Weighing up getting off Proscar, advise please

General Discussion
#1

Hi everyone,

I have just joined this site and I am extremely worried. I need some advice, so any help will be greatly appreciated.

I have been taking Proscar for about four years and now after reading the horror stories on this site think it’s time to come off it. At the beginning I took it quite regularly but now I’ve tried to ween myself off it and only take it 1/2 does per week. I have a few questions about coming off this drug.

  1. It seems everybody on here has suffered from pretty intense withdrawls, my question is, does everybody who has taken drug get these awful sounding side effects after coming off drug? Or is it down to the individual in each case? Is there any record of statistic on percentage of people who suffer?

  2. What happens if I was to just stay on it and not have to suffer the side effects after stopping? Would the lnoger term effect be much worse.

Thanks guys.

Andy

#2

This forum is for men who have already quit the drug. If you plan to quit, review this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=4338

If you don’t plan to quit/continue taking drug, please post on hair loss sites.

In regards to your questions:

No, we are in the minority of men who either had side effets on drug which did not resolve, or got worse after stopping.

Yes, each person’s genetics and hormonal profile is different. There is no way to know which camp you will fall into but odds are probably likely you should be fine, considering this is considered a rare reaction to quitting the drug.

With persistent side effects? No.

However, review these papers:

propeciahelp.com/studies-and-research

Also, according to viewtopic.php?p=10902#p10902 , "Sexual AEs are reported in clinical trials at rates of 2.1% to 38%. The most common sexual AE is ED, followed by EjD and decreased libido. "

Nobody can say if you will have problems after stopping, refer to my earlier points, chances are unlikely, however there are no guarantees.

The longer you inhibit 5AR2, the longer you are depriving your body of androgen, neurosteroids, and normal bodily hormonal pathways/functions. Longterm, this can cause issues for some people.

#3

lemiwink,
first of all stay calm. There is no need to panic at this point for you since you have no side effects yet, right? You will most probably be fine when you quit the drug. I would suggest that you ween off.
One question: have you taken 5mg of finasteride (one tablet proscar) every day?