Has anyone called FDA and told them about the permanent side effects? If yes, what did they say?
We should call them to get their attention.
lol?
There have probably been thousands of us who have submitted info to the FDA. They are aware. Why they dont respond? You take a guess.
In fact, when I see something “not approved by the FDA”, I’m pretty assured it’s totally safe 
Yes, that is true for alot of supplements and other products people on these forums may be trying to take to supplement their testosterone levels. If the product has been proven to do absolutely nothing, then the FDA will not approve it for that use.
Apparently, it unfortunately seems that the products that actually “do something” often have nasty sides, but may be passed by the FDA anyways if there is evidence that it does perform the advertised effect (i.e. hair regrowth), that the study was scientifically conducted, and that any side effects were acurately characterized. (And yes, I know there are unreported sides with Propecia too; I have them all.)
Two percent is really not that small of a number, and erectile dysfunction represents a serious medical problem, even if only short-term in duration. Despite the fact that Merck admits in their Propecia study that 2% of patients experience problems like this, the FDA continued to approve it anyways…the point I’m trying to make here is that the FDA is not necessarily looking out for you.
I have felt truly abused by this experience as a patient, a consumer, and a taxpayer, and my trust has been totally violated; a great deal of my confidence to take Propecia came from the fact that it has FDA approval and has been on the market now for years without recall or restudy by the FDA. Looking back on it, perhaps I should have known better than to trust any government agency, let alone this one, known to be retroactive in announcing food recalls that should rightly have been caught on the manufacturing floor well before reaching market. But it’s too late for me to realise this now…my life has been completely ruined and my future plans for a spouse, family, and strong career have been totally derailed and there is nothing I can do about it.
Despite this, the most responsible thing all of us can do now is to be as vocal as possible about our experiences, to keep pushing until the medical community finally listens and alters their standard practices that allow them to liberally prescribe this drug in the way that they currently do, especially without appraising their patients of the risks associated with androgen deprivation therapy. Write to the FDA, complain to Merck, complain to your doctors and any other doctor you can find, talk to your peers at work and your family, talk to reporters, write your congressman…anything you can think of to make as much noise as possible about the situation.
We who are experiencing these sorts of additional serious side effects (muscle loss, body wastage, etc) are apparently a small minority of the persons who experience some side effects (the ones known to the FDA) from Propecia, and men who consume Propecia are a minority of men with male pattern baldness, who are again in turn a relatively limited portion of the population.
The reason why the FDA hasn’t investigated this product is because there hasn’t been much pressure on them to do so. We need to get enough people asking questions and applying pressure, so that enough momentum can be built against this product to stop experiences like ours from recurring in the future.
Meanwhile Merck will continue deflect our inquiries and their corporate hacks will go on working to sabotage grass roots efforts like ours to get the word out (i.e. attacks against post-PFS sufferers/bloggers that I’ve seen posted on other Propecia related websites, accusations of mental instabilty and mere performance anxiety, “it’s all in your heads”, etc). Also, with the tons of cash they’re raking in from the other 98% of Propecia users, they’re likely to skillfully deflect any future litigation from the other 2% of consumers who will be perpetually screwed by this product.
I hope that’s enough motivation for all of you to be more proactive in telling your story. Some of the lives you save may be your friends and members of your family.
It wasn’t even 2%, the figure quoted for ED was 1.8% I think, kind of like selling for 1.99 instead of two bucks, and that was against a figure of approx 1% who got ed from a placebo so they were basically implying it was even less.
That was essentially my assessment as well when I read that study. Unfortunately, we all made a more fundamental error; we trusted the Merck study to be accurate.
I agree in terms of the percentages you’re quoting; personally, based on the opinions of multiple doctors with whom I’d consulted, I didn’t think that the drug was going to be any more dangerous than taking a Tylenol. Now I feel like a complete idiot and have felt this way ever since, because not only did I make a horrible mistake, I made a mistake with consequences from which I cannot dig myself out.