Decreased Alcohol Consumption Among Former Male Users of Finasteride with Persistent Sexual Side Effects: A Preliminary Report.

Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2013 Jun 13. doi: 10.1111/acer.12177. [Epub ahead of print]
Decreased Alcohol Consumption Among Former Male Users of Finasteride with Persistent Sexual Side Effects: A Preliminary Report.
Irwig MS.

Center for Andrology and Division of Endocrinology, Medical Faculty Associates, The George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia.

BACKGROUND:
There is a robust literature in rodents, but not in humans, on the interaction between finasteride and alcohol, particularly as it relates to neurosteroids. Finasteride has been shown to reduce alcohol intake and suppress alcohol preference in male mice. This study examines the role of finasteride in alcohol consumption in humans with male pattern hair loss.
METHODS:
The subjects were 83 otherwise healthy men who developed persistent sexual side effects associated with finasteride, despite the cessation of this medication for at least 3 months. Information from standardized interviews was collected regarding medical histories, sexual function, and alcohol consumption before and after finasteride use.
RESULTS:
Of the 63 men who consumed at least 1 alcoholic beverage/wk prior to starting finasteride, 41 (65%) noted a decrease in their alcohol consumption after stopping finasteride. This reduction typically began before discontinuing finasteride. Twenty men (32%) reported no change in their alcohol consumption, and 2 men (3%) reported an increase in their alcohol consumption. For the 63 consumers of alcohol, the mean number (±SE) of alcoholic beverages/wk declined from 5.2 ± 0.7 before finasteride to 2.0 ± 0.3 after finasteride (p < 0.0001). A major study limitation is the lack of a comparison group.
CONCLUSIONS:
In former male users of finasteride who developed persistent sexual side effects, 65% noticed a decline in their alcohol consumption as compared to baseline. This finding is consistent with finasteride's ability to modulate alcohol intake in rodents. Further research is needed on the central nervous system effects of finasteride in humans.

interesting. i def. had these fin side effects and i don't drink alcohol anymore, AT ALL. i find that alcohol gives me negative side effects, make me feel the opposite of other people. makes me feel introverted and start feeling panicky. i always thought it was because i was becoming more mature or something. could be related.

This fits me like a glove after propecia, Alcohol just makes me feel odd (i'm not too bad on it) - but the hangovers are absolutely awful now, mental confusion, intense anxiety etc, I feel like I cant detoxify as well anymore, possibly due to impaired liver function. The desire to drink is gone too, and I do miss this to be honest, it must be related to neurosteroids and I wish I knew how to get this back on track...

CS do you have any thoughts about resetting neurosteroids after propecia use? I was thinking vitamin D, pregnenolone could be an option but I have no idea about effective dosing.

I have also quit drinking as I need to get my health at 100%. Its much better because of this forum.

hm, despite having lingering Fin sides I still have great nights with alcohol. I don't drink much but that's due to better care of my health and lack of money.

Nights out I have had have been where it counts fantastic and the alcohol experience was the same as ever o.O

I did get annoyed the last night out I had and there was some arguing, but that was a weird night in general I don't think it had anything to do with Fin.

An interesting study because it relates to Finasteride, however I hardly see the point in conducting a study around this when more attention should be devoted to the serious negative effects that can arise.

One could see this study as a positive, aside from the fact that all the members had persistent side effects (although that was by design).

This study is not positive....

It basically means that alcohol ingestion challenges the liver more so.

There have been reported cases of finasteride induce liver toxicity...Not to say that it will
cause any problems...however...there is still much to learn about it.

What is known is that it interferes with important brain neurosteroids, which protect
against neurodegenerative diseases.

CausticSymmetry wrote:This study is not positive....

It basically means that alcohol ingestion challenges the liver more so.

There have been reported cases of finasteride induce liver toxicity...Not to say that it will
cause any problems...however...there is still much to learn about it.

What is known is that it interferes with important brain neurosteroids, which protect
against neurodegenerative diseases.

i'm getting fairly certain at this point that finasteride completely screwed up my glutathione production. makes sense since it detoxifies the liver...

Been off fin for 2+ years and I don't tolerate alcohol well at all and rarely drink. My DHT is definitely back though as I have quite a bit of facial hair now and my male parts function quite well so perhaps it is unrelated.

Either way I think it takes a long time for the body to recover from fin usage.

baller234 wrote:Been off fin for 2+ years and I don't tolerate alcohol well at all and rarely drink.  My DHT is definitely back though as I have quite a bit of facial hair now and my male parts function quite well so perhaps it is unrelated.

Either way I think it takes a long time for the body to recover from fin usage.

Anything you did that helped bring you a turning point? I'm still not able to get my system online. I'm actually pretty shocked I still haven't bounced back yet. I have been eating so healthy for almost 2 years now. Had a few points where I cheated for maybe a month or two.. but mostly been sticking to it. I've been almost religious to a clean diet for the past 4 months. I'm getting close though..

I'm not really sure. I cut back drastically on the amount of pills/supplements I was taking and just let my body sort itself out which it seems to be doing.

I've been using transdermal zinc sulphate with magnesium chloride, a small amount of nascent iodine, some selenium from brewers yeast, vitamin c, and decalcify a couple times a week. That's about the extent of my supplementation. Physical labor outside in the sun when I can. I can almost grow a full beard in two weeks now...on fin....forget it lol.

I can vouch for this too, I cut back on the amount of supplements I take and focused more on heavy compound excercises at the gym (I really push myself hard) and major stress reduction. Vitamin C has been huge for me (4 grams a day), along with regular detoxes with juicing and probiotics / coconut oil. I've made some big steps forward recently and every morning I wake up with a slimy white coating on my tongue, I am sure this means I am detoxing quickly. It sounds kooky but watching a lot of Bruce Lipton videos about epigenetics has meant that I have a lot of faith in my body to sort the post propecia effects out, I think we have an amazing ability to fix ourselves and constantly looking at the problems as opposed to focussing on the positives keeps you in a trap IMO.