Has anyone heard of stopping and restarting finasteride, inducing persistent sides?

[pkipling]

The finasteride/side effect conversation is always an interesting one to me, because the primary side effect men are worried about (libido and a healthy sex life) can be attributed to any other number of factors over the course of a man's life. I'm by no means saying that side effects aren't possible, and it seems as if this could potentially be the case for you. But why I find this topic to be so muddy is because there really isn't a way to ever know for sure. Our libidos/erections are tied just as much (if not more) to our mental, emotional, psychological, and other physical states as they are to anything related to a drug. Stress and anxiety, lack of sleep, sadness/depression, age, and many other things can contribute to problems below the belt. Even just the mere suggestion that doing one particular thing (such as taking a medication) can potentially cause your equipment to malfunction is enough by itself for your equipment to stop working. This is simply human nature.

When we're on the lookout for something, it's also very common for us to give more importance to otherwise normal situations. "I'm not feeling turned on today... Must be the finasteride. I didn't wake up with an erection... Must be the finasteride." Now, I'm not saying that this couldn't be the case, as it very well could be. But I think we would be doing ourselves a disservice to not consider other options. Are we overthinking it? Are we misremembering just how high our libidos were before we took the drug? How much time do we spend worrying about whether or not the drug will cause side effects? Have we simply gotten older and we're comparing our older self's sex drive to how it was when we were younger?

All of these things can only be answered by ourselves, by being introspective and self aware of our bodies and our mental/psychological habits. Side effects could happen, yes. But even if you don't believe the findings in the initial study (that showed that half of those that reported side effects were given placebos - think about that), the fact is that even if 10% reported side effects, chances are far greater that there is something else contributing to this than the drug alone.

So trust your gut and listen to your body, and you'll be led to the right conclusion for yourself. Wishing you a head full of hair and a healthy libido.
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I am a patient advocate for Dr. Parsa Mohebi in Los Angeles, CA. My views/opinions are my own and don't necessarily reflect the opinions of Dr. Mohebi and his staff.