Zinc like Propecia???

Therapeutic Efforts Supplements & Lifestyle
#1

Hi,

After suffering for a few weeks finasteride side effects, I’ve taken 50mg of zinc and 2mg of copper a day for the past week and immediately felt I recovered 100% (strong erections, hair loss resumed, etc…)

Then, I decided to stop taking these supplements to see if my body can generate testosterone by itself without their help. And guess what? I feel like crap and my erections are almost inexistent. Yes, I went out of hell for a week and there I am again now.

So, I did some research and found that zinc inhibits 5 alpha-reductase, exactly like Propecia!!! So, my question is: is zinc good or not to help recoverying from Finasteride?

#2

It is funny you say that. A couple of months ago i used azelaic acid cream to treat a skin problem (rosacea). I felt great for a week, but i know azelaic acid inhibits 5 ar just like propecia. The effect quit when i stopped it. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Shouldn’t we feel worse as we were taking 5 ar inhibitors again? Or did the body try to compensate for the 5 ar inhibition and that is why we felt better?

#3

Yeah that is something that i’ve found really interesting aswell, i haven’t been taking zinc because i heard it inhibits 5 alpha reductase but just about everyone on this forum says that they feel better when taking zinc. which is really weird…

I wonder if there is some other benefit of zinc that is making you feel better, that outweighs the negative effect on 5 alpha reductase?

Or perhaps zinc effects 5 alpha reductase in a different, less harmful way, than propecia?

This is probably something that is worth investigating further as it might give some clue as to why we are effected so badly by propecia. What is it about the way that finasteride and saw palmetto work that is different from zinc and azelaic acid?

#4

I continued doing some research and it seems that zinc has 2 different effects: inhibiting the conversion T to DHT and T to estrogen.

I just read on criticalbench.com/increase-t … ility2.htm that “The mineral zinc inhibits the aromatase enzyme that converts testosterone into excess estrogen.”. Therefore, we may feel better because we have less estrogen

But, according to: jn.nutrition.org/cgi/reprint/126/4/842.pdf they show that with a zinc rich diet, the conversion T to DHT actually increases in the liver of rats. Let me quote their result: “Activities of hepatic 5«-reductase and 3a-HSDH are positively associated with the concentration of hepatic zinc, and thus the conversion of testosterone to the more potent androgen DHT decreases, but the conversion of DHT to 3a-diol, a rather weak and inactive androgen, increases in zinc-deficient animals.”

Can someone clarify all this?

#5

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#6

I have seen zinc mentioned as a means of combatting hairloss so possibly.
I also think that if I had maybe taken zinc as an anti-estrogen while on fin I wouldn’t have got into this mess.