What Happens If You Stop Taking Finasteride?

In this episode we discuss what the potential implications of stopping Finasteride if you have been on the medication for any reasonable length of time.

Watch this related video about Finasteride:

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Dr. Vikram Jayaprakash
Level 2, 148 Glenferrie Road,
Malvern, Vic 3144, Australia

Dr. Russell Knudsen

[moushmimom]

After delivery, I observed my hairfall but I remained calm. I acted to to control it. I chose a wellness-focused strategy.
I prioritized my nutrition, eating nutrient-rich foods, specially those high in Protein, Biotin.
I exercised daily and practiced meditation for stress management.
I avoided styles that pull on my hair and quit using heated hair tools to minimise hair damage.
I also started using LittleExtrra Coconion hair oil and shampoo along with a neem wood comb.
The result was hair fall control and the return of my confidence.

[BoodMu]

44 years old. Noticed slight thinning. I started on finesteride 2 years ago. Not lost any hair since. In fact it looks better. Plus I've had zero side effects.

[mickjoG]

Nudson has hit the nail on the head here. When he says, baldness is like blood pressure… you can’t cure it… you can only manage it

[bin]

Here is my story:

I got severe side effect (muscle pain all over my body) just a few hours after taking the first pill of 1mg fin. But i persisted on the same dose (1mg daily) to see if i could get any results or my body could adjust. Surprisingly, after a month, i had seen great results where new hair popped out from the complete bald spots on my crown, but my body only got worse with pains everywhere.
I convinced myself to endure the side effect bc of the unbelievable outcomes up to the 3rd month. Then i found out the customized dose which is 3mg per week. I switched to that and the side effect got a little bit better but still didnt go away. After 6 months of taking the drug, my joints became weak and i guess i have arthritis, pains were still there. So i decided to quit it.
Now after 2 months not taking fin, my body gets much better (still minor side effect notice) but my hair starts falling like crazy. This really stresses me out. Seems like i am a great responder to fin both in results and side effect.

Honestly, over the past 8 months with finas (6 on and 2 off), my body has never been "normal" as it used to be. I did gain my confidence back when going out but at the cost of my health.
I am now trying other less strong ways like natural dht blockers or topical fin (I can only get 0.1% topical fin and it seems a bit too high concentration so I made myself 0.01% topical one to see how my body reacts, maybe i will increase the concentration in the future). Hopefully they can work for me without side effects.
If you are taking the drug and see good results without side effect, you are blessed.

Anyone who experiences the same with me or any advice? :(

[jatindabas]

I always regret not getting on finestride earlier

[Theoillars]

I have post-finasteride syndrome now because these guys made me feel like fin was safe

[Ascorbicon]

I was 23 when I noticed my temples were getting thinner, got on finasteride and have been on it for 15 months. I am 24 almost 25 and my hair has maintained perfectly, very few side effects. Hopefully it stays close to how it is right now for a while.

[bubblegum]

This podcast series is so helpful. Thank you guys for doing this.

[seanc]

Took Finasteride for 8 years. Mild side effects almost unnoticeable but still were there. Now i'm off it and feel much better and more normal. Taking any chemical long term is not good.

[BORNLOSE]

It’s insane that’s it 2022 and we haven’t figured this crap out yet

[aloferra]

If you stop finasteride when your body is not producing so much testosterone anymore (as we get older, testosterone production decreases) would it be still true that you would loose all the benefits in 6 months? Would the baseline condition be better than if we stopped Finasteride at a younger age?

[josephgrmovsekcollaredcons]

I’ve taken it for near 25 years after first hearing about it in New York in 1997 or 1998. Had kids during this period without issue. Only noticeable side was sleep-related which was resolved by reducing the dose.

[emperorscott]

I was taking Finasteride for 4 years. For the first 2.5 years it stopped/slowed my hair loss to a snails pace. The following 1.5 years my hair was ever so slightly noticeably thinning again.
So I stopped taking Finasteride and I started taking Dutasteride 0.5mg daily instead.
Just over 2 years and counting taking Dutasteride, and it has made significant improvements with my hair. I'm 33 and I've been thinning slowly since my early twenties. I'm Norwood 2.

[billytheburg]

33 year old here. I've started finasteride 4 years ago with the hair transplant I got near my hairline, to help my newly planted grafts. I've actually ended up seeing a lot of improvement in my crown area where I received no hair transplant. I still shed a lot but there's also a lot of regrowth. I have not seen any side effects from finasteride, not including fertility which is not something I am currently monitoring.

[dayumboydayum]

Can you do a video on finasteride effect on the liver? Particular liver enzymes ALT? This is something that a lot of people don’t reside is raised as you have to have a specific enzyme blood test

[martinthegiraffe]

As a non-expert, I find Dr. Knudsen's estimate for how quickly you lose hair after stopping fin pretty intriguing! My very first reaction is how can blocking 5ar be the primary method of slowing hairloss if someone after 20 years of blocking dht goes to their genetic baseline after 6 months of quitting fin? Surely it would have serious implications for the actual mechanism of hairloss and imply that a lot of hairloss boils down to age-related follicle sensitivity to androgens as opposed to androgen follicle sensitivity?

[Danimal]

I have been on finasteride for 3 full years now and stopped taking it cold turkey 1 week ago. It has helped me to maintain my hair, but my body hair and beard hair have been dramatically compromised, as has my muscle mass and erections. I have not had a single case of morning wood since I started finasteride and my semen has been like water and there is less of it. All of these changes, of which I could live with, in order to preserve the hair on my head, doesn't feel worth it anymore to me. I feel like I am less of a man on finasteride. I hate to say goodbye to my hair on my head, but I am not sure it is worth the compromise any longer.

[Inimigodogogn]

Hi doctor can you please clarify, does this drug causes cancer ? Prostrate in particular !!!
Some posts in YouTube showed that,
I was just worried Caz I was taking it for almost 5 years now I stopped it, thought of retaking it as doctor suggested me, but now I’m scared !
Can you please help me with this question

[williamwhite]

I'm 79 and I have been taking finasteride for several years for an enlarged prostate. 5mg was prescribed but I cut the pills in half and took 2.5mg daily. It reduced the size of my prostate to some extent, from 270 cc to 190 cc which reduced the urinary symptoms enough that I could urinate when needed. My hair has continually slowly gotten thinner. Whether it kept hair from falling out is questionable to me. I'm considering surgery to hopefully eliminate the urinary and defecation issues (the enlarged prostate is causing me to go back and wipe my butt many times after defecating.)with the enlarged prostate and to get off finasteride. The finasteride definitely caused some lowering of libido, some erectile dysfunction, and dried up the ejaculate.

[douglas]

What about DHT blockers found on Amazon that claim to be 100% natural? What about Saw Palmetto?