MAJOR SLEEP PROBLEMS...!

Symptoms Physical
#1

Hey guys, Thank god I’ve come across this forum! I’ve been taking finasteride 1mg every morning for only two weeks now. Within only a few days I was having difficulty in getting to sleep straight away (NEVER normally an issue) and was starting to wake after 3 sleep cycles (about 4.5 hours), then 2 sleep cycles and then after every 90 min sleep cycle! I managed to drop off each time until after 4.5 hours and then that was that. Needless to say, the daytimes were not pleasant.

This seemed to be coupled with a massive urge to stretch my muscles - not as constant as restless legs, but similar in some ways. I found when I did stretch, this initially felt better but then led to a massive grogginess which prevented me from going back to sleep and made me feel worse in the mornings. If I managed to hold back on the stretching, the hideous feeling in the morning wasnt as bad.

I went to my doctor after a week to explain and she gave me a low dose of zopiclone (3.75mg) to take when I woke and couldnt get back to sleep. This helped at first, but now two weeks later all of this is just getting worse and the zop doesnt work.

It’s now a Saturday morning, I had no reason to not have had a good night’s sleep last night and yet I feel like I’ve not had any. I must’ve slept in some way, as time didnt go that slowly, but I was waking a lot and dozing. Also, I dont remember having any dreams and I always do!

It’s seriously affected my mood and I havent been able to go to the gym because of exhaustion.

Has anyone else had the same? And will it all go back to normal soon if I stop taking it?

Of course it struck me that the only difference in my life recently had been taking finasteride, so I’ve spent all morning googling side effects - these major sleep problems were certainly nothing I was warned about.

I’m not taking my dose this morning and staying off the stuff after reading some of the articles on here…

Has anyone heard of the new alternative, DUTASTERIDE??? Or is this likely to have the same effects.

What else can I take?? I dont want to lose my hair!!

Many many thanks. And thanks to whoever started this website!

All the best,
Simon

#2

A number of guys have had problems with sleep while on Finasteride… waking up incessantly throughout the night, not having vivid dreams or any dreams, and sleeping extremely lightly (ie, no stage 3/4 delta sleep) such that they feel completely unrefreshed/exhausted the next day.

Some other experiences:

propeciahelp.com/forum/viewt … ight=sleep

propeciahelp.com/forum/viewt … ight=sleep

propeciahelp.com/forum/viewt … ight=sleep

propeciahelp.com/forum/viewt … ight=sleep

propeciahelp.com/forum/viewt … ight=sleep

May take awhile but for most people sleep goes back to normal. For those that still have issues… well, read the above threads.

Dutasteride is even more powerful than Finasteride and thus potential for side effects even greater and more severe. Whereas Fin only inhibits ~70% of DHT by inhibiting only 5AR2 enzyme, Dutasteride blocks ~99% of DHT by inhibiting both the 5AR2 and 5AR1 enzymes (5AR1 is especially expressed in the brain, and nobody knows the longterm consequences of such inhibition).

Also, Fin only has a short half life, 6-8 hours. Dut’s half life is many weeks. That means the drug is in your body a LOT longer, even after your last dose.

Dutasteride is definitely not recommended unless you have prostate cancer and need to undergo androgen deprivation therapy.

propeciahelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1431

Such questions would be better served by sites like hairlosstalk.com and hairlosshelp.com as this is not a hairloss site.

Topical Revivogen for blocking DHT, and Minoxidil for regrowth is probably a good start though, although Rogaine (Minoxidil) can also have systemic side effects like heart palpitations, dizziness and other blood pressure issues since it acts as a vasodilator.

#3

Mew, thanks so much for your prompt reply, really appreciate it.

I’m now freaking out however… It’s only the past couple of days I’ve not had deep sleep and no dreams so hence realised something was really wrong. What I’m freaked out about is from reading the threads where this, even after taking propecia for three weeks, has been irreversible. Why would it be irreversible and is irreversibility common??

Also I’ve read in some threads about not drinking and not taking cocaine. I’m about to go to a party this afternoon where alcohol will certainly be in abundance, if not possible a small amount of the latter. Would that be a problem do you think?

How can they still make it and prescribe it if it does this to people??

Mew, I’m slightly scared now…

#4

“Has anyone heard of the new alternative, DUTASTERIDE??? Or is this likely to have the same effects.”

I had bad symptoms on Propecia and nearly intolerable symptoms on Dutasteride that were 10x worse. If you’re afraid of Propecia you should be horrified by Dutasteride.

“How can they still make it and prescribe it if it does this to people??”

Presumably it doesn’t do this to everyone or it does it very slowly/to a much lesser degree (so that it isn’t noticeable).