So I wrote a short article (sentence) on PFS for wikipedia. Article got rejected because it was too short. Help me write it. Here is what I have so far…I know it’s short but I just wanted to get the page up.
Post Finasteride Syndrome is a name given to persistent sexual and cognitive dysfunction caused by previous use of finasteride.
Give me a few days. I will make sure it won’t be short.
Actually I thought this was a really good idea so I typed one out really quick. I know there’s some spelling errors, my spell check wasn’t working on the word processor I used, please feel free to respond with anything you think I should add or change. I tried to cover it in a complete and concise way without being overly jilted toward showing anger.
"Post Finasteride Syndrome or (PFS) is a condition reported by male users of the prescription drug finasteride and other 5-Alpha Reductase Inhibitors (5-AR-2).
Men suffering from the condition report numerous side effects during and after use of the drug, but particularily after cessation of the drug. Reported side effects range from purely physical and hormonal to psychological to a combination of both. It is estimated the first reported instance of PFS appeared in the late 1990’s a few years after the drugs approval for treating hair loss.
Some of the reported physical side effects include:
Mild to total loss of sex drive, continued erectile dysfunction, penile and testicular tissue shrinkage and possible atrophy, genetial tissue deformities, reduced ejaculate volume, altered ejaculate consistentcy, reduced fertility (particulary sperm mobility), muscle loss, involuntary muscle spasms, head aches, body aches, digiestive problems, and unexplained abodominal pain.
Mental Side Effects reported include: depression, lethargy, insomnia, anxiety, and reduced mental function or “brain fog”. Many users complain these mental side effects are worse then the physical ones.
At least one former sufferer committed suicide after suffering server depression after coming off a 5-AR-2 inhibitor.
Hormonally various suffers have reported altered hormonal profiles with some common hormonal abnormalities. Nearly all users who have been tested report a below normal serum 3 alpha-androstanediol glucuronide (3-Adol-G) levels, and below normal vitamin D levels. Many more users also reported low testosterone, and low free testosterone. Thyroid and adrenal issues exist in many men with various differences between particular hormonal abnormalities. Some report high and low cortisol, others have altered thyroid hormones T3, and T4.
Despite finding these hormonal issues, the cause of the syndrome has yet to be found. Sufferer’s tend to be men between the ages of 16-50 who used the drug primarily to treat androgenic alopecia (hair loss) although the drug was oringinally approved for use for treatment of benign prostate hyperalisia (BPH), it was later approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for androgenic alopecia.
The drug is marketed under the brand name Propecia by pharmacuetical company Merck for androgenic alopecia, and under the name Proscar for BPH. Other 5-AR-2 inhibitors include Adovart (durasteride).
Literature on the drug produced by Merck oringinally listed loss of sex drive and erectile dysfunction as possible side effects “while” using the drug in less the 2% of users. The literature stated all side effects ceased upon cessation of the drug. This is opposite to what many sufferers report, in fact side effects usually got worse after they ceased use of the drug with many men reporting a “crash” a few weeks after stopping the drug.
Merck altered its information on side effects in some European Countries in the last few years, and in mid- 2011 altered its literature in the United States to include erectile dysfunction that does not cease after cessation of the drug.
Finding treatment is extremely difficult if not impossible for many sufferers and very few have recovered from the side effects. Many physcians have flat out denied that these side effects are possible from finasteride. This is also compounded with the relatively small amount of men who have the syndrome. Although sufferers potentially number in thousands possibly tens of thousands this is still only a small portion of reported users. It is partly for this reason that it has been only recently that any formal studies have been conducted on men suffering from the condition."
Thanks BP, submitted your version.
great write up broken pecker
Thank you, anyword on if it posted to wikipedia yet?
good work!
Thanks, but the assholes at wikipedia said the sources weren’t reliable (I’m assuming the Men’s Journal article), thus it’s been rejected. Someone else can give it a shot. I’ve tried 5 times.
I don’t see any history of anybody adding information on PFS in the past couple months. Were you trying to make additions on the English language version?
Try not adding it under the main finasteride article. I dont see why there has to be more proof for a condition that has been self reported, regardless there now have been various studies done… Dr. Irwings for example.
Perhaps it is worth waiting until another study appears to give us concrete credibility.
However, it is surprising that PSSD has had an indepth wiki entry for a while now: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_SSRI_Sexual_Dysfunction#cite_note-52
If PSSD can get a wiki, so should we. There same to be more of us afflicted with, on average, much worse side effects.
Even taking into account the PSSD group is on yahoo and not an open forum, we seem to have far more postings and active members.
This in itself is very telling about how potentially dangerous finasteride is as it is obviously dwarved in human consumption by SSRIs by tens of millions.
Obviously Merck want to keep all this underground as much as possible in lieu of lawsuits.
Also, I have to say that the necessity of a wiki informing users or future users of the dangers of fin has been lessened somewhat by all the media coverage we have had, debates on hair loss forums etc.
I think anyone who researched fin for more than five minutes these days would be aware of the dangers and able to make an informed choice. Sadly that was not the case a few years ago.
since wikipedia is so large, i think they are looking at quality now… we just have to gather a bunch of sources in everything we talk about and i’m sure they would consider it again. i’ll look through it and see what i can add or sources to add… the more sources the better… i’m sure the website gets slammed with spam.
btw, i don’t remember the forum, but i remember in the past i saw some ssri forum that was massive… way more massive than this, i was so surprised it was so many people… but it might be bigger than you think, i wish i still had the site though
With the new studies and media attention PFS certainly warrants a wiki entry.
I tried 5 times. Can someone else give it a shot?
I wrote this up several months ago take, edit, and use any information you wish that maybe helpful for creating a PFS wiki. I tried to write it as a unbiased 3rd party but obviously I am trying to protray PFS as the problem that it truly is.
martinM is working on a PFS wikipedia page. Please PM him if you have any experience or skills with wikipedia. PFS now certainly warrants its own wikipedia page.
eta: So far, the wikipedia gods are okay with my amendment on the Merck page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merck_%26_Co.#Propecia
It does, however, need some citations, and it could also use some further explanation. If anyone would like to work on that, feel free.
I only took one semester of German in college but nice work Brainbug! It makes me wonder how many individuals we have who speak languages other than English here at the forum. I’m sure if we tackled each and every one that we’d be doing guys everywhere a great service as we’d at the very least be providing a warning they might otherwise not receive.
the main problem for wiki is that we need a specific certified “study” that explains what is PFS
(i mean not the eziology but at least groups all symptoms)
i tried in my country but they claim that “sides persistent after discontinuations” is already written and well known, and ther’s no reason to group then under PFS
lot of “wiki gods” rely mainly on english page, so if we succed to have pfs written there, all others will follows
If that’s what their claiming its not entirely accurate. The sides not only persist for most of us here they get much much worse. I know for myself the sides while on propecia itself were not nearly as bad as they became once I came off it.