anyone worried by this video?

[F67]

Why don't you try backing down to a smaller dose? A lot of guys claim the same effect at .25 mg with fewer side effects.

I may try that, but what happens if that doesn't work? I think I'm either going to get completely off it or just stay on it.

I'm still waiting to hear back from skipstah70 on his thoughts on what happens after being off Propecia ...continued hair loss? better erections? increase in semen...

[F67]

I am actually about to take FIN. But after watching this video, it scared me a lot. I mean really a LOT! Now I am totally confused. I am 31 years old and really really want to control MPB and thinning on temple. However, my body systems are also important to me......I hope to hear from some fair doctors as well...

WHy is MERCK not even releasing updates on their drug?

I need help very badly to decide.... thanks

my sexual performance was significantly compromised. In the last few years my semen has become very watery and now almost non-existent. This is what scares me the most. I know I should be getting of this drug...

[norc]

I am actually about to take FIN. But after watching this video, it scared me a lot. I mean really a LOT! Now I am totally confused. I am 31 years old and really really want to control MPB and thinning on temple. However, my body systems are also important to me......I hope to hear from some fair doctors as well...

WHy is MERCK not even releasing updates on their drug?

I need help very badly to decide.... thanks

[ryan555]

Thanks for your story.

I started taking Propecia when I was about 31 - I'm now 43 and have been on it for 12 years. I had erection problems within days of taking Propecia, but vanity has kept me taking it. The effects on my hair were simply amazing. If I never took Propecia, I'm sure I would be a NW5/6 by now, whereas I'm a NW3/4, right now. I want to get off Propecia, but I'm afraid my hair will fall out. I'm a professional male and what I'm doing is irrational, yet I continue.

Are you okay with continued hair loss now that you're off Propecia?

Are you married? kids?

Why don't you try backing down to a smaller dose? A lot of guys claim the same effect at .25 mg with fewer side effects.

[F67]

My side effects were of the standard ED sort. Over several years of using, I noticed that my "natural" erections were less frequent, to eventually non existent. I did not have a serious loss of libido however. I still wanted to perform, but my guy would not sustain a hard erection. Also, I noticed a steady (over years again) gradual loss of sensation in my penis. This was the most anoyying thing. After a while, it felt like I was losing nerves in my penis of something. All this led to a catch 22 depression about my state. For years I debated, should I quit completely or still put up with this (I was still happy with effects it was delivering to my hairline of course). I attributed some of the ED and loss of sensation effect to just general aging (I took this drug from ages 29-40. Now after quitting it, and feeling a complete change in my body after quitting the drug 3 months ago.. I can honestly tell you it is 100% the fricking drug. I started waking up with raging hardons.. which hadn't happened in like 7 years... and I have all the sensitivity down there as I had before the drug. The scarry part, was that the bad side effects about the drug (I surmise) are as slow in coming as the benefits of taking the drug. You really won't be able to pin down the day your dick didn't work.. but warned .. it will IMO.

Thanks for your story.

I started taking Propecia when I was about 31 - I'm now 43 and have been on it for 12 years. I had erection problems within days of taking Propecia, but vanity has kept me taking it. The effects on my hair were simply amazing. If I never took Propecia, I'm sure I would be a NW5/6 by now, whereas I'm a NW3/4, right now. I want to get off Propecia, but I'm afraid my hair will fall out. I'm a professional male and what I'm doing is irrational, yet I continue.

Are you okay with continued hair loss now that you're off Propecia?

Are you married? kids?

[ryan555]

Vanity, PURE VANITY.

Fair enough. I'm glad you bounced back.

[skipstah70]

Vanity, PURE VANITY.

[ryan555]

Tell me honestly though (since you are a doctor). Don't you think it is ethically irresponsible for a company like Merck to say that only 2% of men will have sexual side issues with the drug, when it is quite realistically more like at least 20% or more? I had been prescribed Propecia by probably about 5 doctors over the last 12 years. I've had two of them in particular ask me about any sexual side effects, to which I sheepishly reported both times that I hadn't noticed any (I had of course), and both doctors told me that the percentage of men who report sexual problems with the drug is way higher than 2%. These were fricking PROFFESIONAL DOCTORS TELLING ME THIS!
There is something severely wrong in a system that allows a company like Merck to fund it's own trials to get approval through the FDA. The FDA should be the one screening and scrutinizing the test results, not the company that has a dollar interest in bringing it to market. This is insane!!!

Why did you keep taking the drug for 12 years if you were having side effects?

[skipstah70]

My side effects were of the standard ED sort. Over several years of using, I noticed that my "natural" erections were less frequent, to eventually non existent. I did not have a serious loss of libido however. I still wanted to perform, but my guy would not sustain a hard erection. Also, I noticed a steady (over years again) gradual loss of sensation in my penis. This was the most anoyying thing. After a while, it felt like I was losing nerves in my penis of something. All this led to a catch 22 depression about my state. For years I debated, should I quit completely or still put up with this (I was still happy with effects it was delivering to my hairline of course). I attributed some of the ED and loss of sensation effect to just general aging (I took this drug from ages 29-40. Now after quitting it, and feeling a complete change in my body after quitting the drug 3 months ago.. I can honestly tell you it is 100% the fricking drug. I started waking up with raging hardons.. which hadn't happened in like 7 years... and I have all the sensitivity down there as I had before the drug. The scarry part, was that the bad side effects about the drug (I surmise) are as slow in coming as the benefits of taking the drug. You really won't be able to pin down the day your dick didn't work.. but warned .. it will IMO.

[bluewater]

Well?

What were the "sexual side effects" that you noticed? I haven't noticed any. But, maybe I am not aware of it. A little more detail about youe experience will certainly help me.

[skipstah70]

There was an interesting segment last week on CBC radio's "Quirks and Quarks" (canadian science show) called "Human Guinea Pigs". It was an enlightening look at the shadowed world of drug testing trials.. listen here.. and be more than a little worried!!

[skipstah70]

This is a very disturbing video. Unfortunately, it makes many generalizations and accusations that are not referenced to allow examination of its claims. I would hope that the authors of this video would supply their references.

I will be posting a poll I am conducting of fellow hair transplant surgeons. I will post the final tabulation but at the moment, I have estimates totaling 20,000 patients from 12 surgeons who have been prescribing finasteride since it received approval in the late 90s. At the moment, THERE ARE NO REPORTED SIDE EFFECTS reported that persisted after the patients stopped the medication. Very strange, indeed, that these findings are at such odds with the video. I will be sure that the reporting physicians do not sell finasteride in their practices or have any other bias motivating distortion of their data.

Tell me honestly though (since you are a doctor). Don't you think it is ethically irresponsible for a company like Merck to say that only 2% of men will have sexual side issues with the drug, when it is quite realistically more like at least 20% or more? I had been prescribed Propecia by probably about 5 doctors over the last 12 years. I've had two of them in particular ask me about any sexual side effects, to which I sheepishly reported both times that I hadn't noticed any (I had of course), and both doctors told me that the percentage of men who report sexual problems with the drug is way higher than 2%. These were fricking PROFFESIONAL DOCTORS TELLING ME THIS!
There is something severely wrong in a system that allows a company like Merck to fund it's own trials to get approval through the FDA. The FDA should be the one screening and scrutinizing the test results, not the company that has a dollar interest in bringing it to market. This is insane!!!

[CIT_Girl]

4) Statement: Doctors don't tend to sell propecia at their practices. They write scripts for it and get kickbacks from pharma for doing so. Any doctor "saving men's hair" has a bias to prescribe propecia. Doctor's prescribing Propecia cannot be unbiased.

I would like to hear from some of the doctors who regularly post on this forum. In response to this unsubstantiated allegation.
when I started using Propecia I was not pressured in any way. My doctor talked about possible sides and I made my own decision.

The relationship between physicians and pharmaceutical companies is HIGHLY regulated, at least in the US. Dr. Cole and other physicians are definitely not getting any kickbacks for the prescriptions they write. To be completely honest, dealing with prescriptions is more of a hassle for them than anything and therefore they wouldn't be writing them if they didn't believe that these prescriptions were beneficial to, and safe for, hair loss patients.

Anti-kickback laws are highly explicit and pharmaceutical companies and physicians stand to lose billions if they're violated. Sure, there was a day when physicians were wined and dined by pharmaceutical sales reps but nowadays the reps cannot so much as hand a physician a pen with their logo on it.

The only potential gray area that I see between physicians and pharma companies in this industry is that some physicians do dispense drugs like Propecia from their office. In this case, they will sometimes mark up the price they charge to patients and clearly there could be some questionable incentives there.

[bluewater]

Geez

I have been taking a 5mg tablet every other day, thats 3 times a week for longer than I can remember. I skip the weekends, and I don't take it with me when I travel, which isn't often, but I have been off it for up to 10 days in a row. In any event, I have not noticed any negative side affects that I can put my finger on. I am going to tun 61 next month, I have plenty of energy as I run up to 85 miles a month. I still pump iron 2-4 days a week, depending on time available. I have always had a problem sleeping well. I don't feel particularly depressed but I am happier some days than others. My libido has decressed slightly over time, but I associate that with age and a mostly unwilling partner (wife). Let me tell you if my wife looked like she did 30 years ago and/or was willing to have sex regularly, I'd be all over it. The rare ocassion that she does, I have no problem. My pec's look normal, I am benching 165 lbs. I have recently noticed a slightreduction in erection stiffness, but I associate that with age as well. I do notice that sperm volumn increases slightly during those short periods I am off the stuff, but hell, I started taking the stuff in my late 50's well beyond any intent on my part to have any additional children and it doesn't affect sexual pleasure.

As far as hair loss is concerned, its hard to tell. My hair loss is mostly the receeding from the temples type. My hair has thinned over time, but I think a ceratin amount of that with age is to be expected, and the change is not dramatic, noticable to other people. I don't notice hair on the pillow, in the shower on the brush, hell we have a lot obvious cat hair in this
house. I haven't been off the stuff long enough to know how my hair would be if I weren't on it. People have commented that I have a lot of hair "for my age". I have two brothers. One has a great head of hair, similar to what it was when he was younger, my other brother has great hair also. Out of the three of us, I have the most obvious temple loss.

This video freaked me out as well, but I have no regrets and I hope my experience is of some assurance to you.

[marc5477]

To the fear mongers on this thread, I'm not a doctor but I am a bio-engineer with significant knowledge in various scientific fields so let me give you little advice; grow up!

By stating that your problems are 100% correlated to a drug that effects maybe 1 out of 1000 users in the ways you describe and claim is absolute (and excuse my engineering lingo) BS!

I'm sorry but neither you or the people you site are smart enough to make the claims you describe. I am not supporting the doctors either but I do know a few things about the human body and one of those is that our body chemistry is so complex that the only real way to get anywhere in this discussion is with user feedback. If only 1 in 100 people have side effects you describe then I would say you need to point that out in your fear mongering before scaring people away. I have a feeling that people with side effects number much less than 1%. So grow up!

If you had a problem with it, it doesn't mean that its a bad drug. It just didn't work for you. Sorry for being harsh and sorry you had side effects but thats life and its unfair. Stop using it, and move on. Last time I checked breathing air is also carcinogenic and is the direct cause of aging and death to humans. Are you all trolling the boards telling people to stop breathing while walking around with oxygen packs on your back? You can easily add 10-20 years of life if you did that so why are you not crying about it? How about how toxic our water is? What about eating meat? Or vegetables grown on the planet earth? They are all toxic! And thats not all, did you know that you are dying from the day you were born? Lets all make a ruckus about how we shouldnt have kids & maybe we can recommend propecia to lower birth rates! Oh the absurdity that is life.