Does lifestyle on propecia make the consequences worse?

General Discussion
#3

Highly, highly doubtful.

Again not sure why people are looking for scapegoats to blame instead of the drug.

Many users led the most healthy of lifestyles before they took this drug, including clean diet, gym, cardio etc. Many of the side effects experienced are listed by manufacturer and have been experienced by such members.

The problems from this drug have nothing to do with “lifestyle”, they are a direct result of the drug’s mechanisms of action and potent effects on hormones/neurosteroids… it damages us INTERNALLY, from the inside out. This has been discussed ad nauseum on this site, not sure why people feel the need to look for other reasons for their problems.

Penile shrinkage, complete loss of libido, muscle atrophy, reduced ejaculate, genital numbness, gyno, loss of morning/nocturnal/spontaneous erections, massive drop in Testosterone levels post-drug… those are not a result of “lifestyle”, they are a direct consequence of androgen deprivation via Finasteride use in men who’s side effects did not abate after quitting, and who’s endocrine systems crashed.

If you took Finasteride and are experiencing these and the many other post-fin issues as listed in the FAQ, then you most certainly know the culprit (Fin). These side effects are so extreme it is clear as day compared to how you used to be. On the other hand, if people are unsure if Fin is responsible for their problems, this is probably not the site for them.

#4

Mew, I agree in principle. However I’m wondering if some of the side effects like depression and lack of energy leads to increased alcohol consumption and further lack of exercise did double damage. I would be tempted to blame alcohol more if the side effects of Fin didn’t continue to get worse a year after I quit drinking.

#5

Depression clears up for the vast majority within 2 weeks of quitting the drug. Fatigue is a common complaint of those on and after quitting, likely from loss of Testosterone levels and increased estradiol/TSH many seem to end up with.

As for this leading to “increased alcohol consumption”, I completely disagree. That is a conscious decision on your part to buy and consume alcohol and is not directly related to the drug. Lack of excercise and chronic drinking are choices you personally make, which are certainly not beneficial.

#6

We all know the culprit is fin I’m just curious as to whether lifestyle on the drug made some of us more susceptible. I was not living a healthy, sociable lifestyle on my last run and had stopped and started before without any real issues. And if you’re lowering T levels with fin then doing nothing to boost it otherwise (supplements, exercise) will surely have an effect. As will too much beating off.

#7

Fin is definitely the culprit, without a shadow of a doubt. But sure, if you are drinking gallons of beer, which is HIGHLY estrogenic, you are going to be compounding your problem even more. That falls into the catagory of healthful living, something we all need to be doing if we even want to try and have a chance at recovery.

As far as too much beating off, this shouldn’t cause anywhere near the symptoms we are experiencing, at all. Otherwise the whole teenage population would be doomed. It’s just not the case.

#8

Emotions influence actions. Finasteride causes emotional disturbances (i.e. depression). Depression leads to greater tendencies to abuse alcohol. Finasteride may not cause people to drink but being depressed doesn’t hurt the chances.

This drug affects people differently. The vast majority of people seem to avoid the long-term effects that guys who have gravitated to this space have.

#9

As far as too much beating off, this shouldn’t cause anywhere near the symptoms we are experiencing, at all. Otherwise the whole teenage population would be doomed. It’s just not the case.
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If the whole teenage population was taking fin while doing so there would be a lot of post-propecia syndrome victims. Anything that reduces testosterone in an environment where you are already doing this and possibly increasing estrogens at the same time could leave you in trouble.

Mew you yourself have stated that towards your end of fin you withdrew from social relationships etc. This was due to fin but what if you had still exercised regularly and been social (boosting dopamine and test) around the time you quit, think it would have made a difference?

We all now know the role of exercise, diet and lifestyle in an effort to improve. To ignore the role these might have played in making a bad situation worse doesn’t make sense to me.

Of course you can’t change the past anyway…

#10

Wacking off is not going to reduce Testosterone or increase estrogen to a significant degree, if at all.

Put another way: Masturbation does NOT lead to hypogonadal levels of Testosterone, but the post-fin crash can and does as we’ve seen many times over via bloodwork.

Towards the end of my 11 months I was in a deep depression and experiencing increasing anxiety due to Finasteride. However, after quitting and within 2 weeks, when DHT began flooding back and I began feeling like my old self (horny, morning erections, aggressive, ED improvements), these symptoms cleared up.

Unfortunately the post-fin crash in T levels caused the return of such symptoms (minus depression/anxiety) in full force within the next few weeks, plus genital shrinkage and other symptoms.

So no, excercise had NOTHING to do with this – it was my body reacting to the post-fin rebound in DHT/shutting down T production that has caused these ongoing symptoms, like so many others around here after quitting.

Yes obviously leading a healthy lifestyle is beneficial but as has been discussed here and on other sites as well, even the healthiest of guys, natural bodybuilders etc who took Fin noticed they could not compensate for the drug’s potent effects on their hormones. This drug’s action is just so strong, short of not taking it, there is not much you can do to mitigate it’s effects while taking it.

#11

There would be alot of post propecia syndrome victims regardless of whether they beat off or not. Masturbation wouldn’t effect their outcome one bit.

#12

I’m revisiting this topic because I think my stressful lifestyle might have made things worse when I quit.

Here’s a link about stress causing epigenetic marks on the hippocampus (very interesting given that it looks like we underwent some sort of epigenetic change while on or immediately after fin):
newswire.rockefeller.edu/?id=1002&page=engine

'Richard Hunter, a postdoc in Rockefeller University’s Harold and Margaret Milliken Hatch Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology, found that a single 30-minute episode of acute stress causes a rapid chemical change in DNA packaging proteins called histones in the rat hippocampus, which is a brain region known to be especially susceptible to the effects of stress in both rodents and humans. The chemical change Hunter examined, called methylation, can either increase or decrease the expression of genes that are packaged by the histones, depending on the location of the methylation. He looked for methylation on three regions of histone H3 that have been shown to actively regulate gene expression.’

I took fin for a few years with at times bad sides but recovered when I quit. The final time I had problems at work, was living alone away from home in a small apartment and a week before quitting got beat up on the subway (too fogged to fight back in retrospect), and was near the end of a long dark winter. Could stress have made me more likely to crash and get very bad symptoms?

#13

No.

#14

Mew I know you only blame the drug but how does that explain me stopping and starting before. Did I just get unlucky this time? Look at my cortisol readings for crying out loud!

#15

How about unbalancing your hormonal structure once, you tolerated it but were never normal again, and the second time you took it your body couldn’t rebalance? Moreover you may have rebalanced but it doesn’t mean your liver and kidneys were intact and starting the poison again may have caused your body to overreact and overproduce enzymes to rid itself of fin, and when you stop fin your body doesn’t adjust a second time or it’s remaining ready to excrete it again.

#16

our root problem is 5AR inhibitor use---->endorine disruption. That is it. Looking for problems somewhere else is sheer waste of time.

#17

Precisely.

However, for men suffering side effects which do not resolve after quitting, it is plausible we have a certain genetic disposition to the 5AR inhibition/lowering of DHT that other men do not, which causes these issues.

#18

But how does that explain the many men that quit and recovered beforehand?

#19

genetic variation.

#20

Can you explain that?

#21

sure. we are all born with different building blocks called “genes” which is why my eyes are hazel, and yours might be blue. this is why some people are tall, and some are short. this is why some people get fucked by a medication, and some don’t.

#22

The point I’m making is how was I genetically susceptible to crash if I quit fin at least twice and returned to normal, indeed the last time I quit all round mental, physical and sexual energy went thru the roof. I’m thinking I went on again too soon and some of my hormones were still out of whack, plus behavioural and environmental factors influence hormonal levels.