Finasteride and Neurological Damage

Also, I keep reading about 5AR. What is this exactly? Is this the enzyme that most people think we are missing? If so, why?

I read this bit on it:
hairlosstalk.com/interact/sh … rsible-etc

So, if this is accurate, it sounds like the 5AR enzyme has a role in producing DHT, but if the area of the brain that produces 5AR is damaged then it stops producing DHT.

What I’m wondering is if there’s a way to get some sort of DHT replacement therapy. If this were available, maybe it would solve some/a lot of our problems?

Also, can you test for your DHT level in a blood test? How do you know if you have low DHT?

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=9865

Start reading on page 3 and keep resding

Any more news with Alez Miller ideas?

Im going to restart taking MgS04 again, after 2 months stops, to see if I can differences. I have been ejaculating this 2 months without really having a big nrevous respond at the time of doing it. So if now after no changing anything more I start getting more nervous respond at the time of climax, without a doubt must be something going on with this. Lets see!

The mechanism doesn’t need to be: neurosteroid deprivation -> nerve damage -> muscular dysfunction. It is true that allopregnanolone aids myelination, but it is also necessary for proper nerve function.

Alex Miller’s theory of nerve damage seemed to assume that neurosteroids came back, but that there was lasting damage to the myelin that occurred while on fin. We now know that neurosteroids are chronically inhibited.

The more likely mechanism is: neurosteroid deprivation -> nerve dysfunction (GABA requires neurosteroids to function properly) -> muscular dysfunction -> chronic contracture causing nerve impingement -> nerve irritation.

People get PFS after days. I had CPPS, numbness, shrunken cold genitals, etc. after 4 days on fin. It went away for 6 weeks and came back when I crashed. Obviously nerve damage didn’t occur in a few days, reverse, and then come back. Rather, the neurosteroids depleted, replenished, and then depleted again, causing the chain of dysfunction that I mentioned above.

There is NO nerve damage, dysfunction yes, but nerve damage no. I went from completely numb periods to actully senstive/ hypersexual feelings

Finatruth, did you have pelvic tension/pain and muscle twitches as well and, if so, did they reduce/go away as well?

Yes, had dominant left side pelvic pain a lot. Also had muscle / calf twitches all the time that are now gone

Good news.

I think that the cause of the pelvic floor dysfunction (resulting in pain, shrinkage, veins, coldness, poor EQ, urinary/ejaculation problems, possibly numbness and ED) and muscle twitches may be the same.

The pelvic floor won’t develop fasciculations like the calves because it’s smooth muscle and doesn’t have striated muscle fibres (although I get the odd spasm/involuntary kegel in mine).

With low neurosteroids, I think that GABA can’t inhibit the motor/sympathetic impulses causing tightness and dysfunction in those muscles.

Androgens may be involved as well, but the neurosteroid problem definitely explains it.

There’s more to it than GABA. I’m reading more on allopregnanolone and it inhibits a bunch of receptors in channels responsible for excitation/contraction… and binds to a bunch of other receptors responsible for proper nerve signal transmission.

Of all the experts on this planet cant one of them tell if Dutasteride or Finasteride causes brain damage. I’m in my 3rd year of of mental sides and its fucking driving me mad. Cant fell pleasure and no motivation and ambition.
The bastards who create these drugs should be shot.

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neurosciencenews.com/lymphatic-s … logy-2080/ Did someone see this???

I’m sure the mental sides are caused by low neurosteroid levels which also affect neurotransmitter levels to a certain degree.

There a three versions of 5 alpha reductase - 1, 2, 3. A lot of guys are talking about 5a1 which is dominant in the brain, but what about 5a3. I read somewhere that “Congenital deficiency of 5α-R3 at the gene SRD53A has been linked to a rare, autosomal recessive condition in which patients are born with severe intellectual dysfunction and cerebellar and ocular defects”.

So maybe the mental sides are caused by low 5a3 which explains the cognitive and ocular problems. I have visual blurring which many users do.

Finasteride/Dutasteride both block 5a3.

Any thoughts on this?

Yep. same here. Its slowly gotten better for me. But yea thanks for the fucking warning, right? No fucking way I would have consented to this bullshit. Every doctor that says its safe should get a baseball bat to the fucking head.

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Any update on users who were active on these forums 3-4 years ago and have suddenly stopped writing. Are they better or the same mentally. If they are better have they tested their 5a reductase activity?

I need some reassurance. Anyone?

Ya, I was concerned about depressedguy. He sounded like he had it really bad, and he totally stopped posting. I hope he’s alright.

That’s a ground breaking article!

I was 15 when I was losing hair and Finasteride was shoved in my face. I wasn’t even on the drug long enough to achieve any hair loss results. Instead, after 1mg/day for 6 weeks, I became increasingly aware of the sexual side effects I was experiencing. After a quick bit of research on what I was putting in my body and the hell it was putting people through. Naturally I threw my meds out right then and there, but this new insight caused stress to reach unbearable levels and I fell into an instant state of depression. After a couple weeks, the sexual side effects vanished, as did the depression. More than anything, I was only paranoid that I had interfered with puberty and had, subsequently, stunted my development.

ADHD runs in my mom’s side of the family and I’ve always exhibited the symptoms to some extent, but they were completely manageable as a child and raised no alarms. Due to the nature of the “brain fog” I’ve read so much about here, I wasn’t even immediately aware that I essentially became a different person overnight. When the feelings of depressions faded, it left behind an utter lack of cognitive awareness, REM sleep became an extremely rare occurrence and, in addition to my mind’s disconnection from my senses, my fully functioning penis is unable to receive signals from my brain.

My unrelenting absence from the reality I’m physically surrounded with has made it impossible to form any bond with another human being. I was a virgin before taking this drug and I will never experience sex on any mental or emotional level. My libido is perfectly normal and my T levels have always been in range as far as I know, but I don’t have turn-ons or turn-offs, nothing arouses me, and I don’t know if I even have any sort of sexual preference at all. My penis is deaf, blind, and dumb; responsive only to touch. Because I’m so easily distracted from the physical sensation, there is very little middle ground between flaccid and ejaculation (holding back a climax tends to eliminate my erection with little chance of recovery).

At 15, I could never have comprehended the Finasteride’s mechanism of action and the risks I was taking. A dermatologist said this drug was my best bet at stopping hair loss and sent me on my way, no mention of any side effects. I received no warnings, and he was not the slightest bit concerned about the “18 years or older” suggestion on the label. Because this all occurred during puberty, my behavioral changes never held any significance to an outside perspective. I’ve never brought up this topic to any family member or professional because it would solidify the idea that I’ve caused damage that will forever restrict my ability to thrive as an adult male. After 7 years, I have not experienced any bit of improvement or remission in my mental anguish. It’s as if my mind is being held captive by the least remarkable personality on the planet.

^ wow that is heartbreaking… man I wish we could just build a time machine or something. This should not have happened to all of us.

I should also have added that my hair loss came to a halt almost immediately after the “side” effects were in full swing. Not that my hair was of any concern by this point, but I never achieved regrowth and my surviving hair completely changed texture (significantly translucent and thin like cat hair). However, after 7 years off Finasteride, my hair remains exactly the same. It’s possible my hair loss was only temporary to begin with and it would have resolved itself naturally. Nonetheless, whatever my body was up to at the time, the war against my hair follicles has been postponed indefinitely. Could it be that the later stage of my adolescent development is stuck on “pause,” leaving me in some sort of neurological purgatory? (as in, I never actually completed puberty and now I’m Peter ****ing Pan)

^ I can’t really answer that question but I honestly wouldn’t get your hopes up about anything. This drug is toxic. Also I know exactly what you mean by translucent/thin hair. My hair changed in the exact same way. It’s super noticeable in the temples.