My first post here, I’m around 5.5 months off prior to taking .25 MG a day of finasteride for 2/3 months. My experience is also pretty similar to you guys. I started to notice while I was still taking finasteride that I had crazy levels of anxiety out of absolutely nowhere - my body would start going into fight or flight. I realised that I had become almost entirely intolerant of caffeine after years of drinking 3 cups a day without so much as a hint of anxiety. I found that not eating frequently enough (I used to intermittent fast) would cause anxiety and I then had my first panic attack in 8 something years following exercise when I hadn’t eaten dinner.
I started having terrible anxiety after drinking alcohol, literal full-blown shaking, panic attacks - not anxious about anything really, just flight or flight and feeling very disassociated. Fast forward to the worst episode of anxiety I’ve had in my life, panic attacks so bad it gave me depersonalization (which I still have, although somewhat lessened 2 months later). I started to realize a pattern to the anxiety and started measuring my blood glucose with a blood glucose monitor. It turns out my blood sugar was in the gutter perpetually and there was correlation with a lot of my physical symptoms (shakiness, faint in particular). No matter what I ate for a week following this particular episode, my blood sugar barely remained in the normal range, every two hours after eating it’d crash again. After a week this seemed to resolve (as confirmed by the glucose monitor) and my blood sugar seemed a lot more stable.
I saw an endocrinologist who has no idea what caused this. Fortunately my blood sugar seemed to be stable some two months on and my digestion seems to have cleared up (I had diarrhea almost every day for nearly two months). I’ve noticed I seem fine with gluten but dairy seems to give me stomach ache - that’s the only thing I’ve been able to deduce.
So I have been having a cup of coffee in the morning but a second cup of coffee seems to give me a panic attack. I will try and cut it out entirely just don’t want to crash from caffeine withdraw at the moment.
Generally speaking I do feel like my anxiety symptoms are getting better and so is my dissociation (I’m stating to feel more present). But I am still easily triggered by any kind of work stress (which I am doing my best to reduce). I still do get this occasional chemical like depression feeling but it seems shorter lived. I do feel generally quite depressed, which again is something I’ve ever never experienced, but I realise half the battle is in your own life outlook. Personally I’ve found the depression to be nowhere near as dark when you realise you still have a life to live, people who love you and care about you - thinking you’ll be like this forever is depression-inducing for sure and getting myself out of that mindset has already made me a feel a lot better. My worst symptom is the depersonalization but I cannot say that was caused directly by the finasteride, more from the heightened anxiety. I had a depersonalization episode 10 years ago after smoking weed, so not my first rodeo with this.
I am still getting blood tests done, I currently have low normal bioavailable T (normal high total T), high estrogen, high LH. Yes absolutely this could be causing depression but to play devils advocate, I also had low/normal free T last year and felt absolutely fine.
I sort of feel I’m at a point where I perhaps I just accept that the anxiety and depression will likely continue to get better with time and it’s unlikely there’s a silver bullet to this. Acceptance feels a lot better than hanging on the results of a blood test. I am on a plane to California for a work trip, which even a few weeks ago would’ve terrified me. Hopefully anxiety on this trip will be manageable
If I had any takeaways I’d say that I have found so much comfort in my family (I am single & live alone), but I call my mum everyday for a catch-up chat and I am so grateful for it. Connection with people seems incredibly important and helps pull you out of the dark pit. I would do anything for my family and I hold onto them as reason to get better. I know also, that if this all does become too much to manage I can also go back home and live with them. A hard part with this illness is feeling disabled and sad when you’re not able to continue life as you once very much enjoyed. But there’s no shame in taking a break from the demands of your life should you need to. You’re not alone.
Stay strong my brothers, I wish you all the absolute best.
