The thing with finasteride is that it doesn’t affect the 5ar type 1 enzyme in the brain. Finasteride is a selective 5ar2/3 inhibitor only.
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I have discontinued the use of Finasteride. Even at the low dose, I am starting to get mood swings that take me into a dark place. I’d rather lose some hair than my sunny outlook on life.
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Some people get depression just by losing their hair. In any case it’s a personal decision everyone has to make by themselves.
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scta123
#64
How long have you been on finasteride?
I have been off and on it for a couple months each time. The first time I quit due to testicular pain. This time I am quitting due to reduced libido and anxiety. It just doesn’t work well with my biology.
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scta123
#66
If you want to keep the hair maybe have a look at dutasteride scalp mesotherapy. Supposedly is as effective as oral with minimal systemic effect. I don’t remember exactly the details, but finasteride on the other hand would have a systemic effect even on topical/intradermal administration, dutasteride higher molecular mass makes it have mostly local effects on hair follicles.
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KarlT
#67
Not sure how anyone can watch that Attia talk and then still take Finasteride.
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Because it has 30 years of human use behind it and even more years of research showing its safety and efficiacy. It’s a medication I tolerate very well and don’t get any side effects from. If I listened to every quack doctor (such as the people Attia invited to talk about finasteride) I would be a bald antivaxxer on keto.
Why is it that so many people on here and elsewhere have a deep distrust of conventional medications (“finasteride gives you PFS!”, “statins give you diabetes and do nothing to prevent heart disease!”, “ozempic gives you deadly cramps didn’t you read so on the NYT? Healthy at every size even at 450lbs!”) but seem to put completely trust in research chemicals, Chinese amazon supplements or off-label medications?
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KarlT
#69
Wow, you kinda went off the rails on that one.
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scta123
#70
You better stay with your youtube gurus!
Here’s an expert with even more credentials.
David A. Sinclair - Wikipedia
If doctors (or people with PhDs) start making strong claims without clinical human studies backing up their statements they are simply not trustworthy.
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Because it genuinely angers me. You and other people make statements condemning the use of classical medication such as statins or finasteride while at the same time taking rapamycin which has potentially deadly side effects (infection). We don’t even have clinical studies in humans showing it increases lifespan at the dosages and intervals generally taken. If one is willing to take it anyway (I do) and make a bet on its pro-longevity effects, they don’t have the right (imo) to condemn medications that were far better studied for the effect they are intended for.
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He is right, finasteride by this point has a long history behind it and has been studied numerous times, and its safety and efficacy has been thoroughly vindicated. I’ve taken it for almost a year and a half and have no side effects at all. Every man over 25 ought to be on it.
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KarlT
#74
You’re only demonstrating your poor understanding of the science, and n of 1’s . Not to mention the numerous false assumptions you’ve made.
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Then WTF am I still bald? The crap just doesn’t do much for male pattern baldness which is an inherited trait. When you find something that turns the baldness genes off, let me know.
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Are you taking the piss right now or are you serious? You want me to Google it for you? You want to go to the tressless subreddit and see all the before and afters?
If you have particularly shit genes for baldness, it won’t save your hair forever. If you start it when you’re a Norwood 5+, it won’t do much. Are you surprised? Same way we don’t really expect rapamycin to take years off. Catching things early is unfortunately still important.
Plus there’s always dutasteride if you want the nuclear option.
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AIUI pattern baldness results from mitochondrial damage caused by the androgen receptor response and finasteride can to some extent prevent that, but not reverse it. The mitochondrial damage results in the miniaturisation of the follicles. Only reversing the damage and hence miniaturisation can reverse this type of baldness.
I think i am gradually managing to reverse this, but it is very very slow. Then again when i started i was quite bald. (Norwood 6 possibly)
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I have taken statins, and it was probably one of the most horrible experiences in my life. I have taken low-dose finasteride and the side effects were also intolerable.
However, if you can take them without any side-effects, go for it! My N=1 experiment with both ended up in failure. This just goes to show that side effects are real, and if you don’t get them, you are blessed. Use what works for your own N=1 biology.
Although that may take some trial and error… And I may have to accept that one day I too may resemble Jean Luc Picard.
And I guess I am lucky that I have beneficial Rapamycin side effects. 
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I am sorry to hear about your experience but I would not say one is “blessed” to have no side effects from finasteride. He is simply in the large majority.
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Saying everyone else is blessed sounds better than saying I am cursed. 
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