Propecia: Save Your Hair, Lose Virility Forever

Propecia can cause permanent loss of virility and sensation, shrink a man's penis, damage his mental function, and cause chronic fatigue—all for a limited chance of saving his hair.

by Heidi Stevenson

21 December 2010

Here's a question for all the men out there: If you were offered a drug that stands a fair chance of stopping hair loss, would you take it if it could result in permanent loss of libido and potency? That's the risk you take with Propecia. The odds are in your favor. "Only" about 2% of men will suffer a sexual side effect, and a goodly proportion of them will return to normal on stopping the drug. However, some don't. Some men have been left with permanent sexual dysfunction, even to the point of complete loss of erections.

The manufacturer, Merck, says that there's really no problem. They claim that any dysfunction returns to normal when the drug is stopped. That, though, is not true—and has been known to be false for many years.

Propecia, one brand name for finasteride, is a drug that offers no health benefits. It provides only the cosmetic benefit of preventing further hair loss. It carries the known danger of causing birth defects in the babies of women exposed to it during pregnancy.

Watch this brief, about one minute long, video to the left. It's of Dr. John Crisler speaking at a medical symposium about what finasteride does.

The Full Range of Finasteride's Effects

What this doctor describes could not have been a surprise to researchers. It is, in fact, exactly what should have been expected—and one must ask how Merck got away with hiding the dangers and the FDA let them. Here are the shocking effects of finasteride, which are also described in the associated video [9:51]:

• Finasteride acts by blocking the hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT). Though Merck has tried to give the impression—apparently successfully to the FDA and the hosts of doctors who've prescribed it—that DHT is a minor hormone, one that isn't really required, the truth is very different.
• About 70% of DHT is eliminated by finasteride, which causes prostate involution, which means decrease in size and degeneration of function. This condition is the result of cellular death in the prostate, and leads to a decrease in semen, decrease in size of the penis, erectile dysfunction, penile fibrosis, and may also lead to nerve damage in the prostate.
• Finasteride inhibits certain neuroactive steroid derivatives that are anticonvulsants, antidepressants, and anxiolytics (antianxiety chemicals). It has, therefore, been associated with behavioral and mental disorders, including anxiety, confusion, and depression.
• Finasteride increases testosterone by 15%.
• Finasteride increases estrogen levels, which can cause gynecomastia, the development of breasts in men, which increases the chance of developing breast cancer.
• A condition exists in an unknown number of men that has been labeled post-finasteride syndrome. Symptoms include:
  • Low testosterone and other hormones
  • Low vitamin D levels
  • Depression
  • Loss of libido
  • Erectile dysfunction
  • Muscle atrophy
  • Penile/scrotum shrinkage
  • Sleep disturbance
  • Hormone imbalances
  • Chronic fatigue
  • Cognitive impairment
  • Memory impairment
  • Emotional blunting and depersonalization

Permanent loss of erectile function means precisely that. Not even the use of another, also dangerous drug, Viagra, can help.

How many men suffer like this? Interestingly, no one knows. Certainly, there are hundreds, and possibly thousands—but we don't know because no one has bothered to find out.

Why There's No Excuse for The Adverse Effects Being Hidden

Finasteride changes the endocrine system. Whenever a hormone is artificially adjusted, either increasing or decreasing it, there will be systemic effects. Finasteride cuts the amount of DHT by 70%. It is not simply the hair-loss hormone, as the manufacturer's ads would have you think. It is not a mystery that it's involved with male fertility and libido, prostate function, and regulation of nitric oxide, an important regulating messenger molecule in the body.

It begs credulity to believe that either Merck or the FDA was unaware of the potential harm that finasteride could cause. Yet, the FDA readily approved it for nothing more than a cosmetic purpose. What kind of training produces doctors who don't know this and provide it to their patients just for the asking and without a full explanation of the risks?

It is not possible to believe that most men who have taken finasteride would have agreed to it if they'd known the potential for stealing from them both their health and some of the most important qualities that make them men. Seriously, can you imagine what the response would be if doctors had told them honestly what they were prescribing?

Note: Worldwide, finasteride is sold under a number of names. Here are most, if not all, of them: Appecia, Finalo, Finara, Finast, Finasterid IVAX, Finasterid Alternova, Fincar, Finax, Finpecia, Gefina, Propecia, Proscar, Prosteride

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