Baldness Drug May Cause Sexual Side Effects

[chrisis]

It's crazy. Hopefully I just need it to get out of my system in time. I hope I haven't done permanent damage.

[gutted]

It's crazy. Hopefully I just need it to get out of my system in time. I hope I haven't done permanent damage.

give it about 3 months and you may be ok.

[chrisis]

It's already been 3

[oOKawaiiOo]

those people who are on propecia and think they are "side effect free" need to stop the drug...and only then will they see what happens!

some people dont experince the sides because the body upregulates to produce more testosterone which does the same job as dht...so they dont get the sides.

I think thats what my body does.

[gutted]

It's already been 3

give it another 3...over time the body may get back to normal.

[blakes33]

Mine were totally obvious. Within a few months my entire sexual health was totally compromised. There's no doubt in my mind that finasteride is a dangerous drug for some people.

Yes - same for me. 13 (almost 14 years) on the drug and I never had ANY sides at all!!. About 7 weeks after stopping I began having problems. I am now 22 weeks off the drug and things have gotten worse!!

I really am desperate to know if going back on the drug might get me back to normal. I don't give a crap about my hair anymore - I just want to stop the damage!!

Have you guys heard of anyone going back on the drug (guys who did not have problems on the drug but developed problems after they quit)? Do things get worse or does the body readjust again after restarting???

[SoothSayer]

Thats such a mixed reponse. On one hand they say this can happen, and then also say no causal relationship has been established? Whats with that?..Its safe but discuss with doctor? can they possibly be more ambiguous?

The FDA is a conservative government agency and as a consequence it is often unwilling to make very bold statements. They are basically highlighting the legitimacy of the complaints to alert the public that it is possibly a very real risk but it will be some more time before they decisively conclude the relationship is causal.

This change will affect a couple of a key dynamics. First, this somewhat reduces the stigma associated with having sexual problems after taking Propecia. As a result, many more men will be willing to come forward and be forthcoming about their problems. Up through 2011, only a small percentage of men affected by the drug even reported their symptoms to the FDA.

Secondly, this highlights the problem to a much more significant level. Previously doctors had fallen victim to Merck's misleading marketing techniques and would perpetuate the false notion that Propecia is a complete safe drug. Letters will now be sent to the prescribing doctors of the drug to let them know of the change in the warning label. These doctors can no longer say they are unaware of any cases of such outcomes happening after taking Propecia and should rightfully warn patients of the possible risk. This will promote additional scientific research so that doctors can discover the direct mechanism of action that was rendered dysfunctional in this unfortunate subset of men.

[khan]

The doctors I spoke to thought it was safe based on their personal experience of prescribing the medicine. All of them claimed young men walk in here all the time claiming sexual problems, but none were the ones on Propecia (2 had prescribed it for years in both 1 and 5mg forms, one only knew of it, but all felt the same way).

Alot of doctors base their opinion on experience. I don't know if people have followed Sara Wasserbauer interview but she claimed to have prescribed this medicine to b/w 5000 and 7000 patients. Dr Rassman said he prescribed it to his own son. The doctor who prescribed me said he had prescribed it to his brother. And there are so many more, putting their reputation on the line, surely not all of them are Merk puppets. It takes more than Merk funded studies to prescribe a med to a family member. And on that note there are serveral non-Merk funded studies also done. A 10yrs university study just got published.

From now on I am going to spend an absolute minimal time on hairloss sites from. Ever sine 2009 when I first heard of the drug, I have been hearing of some ground breaking new research is coming out that will prove Finasteride is poison, and I panic and distract myself from my already crazy work schedule. From the way this topic of FDA review was run on internet forums,I was expecting the medicine to be banned, or some other crazy outcome.

Btw Johnson and Johnson just got fined $1.1bn for downplaying the risk of Risperdal. But no one seems to care about that. J&J is much bigger pharma then Merk, so surely if Merk can buy out FDA and their "conservative" ways, so could have J&J.

I completely agree that this medicine has screwed up some young men, which is messed up on so many level. And the medical community needs to figure this out. But at the same time all these theories about every man taking it will become impotent as soon as he stops, and several other claims have been overplayed way out of proportion. Finasteride is not 100% safe just like most other meds. That's my 2 cent which could be completely wrong b/c I am not a doc.

And on that note Spencer is Great Great man!! He is the person bringing sanity to this subject of hairloss. His interview with Sara Wasserbauer was the thing that made me consider doing something about hairloss.

I really hope I haven't offended anyone suffering from sides with this long post. I apologize if thats how I am coming across, because that is not my intent at all.

[gutted]

Yes - same for me. 13 (almost 14 years) on the drug and I never had ANY sides at all!!. About 7 weeks after stopping I began having problems. I am now 22 weeks off the drug and things have gotten worse!!

I really am desperate to know if going back on the drug might get me back to normal. I don't give a crap about my hair anymore - I just want to stop the damage!!

Have you guys heard of anyone going back on the drug (guys who did not have problems on the drug but developed problems after they quit)? Do things get worse or does the body readjust again after restarting???

on a side note, has your hair loss increased?

[amadeus]

What I found interesting is that the FDA is only adding the more severe side effects like persistent issues with erections, orgasms etc to the Propecia label. The Proscar label will only be adding a persistent decrease in libido. Far more men take Proscar then Propecia and the dosage is five times greater. Why the same persistent side effects from Popecia not being reported or added to the labeling of Proscar, a much more potent form of finasteride? Men over 35 still have plenty of sex and want to maintain their erections and have a healthy sex life. Could it be because most if not all of the complaints have come from men taking Propecia who fear these side effects might occur? This is an very interesting development if you ask me and leads me to wonder if the mental side effects are even greater then we once thought.