long lasting sexual side effects of hair loss drug

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Kevin Malleywas almost 30, and he was starting to lose his hair. He went to his doctor to see if there was a way to keep from going bald, and his doctor prescribed Propecia .

"I looked young for my age, so I wanted to hold off my hair loss for a little bit," Malleysaid. "I didn't plan on taking Propecia for more than a year."

Malley started taking the drug in May 2011, and by October he was completely impotent and had no sex drive whatsoever. His body changed, even his genitals shrank, and he slipped into a mental fog that he just couldn't clear. His doctor told him theside effects would go away if he stopped taking the drug, so he did. But nothing changed.

"I kept expecting the side effects to go away, but they did not, they only got worse," he said.

Malley is not alone: A new study published today in the Journal of Sexual Medicine suggests that for some men, the sexual side effectsof Propecia may last for months to years, even after they stop taking the drug.

Researchers from George Washington University interviewed 54 men under age 40 who reported side effects for three months or more after taking Propecia, also calledfinasteride, to treat theirhair loss. None of the men reported having any sexual, medical or psychiatric problems before they took the drug. Some of the men took the drug for a few weeks, others took it for years, but all of them reported side effects such as erectile dysfunction, decreased sexual drive, problems with orgasms, shrinking and painful genitals, even some neurological problems, such as depression, anxiety and mental fogginess.

For 96 percent of the men, the sexual problems lasted for more than a year after they stopped taking the drug.

"Our findings make me suspicious that this drug may have done permanent damage to these men," said Dr. Michael Irwig, the author of the study. "The chances that they will improve? I think it's lower and lower the longer they have these side effects."

Irwig cautions that it's possible that only men who were the most affected by the drug participated in the study. Because he recruited his study participants through an online forum called PropeciaHelp, a group for men who have experienced persistent sexual side effects from the drug, he said the study may not have included men who have fewer or less pervasive side effects.

full story here :)
 
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if it inhibits the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone, wouldn't it increase your testosterone levels? How does that then become decreased libido?
 
if it inhibits the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone, wouldn't it increase your testosterone levels? How does that then become decreased libido?

It's because dihydrotestosterone regulates the chemicals which lead to erection.

An erection occurs, when under the influence of sexually arousing stimuli the penis becomes engorged with blood. An erection is a very complex biological phenomenon but it involves 2 chemicals that we can focus on that play a major role in both male and female sexual arousal. These are nitric oxide (NO) and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP). Both of these result in relaxation of smooth muscle that controls blood vessels within the penis. This results in increased blood flow within the penis and both of these chemicals are positively influenced by testosterone. That is, without sufficient testosterone, there will not be enough NO and cGMP to create an erection. It turns out that DHT (dihydrotestosterone) is the principle regulator of these chemicals and DHT is manufactured in the body from testosterone.

[source]
 
Once again, the human body proves to never be as simple as biology textbooks make it out to be.

Dopamine doesn't make you feel GREAT. Serotonin is not the "happiness chemical". Cholesterol isn't super toxic, and now you're telling me testosterone doesn't make you manly on its own?! What is science going to ruin for us next! :P
 
Funny, you take that drug to keep your hair to get chicks, then when you get them you can't get it up:(. Same with SSRIs for social anxiety, you can finally talk to chicks but can't fuck them. It reminds me of lamisil, it'll get rid of yellow toenails but might make you skin yellow from liver damage.

Kat Williams had a joke about an asthma drug with the side effect of shortness of breath, LOL.
 
Though I do not doubt the findings in the article, it is somewhat telling that they use the drug's trade name twice before mentioning the generic. That and not mentioning Avodart, which has the same mechanism and side effects...
 
I took Avodart for 6 months and suddenly realized the decrease in semen and the ability to have a strong erection. I stopped taking it immediately once I did some research qnd made the association. It has been over a year now and the solid erection has returned but not the semen. My ejaculations have very little semen. Will this ever return and is there anything that can be done medically to replenish it?
 
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