This appears to be a summary of Khera’s presentation from the SMSNA conference last year. It’s published in a supplement to a Journal of Sexual Medicine issue.
We’ll have to wait to see what they end up publishing. I don’t think this is part one of their study because it doesn’t appear to be peer-reviewed and its not even a full page. You can see the conclusion by looking at the next section (#125).
“Since two of the PFS patients (8%) committed suicide during or after the research period, Khera suggests that “psychiatric side effects and the risks of finasteride use in patients with a history of psychiatric disorders should be investigated further…” Who said they had a history of psychiatric disorders? They did?
I agree this quite upsetting. Seems like he’s pointing at underlying mental illness when its not required at all for this to end someone. I guess it doesn’t help but it just sounds like things drugs companies use to justify themselves. It causes mental illness, not just amplifies whats already there.
OK, I am wondering why after the release of the Baylor study there is such a silence here on this website? I mean, so many years of anticipation and then all of a sudden silence, like nothing happened.
Methods: To (i) evaluate sexual and psychological function, (ii) assess hormone levels, (iii) measure penile hemodynamic and sensory parameters, (iv) study androgen receptor genetics and gene expression, and (v) and determine gene expression patterns and profiles.
Obviously not all of that is covered in the recent publication so hopefully there is more to come. I am not a spokesperson for the foundation or Baylor college of medicine. This is just my deduction, based on what information is already available.
He’s not saying that these patients don’t have PFS, they had underlying psychiatric illnesses prior to taking PFS. He’s really just presented the facts and data because they could be useful. If we find out that having a pre-existing psychiatric illness increases the risk of getting PFS by 10-fold, that’s very useful information. Not just to people who are considering taking the drug, but also to us because it might suggest places to look where things may have gone wrong.
It does sound similar to PFS deniers and legal arguments that Merck would have tried to make in the litigation, but they’re actually quite different. From a purely scientific perspective it may add valuable information. These types of findings can be twisted and distorted and misinterpreted, but he’s not looking to discredit PFS at all.
Maybe having depression is the factor that makes you vulnerable to finasteride, but finasteride is the actual cause for making the situation 10x worse. But maybe there is no connection at all.
People had their expectations too high and were hoping for at least a breakthrough but didn’t understand what Dr. Khera’s study was supposed to be. The main purpose was do study epigenetic and genetic profiles of PFS patients. The first part which was published basically just described the patients in the study. He found they had objectively measured abnormal penile function so that was worth publishing in a separate study. The other more important study has yet to come.
I don’t know if it will have a breakthrough or how long it will take to come. The pandemic has certainly pushed everything back by months, at least.
Thanks for clarifying I haven’t read the paper yet I’m too messed up- I was just going by the quote. I hope you’re right. I’m going to read it properly before forming my opinion.
You are absolutely right.
It can unmask underlying disorder or makes manageable situation unmanageable via altered neurosteroid balance…
It is like some people do not have bipolar disorder but sometimes some SSRIs causes manic shift and you will diagnosed as Bipolar.
Otherwise you might live a life without taking any SSRIs and people know you as a anxiety/panic or a depression patient.