In what ways does finasteride affect you?

[Izzman]

Just curious as I want to see what are some of the side effects people experience with finasteride and the dose they run and how often they dose, so post up!

For me, I first started using it at 1mg ED (could have been more or less, dropper wasn't entirely accurate) and was on cycle consisiting of 500mg test a week, I suddenly began to feel lethargic and my strength levels were noticably down, so I dropped it after a month of use, suddenly things began to pick up again, So I am not entirely sure whether it was due to dropping the finasteride or the test kicking in, but I felt MUCH BETTER. In that one month of use though, hair looked MUCH thicker and I can swear I had grown some back and had more of a hairline again in conjuction w/ spiro and minoxodil.

Second time, end of test cycle after tapering with winny which devasted my hair, dosed it at 1mg EOD (this time with a better dropper), seemed to feel fine throughout most of my PCT, strength stayed up and I even made some strength gains naturally at the time while on 1mg EOD, though once again after about one month of use, I had to drop it to prepare for running my cutter of fina (which Im not sure I had to do, am MPB prone and didn't shed one bit on fina). Hair took a hit from winny (that or either because I dropped the finasteride the first time and all regrown hair shed again) so I didn't notice much of an improvement in hair condition this time around as the first.

Now that I am approaching the end of my cutter I will go back on @ 1mg ED and stay on for a long time and see if my hair can recover. I do not experience any sexual sides with finasteridem they seem to be mainly of the strength/energy type, though will see in about 2 weeks time. So post up your experiences people, dosing, sides experienced, length run and hair condition! Peace.

 

[junk]

Finasteride sides are overrated. I never noticed any side for the past 4 years or maybe 6(?) that I'm on it.. I switched to Dutasteride several months ago. Oh, and no way you've seen hair grown after a month with all the hair tools in the world. It takes time. You said you used a liquid finateride? I don't trust any liquid company dosing. Only the dosing that comes from Merck or in the case of Avodart (from GlaxoSmithKline).

 

[Izzman]

Finasteride sides are overrated. I never noticed any side for the past 4 years or maybe 6(?) that I'm on it.. I switched to Dutasteride several months ago. Oh, and no way you've seen hair grown after a month with all the hair tools in the world. It takes time. You said you used a liquid finateride? I don't trust any liquid company dosing. Only the dosing that comes from Merck or in the case of Avodart (from GlaxoSmithKline).

Well while that may be debatable, fact remains is that my hair looked MUCH, MUCH thicker and some people even commented on the fact that I had somewhat of a hairline again and that overall my hair looked light years better than prior to using it. So take that for whatever its worth, like I said, the first time around I wasn't entirely sure on the dosing, could have been anywhere in the 1.5-2mg range ED, but it sure seemed like it was working! Bump, anyone else wanna share?

 

[poantrex]

I experienced: Less growth of body and facial hair. No loss of hair on the head, but i'm not prone. BIGTIME loss of libido (even on mad amounts of test). Oily skin and acne - many, many people are reporting increased acne with proscar (check google groups).

Tried avodart also, same as above but more acne and a bigger drop of libido.

Conclusion: i'd rather die of prostate cancer than have zits and a limp dick. If hairloss ever becomes an issue (which i doubt...good genetics in that department) I'll use topicals only.

 

[Izzman]

I experienced: Less growth of body and facial hair. No loss of hair on the head, but i'm not prone. BIGTIME loss of libido (even on mad amounts of test). Oily skin and acne - many, many people are reporting increased acne with proscar (check google groups).

Tried avodart also, same as above but more acne and a bigger drop of libido.

Conclusion: i'd rather die of prostate cancer than have zits and a limp dick. If hairloss ever becomes an issue (which i doubt...good genetics in that department) I'll use topicals only.

What dose were you running? And thats weird, you said increased acne? If anything finasteride would reduce acne somewhat due to decreased DHT levels, weird. How was your strength in the gym BTW?

 

[poantrex]

Eliminating DHT does not necessarily mean that the oil glands will secrete
less oil - in fact, many studies as of late have implicated estrogen
as a source of inflammation of the skin and oil glands in males. I'll post it later if I can find it, but I saw one very recently in which acne prone individuals in their study group had estrogen levels 40% higher than average. Anyway, Finasteride and avodart of course both increase estrogen due to decresaed levels of DHT - and this will lead to acne in many peoeple that are prone
to estrogen induced inflammation.

Like I said - check google groups. There are literally hundreds of people reporting the same thing, and these are people that are not prone to acne AT ALL.

Anyway, I tried 1mg and 5mg of finasteride, and .5mg of avodart. Noticed no difference between 1mg and 5mg side effects wise...no issues with strength.

 

[poantrex]

I should add - high dose Zinc and an anti-aromatose may decrease the risk
of acne while using avodart of proscar, but the sexual side effects are still
too much for me.

 

[kbrkbr]

How much you guys paying for avodart?

Any generics out there?

 

[psychedout]

I should add - high dose Zinc and an anti-aromatose may decrease the risk
of acne while using avodart of proscar, but the sexual side effects are still
too much for me.

Zinc decreases acne? Seems odd to me. Got a study done on this?

 

[poantrex]

Zinc decreases inflammation and speeds up the skin healing process. So it doesn't help directly, but for those that have acne caused by inflammation, it helps immensely - and also helps balance skin shade and tone. Zinc also of course
lowers estrogen levels, which as mentioned above can aggravate skin inflammation in
some individuals.

Studies:
Studies have shown that zinc supplementation is effective in the
treatment of acne with results similar to tetracycline in mild to
moderate acne and better results in severe acne. Zinc in the form of
zinc citrate or zinc gluconate produced better results than zinc
sulfate. Although some people in these studies achieved benefits soon
after supplementation began, the majority of the people required 12
weeks before good results were obtained. A safe an effective dose for
the treatment of acne is 30 to 45 milligrams daily (Murray, 1998;
Somer, 1995).>>
http://www.sbwise.com/ingredients/zinc.htm

<<CONCLUSION: Minocycline and zinc gluconate are both effective in the
treatment of inflammatory acne, but minocycline has a superior effect
evaluated to be 17% in our study. Copyright 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel>>
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...ve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11586012&dopt=Abstract

<<Efficacy and safety study of two zinc gluconate regimens in the
treatment of inflammatory acne.>>
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...ve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10846252&dopt=Abstract

<<Zinc salts effects on granulocyte zinc concentration and chemotaxis
in acne patients.>> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1357876&dopt=Abstract


<<Patients with dermatitis herpetiformis, acne, psoriasis and Darier's
disease have low epidermal zinc concentrations.>>
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1977254&dopt=Abstract

<<Low doses of zinc gluconate for inflammatory acne.
Dreno B, Amblard P, Agache P, Sirot S, Litoux P.
3rd Department of Dermatology, Hotel Dieu, Nantes, France.

The effect of zinc on acne is unclear. In this study, only patients
with an inflammatory acne were included in a double-blind trial using
low doses of zinc gluconate (200 mg/day, corresponding to 30 mg zinc
metal). We obtained a significantly different result between zinc and
placebo groups in the inflammatory score (p less than 0.02). This
efficiency could be explained by the action of zinc on inflammatory
cells, especially granulocytes.>>
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=2575335&dopt=Abstract

<<1: Arch Dermatol 1978 Jul;114(7):1018-20 Related Articles, Books,
LinkOut
Oral zinc therapy of acne. Absorption and clinical effect.
Orris L, Shalita AR, Sibulkin D, London SJ, Gans EH.
In a double-blind controlled comparison that lasted eight weeks,
tablets of zinc sulfate monohydrate, 411 mg total daily dosage, and a
lactose placebo were administered orally to 22 male subjects with
moderate acne. At the same time, levels of zinc were determined in
serum and urine. There were no statistically significant differences
in the lesion counts (papules, pustules, open comedones, and closed
comedones) in the zinc-treated and lactose-treated cases, despite
evidence in serum and urine of absorption of zinc. The data from this
study indicate that oral zinc therapy has no early clinical effect on
male patients with moderate acne.>>
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=150813&dopt=Abstract

<<Zinc is one mineral that has shown to benefit acne in a scientific
study. The results have been compared to tetracycline. Warning: high
doses of zinc are toxic. Avoid going over 100mg of zinc intake per day
from food/supplement. You should probably have an intake of at least
50mg/day. It is recommended that you also take a daily multivitamin
because increased levels of zinc require more Copper and Manganese.
Examine effectiveness after 14 weeks. Some individuals report results
in as little as 3 weeks. Your acne may get worse before it gets better
during your intake of zinc.
Zinc is of course not a cure all - end all for your acne. However,
some individuals have reported zinc being 75% effective for acne
treatment.
Zinc aids in healing of tissue and assists in preventing scarring. It
also is important for the body in resisting infection and
inflammation.>>

 

[Izzman]

Finasteride sides are overrated. I never noticed any side for the past 4 years or maybe 6(?) that I'm on it.. I switched to Dutasteride several months ago. Oh, and no way you've seen hair grown after a month with all the hair tools in the world. It takes time. You said you used a liquid finateride? I don't trust any liquid company dosing. Only the dosing that comes from Merck or in the case of Avodart (from GlaxoSmithKline).

When you said you dont trust the dosing, you mean overdosed or underdosed? Secondly, whats your thought on fincar (generic brand)? I can get a 5 month or so supply for pretty cheap. Bump.

 

[junk]

How much you guys paying for avodart?

Any generics out there?

I'm getting my avodart at buy-avodart.com for the last half year or so and never had problems. as far as i know since avodart is a fairly new medication, there are no generic versions until the patent expires. also, i'm a freak about my hair, i never trust generic versions when it comes to my hair. especially since i was also on propecia for maybe 6 years in a row before.

 

[junk]

When you said you dont trust the dosing, you mean overdosed or underdosed? Secondly, whats your thought on fincar (generic brand)? I can get a 5 month or so supply for pretty cheap. Bump.

Both. It can be quite overdosed mistakenly by the lab. look at what happened for example with the orbit var. ug labs can mistakenly quite overdose it. I suggest that you go with Fincar if money is an issue. I will personally go with the real thing or get Proscar from Merck and cut it into 4 quarters, that's what i used to do before i switched half a year ago to Avodart.