[LookMaxx]

42 minutes ago, BaldV said:

confident bald man

Yuck

[GoliGoliGoli]

8 hours ago, mafpe said:

 myself do feel the slight libido decrease, heck, there are even rare moments of ball ache that is pretty much a question mark for me, as i don't know if it's the med, or something sinister such as testicular torsion / cancer, or maybe just plain blue balls. *apparently blue balls is a thing, and heck it's annoying af. i thought before it's just a joke.

Blue balls should only happen very rarely. Like in situations where you're getting with a girl and are almost about to climax and then have to suddenly stop. Most guys will experience blue balls maybe a handful of times in their entire lives. 

[NARMAK]

1 hour ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

Blue balls should only happen very rarely. Like in situations where you're getting with a girl and are almost about to climax and then have to suddenly stop. Most guys will experience blue balls maybe a handful of times in their entire lives. 

Oh, i definitely need to see you quote some scientific literature for blue balls now

[LookMaxx]

14 hours ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

Blue balls should only happen very rarely. Like in situations where you're getting with a girl and are almost about to climax and then have to suddenly stop. Most guys will experience blue balls maybe a handful of times in their entire lives. 

The term cocktease exists for a reason hehe

[yesplease]

23 hours ago, mafpe said:

^^^

i've been less active here compared to when i'm researching, and waiting for the HT. because now all i can do is just wait, and enjoy the result later. i doubt i'd be staying here after the final result aside from posting my own observation / random visits. i've gotten my answers to my research, and would move to other topic to improve myself or my look. otherwise i'd still be here pretty much everyday in hope of an answer.

the side effect exist, and is much higher than the producer claims to be, yes.

for some people, side effect disappear in 3 months of continued use for some people, and other are affected minorly and doesn't consider it much. but these things aren't quantifiable in numbers except our blood test result, which doesn't always correlates to the same thing to each people.

then there are those who are very sensitive to the med that taking it mean a ton of change to their life.

i mean, who can say how much libido loss is a quantifiable result? at most we can only do it similar to hospital's "how in pain are you from 1 to 10?", which is pretty much subjective. the other more serious effect on the other hand, we can see better, such as if they are unable to get erect, or if it is severe enough like PFS that  

the medicine isn't as innocent, nor as evil as it's made to be, it's mostly tolerated by it's users that even now it's acknowledged that finasteride is one of the most effective meds for hair loss, in which many thinks that the risk is well worth it because of the low occurrence and severity. 

i myself do feel the slight libido decrease, heck, there are even rare moments of ball ache that is pretty much a question mark for me, as i don't know if it's the med, or something sinister such as testicular torsion / cancer, or maybe just plain blue balls. *apparently blue balls is a thing, and heck it's annoying af. i thought before it's just a joke.

Testicular pain/ache is a very common side effect from fin. And definitely one that, to me, is difficult to ascribe to a psychosomatic etiology. 
 

IMO, testicular/genital pain and a true loss of nocturnal erections (morning wood) are clear, undeniable signs that it is impacting your sexual health. 

[mafpe]

32 minutes ago, yesplease said:

Testicular pain/ache is a very common side effect from fin. And definitely one that, to me, is difficult to ascribe to a psychosomatic etiology. 
 

IMO, testicular/genital pain and a true loss of nocturnal erections (morning wood) are clear, undeniable signs that it is impacting your sexual health. 

yeah, one of the first thing that comes to mind is fin.

due to the pain only being there if i've been aroused and not doing anything however, it's not the sole culprit. and i still have morning wood. they're pretty random, i noticed it's usually more prone to my mental wellbeing being the bigger factor.

these are one of the reason i say they do have side effect but it's not the devil, more like "complications". alone, they do almost naught to me, pile the factors up however, ouchie ouch ensues.

[Al - Moderator]

On 8/31/2022 at 3:01 PM, NARMAK said:

The question should be if somebody has experienced much more serious side affects that led to them needing to stop the medication and then asking how long it took them to recover to baseline and if not, how long it's been since they stopped.

 

I agree that a better, more useful poll would have been asking anyone who has taken finasteride if you had to stop due to side effects.

 

[general-etwan]

The poll will have massively distorted results overstating "yes" because the vast majority of men taking finasteride with no noticeable side effects never create an account on a hair forum and talk about it. The real numbers we already know: single digit % of all men taking finasteride notice negative side effects. There is no scientific point to looking at these poll results on a specialized website like this because the sample is not at all representative of the real-world population.

Edited September 3, 2022 by general-etwan

[general-etwan]

On 9/2/2022 at 1:12 AM, yesplease said:

Testicular pain/ache is a very common side effect from fin. And definitely one that, to me, is difficult to ascribe to a psychosomatic etiology. 
 

IMO, testicular/genital pain and a true loss of nocturnal erections (morning wood) are clear, undeniable signs that it is impacting your sexual health. 

Would dispute this strongly. What % do you consider "very common?" Is less than 10% "very common" to you? Because it isn't to me or most scientists. It's very rare. 

There are many claims online of men who suddenly woke up one day and felt their penises were shut off and and stayed off from that point forward. There is no evidence that the sufficient dose of finasteride (1 mg 3 days/wk) can cause this to happen suddenly one morning. That chemistry does not occur. It is possible that lower libido can result gradually over time from a build-up of finasteride in the system as a result of taking more than that sufficient dose. But the sudden death of the penis and sex drive stories...I'm sorry, and we can be sympathetic and try to learn as much as possible about those claims...but there is no scientific basis for attributing those claims to finasteride or that they are even occurring in the ways those individuals claim.

Personally, I can say that I *have* noticed a little bit of a decrease in sex drive in my 8 months of taking finasteride. As in, I don't feel like I need to engage in private time 24/7 anymore. But, my ability to begin drive is still entirely in my control and I can turn on the switch literally whenever I choose. So either I have some kind of superhuman brain, or some other men suffer from brain chemistry events that we don't completely understand yet (as a result of life impacts, psychology, mental health, etc...everything that is not finasteride) that harms their ability to achieve arousal and engage in normal sexual behavior consistently. Kind of like your brain being extremely uncomfortable at least at first with allowing you to go to the bathroom in front of someone (if needing to be watched for a drug test, military, etc. I'm betting on more of the latter.

Edited September 3, 2022 by general-etwan

[LookMaxx]

So I have some changes to report

My libido is on another level. Here’s the difference between fin/no fin. With fin, I still had strong libido to the point of painful but it was sporadic, without fin, it is constant and more stretched out over the whole day. No difference in erection strength etc

The sides with brain continues. Can’t focus or think properly, maybe I am not used to DHT overload, I do have sex a lot on my mind now. Memory is also shot which wasn’t the case a few days ago. 

Hairs continue to fall obviously, now looking like a proper nw6 when before it was nw5 ish

Like I said at this point I can see PFS patients freaking out but I think it’s just massive hormones change with floodgates of DHT unleashed and as a result the brain preoccupied with sex a lot. 
 

I think I like fin mindset more, was able to get things done and focus. I do wonder when I will snap back to normal. Will report. Today noticed changes with memory and libido (painful)

[NARMAK]

On 9/2/2022 at 6:12 AM, yesplease said:

Testicular pain/ache is a very common side effect from fin. And definitely one that, to me, is difficult to ascribe to a psychosomatic etiology. 
 

IMO, testicular/genital pain and a true loss of nocturnal erections (morning wood) are clear, undeniable signs that it is impacting your sexual health. 

Personally i think it would be best for a person to get checked by a medical professional and rule out other causes first. 

I've had balls ache simply from sitting on them wrong or stretching into a position too quickly. Usually that resolves itself 

Obesity and aging particularly have an acute impact upon sexual functions and also aging in particular affects you in that area. Hence why those blue pills are out there in abundance. 

Modern society has many, many causes but what i particularly dislike is when something specific is scapegoated as the cause without proper evidence of that being the case. That's how Finasteride has got this reputation of negative things around it. Myths and half truths or overblown statistics misused. 

[ciaus]

5 hours ago, LookMaxx said:

So I have some changes to report

 

Don't take this the wrong way, but this topic is a forum poll on whether or not members have experienced side effect symptoms, not a personal journal for your experiments with finasteride. 

And as I've said before, someone dealing with depression can cause more harm than good. Everyone will be better off if you focus on dealing with that first with your doctors.

Edited September 3, 2022 by ciaus

[GoliGoliGoli]

10 hours ago, general-etwan said:

The poll will have massively distorted results overstating "yes" because the vast majority of men taking finasteride with no noticeable side effects never create an account on a hair forum and talk about it. The real numbers we already know: single digit % of all men taking finasteride notice negative side effects. There is no scientific point to looking at these poll results on a specialized website like this because the sample is not at all representative of the real-world population.

This logic makes no sense. It's a hair transplant forum not a PFS forum, if anything people here would be incentivized to minimize reporting their side effects because the demographic here is hyper focused on retaining their hair. There's ZERO reason to suspect that people on a HT forum would be a bad sample group. 

Is it a scientifically conducted poll? No of course not, that goes without saying. But disregarding the reports the of real human beings and acting like people are creating duplicate accounts to juice the "Yes" numbers (As others have suggested) is a whole nother level of craziness. 

DHT is a key male androgen with a variety of physiological functions. Just from a fundamental first principles level of thinking, it's insane to think side effects wouldn't arise from drastically lowering your DHT levels. 

Edited September 3, 2022 by GoliGoliGoli

[GoliGoliGoli]

10 hours ago, general-etwan said:

 

Personally, I can say that I *have* noticed a little bit of a decrease in sex drive in my 8 months of taking finasteride. As in, I don't feel like I need to engage in private time 24/7 anymore. But, my ability to begin drive is still entirely in my control and I can turn on the switch literally whenever I choose. So either I have some kind of superhuman brain, or some other men suffer from brain chemistry events that we don't completely understand yet (as a result of life impacts, psychology, mental health, etc...everything that is not finasteride) that harms their ability to achieve arousal and engage in normal sexual behavior consistently. Kind of like your brain being extremely uncomfortable at least at first with allowing you to go to the bathroom in front of someone (if needing to be watched for a drug test, military, etc. I'm betting on more of the latter.

Ok, so you're experiencing side effects. Did you vote Yes or No in the poll? 

[general-etwan]

2 hours ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

This logic makes no sense. It's a hair transplant forum not a PFS forum, if anything people here would be incentivized to minimize reporting their side effects because the demographic here is hyper focused on retaining their hair. There's ZERO reason to suspect that people on a HT forum would be a bad sample group. 

Is it a scientifically conducted poll? No of course not, that goes without saying. But disregarding the reports the of real human beings and acting like people are creating duplicate accounts to juice the "Yes" numbers (As others have suggested) is a whole nother level of craziness. 

DHT is a key male androgen with a variety of physiological functions. Just from a fundamental first principles level of thinking, it's insane to think side effects wouldn't arise from drastically lowering your DHT levels. 

It makes absolute sense. People who participate on hair loss forums in general like this one are a small minority of all the men taking action against hair loss and are much more likely to be struggling with something specific and have a desire to talk about it a lot than the total population of all finasteride users. Just facts. Prob and stat.

Suggesting people are creating duplicate accounts to push the response higher is of course silly. 

Lowering DHT in the system can have effects but these effects are not noticeable in the vast majority of men taking finasteride properly. Since the development of the functions which DHT plays a major role have already been completed since puberty, DHT plays a more minor role in the body in fully grown years (and also has negative side effects itself like excessive body hair growth, acne, etc) and therefore can often be lowered about 2/3 without noticing much negative change in life. Not always, but most of the time. 

Edited September 3, 2022 by general-etwan

[LookMaxx]

6 hours ago, ciaus said:

 

Don't take this the wrong way, but this topic is a forum poll on whether or not members have experienced side effect symptoms, not a personal journal for your experiments with finasteride. 

And as I've said before, someone dealing with depression can cause more harm than good. Everyone will be better off if you focus on dealing with that first with your doctors.

It’s about fin sides and my depression is definitely fin induced. Not sure why you hate my posts, you can just ignore them ya know. 

[yesplease]

13 hours ago, general-etwan said:

Would dispute this strongly. What % do you consider "very common?" Is less than 10% "very common" to you? Because it isn't to me or most scientists. It's very rare. 

There are many claims online of men who suddenly woke up one day and felt their penises were shut off and and stayed off from that point forward. There is no evidence that the sufficient dose of finasteride (1 mg 3 days/wk) can cause this to happen suddenly one morning. That chemistry does not occur. It is possible that lower libido can result gradually over time from a build-up of finasteride in the system as a result of taking more than that sufficient dose. But the sudden death of the penis and sex drive stories...I'm sorry, and we can be sympathetic and try to learn as much as possible about those claims...but there is no scientific basis for attributing those claims to finasteride or that they are even occurring in the ways those individuals claim.

Personally, I can say that I *have* noticed a little bit of a decrease in sex drive in my 8 months of taking finasteride. As in, I don't feel like I need to engage in private time 24/7 anymore. But, my ability to begin drive is still entirely in my control and I can turn on the switch literally whenever I choose. So either I have some kind of superhuman brain, or some other men suffer from brain chemistry events that we don't completely understand yet (as a result of life impacts, psychology, mental health, etc...everything that is not finasteride) that harms their ability to achieve arousal and engage in normal sexual behavior consistently. Kind of like your brain being extremely uncomfortable at least at first with allowing you to go to the bathroom in front of someone (if needing to be watched for a drug test, military, etc. I'm betting on more of the latter.

I was not saying that testicular and genital pain was very common in ALL USERS of fin. Rather, of those that do report sides, it seems to be one that is commonly reported. Even many who otherwise do well with fin and stay on it seem to report testicular pain/aching, albeit sometimes temporarily. When I was on fin (which, in total, was a longer period of time than you have taken it thus far), I persistently experienced this symptom to varying degrees of intensity. 

 

And as an aside, I most definitely wouldn’t call a 10% incidence of any symptom or outcome anywhere near “rare”. Nor would anyone who is savvy with analyzing data and scientific/medical literature. 
 

Finally, your experience with it thus far is just that. Your experience. Not everyone’s physiology and pharmacogenetics are the same. Truly glad it’s working well for you, but your system’s ability to tolerate it is irrelevant to how others may respond to it, and does not preclude the occurrence of significant, drug induced side effects in others.