Self-Reports of a Constellation of Persistent Antiandrogenic, Estrogenic, Physical, and Psychological Effects of Finasteride Usage Among Men
Walf et al., 2018
“Simply, there is general functional decline following finasteride usage among some men.”
Subjective patient reports on propeciahelp.com were assessed to characterise persistent symptoms following finasteride treatment and its discontinuation. 244 cases were isolated from discussions in a discrete time period.
Walf et al. placed symptoms into four broad categories:
Antiandrogenic adverse effects were described to be genital dysfunction, testicular dysfunction and infertility, accessory sexual or genitourinary organ dysfunction, psychosexual function, and hormonal function.
Estrogenic adverse events included breast cancer, breast neoplasm or breast mass, gynecomastia, breast pain, and increased serum estrogen.
Central effects involved depression, anxiety, confusion and “brain fog”, insomnia and attentional difficulties.
The nonspecific/severe effects were defined as muscle twitching, lower back pain, weight gain, fatigue, numbness in the anal region, muscle spasms, excessive sweating, bleeding gums, tinnitus, hot flashes, irregular stool, scoliosis, and discoloration of the urine.
While symptoms presented heterogeneously, some individuals experienced adverse events across all categories.
It is noted despite emerging evidence, there is little mention regarding the potential adverse events in the Propecia (finasteride) product insert. The authors suggest that future work should continue to assess the problems associated with altering androgen metabolism or action, such as the effects described after finasteride, as well as other pharmacotherapies.
