Side effects of Finasteride

@menaka
Are you planning to restart this medication hopefully after these symptoms resolve or go on another?
Losing your hair isn't so bad. Mine was gone at 21.
Do the doctors have any idea why your hair is thinning?
Jake

I’m considering not to take Finasteride again. Even after numbness goes way hopefully.I think being bald is better than having numbed legs.My hair is thinning due to male pattern baldness.
I thought numbness will goes away within a month or two but now it’s almost four months.

Hi and Welcome to Connect, we are a group of patients and caregivers that share experiences to help others so we are not medical professionals. But hope to help others who share a particular condition.
I too take Finasteride 5 MG for my Enlarged Prostate. I haven’t experienced any of those side effects so I wonder if it may be caused by another medicine and or condition. Just some things to consider to bring up with your doctor. I hope you get some relief soon.
Blessings

Hello Mr Dana. Thank you for the sharing your experience with me.
I Didn't take any other medicine while using Finasteride but I am having beer or two in the evenings.
AGA clinic’s doctor and my doctor are both confused about this situation since there are no previous cases they have encountered. (I'm living in Japan)
To mention I have encountered weird situation. I started to see blood in the stool. So I went through a CT scan and there was no abnormality. When the numbness getting reduced by the time bleeding stoped.
I'm was confused. Tbh

Menaka Interesting I'm sure the Doctors are a bit baffled but I know for at least some of my doctors they don't give up until they figure it out. I also don't think a beer now and then is an issue either. I don't indulge myself anymore but I used to and I didn't have any issues like that then. Keep us posted I myself am curious also. Please continue to share as you feel comfortable.
Your from Japan what an interesting country I had the opportunity to only spend one night in Tokyo once in the 1980s while waiting for a flight but I really enjoyed the hospitality of the hotel we stayed at and the great food we had that evening.
Have a great Day

@menaka
According to the FDA,

On May, 18, 2021
29,441 people reported to have side effects when taking Finasteride.
Among them, 2 people (0.01%) have Peripheral neuropathy.

You may want to file a report.

Take care,
Jake

Asking for my husband, who is taking Finasteride for a month now. Has anyone seen improvement in the BPH after only a month? He has been on a Foley catheter for six weeks now while waiting for some further testing.
Thanks.

I took it for a few months with very little improvement. FloMax (tamsulosin) worked much better. But a year ago I had a PAE (prostate artery embolization) which shrinks the prostate 10 times better than Finasteride. They go into an artery in your thigh and place small beads in the two arteries going to the prostate. That blocks blood flow and the prostate shrinks relieving most of you symptoms. I still get up twice during the night but flow is almost normal. Urologists never mention it since they don’t do it. It’s the physicians that put in stents.

From what my urologist told me, improvements in BPH symptoms can take six months or longer after starting Finasteride. I been taking both it and Tamsulosin for nearly two years, and I have seen marked improvement.
I can't say much about hair growth. I've been pretty much bald since my early 20s.

Ive been on it and Tamsulesin for a few years now. Things have improved but still I have times with urgency, and I typically get up once per night. But the BPH is better, and I can live with my current situation. No side effects and I still have all my hair. Im almost 65 so I blame some of it on age. As they say I don't pass by many rest rooms. But mine never got to the foley stage. I hope for your sake it does improve.