A mandatory blood test before doctors prescribe Propecia!

[Enden]

Has anyone ever thought about this? This is what we need. If the authorities, preferably the FDA would demand a blood test (to map baseline values) before the doctors are allowed to prescribe Propecia, solid evidence would be gathered within half a year, and I tell you that the result would look so bad that the drug probably would get pulled off the market immediately. Proscar would still be available for those who’re using finasteride as hair loss treatment, but imagine which consequences this would have for Merck. It would open up for a lot of lawsuits as well.

What’s your thoughts?

[Enden]

They should update the leaflet too; and state that any side effects from Propecia should resolve itself within 2 weeks after quitting treatment. They’ve stated (I think in the prescribing information leaflet) that all hormone values returned to baseline values within 2 weeks after quitting treatment, but most doctors aren’t aware of this - and when you ask for help, they say that Merck states that everything should resolve itself when you quit, but no one knows how longs it’s going to take. My doctor proposed 6 months, 1 year, maybe more. He hold me to sit and wait, but I refused to wait any longer than half a year. It turned out to be a good call.

[martinM]

There is a reason the information leaflet is inadequate and Merck controlled the blood tests of the prior studies. They are way ahead of you. This drug should never have come on the market.

[Enden]

The point is that this will expose their lies. It’ll tear them a part.

[martinM]

This idea is not practical. It won’t happen.

[Mew]

If the authorities, preferably the FDA would demand a blood test (to map baseline values) before the doctors are allowed to prescribe Propecia,

Wishful thinking unless lawsuits can change things.

[Enden]

I’m not familiar with the FDA, but they’re supposed to protect the consumers. I certainly hope that the lawsuits will be a breakthrough, but I fear they won’t, because we (at least most of us) don’t have any evidence. I know one guy from Portugal, and fortunately the doctor did a blood test before prescribing him Propecia. This is an edited version of a conversation we’ve had on HLT.

I used Finasteride for 10 month while on it i experience low libido, ED, water retention. 2 weeks after quiting if felt normal again, but then, over 5 days i gradually developed symptoms of hypogonadism. Went to see the doc. and got blood work done, it showed i had very low Testosterone compared to what i used to have before taking finasteride, i was diagnosed with secondary hypogonadism, the doc. suggest i waited to see if i would get better, i accepted. During the next 15 month after quiting i experienced ups and downs regarding symptoms but never improved to my normal self.
Tired of waiting and with my life negatively affected i visited the doc. again and told him i wasn’t much better. I did blood tests again and they showed i still had very low Testosterone.

I’m now on a small course of TRT (sustanon 250 every 15 days) to try to recover my T production according to my doc´s prescription. But i know this will not do much, i’ve read allot about endocrinology and treatments, the best way to recover my production would be with anti estrogens and hcg. but my doc. didn’t listen so i’m kind of worried that he might not know much about this, and he is supposed to be the best in my country in this filed!

my natural T production was 906ng/dl (245 - 800).
15 month after stopping finasteride my T was 345ng/dl (245 - 800) and my Free T, the one that really matters, was 8.5 pg/ml (8.7 - 54), my E2 was 17 pg/ml (<30) it is a good value but i think a little bit to high for so little Free T, prolactin was mid range.

This, my fellow sufferers, is evidence of secondary hypogonadism induced by finasteride. The FDA keep telling me to report my experience through medwatch, but I’m not going to do that. I’ve proposed another approach, and we’ll see how it goes. They can’t ignore this.