[aplummer]

Why though? I started taking Finasteride, and so far with zero side effects my hair loss completely stopped.

Costs basically nothing and I like my hair? I wish there wasn’t this stigma associated with it and I would have started sooner.

[AmericanChopper]

The side effects of finastetide can be pretty nasty, and you might not even notice you have them. You would expect it to suppress your natural testosterone production, which you’re not going to notice unless you ever stop taking it. It can easily reduce your fertility, which again you’re not going to notice unless you’re having trouble conceiving. The reduction in DHT can also have side effects that are far less visible than gynecomastia. It can cause ED, reduced libido, and mood disorders like depression and anxiety which you might not easily attribute to taking fin.

Unless you’ve had a lot of bloodwork and other testing done, it’s unlikely that you would know how you’ve been impacted by its side effects, and even if the impact to you is ultimately very minimal, a treatment that didn’t have these risks would be far superior.

Any exogenous hormone treatment (or treatment that interferes with the metabolism of hormones) is going to affect the natural functionality of your body in ways you probably don’t want it to. They’re all very risky and dependency forming. It’s almost not really true that these risks are side effects either, they’re just the expected outcomes of the treatment.

[seper8]

Finasteride does not suppress your natural testosterone production. Your free testosterone levels might actually be increased. As precursors are no longer converted into dihydrotestosterone but into testosterone...

[AmericanChopper]

I think you need to keep reading. Finasteride blocks the enzyme that converts testosterone to DHT, which initially raises your testosterone levels. Your body reacts to this by secreting less luteinizing hormone, which results in less testosterone production, and your test levels return pre-finasteride levels. This is the suppression of natural testosterone production, and is exactly the same reaction you’d get from directly taking exogenous testosterone. If you ever come off finasteride, your test levels will immediately drop, and may or may not ever return to normal. If you’ve been taking finasteride for a very long time, it would be unlikely for your testosterone levels to ever return to what they were pre-finasteride.

[seper8]

I see you added "which you’re not going to notice unless you ever stop taking it."

[AmericanChopper]

I didn't edit my comment if that's what you're saying...

Taking moderate doses of steroids is also massively beneficial in many ways, with the worst of the side effects typically occurring if you stop taking them. But a lifelong dependency on a drug with a long list of adverse side effects is not a good thing, especially when ceasing treatment has its own long list of potential side effects.

Finasteride does suppress your natural testosterone production. If you intend to take it every day for the rest of your life, and are happy to gamble that you don’t get any of the other side effects, then maybe you’re happy taking that risk. But this is clearly not an ideal treatment, and I suspect most people who are prescribed it aren’t properly informed about these risks.

[seper8]

I fully agree with the risk factor, I was even on it for some time and discontinued the use because of the risks involved. But the risks were (to my limited understanding) less associated with testosterone, but rather the decrease in dht. And the potential effect that it has on your sexual life

[seethedeaduu]

DHT is poison

[TeaBrain]

There have been a number of studies suggesting that DHT is neuroprotective.

Neuroprotection by dihydrotestosterone in LPS-induced neuroinflammation https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096999612....

Neuroprotection of dihydrotestosterone via suppression of the toll-like receptor 4/nuclear factor-kappa B signaling pathway in high glucose-induced BV-2 microglia inflammatory responses https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31876682/

[AmericanChopper]

If (adult) DHT was only bad, then you wouldn’t see any adverse side effects from blocking its synthesis. DHT is just an androgen receptor agonist, its effects in adult male biology are not understood very well, including the reasons why DHT blockers (absolutely do) cause a number of adverse side effects.

[CRConrad]

Typo for DJT?

[seethedeaduu]

No

[CRConrad]

Sigh. I was hoping not to have to add a "/s", "jk", or smiley.

[seethedeaduu]

Idk what a DJT is.

[ecjhdnc2025]

https://www.gov.uk/drug-safety-update/finasteride-reminder-o...

[r00fus]

I took finasteride for about 2 years then stopped as it did lower my libido. Which returned over time.

After another 2 years of stopping I haven’t noticed my hair loss starting again.

At least in my case it’s like a miracle drug with minimal side effects.

[TaylorAlexander]

I just started taking finasteride and it seems it has negatively impacted my arousal patterns. I am also transgender and taking estrogen (but no t-blockers, hence the finasteride) but I did not make any other med changes for a year when I started finasteride so the correlation feels pretty clear. I would rather not be taking it!

[tidenly]

I thought after you take estrogen long enough you don't have to take t blockers or fin anyway? Once your body see's you have enough sex hormone doesn't it naturally stop T, even if the hormone is estrogen? (Sorry for the stupid question)

[TaylorAlexander]

If you take a high enough dose of estrogen, generally referred to as estrogen mono therapy, it will knock down your T levels. But high estrogen levels have some risks as well, and different doctors have different preferred approaches. My doctor is willing to do estrogen monotherapy, but I would have to switch from oral pills to injections as the higher dosages taken orally would be hard on the kidneys. Before switching to injections, I just wanted to see how finasteride worked for me. It is okay, but not perfect.

It is hard to tell if what I am experiencing is a side effect of the finasteride unrelated to my T levels, or it is due to some reduction in the effects of testosterone because of the mechanism of action of the finasteride. If it is the latter, switching to injections and doing monotherapy to lower my T could have the same effects. The fact of the matter is the penis functions better with testosterone in my system but testosterone also leads to hair loss, so trying to get both is somewhat of an imperfect balancing act.

But hey, I'm having the best sex of my life and the people I am attracted to think I am hot as hell so I don't mind a little experimentation to see what works best! Actually its super cool what we can do with a little hormonal alchemy.

[seethedeaduu]

"High" E dosages enough to knock down your T are not that high at all. Also fin won't reduce your T, it might actually increase it, and by using fin instead of duta you still produce dht. Chances are you are still irreversiblly masculinizing if you are on a low dosage of E (including oral). Please consider an actual T blocker, and consider a suitable medication to help with erections.

[TaylorAlexander]

Im not on a low dose, I take 8mg oral estradiol per day. It’s just not a particularly high dose, just the highest my doctor is comfortable giving someone orally. I don’t care about the testosterone in my system I only want to stop hair loss (I’m very genderfucked non-binary). It was my doctor from the UCSF Transgender Care center that suggested finasteride may have effects similar to that of reducing T (specifically a more estrogen dominant arousal style). I’m already on cialis and previously I’d take 5mg a day normally and 10mg on days where I would have sex, which is a pretty high dose. On finasteride I’ve noticed reduced erection performance even with 15mg cialis which is the most I want to take in a day (20mg is the maximum recommended daily dose).

Also I’m 39, so whatever masculinization I’m due for I suspect has all happened already.

[nyanpasu64]

Alternatively it might be worth trying sublingual, turning pills into stickies for extended-release direct absorption (https://stickies.neocities.org/stickies though I suspect the author dosed low), or switching/supplementing with other routes of administration (you mentioned injections).

[seethedeaduu]

> 8mg oral estradiol per day

You are never going to supress T with just oral E.

> Also I’m 39, so whatever masculinization I’m due for I suspect has all happened already.

It never ends.

If you feel like finasteride isn't helping much try dutasteride instead.

[ImHereToVote]

I wonder what the cancer rates are for people mixing up hormones like that?

[TaylorAlexander]

I think estrogen increases my risk of breast cancer to that of a cis woman, but decreases some chances of testosterone related cancers. I really don't know much about this, but in general it seemed like I did not particularly have increased risks.

[ImHereToVote]

I hope it turns out well for you.

[seethedeaduu]

Dutasteride is more effective and has less side effects :)

[TeaBrain]

I'd be wary of claiming this. Dutasteride suppresses all three 5A-reductases, while finasteride only suppresses two.

[endorphine]

Be careful though. It's found to probably cause suicidal thoughts to some people (myself included).

[seethedeaduu]

How do you know it's from fin? And are you sure it was caused directly and not from another side effect? Eg sexual disfunction.

[endorphine]

I don't know, could be, but it was too weird because they came out of the blue and when I stopped it, they went away too. There was no sexual disfunction IIRC.

Could be unlinked, but for me it just wasn't worth the risk.

You can find various articles of you search the web for this btw.

[nwienert]

Finasteride is scary bro, too many firsthand accounts of issues for me.

[uh_uh]

Say more please.

[formerly_proven]

took 1 pill, pp fell off

tl;dr While it can have undesirable side effects, these are long-term. But these side effects make it a powerful nocebo for some people to the point where they almost instantly get side effects (nausea, anxiety, sexual dysfunction), despite that being pharmacologically improbable.

[viking123]

It's mostly nocebo, they read about it online for weeks and then try it, and at that point they are so psyched out that they keep watching for every little thing, effectively making it a self fulfilling prophecy.

I started dutasteride when I was 20 and have been on it for many years and it really stops hair loss, because my hair loss was very fast and aggressive.

[nwienert]

So if someone after two weeks had their semen consistency change to be completely watery, would it be their eyes that produced the nocebo effect or? Or how is the doctor who went on it for a few months, lost erections, then gained them back after quitting explained by a nocebo?

Again, I've heard at least 5 of these first-hand, which is kind of wild for a drug I've probably only talked to 20 people about in total.

We're terrible at detecting changes over long periods of time. If anything I'd think long term users would be much more liable to bias.