I went on Propecia about 2 years ago and my sex drive increased to the point that I could not manage it. I am generally sexually active, at about once per day. On Propecia, I found that I needed to have sex at least twice a day and my girlfriend could not / wound not cooperate. So I stopped the Propecia and went on Minixodil. After stopping Propecia, my hair loss pattern went from a Class 4 to a Class 6 pattern. Any thoughts? I am 46 years old.
Minoxidil is not as good as Propecia for preventing hair loss. If you have miniaturization in the areas behind and to the side of the balding area, then Minoxidil may not stop further progression. As a rule, people your age are not in very active hair loss. You are an exception.
Increased Sex Drive: Although I find an increased sex drive in about 1% of the patients I put on Propecia, no one has ever had your degree of increase. Again, you are an exception. You might consider higher doses of finasteride to see the impact on your sex drive (up to the Proscar-level dosage).
Decreased Sex Drive: About 1-2% of men report a decreased libido with Propecia. At times we confuse libido (the desire for sex) with Erectile Dysfunction (a performance issue). If a man has a performance issue, he is often ‘gun shy’ about failure in performance and then the libido goes down in response to it. But it is all not that simple. The physical causes for decreased libido or erectile dysfunction include: alcoholism (quite common); abuse of drugs – such as cocaine; anaemia – unusual unless the man has been bleeding for any reason; hyperprolactinemia – an uncommon disorder in which too much of the hormone prolactin is produced by the pituitary gland; obesity – quite common and simply slimming down will often help; some prescribed drugs – particularly Proscar (finasteride), a tablet used for prostate problems in doses of 5mgs rather than 1mg as with Propecia; low male hormone level (testosterone) – contrary to what many people think, this is rare; and any major ‘generalized’ disease, such as diabetes. There are also psychological causes of libido decrease including: depression – very common; stress and overwork; sex hang-ups; or a serious relationship problems with the wife/partner.
I also have experienced increase libido on Propecia 0.5mg dose. It is causing bit of a problem in life. I am medical school graduate. As far as I understand it, the inhibition of enzyme 5 alpha reductase by Propecia, there is low level of DHT but the circulating Testosterone increases. This is because enzyme 5 alpha reductase uses Testosterone to make DHT. Hence, we experience increased sexual desire. When i need to study I have to stop Propecia.