can someone help me thats been on propecia long term?

[cc3337]

Hi everyone
i have been on finasteride 5mg quartered for about 11 yrs, due to the recent news i am deciding to accept my mpb and come off the drug, i am very afraid of the post fin stuff and also terrified of the prostate cancer risk, i have never had a side effect on this drug and actually stopped it 3 yrs ago and conceived my daughter which took several months with no issue, and she is totally healthy then restarted until present. I went to my family doc today and he said he didnt think a pst test was necessary now for prostate issues but i cant get it off of my mind, could anyone give me any reassurance about this? he said if i did do the test and got a false positive it would give me even more anxiety. I just feel like i am freaking out and need some guidance. thanks...as a side note i stopped once again 8 yrs ago and me and wife got pregnant with my first child, no issues either, and it has been good for my hair throughout.
chris

[montreal6130]

Hi Chris,

If I understand correctly you suddenly became very concerned about post fin/potential long-term adverse affects of finasteride with a specific anxiety around prostate cancer. Is that correct? Your fear is that as a result of taking this medication you basically 'hurt' yourself by developing prostate cancer?

If that is the case I can only say that I relate. Late one night this past August I walked into my home after a night out and truly out of the blue (I can't stress how out of the blue it was) a thought crossed my mind which said, "man, could this medication be hurting me?" I googled propecia and read all the post fin syndrome stuff. I had been on the medication for 3 years and I hadn't ever heard of any of it. My specific concern was penile shrinkage. I had no proof of it but that was my concern. I was in a panic for a week and could not bring myself to swallow a pill.

Tonight, it is roughly 6 months off propecia and this week I struggled really badly with MPB. I have lost a lot of hair (not as worse as I imagined but a lot) and stuck between a rock and a hard place. One side I want back on the medication and the other side not.

I don't have any answer for you other than the fact that I can relate. I would suggest that your issue is not prostate cancer as mine was not penile shrinkage but pretty sure that deep down you know that. I think for me there is a connection between the vanity and feeling guilty (i.e. i have to pay a price, 'penile shrinkage') of being so vain. And more deeply learning to love and accept myself for exactly how I am.

Curious to hear more about your experience.

Thanks.

[ravegrover]

I was on Fin for 5 - 6 years and then stopped taking it. No particular reason, probably just got lazy. I began to lose lot of hair and within 2 years I had noticeable hair loss.

I have since restarted the medication and my hair is getting better again. I did not experience any side effects at any point, but I should not have stopped taking it.

[Ktownmatti]

If I'm not mistaken fin lowers your risk of getting prostate cancer because it lowers your DHT levels.

It INCREASES your risk of not detecting prostate cancer early (as it masks the symptoms) making it more likely that IF you develop prostate cancer, you won't catch it until its in the later stages.

I would talk to your doctor. I would hope that if one were vigilant with regular testing, one could still safeguard against this - but I just dont know.

[burtandernie]

Well I think you need to say we currently think that it might lower your prostate cancer risk because in all honesty we dont know. Prostate cancer is not a solved problem or anything research is ongoing as we learn new things and come up with different ways to fight it. Its way more complicated then DHT kind of like how MPB might turn out to be 50 years from now.

[Cr779]

Hi everyone
i have been on finasteride 5mg quartered for about 11 yrs, due to the recent news i am deciding to accept my mpb and come off the drug, i am very afraid of the post fin stuff and also terrified of the prostate cancer risk, i have never had a side effect on this drug and actually stopped it 3 yrs ago and conceived my daughter which took several months with no issue, and she is totally healthy then restarted until present. I went to my family doc today and he said he didnt think a pst test was necessary now for prostate issues but i cant get it off of my mind, could anyone give me any reassurance about this? he said if i did do the test and got a false positive it would give me even more anxiety. I just feel like i am freaking out and need some guidance. thanks...as a side note i stopped once again 8 yrs ago and me and wife got pregnant with my first child, no issues either, and it has been good for my hair throughout.
chris

Hey, I understand your fear really well. I myself just quit in december and it was a scary process. Get bloodwork done while you're quitting and then get some done after, my testosterone fluctuated a lot while i was quitting. All I can say is your body might do some weird shit while you quit, mine did. Lack of sensitivity and prostate pains and stuff. It's really really scary. And it will probably take longer than the 2 weeks Merk says before its over. Id say at the 2 month mark was when i finally felt normal again. Make sure to wean off.

If you have anymore questions might take me a while to get to them I don't hang around these sights anymore. Trying to do more mentally healthy things with my free time.