# Propecia + anxiety/depression meds



## Govinda (May 7, 2012)

So, I have thinning hair and it's starting to hurt my body image and self-confidence. I use minoxidil 5% twice a day, and have been for 3 months, but I'm not seeing results. Propecia sounds like it would be perfect for my scalp, but I've heard so much about it's potential impact on mood. I'm also about to start with nardil and I'm wondering if using an antidepressant might negate the slight depressive symptoms that propecia might cause. Does anyone else take propecia in combo with their anxiety/depression meds?


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## A Sense of Purpose (May 8, 2011)

To be honest from what ive read i'd be more conscious of the risk of various cancers as a result of Propecia use. Is there anything with less severe side effects that can be used?


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## DMBfan (Aug 29, 2008)

Depressive symptoms of propecia? I've been taking it for 11 years and have never heard of that before. The one thing you do hear is about sexual side effects which was shown to be same between propecia and placebo in the double blind studies. That doesn't stop people from getting all worked up about it. Honestly, anxious people are so suggestible that you could probably convince them that vitamin C causes anxiety/depression.

BTW, the cancer risk is way overblown too if you actually read the study results. It actually decreases the risk of certain cancers while slightly increasing the risk for others. And of course, that's for Proscar which is 5X the dose of Propecia.


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## riptide991 (Feb 1, 2012)

I'm on propecia for about 11 months. Works amazing! I believe it definitely made my depression worse, but if it had not I would have never gotten on meds and kept trying to fix it naturally. Merck has added Depression as one of the side effects because studies now show it lowers allopregnanolone in some people. It's odd though because allopregnanolone is affected by 5-alpha-reductase type 1 while propecia blocks type 2. Obviously there is some other mechanism occurring.


The good thing though is that antidepressants will make up for it. 

I'm on:
propecia 1.25mg
remeron 45mg
zoloft 200mg


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## DMBfan (Aug 29, 2008)

Still not seeing where studies have shown any link between propecia and anxiety/depression.

_"Several side effects are possible for people taking Propecia® (finasteride). Depression, however, does not appear to be one of them. In clinical studies, depression was not reported as either a common or rare side effect of the medication."_

http://men.emedtv.com/propecia/propecia-and-depression.html

Oh, and as far as listing depression as a side effect that doesn't mean much (probably a liability thing.) Here's the link to the rather extensive list of side effects for Vitamin C.

http://www.drugs.com/sfx/vitamin-c-side-effects.html


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## swim (Apr 4, 2011)

Propecia is quite expensive but did nothing for my hair loss, plus you can't take it longer than 6 months.
Moreover, it causes severe sexual side effects (stronger than SSRI's actually).


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## boostinggtir (May 27, 2011)

It's can, and will effect your wellbeen IMO. Testosterone has many welbeen enhancing properties, propccia is on some levels the opposite. DHT effect mood, if you know anything about steroids. DHT is blocked by PP. Have a look on the PP forums. There are tons of posts about is causing depression issues.


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## riptide991 (Feb 1, 2012)

Why not go straight to the source?

http://www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_circulars/p/propecia/propecia_ppi.pdf

Depression is in the side effects.

The studies themselves are based on how hormones are affected not necessarily a direct study on finasteride and depression in humans. But given the important role of Allopregnanolone and PEA Merck added this to the side effects.

Go to pubmed and type in: allopregnanolone and finasteride and PEA

You will get a lot of stuff to look through, and you can see the general connection that finasteride lowers important neurosteroids.



DMBfan said:


> Still not seeing where studies have shown any link between propecia and anxiety/depression.
> 
> _"Several side effects are possible for people taking Propecia® (finasteride). Depression, however, does not appear to be one of them. In clinical studies, depression was not reported as either a common or rare side effect of the medication."_
> 
> ...


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## riptide991 (Feb 1, 2012)

No it means a lot. Drug companies do not list side effects that there exists no concrete evidence for. This was added only last year because of the overwhelming cases presented by doctors. Putting something like depression in your side effects destroys sales of the drug so why put it there if you can prove that scientifically it wont happen? 5-ar is involved in neurohormone activity and a case can be made to prove it through that fact.



DMBfan said:


> Still not seeing where studies have shown any link between propecia and anxiety/depression.
> 
> _"Several side effects are possible for people taking Propecia® (finasteride). Depression, however, does not appear to be one of them. In clinical studies, depression was not reported as either a common or rare side effect of the medication."_
> 
> ...


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## swim (Apr 4, 2011)

the max propecia can do is grow some down on your receding hairline but when you stop it it goes away.


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## DMBfan (Aug 29, 2008)

kehcorpz said:


> No it means a lot. Drug companies do not list side effects that there exists no concrete evidence for. This was added only last year because of the overwhelming cases presented by doctors. Putting something like depression in your side effects destroys sales of the drug so why put it there if you can prove that scientifically it wont happen? 5-ar is involved in neurohormone activity and a case can be made to prove it through that fact.


I see tons of commercials on TV from attorneys looking for plaintiffs in class action lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies for drugs the FDA approved 20+ years ago. It could also be to cover themselves against future lawsuits. I've been taking it for 11 years and literally have never heard anybody claim a link to depression until this post. Where is the overwhelming evidence?

In the clinical studies the sexual side effects were seen in 2% of people in *both* the placebo and propecia group. I guess the placebo effect can be quite powerful...

As far as side effects destroying studies, have you ever watched a TV commercial for a patented drug? They spend practically half the time listing the potential side effects. Some of which are quite scary. If it destroyed sales they wouldn't be paying for the advertising.


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## jacksinnj (Aug 10, 2012)

Govinda said:


> So, I have thinning hair and it's starting to hurt my body image and self-confidence. I use minoxidil 5% twice a day, and have been for 3 months, but I'm not seeing results. Propecia sounds like it would be perfect for my scalp, but I've heard so much about it's potential impact on mood. I'm also about to start with nardil and I'm wondering if using an antidepressant might negate the slight depressive symptoms that propecia might cause. Does anyone else take propecia in combo with their anxiety/depression meds?


I've been on propecia 5 mg for 92 days. My problem has been urinary retention caused by an enlarged prostate. My urologist chose this method of reducing the size of the prostate over surgery & I have no reason to doubt his judgement. He did not mention side effects. But after 80+ days I started to experience anxiety & depression way out of the normal way I feel. A little research showed that the propecia was likely involved in this as a side effect as it also acts on other steroids in the brain that are involved with mood & behavior.

I have suffered from bipolar depression since my teens (I'm in my 60s now). None of the classic drugs (tricyclics, MAO inhibitors, etc) did anything more than give me side effects that were very unpleasant & worse that the depression. Prozac seemed to have a positive effect but after 2 weeks on it I was overcome with a suicidal sadness that forced me to stop taking it.

Another psychologist suggested trying the anticonvulsant drugs such as Depakote & Neurontin. These are classified as mood stabilizers. Depakote did nothing for me but the Neurontin (generic is gabapentin) has a definite & posive effect in relieving my feelings of depression. I take 3-4 100 mg caps each day & it seems to have leveled things off. There are a number of these anticonvulsant mood stabilizers. You make need to work with an MD until you find the one that works for you as they seem to be idiosyncratic with different patients.

I have also taken Xanax (alprazolam is the generic) for about 20 years for anxiety & panic attacks. I've found through self-experimentation that 1/2 mg of it in combination with the Neurontin will make my symptoms much more tolerable. This is a good thing because I will likely be taking proscar for the rest of my life.


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## renski (May 9, 2007)

The side effects are real, the libido I would agree with a previous poster, is actually worse than the SSRI. At least, I'm on an SSRI, and since I've stopped propecia 7 days ago, my libido has basically returned to normal.

The depression is hard to know for sure, but I stopped propecia because the SSRI I've been taking for 3 months now was not working very well. Soon as I stopped propecia, I gradually started to feel better, but it did give me some anxiety and I think I've still got a little anxiety now.


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## renski (May 9, 2007)

Govinda said:


> So, I have thinning hair and it's starting to hurt my body image and self-confidence. I use minoxidil 5% twice a day, and have been for 3 months, but I'm not seeing results.


Btw, my dermatologist said you need to be using minoxidil for at least 12 months to see any benefit, it's very slow. Just like the propecia..


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