Does anyone know the answer to this, or at least partial answers?
Is free testosterone correlated to higher libido or is it only because higher testosterone means higher DHT? Are there any other hormones that are known to increase male libido?
Hey Uhokay, welcome to the board.
I’m not one of the experts, but I can give you a rough idea. The first thing to bear in mind is: it’s a lot more complex than just measuring your testosterone levels.
So what affects libido? Testosterone is the main hormone, but testing for it in the blood won’t give you the full story. As you mention, you need to check for free testosterone. This is the hormone in the blood which is unbound, and therefore able to actually have an affect on testosterone-receptive cells.
Estradiol has some affect. If it’s too high, or in extreme cases too low, that can affect your libido.
Prolactin, if present in high amounts, can destroy your libido.
Finally DHT, while sometimes not considered essential, does have some effect. Generally high DHT is assumed to be good for libido, although many members on here have very, very high DHT present in their bloodstream.
The first step is to get tested for total and free testosterone, since that should give you some idea where you stand.
Gimzim, thank you for your help. Although against what members of this board might advise, I think I am going to try Propecia to see if it helps my baldness. I just want to know what hormones I should test before I start taking it. I also want to take a hormone test 3, 6, 12 months into taking Propecia. If anything goes out of bounds, I’ll stop.
Does anyone know if Propecia lowers DHT to the low end of the spectrum of normal, or if it lowers it way beyond this?
Read my answer here as it also applies to you.
propeciahelp.com/forum/viewt … 1227#11227
Since you’re hellbent on taking this drug despite the info in link above, you will have no use for this site and hairloss sites will be your best bet for info. Before you go on your way, however, I’ll fulfill your request:
Blood tests to get:
propeciahelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=92
propeciahelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=12187
For your sake, I hope everything works out… but if it doesn’t, don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Mew, thank you for the advice. My friend is an endocrinologist and she is researching this drug for me. I’m going to take her recommendation before I start it. Is normal DHT 25-75?
I thought I’d share my progress with possibly using Propecia.
My friend who is an endocrinologist recommended otherwise. She is partly an academic and mostly a practicing doctor. She also has a son my age who is also losing hair, so she was interested in it as well. Anyway, she did research on it and found that 19% of Propecia users get impotence. In general, she was really not keen on it. I don’t know exactly what she said or which study she found because she spoke to my mom (who is also a doctor) and my mom relayed this to me. I’m certain she said other things about libido and such, but I’m also certain that my mom was probably a bit squeamish to tell me all the gory details 
It seems that most, if not all dermatologists prescribe Propecia claiming no side effects. However, I think most endocrinologists would never recommend messing with your hormones unless you have an actual deficiency or physical problem. I think part of the problem is that dermatologists are the ones prescribing Propecia, not endocrinologists, who know the ins and outs of hormone effects. Endocrinologists don’t see patients with baldness, and so they don’t generally prescribe Propecia or spend time learning much about it at all. Endocrinologists see patients with real problems.
No Propecia for me!
Good choice. It really isn’t worth playing around with this stuff. Hair loss isn’t as big a problem as you imagine - and anyway, there are treatments in development to make finasteride seem totally redundant.
I’d be interested to hear where she got this 19% figure from. I’m not doubting it, I’ve just never seen this cited in the literature before. And if she’s an endo, I’d imagine it’s well sourced.