Finasteride, anxiety

[w12345r]

I've been on 1mg finasteride every day for about 10 months now.
No sexual sides whatsoever, but I'm starting to believe that finasteride is giving me really bad anxiety.

If I look back at the last year, I became a complete diverent person.
The person I used to be is a real calm, social person who wouldn't stress easily...

I believe since starting finasteride social anxiety had creeped up on me slowly. Now to a point that it isn't really bearable anymore.

A year ago I wouldn't even think about stressing for a new job interview for example. Today I'm stressing out about going to the barber...

I'm having multiple panic attacks a week. My heartbeat will raise really fast, I'm trembling, just feels so f''cked up..

Could this be related to finasteride? Does anyone recognize this?

I'm 23 and If finasteride will keep my hair then I would like to take it, but maybe I would rather be bald than living with anxiety...

Some other sides I'm experiencing beside of the anxiety;
-Feeling out of this world / Brain fog (sometimes people talk to me, and I do answer with yes or no, but then I realize that I have no clue what they're talking about)
-Trembling
-Tired
-Slurred speech / can't find the right words

[Sub8large]

no. if anything finasteride will decrease anxiety because it increases t levels.

[Not giving up]

It can cause anxiety yes, but so can hairloss in general.

Messing with your hormones can cause a number of things and anxiety is one of them. Brain fog is also common and I too have found myself struggling for words, feeling less articulate since I've started taking it.

However, this is the trade in we make. If it isn't worth it for you then make the choice

[Johny41]

In my opinion finasteride is not to blame here. The hair loss itself is what makes you feel insecure. Social anxiety is a common condition in men who lose hair, because with hair we lose our self confidence.

[pkipling]

I would also look at some other potential contributing factors to the anxiety other than the finasteride. Did anything else change in your life over the past year? Did you graduate college? Is your living situation different? Do you have more financial responsibility now than you did a year ago?

If I were a betting man, I would venture to say that there's something else in your life that is causing this. Also, one interesting thing about anxiety is that the longer it goes untreated, the worse it seems to get. What started out as small soon becomes bigger and bigger as you're no longer able to manage it (hence the panic attacks, anxiety about getting a hair cut, etc.). It's almost as if you have a bit of anxiety caused by some external factor, and you hate the feeling so much that you then develop more anxiety about having that anxious feeling again.... And then in snowballs until it seems uncontrollable.

There are some very effective exercises and treatments for anxiety you could look into - one of which being meditation and mindfulness exercises. These are what I have found most helpful in my life (in addition to some very successful therapy due to my own anxiety disorders through the years).

Hopefully that's of some benefit/help to you. Let me know if you have any specific questions and we can chat.

I am a patient advocate for Dr. Parsa Mohebi in Los Angeles, CA. My opinions/comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Dr. Mohebi and his staff.

[w12345r]

I would also look at some other potential contributing factors to the anxiety other than the finasteride. Did anything else change in your life over the past year? Did you graduate college? Is your living situation different? Do you have more financial responsibility now than you did a year ago?

If I were a betting man, I would venture to say that there's something else in your life that is causing this. Also, one interesting thing about anxiety is that the longer it goes untreated, the worse it seems to get. What started out as small soon becomes bigger and bigger as you're no longer able to manage it (hence the panic attacks, anxiety about getting a hair cut, etc.). It's almost as if you have a bit of anxiety caused by some external factor, and you hate the feeling so much that you then develop more anxiety about having that anxious feeling again.... And then in snowballs until it seems uncontrollable.

There are some very effective exercises and treatments for anxiety you could look into - one of which being meditation and mindfulness exercises. These are what I have found most helpful in my life (in addition to some very successful therapy due to my own anxiety disorders through the years).

Hopefully that's of some benefit/help to you. Let me know if you have any specific questions and we can chat.

I am a patient advocate for Dr. Parsa Mohebi in Los Angeles, CA. My opinions/comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Dr. Mohebi and his staff.

Thanks for your respons! I can't sent Private Messages for some reason, but could you contact me on wesley0156w@gmail.com?
I would like to ask some questions as your story sounds really familiar to me!

[pkipling]

Thanks for your respons! I can't sent Private Messages for some reason, but could you contact me on wesley0156w@gmail.com?
I would like to ask some questions as your story sounds really familiar to me!

For sure! Just sent you an email. Talk soon, bud!

I am a patient advocate for Dr. Parsa Mohebi in Los Angeles, CA. My opinions/comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Dr. Mohebi and his staff.

[burtandernie]

Its possible they are related and its possible they arent. Really no one knows. Quit fin for a while and see if things get better. If they do you know the choice you have to make

[Demeter]

no. if anything finasteride will decrease anxiety because it increases t levels.

Please don't give advice when you don't know what you're talking about. Anxiety and depression are known side effects of finasteride. It's even mentioned in the list of potential side effects on the medication literature so I'm not sure how you could say it has the opposite effect. Here are sources for studies on the negative mental side effects of finasteride:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21122055

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22164129

Don't just guess that testosterone is the cause of anxiety and lower testosterone reduces anxiety. It's far more complicated than that.

To w12345r, yes its a strong possibility finasteride is causing these anxiety problems if they only started happening after you started medication. The only way to know for sure though is to cease the medication for a time and see if you recover. Wait 3-6 months after stopping medication at least though since it will take time for your biochemistry to adjust.

People saying that its hair loss that's causing this massive spike in anxiety are basing it off what exactly? Having multiple panic attacks a week is not a normal amount of anxiety to have around hair loss. Unless you've had a dramatic amount of hair loss since starting fin, its far more reasonable to assume fin is the cause of the anxiety than to assume you've just randomly started to get far more anxious about hair loss even though you were fine before and you haven't had any dramatic hair loss since.

It's up to you to decide whether your appearance is more important than your ability to communicate and function in day to day life.