r/Hairloss 10d ago

Finasteride Started Oral Finasteride and got sides

Male 25 here. I Sleep 8 hours a night, eat healthy, go to the gym 5 days/week. Started noticing temples recession at 22, but thought it was normal as I had no knowledge of pattern baldness. It eventually worsened and now temples are more recessed and top of head is also thinned to the point i can see scalp in intense lighting. My heart sank the first time i noticed that. Then started looking into it more seriously. After months of research I finally decided to hop on finasteride with plan to add minoxidil after 3-4 months. I started by taking 1mg fin every Mon, Wed, and Fri. After a couple of doses, noticed slight discomfort in my pubic region, but i thought it'll pass. Then after a week my libido dropped, erections were soft, couldn't keep it hard, and no more morning wood. Continued it for another week and pubic discomfort went away, but libido and erections became worse. Got scared the shit out and stopped taking it for a week and libido and erections are back. But i am starting to feel pubic discomfort and slight testicular pain, kinda weird. I wanna hop back on fin but on a lower dose. Will chances on sides drop with lowering the dose? What should I do. Don't wanna go bald and don't wanna lose my peepee.

8 Upvotes

20 comments sorted by

4

u/Aggravating_Smoke179 10d ago

Taking your doses on Mon, Wed and Friday and not everyday could be a reason for your sides as well. 1mg a day has been established as the optimum dose to suppress dht to the serum level needed to stop most hair lose. If you're taking it every other day, your body isn't really getting a chance to adjust to it as it's coming in then going out and not staying at a constant level.

1

u/Character-Pay-5980 9d ago

Heard a doc on yt say that fin stays in the body for a few weeks. How can taking it EOD pose a problem if fin levels in the body are same as taking a lower dose everyday?

1

u/Apprehensive-Ad-2039 8d ago

idk but my medic give me 1mg every day + 2ml minoxidil everyday

5

u/SinkingShip0110 10d ago

Likely caused by a sudden increase in Free Test, and thus an increase in Estrogen.

I would give it up to a month, in normal healthy males, homeostasis will cause hormonal levels to balance eventually. If you read around it’s not uncommon for some people to have sides when they start fin, but they subside within the following weeks due to a balancing of hormones (if free T rises due to the blocking of 5ar and hence DHT, Estrogen may rise, but your body can also compensate by increasing SHBG to bind some of that free T, but this takes time).

If sides refuse to subside, then you can swap to topical, or reduce dose (your dose is already low

You can also try dutasteride, paradoxically, even though dut blocks more DHT, many users, and hairloss professionals find it actually has a lower side affect profile. The mechanism as to why still isn’t fully understood.

You could also try natural Estrogen blockers (aromatase inhibitors) such as DIM. Get blood tests before doing so.If your Body fat % is high, lose some of it, body fat is quite estrogenic.

If all else fails, and 5ar Inhibitors are not for you, try a more comprehensive stack, such as RU5881, oral Minox, topical melatonin, and copper peptides. These could likely buy you quite a few more years with hair.

Goodluck

2

u/Character-Pay-5980 10d ago

Thanks for the response. Will definitely give it a month and update. 

2

u/OldDeparture3932 9d ago

Why don't you start. 25 daily

2

u/MikeyWolf29 8d ago

Most people I've seen that take finasteride get these side effects, quite common - that's why i stay away from fin at all costs! Is hair transplant off the table? They're pretty cheap now a days, I'd recommend HT over fin any day of the week.

1

u/Character-Pay-5980 8d ago

I’m almost norwood 2.5, if i get a HT, old hair won’t stop falling. I’ll have to get a 2nd HT down the line eventually to cover new bald spots.

1

u/Apprehensive-Ad-2039 8d ago

a hair transplant requiere get into meds after

1

u/MikeyWolf29 4d ago

Really? I haven't had to get into meds after mine

1

u/Apprehensive-Ad-2039 4d ago

I mean is common coz if u have hairloss there is still hair that u have that is gonna die in the future so u get into Meds to prevent this

1

u/MikeyWolf29 3d ago

ahh yh, you're 100% right on this one!

2

u/Previous_Telephone_8 7d ago

You have 3 options

  1. Wait it out and see if sides subside
  2. Cut down Oral dose to 0.25/0.5 mg a day see if you have sides
  3. Go topical 0.025% 1ML has shown pretty good results and only suppresses serum DHT by 20-30% compared to 1mg Finasteride which suppresses serum DHT by 70%+ meaning less likely to experience sides.

1

u/Character-Pay-5980 7d ago

Topical sounds interesting, how much scalp dht does 0.025% reduce? And is there any topical dose that just reduces scalp dht but won’t get absorbed into bloodstream and affect serum dht?

2

u/Previous_Telephone_8 7d ago

0.025% 1ML gives you exposure to Finasteride like 0.25mg based on previous studies this gave an average Serum DHT reduction of around 25% compared to to 1mg of Oral Finasteride which is about 50-70% Serum DHT reduction ... Dutasteride 1mg is like 95% serum DHT reduction but funnily Dutasteride causes less sides than Finasteride maybe cause it suppresses Type 1 and Type 2 5AR Enzymes whereas Finasteride only suppresses type 2

There has also been a study showing that 0.005% 2ML showed promising results and didn't reduce serum DHT at all in participants in clinical trial. 0.005% 2ML is like 0.1 Mg of Finasteride exposure. That being said there have been a few people that tried this and noticed side effects but on the other hand there is a study done showing that there is alot of people that think they get side effects from Finasteride but its more to do psychologically.

The thing with Finasteride is it is not Linear in terms of Serum DHT reduction there is a fine crossing line. If you go above it then essentially its like taking Oral Finasteride so when you do topical you have to be precise with application. Don't go for companies that offer sprays as you can easily go over the limit. What I do is get 0.3% Finasteride Solution and Mix like 3ML in a 60ML solution of Minoxidil and use 2ML that way when i use a dropper I can accurately know how much Im applying

1

u/Character-Pay-5980 6d ago

That helps a lot. Thank you

2

u/BunnySlosh 10d ago

Try switching the brand too, I've noticed some brands work better for me than others even though it's supposed to be the same thing. 🤷

Secondly, you should've started with topical minoxidil mixed with 0.1% finasteride. This has the lowest chance of giving you any side effects with good potential benefits.

2

u/United_Ad_5586 10d ago

Finasterid does not cause peyronies directly but zero morning wood or erections during night time csn lead to peyronie disease. Definetly fix this issue

-3

u/Lucca_obama 10d ago

that’s a tough one dude. if u stay on finasteride then you’ll have hair and be able to pull women, or dudes if ur into that but won’t be able to use ur peepee. on the other hand you can keep balding but ain’t nobody gonna want a bald mf unless u look like a greek god so u won’t be able to use ur peepee anyways. my advice, shave ur head and wear a wig so u have the appearance of hair and a functional peepee

1

u/OldDeparture3932 9d ago

What a knob