Progesterone cream + booze?

General Discussion
#1

So, one way propecia could act to produce brain fog involves the blocking of 5AR type I in the brain (though 1/50 the specificity as type II). In this way, less progesterone is converted to allopregnenolone, thereby weakening GABA’s effect on the GABA receptor. Less allopregnenolone also means downregulation of GABAA receptor mRNA transcription.

One way mentioned on this site that might turn this around, so to speak, might be to use progesterone cream to help stimulate this pathway. But it is also well known now that ethanol also stimulates this pathway.

It sort of makes sense to me, if you were to actually decide to try this, to use the progesterone cream in combination with alcohol, which would act to burn up the progesterone into AP.

You’d also probably also get really drunk a lot quicker.

#2

I wasn’t aware that Propecia inhibits 5ar type I at all.

So is it type I that converts progesterone into allopregnenolone? If this is the case, and Propecia has little or no effect on 5ar type I, then why all the hoopla about how Propecia-related issues are possibly due to neurotransmitter levels?

#3

At very high doses (beyond what any of us took) Finasteride has been shown to inhibit small amounts of 5AR-I (I don’t have the study in front of me, I’d have to find it to prove this claim but I do recall reading this) but considering everything else we know about this drug, particularly its flat dose response rate (doesn’t matter if you take 0.25 or 5mg, same amount of DHT is inhibited), I wouldn’t be surprised if we did inhibit some 5AR-Type I, even at the lower doses we took.

The reason some people here are considering neurotransmitter issues is because Finasteride does interfere with Progesterone --> Allopregenanolone (a 5AR metabolite) conversion due to its blockade of the 5AR pathway.

See here: propeciahelp.com/forum/viewt … 329eed7f49

(There are additional studies in the Finasteride Studies section about Finasteride/Allopregnanolone/GABAA if you want to read more)

Finasteride can thus have a substantial effect on GABAA levels in some, since with a depletion of Allopregnanolone comes inactivation of the GABAA receptor. GABAA is a calming/anti-anxiolytic neurotransmitter, and many men on the drug experienced anxiety, panic attacks, and felt constantly “on edge”. This is not surprising since Allopregnanolone, and thus the actions of GABAA, were blocked by the drug.

More info about Finasteride, allopreganolone, GABAA and alcohol:

med.unc.edu/alcohol/cenline/11_4_1.htm

#4

Well, I do know that I ended up in the hospital due to severe panic attacks after about 2 years on finasteride (never before in my life)… they prescribed alprazolam (Xanax), which increases GABA in your body by inhibiting re-uptake.

Instead, I decided to take GABA pills (with niacinamide and inositol) and I can say they have definitely helped (with the anxiety – though there are still many other disconcerting issues I have, like shrinking testes and potentially permanent liver damage)… so there may be something to this.

Estrogen, in general, increases anxiety, so I’ve contacted my doctor about a possible hormone imbalance and to see if I could get a blood test done.

here’s my original post about my current state of being:
propeciahelp.com/forum/viewt … =2604#2604