Had Night Sweats? PLEASE tell this famed British doctor...

General Discussion Media & Awareness
#1

A fellow PFS patient just forwarded this email to me…

If you’ve ever had a symptom known as “night sweats,” here’s your chance to be heard loud and clear.

Yesterday in his Telegraph column, Dr. James LeFanu…

jameslefanu.com/

…printed a letter from a reader whose 80-year-old husband “developed appalling night sweats which lasted for four months.” She went on to say that finasteride was among 9 medications he was on, which he then went off – and the night sweats stopped.

Dr. LeFanu’s response was only, “I would be interested to know which of your husband’s medications were responsible for the severe sweating.”

Below is his column, in which he lists his email: drjames@telegraph.co.uk

Needless to say, this is an excellent opportunity to educate the doctor – tell him that night sweats are a common PFS symptom. The more such emails he gets on this issue, the more like he will be to write a column about it.

But PLEASE email him within the next 48 hours.

Thanks.

The Telegraph
telegraph.co.uk/health/11154 … -2014.html
Oct. 10, 2014

Dr Le Fanu’s online health clinic, Friday 10th October 2014

Concerned about aches and pains? Worried about a medical condition? You can email your questions confidentially to Dr Le Fanu at drjames@telegraph.co.uk. Answers will be published in the health section of the Telegraph website every Friday. Today - huge response to drug over-treatment of the elderly and blood pressure medication in particular.

Welcome to the latest online clinic for 2014 with the usual mixture of the intriguing and instructive. My sincerest thanks to those who have taken the time to report their experiences of over treatment. I have only been able to respond briefly but will be summarising the general themes in a Monday column of the 20th October. The next health clinic will appear on 24th October.

Dear Dr Le Fanu

It was with great interest that I read your article in the Telegraph about over treating the elderly. You asked readers for their experiences and so I am including details of the medication that my husband, who is now 80, was on in November 2013. In November, he developed appalling night sweats which lasted for four months. I had to call the Paramedics out on one occasion and he went through many sets of blood tests, a chest X-Ray and a CT Scan and he saw an Endocrinologist who did further tests. All tests came back negative. It was a nightmare! In the end, I did a lot of research – I taught History and am not at all medical – and consulted a retired Doctor. I came to the conclusion that the sweats were caused by either one pill or the combination and persuaded our Doctor to gradually remove them ALL. Unsurprisingly, the night sweats stopped and my husband’s health improved.

What particularly concerns me is that we wasted precious days of our lives and the NHS has wasted a considerable amount of money on pills, tests and surgery time. Besides, my husband was a fine sportsman who still loves his golf and has many hobbies. He would have been much better spending his time enjoying life and keeping fit rather than attending the endless round of medical appointments. I am appalled that Consultants prescribe medication without any reference to their colleagues and the reverse also happens. Another Consultant will remove a drug with no reference to the Consultant who prescribed it.

Where are we now ? A few of the pills have been reintroduced but, at least, we feel more in control of what is happening. In all
of this, there seems little help for his main problem – back pain - it does not seem to be a top priority for Doctors treating my
husband.

Michael’s drugs - November 2013

Simvastatin - 40mg
Prednisolone – 5mg
Ramipril 2.5 mg
Amlodipine 10mg
Clonidine 25mg
Adcal – D3
Finasteride 5mg
Galebon - 0.4 mg (Tamsulosin)
Omeprazole 20mg

Thank you for your informative articles which I regularly read.
Yours sincerely
Cynthia R

Dear Cynthia R,

Thanks for that interesting account. I would be interested to know which of your husband’s medications were responsible for the severe sweating.

#2

Again, let’s take action. Let’s do this. Doing something is always better than doing nothing.

#3

If you have already emailed Dr. LeFanu, please indicate it here. Thanks.

#4

Night sweats, sounds pretty benign. If some of us tried to explain symptoms he would just think we were crazy.

#5

Yes, but the point isn’t night sweats – which ARE a common PFS symptom.

The point is that a well-respected doctor who is a columnist with one of the most respected British newspapers 24 hours ago published a column in which he included a letter from a woman listed finasteride as a possible reason for her husband’s night sweats. And the doctor wrote to her in response, please let me know which drug might have cause that side effect.

So it’s top of mind with many people in the UK as we speak. And there’s a chance that if the doctor gets enough emails from PFS patients, he will cover PFS in a future column.

So please email him soon – and feel free to tell him about ALL your symptoms.

Thanks.

#6

No they are not.

#7

According to adverse drug-reaction reports filed to the FDA, there are least 8 reports of this symptom.

But that is not the point either.

The point is we have an opportunity to publicly educate one doctor – and one who appears to care about such matters – who in turn, assuming he’s convinced, will educate his fellow doctors, as well as patients.

I hear all this bitching and moaning about how no one cares and no one’s doing anything. But that’s not true: a lot of people have put up a lot of money–private money–to study PFS.

So when there IS an opportunity to educate a professional in the field, we should all drop everything and put in the tiny amount of work it takes to do so. If you can’t even muster the inspiration to send one person one brief email, how do you expect to get anything done?

#8

Night sweats are due to anxiety. Fin causes the anxiety, no doubt. However it’s all anecdotal. If I emailed myself pre PFS I would think I was insane. I will e-mail him anyway.

#9

Thanks.

We have to of course make our own awareness opportunities, like Adam Held did with his podcast, but we also have to watch for opportunities like The Telegraph, and jump on them asap.

Leaving educational comments on finasteride stories of any kind is also important. I will continue to post such stories here as soon as I come across them.

Onward and Merck-ward!

#10

I sent him this email a few hours ago…

Dear James,

I believe your looking to speak with people who have had night sweats from using Finasteride.

I’m 31 years old and I have used Finasteride to treat hair loss, I have experienced night sweats from Finasteride as well as a host of other side effects which have not been pleasant to say the least.

If would like me to go into more detail about how Finasteride has affected me I am more than happy to answer any questions you might have.

regards,

#11

Thanks so much.

It feels good to organize in the interest of bringing Merck to justice, doesn’t it?

I for one will be damned if I’m going to let a bunch of greedy, cowardly sociopaths get the best of me-- or any of us, for that matter.

I remember a few weeks after Sept. 11, 2001, there was a Heal New York concert held at Madison Square Garden. Paul McCarney played. As did Mick Jagger and Billy Joel and other superstars.

But the real star, in my eyes, was a firefighter who lost like 5 fellow firefighters at the World Trade Center. He got up onstage and gave an impromptu speech which he wrapped up by saying something to the effect of “Osama bin Laden can kiss my black Irish ass!” And the crowd went wild.

Well, in the end we brought Osama bin Laden to justice. It may have taken a decade. But we did it.

#12

‘Night sweats’ is not a symptom of the post-finasteride syndrome, simple as that.

No offence, but;

  1. This man is 80 years old

  2. This side-effect does not occur in PFS

  3. This old man is taking a cocktail of drugs including Prednisolone (night sweats is a common side effect of this powerful drug).

Please no mass emails of things so irrelevant. Quite frankly this all seems quite manic.

#13

I get night sweats now. I think it has more to do with the havock PFS has inflicted on my subconscious. Last night I woke up very sweaty. However, I know your correct. That many meds… No one will deduce that fin is the root cause if it. Any of our true stories will just make people think we are totally insane.

#14

Oscar, as I said, FDA MedWatch reports show that night sweats is in fact an adverse reaction to finasteride. In those reports, the patients or health care professionals reported that finasteride was the ONLY medication being taken and listed it as the most likely cause of night sweats.

Some of those reports go back as far as 2009.

That said, I imagine there’s some truth to it.

#15

8? Out of how many thousands of reports? And the fact this guy is 80? And the other drugs he was taking?

Also, this doctor is not ‘famed’ (I’ve never head of him). In fact a quick Google search and I discover he denies Darwinian Evolution!

You often post manic things like this, or worse. This sort of crap should NEVER be mass-emailed by the PFS Foundation.

#16

I had severe night sweats during my crash which also coincided with my muscle twitching and muscle loss

Ive sent him my email too

#17

Oscar, read the doctor’s original column. He is ASKING for clues, for evidence in a public forum.

All I’m saying is I support whomever it is who sent out the original email. If Dr. Le Fanu never writes anything about PFS, it’s not the end of the world. But if he does, the fact that a handful of people precipitated that story merely by shooting him a quick email seems a great payoff for such little effort.

And if he does write about PFS, at least 25,000 people will read it and (a) learn something they didn’t know or (b) be swayed toward believing in a condition they may have thought to be imaginary.

This is called media relations. PR firms get paid anywhere from $3,000 to $30,000 a month to do this exact same thing.

If you have $36,000 a year to pay a PR firm, please, be my guest and hire one asap.

Until then, don’t complain about any of us amateurs trying to raise awareness on our own.

Thanks.

#18

Well, we did it: Dr. Le Fanu printed several of your responses about the adverse effects of finasteride in his followup column.

Thanks, everyone, for educating the doctor in a public forum:

The Telegraph
telegraph.co.uk/health/11186 … -2014.html
24 October 24, 2014

Dr Le Fanu’s Online Health Clinic
Second opinion: Dr James Le Fanu

Welcome to the latest online clinic for 2014 with the usual mixture of the intriguing and instructive. Very many thanks yet again to all those who have taken the time to contribute their cautionary experiences of the consequences of overtreatment. I cannot regrettable respond to each in as much detail as I would wish but will be summarising the main themes in the Monday column in the near future

Dear Doctor Lefanu,

Just writing to you following a letter you printed yesterday involving an 80 year old man who had appalling night sweats, Finasteride being one of the 9 medications he was on. I can confirm that I have suffered an illness for 10 years following 2 years taking a drug called Finasteride or ‘Propecia’, the brand name. Symptoms of this illness which I have absolutely no doubt were created by this drug are chronic fatigue, headaches, sexual dysfunction, cognitive impairment, brain fog and indeed night sweats. I had the night sweats whilst I was taking the drug.

Propecia or Finasteride is a very dangerous drug which should never be prescribed for hair loss and more and more is being found out about the damage it causes. I have heard of many reports of the suicide of men who have become ill using this drug. Post Finasteride Syndrome is the condition which broadly covers the range of symptoms men endure when ceasing to take it.

If you could write an article on this drug and it’s associated problems, this would be very helpful in the increasing fight against this awful poison.

Best regards,

Nick.

Dear Nick

Thanks for drawing attention to the serious side effects associated with Finasteride.

Dear James,

I believe you’re looking to speak with people who have had night sweats from using Finasteride.

I’m 31 years old and I have used Finasteride to treat hair loss, I have experienced night sweats from Finasteride as well as a host of other side effects which have not been pleasant to say the least.

If would like me to go into more detail about how Finasteride has affected me I am more than happy to answer any questions you might have.

regards,

John C

Dear John C,

Please see above.

Hi James,

I was alerted to your column in The Telegraph this weekend regarding finasteride and night sweats.

I took Finasteride for 5 years to combat Hair Loss. I recently stopped the treatment because I suffered from the widely reported side effects regarding sexual health and well-being. This is an issue I’m still dealing with.

However another side effect has been severe night sweats which I still occasionally suffer from, an especially severe episode will leave the bed-sheets (and myself) drenched).

John B

Dear John B,

Thanks for being in touch about your experience with Finasteride.

Dear Dr Le Fanu,

I read with avid interest your article in the Telegraph about Finasteride-related “night sweats”. Having taken Propecia myself (for hair-loss), I can tell you that I have also had these sweats, as well as (many) more life-altering complications. Please see my website propeciamaycausecancer.com./ I would be more than willing to be interviewed regarding my Finasteride experience, and I have already been in the UK national press regarding this matter.

Best wishes,

Dear Anon,

Thanks for being in touch and drawing attention to your website on Finasteride.

#19

Will continue to monitor the press for similar opportunities in the future.

The key is for as many of us as possible to to respond quickly – within the first 24 to 36 hours.

Thanks again.