Propecia and Development

[skipstah70]

I felt totally normal after stopping. I had my hormones tested and everything went back to normal levels within two weeks. I promise you I had no issues during or after using this drug. I know some guys have issues but they are rare.

I think the guys that have problems tend to go online and find the anti propecia sites, get a little freaked out, and then go talk about it on all the forums. This just distorts the reality about this drug. I have spoken to several of the very reputable doctors on this board and all of them claim that out of thousands of men they have prescribed the drug to, about 1% have issues and they have never seen permanent sides. Unless they are all liars, I think that's pretty compelling evidence that the drug is pretty safe.

It's funny you say this, because over about the 12 years that I took propecia, I was given prescriptions by 5 different doctors. Two of these doctors once asked me point blank whether I noticed any sexual side effects or issues like that and I embarrassingly lied on both occasions. They both told me many men report erectile problems using the drug and the one doctor was adamant that Merck's 2% number was way off. He said is was more like 20%. I guess we will have to agree to disagree. I think those who are reporting that the effects are permanent after getting off the drug may be in the small minority.. but the 2% figure on men who take the drug that will exprience sexual side effects is grossly low.

The 2% figure is also put out by the drug company (Merck), it is not the FDA who does the testing. Merck has a vested interest to get that figure as low as possible and get FDA approval. It's a broken system where they themselves are contracting someone else to do the test trials of paid "testees" on their dime, with the ultimate goal of getting the drug approved by the FDA and to market. Anybody should be able a see a HUGE conflict of interest here, and how many reported side effect figures could be biased or not 100% accurate.

Tell me, If the drug worked so great for you... why did you decide to stop taking it? Also.. if you had no real concerns about what it was doing to your body, why would you get your hormone levels tested? I think it is pretty safe to say that if it is having an impact on the hormone level coursing through your body.. it is going to affect a whole host of things.. not just your hairline.

[ryan555]

It's funny you say this, because over about the 12 years that I took propecia, I was given prescriptions by 5 different doctors. Two of these doctors once asked me point blank whether I noticed any sexual side effects or issues like that and I embarrassingly lied on both occasions. They both told me many men report erectile problems using the drug and the one doctor was adamant that Merck's 2% number was way off. He said is was more like 20%. I guess we will have to agree to disagree. I think those who are reporting that the effects are permanent after getting off the drug may be in the small minority.. but the 2% figure on men who take the drug that will exprience sexual side effects is grossly low.

The 2% figure is also put out by the drug company (Merck), it is not the FDA who does the testing. Merck has a vested interest to get that figure as low as possible and get FDA approval. It's a broken system where they themselves are contracting someone else to do the test trials of paid "testees" on their dime, with the ultimate goal of getting the drug approved by the FDA and to market. Anybody should be able a see a HUGE conflict of interest here, and how many reported side effect figures could be biased or not 100% accurate.

Tell me, If the drug worked so great for you... why did you decide to stop taking it? Also.. if you had no real concerns about what it was doing to your body, why would you get your hormone levels tested? I think it is pretty safe to say that if it is having an impact on the hormone level coursing through your body.. it is going to affect a whole host of things.. not just your hairline.

I stopped taking it because I have been dealing with an illness and my doctors wanted me to stop taking any and all medications. I was also not sure if I really needed it or not because I started it after the tiniest bit of recession in my hairline and noone in my family is bald. I tested my hormones because after reading propeciahelp.com and all the other anti-propecia websites I got scared that something awful would happen. Hormone changes can have widespread effects on the body but most people adjust to them and can function normally.

As far as the 20% number, I think that "side effects" come in a spectrum. I would buy that 20% have some small noticeable change in erections, but I don't think more than 2% become impotent. All drugs cause side effects. Birth control pills, for example, change hormones in women quite dramatically and almost all women experience side effects from those drugs. But the vast majority of women decide that not getting pregnant is worth the tradeoff. Similarly, Propecia might cause some temporary sides in some guys that are acceptable if their hair stops falling out. For the young guys who I see all over these hair loss forums talking about major depression, giving up on their social lives, and even suicide over hair loss, the minor reduction in their boners seems like a no-brainer to me.

I think one thing that almost everyone can agree on is that Propecia works for hair loss and that it does not permanently destroy people, except perhaps in the rarest of cases (and this can be said for MANY drugs). Take it and see what it does and if you have sides that you can't live with, stop it and figure out a different way to deal with your hair loss.