I have a interesting situation ongoing. I took Propecia for 8 weeks total and stopped in late July, so I’ve been off of the drug for 13 weeks now. I experienced a major side effect my third week on it that has not subsided at all even to this day — slurred speech. When I speak to friends and/or coworkers, my sentences are not as eloquent and witty/dry humoresque as they used to be. In fact, they are not even half eloquent compared to BF (Before Finasteride) I am 100% sure my problems are from taking finasteride.
Interestingly, this is not a listed side effect on the literature and ergo was not told to me by my prescribing dermatologist. Even my parents and a psychiatrist, both who know nothing about the drug in my opinion, said it was just anxiety. However, I am not looknig for attention nor am I looking for money or anything. There’s no reason for me to bring any of this up if it wasn’t the reality.
Some might say my slurred speech could have been caused by a number of things, but those people are wrong. I took Propecia when I was in my early 20s. I have no health problems whatsoever and this was the first and only prescription pharmaceutical I ever took. My situation is analogous to a new house falling down during a big earthquake in San Francisco. Sure, the house could have fallen down independent of the earthquake, but it probably did not fall down on its own as it was new and had no other problems up until the point that it fell down, and the fact that a big earthquake hit at the same time it fell down is too great to be just a case of simple coincidence.
You’ve written to me about this a few times and I’ve tried to answer your questions before, apparently without much success. One that comes to mind is Is Propecia Making Me Lose My Quick Wit?… and I’m sure there’s others. You’re still the only person that has described this to me, and I think you’re looking to put the blame on Propecia when no blame is due.
As you state, it seems you are “100%” convinced that your problem is due to Propecia. I don’t think my reply would make any difference for you. I am all for free speech and expression, but slurred speech can be a sign of a brain process such as a stroke or evolving brain tumor. You need to see a physician (preferably a neurologist). Lack of “wit” or “dry humor” is a personality issue. You may need to see a physician if this is an issue, may be a psychiatrist. To be honest, your house/earthquake analogy wasn’t very good, but I do not know what else to say to you about this since you’ve made it quite clear that your mind is made up.
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Well, if it is propecia related, I’m assuming some sort of blood test for hormones and even finasteride itself would give us some info.
Dr Rassman, if you would do a little more digging, you’d realize that besides inhibiting 5AR2 reduction of Testosterone to DHT, Finasteride also operates as a NEUROSTEROID inhibitor of Allopregnanolone and THDOC synthesis, neurosterois which can then no longer act properly on GABA-A receptors in the brain.
See page 3 for diagram:http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/118632734/PDFSTART
Also, fromhttp://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/full/27/9/2155#B25
“This may have implications on the clinical use of neurosteroid synthesis inhibitors such as finasteride (Propecia), because certain neurological disorders related to steroid hormone changes may be worsened by finasteride treatment (Herzog and Frye, 2003).”
http://www.andrologyjournal.org/cgi/content/full/29/5/524
Notably, preliminary studies indicate that, as in the rodent, finasteride may increase depression in men as a result of the loss of allopregnanolone (eg, Altomare et al, 2002; Rahimi-Ardabili et al, 2006).
This raises the possibility that lowered levels of the neurosteroid contribute to the reduced sexual desire reported for some patients.”
Clearly the dermatology community loves to downplay the true sexual, physical and mental health risks of this drug — to admit the truth would be financial suicide. The fact is, neurosteroid inhibition via Finasteride can effect one’s mental health, if one is susceptible to such inhibition.
Perhaps you should try the medication yourself for 2 years Dr Rassman, and see how less mentally sharp you become… in addition to the possibility of altering the androgen/estrogen ratio in favor of estrogens, developing gynecomastia, penile fibrosis due to depleted DHT levels, loss of morning and spontaneus erections, and prostatic involution — just for starters.
If you were to experience these issues as many other men have thanks to this drug, I doubt you’d be so dismissive of the effects of androgen deprivation therapy via 5AR inhibition.
It could also be described as brain fog/impaired mental cognition and depression resulting from such.
I used Propecia for eight months. There is no question that it regrew hair, even in such a short period! I did stop taking the drug, however, as a result of the symptom(s) being describes here as “slurring of speech,” and “brain fog.” I have a Master’s degree in English and, as a teacher of English for ten years, essentially, I make a living based upon my ability to speak. After six months of taking Propecia I realized a change in my ability to frame quick thoughts and was shocked by slurred speech! I was 30 years old at the time. Shortly after discontinuing use of Propecia (about one month) the speech / thinking speed issue subsided. I have had no concerns with slurred speech or “brain fog” since I stopped using the drug. It has taken two years, however, for my seamen volume to return to what I perceive as its original state, though I had no test on the seamen count. I do not have any question about the speech related side effects I experienced. It was the only lifestyle change that I made during the eight month period of use.