Don't completely blame finasteride for your ED/Libido issues - here's why

[Hurts]

Want to keep this brief so excuse the lack of detail in this post:

2.5 years ago I took 0.5mg of finasteride every other day for 5 months. Stopped taking it by the 5th month because I started getting sexual side effects (dick wasn't as hard, libido was slightly reduced).

I was well aware of the possible sexual sides prior to taking my first pill.

Before and after quitting fin, I always had a thought in the back of my mind that the side effects were caused by my knowledge that I might get side effects from taking it.

Often when I thought about these side effects during sex or masturbation, it caused me to not be as hard.

After coming off fin, I recovered 98% of my libido and hardness.

Around 6 months ago (~2 years after stopping the drug), I thought i'd try to trick my mind into believing I was taking finasteride again. Low and behold, my sexual sides slowly returned! My dick isn't as hard as 6 months ago and my libido is very low (rarely think of sex). What a coincidence! Literally the day I started thinking about finasteride side effects again, I got side effects.

So the point of this thread is to tell people of my experience and my belief that a big proponent (90%+) to this finasteride side effects shit is in the mind.

Any healthy adult can give themselves ED or low libido if they think hard enough and are able to successfully coerce the mind into believing made up scenarios, as I was able to. I now have worse sides than I did when I was taking the drug, but I'm not worried because I believe it's in my mind and it'll take time to train the mind to get it back to normal. It's all about belief.

Hope this helps some of you with sides!

[Jazz1]

Your bang on right, 3 years back I had major sides now 3 years later I'm on 1mg propecia . I dealt with the sides with mind control, it's hard I know but I'd your willing it's easy to kick start the brain.

[OrdinaryUser]

Yes, there is a huge element of priming here: if one primes themselves with information that contradicts something they are doing, then often it can manifest itself. For me, I did not participate on forums until a month or so ago. Before this, I read no information on propecia. I did this intentionally because I did not want to fulfill any prophecy my mind conceived while reading on people's experience etc. So after joining the forum, I read experiences on ED etc as a result of fin. I then started to experience weakened erections after this, where I previously never experienced it. This does not necessarily mean that it universally is the cause to everyone's ED, but ED and other sexual problems do have a huge mental elements to them that people sometimes discount. Also, depression can mimic some of these symptoms, and finasteride can cause depression in those predisposed to it. I have experienced such depression.

I really try to limit my time on this site because of the above.

[Aonyx262]

Started fin yesterday...with 2X1mg. Had a great load today. That's my n=1.

[dueza]

Your bang on right, 3 years back I had major sides now 3 years later I'm on 1mg propecia . I dealt with the sides with mind control, it's hard I know but I'd your willing it's easy to kick start the brain.

Good thread this is making me reconsider what I've heard

[billybong]

The worst thing is anxiety/panic attacks, because this kind of stuff is all in the mind anyway. It's almost like an obsessive/compulsive belief, once you "know" you've taken the pill, the paranoid fantasy roller coaster can begin....

[burtandernie]

There is a strong placebo effect. That being said there is no doubt this happens to people taking the drug in some cases. Not everyone is lying or imagining it.

[Justinian]

There is a strong placebo effect. That being said there is no doubt this happens to people taking the drug in some cases. Not everyone is lying or imagining it.

I get your point, but because it's in the mind doesn't mean you're lying or imagining it. Several months ago I was getting heart PVCs( premature ventricular contractions) when I had caffeine. Basically your hearts beats slightly early so there is a pause before the next beat and you feel a dropping feeling in your stomach.Then I started worrying about them and got them daily. I then saw a cardiologist and had tests done which confirmed what they were. Since then I barely have any since I know they are harmless and don't worry about them (and almost everybody has them, you just don't notice). But when I do, I almost always am thinking about it before it happens. And if one happens, more are likely to follow until I get my mind off it. I'm not imagining it, my brain literally causes it to happen.

[ge77inhigh]

Well to say it is all in your head would be an absurd statement. Finasteride blocks production of DHT in your body. DHT is a sex hormone, it is responsibly for numerous functions in your body. It can effect your estrogen levels, 5 Ar receptors in your brain and the list goes on and on. People really need to do their research before they want to use any drug. If people are not having side effects, it is great they should keep using. If you are having side effects i recommend you to stop or reduce your dosage not because it in all your head. There is a forum dedicated to people recovery from side effects of finasteride. I won't label their side effects in "their heads".

I been on propecia for 1 year. I took about 2mg a day. I experienced extreme side effects such as brain fog, insomnia, loss of penis size, fatigue and chronic joint pain. I stopped taking propecia i recovered from everything except the chronic depression. Finasteride really helped out my hair a lot, but i never get back on it. The side effects were not worth for me to keep my hair. I won't recommend people using RU58441 or CB. They both are not safe in my opinion. Not enough trials on them.

The main point of this is that it is not in your head. I have taken Advil or tylenol before. They list numerous side effects on their commercial. Why i haven't experienced any of them? It is not a head thing. I am not against finasteride, but it is not for everyone. Here is the forum i am talking about. It has a lot of members. http://www.propeciahelp.com/

[burtandernie]

Things dont happen to you physically that simply because you think it unless your talking more abstract vague problems like depression. If your heart is beating differently than normal its because there is some problem physically. Your brain doesnt voluntarily tell your heart to beat each second.
Fin can cause sides some known and some less known I mean its an internal drug what would you expect to happen? A small amount of cases sure but its silly to say people imagine it all the time. Obvious physical problems are hard to mix up with imagination

[Justinian]

Things dont happen to you physically that simply because you think it unless your talking more abstract vague problems like depression. If your heart is beating differently than normal its because there is some problem physically. Your brain doesnt voluntarily tell your heart to beat each second.
Fin can cause sides some known and some less known I mean its an internal drug what would you expect to happen? A small amount of cases sure but its silly to say people imagine it all the time. Obvious physical problems are hard to mix up with imagination

It won't necessarily just because you think it, but thinking about it can make you stressed/anxious which are known ways that cause the skipped beats. Through some mechanism (like releasing stress hormones or sending nerve impulses) it can irritate the sinus node (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinoatrial_node) which can cause the irregular heartbeat. And I know I wasn't just imagining anything because it showed up on a holter monitor.

Sexual stimulation I believe is even more tied to the brain. Thinking about sex causes erections, so why can't the brain do the reverse in certain situations? That being said, the drug may cause some changes in brain chemistry.

[joely]

How have you guys managed to mentally overcome the side effects I started to get them after three years but this almost coincided with hearing more about side effects having not really looked into it before cus I never got them! I stopped taking fin for 3 months because of it but I'm back on it now because I lost lots in just those three months n sides seem to be back just 4 days in

[macster]

This is the reason why you have to believe the scientific studies and not posts on the internet, even if those posts are made in all honesty and in good faith.

The only way to know if a drug gives you side effects is to have a randomly assigned placebo controlled experimental study.

You take a bunch of people and you put them into 2 groups, the experimental group and the control group.

You give one of these groups the drug and the other a placebo. NOBODY KNOWS IF THEY GOT THE REAL DRUG OR THE FAKE DRUG.

Then at the end of the study you see the incidence of side effects in the placebo group and the control group.

If there are really side effects, they should occur in the group that really got the really drug. And they should occur in a greater amount than they occur in the placebo group.

So if you get, say, 5% in both groups, then the evidence suggests that there really are no side effects since the folks with the fake pill got as many side effects as the folks with the real pill.

If the folks with the real pill get 7% side effects and the folks with the fake pill get 5% side effects, then the evidence suggests that 2% of folks will get side effects (since 5% of these side effects can be understood to be all in the head since the people with the fake pill got them too).

You have to repeat this study several times to be confident that you are getting the true results.

With the finasteride studies, about 2% has been the number that has consistently come up over studies.

That means 98% of the people are ok.

This is the best evidence we have, the best information we have. So it is what I will go with.

If you choose to go with other information, that is ok. That is your choice. But that is akin to going to like a faith healer type alternative medicine doctor rather than a real scientific doctor.

That is your choice. What information will guide your decision making, science and reason or just internet postings and crazy emotions.

Of course, this is a boring way to make decisions. Its not all emotional and dramatic and all going on the internet and doing your thing. It is just science and reason. But it's the best information we've got.

It's your choice.

[Phatalis]

I took fin for 2 weeks. .25mg eod. I can say with absolute certainty it crushed my libido. Big time. And nothing was in my head or psychosomatic.

It took about 3 weeks to feel fully back to my horn dog self again.

If you don't get sides that's amazing. Sucks that I do. But I'm def going nowhere near this stuff again. Sorry Spencer and spex...but this time you guys are wrong.

[Notcoolanymore]

Wrong about what? I don't think I ever heard Spencer say fin sides didn't exist.