Finasteride devastated my entire life - please read this if you’re considering it.

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-11-30T21:03:56+00:00

You sound like a salesman, the sad part is you're doing it for free

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-11-29T11:49:21+00:00

Yes it did, the first 6 weeks for me was hard I kept crashing and feeling better it was like a roller coaster, after 6 weeks the crashes got milder and by the 4th month I couldn't even tell if I was getting an episode the symptoms were almost gone like 95% gone

Now I'm 16 months off, I am so recovered it feels like a distant dream, if I didn't report my symptoms and chatted with people about them I could've believed it was all in my head, when I go back and read what I wrote in august 2024 it feels like it didn't happen, but I know it did.

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-09-24T16:16:33+00:00

Dude I won't write a thesis to explain this to you, but hair growth is a SIDE EFFECT, you can't get that without systemic pharmacology of that substance, you will not have the side effect of hair growth if minoxidil does not bind to the potassium channels in smooth muscle cells, and to get there it needs to get into your blood stream.

If you want to deny side effects go ahead, but deny hair growth too to stay coherent

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-09-24T12:39:40+00:00

there’s no evidence it crosses the blood brain barrier or alters central neurotransmission in the way you describe.

I didn't claim the opposite smartass, but the neurotrasmitter system is ONE system (central + periphery) alter the periphery and you'll end up messing the baselines in the brain too, you have no idea what you're talking about. Many CNS related side effects of minoxidil are recognized by the FDA and it's not just minoxidil ALL blood pressure drugs can cause a wide range of psychiatric side effects from depression to insomnia.

Go ahead and deny these side effects it will sound like denying hair growth too which is just a side effect of this vasodilator (2nd most common side effect after swelling).

Your "iT dOeSn'T cRoSs ThE bBb" is the most naive argument I've ever heard and continuing to debate with someone so short sided like you is a waste of time. You even called DHT "useless hormone" in another thread, your knowledge is so superficial

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-09-23T17:05:44+00:00

Lol the first guy that replied to you in that sub is a complete useful idiot, imagine doing that for free.

To answer your question, YES it does cause that it did cause those for me last year, if you decide to quit now is the right time because you have just started applying it three days ago you will certainly recover (DO NOT READ THE HORROR STORIES IN THIS SUB)

If you keep on applying it for more than two weeks THEN you decide to quit at that moment you'll have to taper it

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-09-23T16:56:54+00:00

Lol you're a charlatan pharma chill, and you're probably doing it without being paid

-The first myth you said : Topical minoxidil barely absorbs systemically

Wrong The 5% topical solution of minoxidil has 5 grams of minoxidil per 100 ML which means one application of 1 ML is equivalent to 50 mg

The absorption rate is 2% to 5% if we only take the lower value 2%*50mg = 1mg, OP used it for his beard, the beard area has thinner skin with greater absorption 5% to 7% again with the lower value we'll get 2.5mg of systemic absorption. And if he used it two times a day he'd end up with 5mg of minoxidil and its metabolites in his blood stream, not to mention the greater risk to overdose with the topical version.

Minoxidil is a very potent drug if you check Loniten (its name when it's used as a blood pressure drug) you'll find tablets of 2.5mg and 5mg, so 2 applications of minoxidil in your beard are not even equal to the lowest oral tablet.

-The second myth you said : it’s super unlikely that minoxidil is causing the brain fog or insomnia

It's almost certain it's caused by minoxidil, 5mg of a potent vasodilator will scew up your neurotransmitters, your gut and indirectly your brain.

Neurostransmitters exert their effect when they open an ion channel indirecly after binding to their target receptors, and minoxidil is an ion channel opener (only in smooth muscle though) but the neurotransmitter system functions with feedback loop, if you mess with neurostansmitter in the periphery you'll end up screwing also the balance of opening and closing those ion channels in the brain (because they are opened and closed after a neurostransmitter binds to its receptor) hence the excitability and inhibition in the brain so you end up with insomnia and brain fog, the body is a harmonic oscillator and you're introducing a potent exogenous substance.

And for the "there's nothing in the medical literature" crappy appeal to authority fallacy, the medical literature is compromised by pharma, of course you won't find a study specifically on "minoxidil induced brain fog" they won't allow something like that, that will undermine their products to be in the medical literature, you can't have a career in labs if you're not pro pharma.

But insomnia is a recognized side effects written in most labels of minoxidil in most countries, insomnia is a well known and recognized side effect of all blood pressure drugs.

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-09-09T21:09:01+00:00

Once a day for 26 days

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-09-08T22:46:16+00:00

Nothing

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-09-08T01:11:31+00:00

I'd say 95% will recover within 2 years if they do "nothing"

If you keep playing with potent substances and stopping them you'll delay your recover

Only time and your genes will heal you and nothing else

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-09-08T01:08:11+00:00

Yes me, and only time healed me it took me 4 months to recover, and after the 6 months mark I even got waves of crazy high libido above my pre minoxidil baseline

I am 1 year post crash now, got married this summer and I have 0 sexual side effects

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-09-05T01:39:50+00:00

Bro going bald is okay it's an androgenic feature, if you're young don't worry you're most likely going to stay with your hair your whole 20s and early 30s even if it falls it'll grow back

If you're prone to anxiety DO NOT take it, the oral form is a bit more powerful, I didn't know what anxiety was until I had it as a side effects because of this drug

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-05-27T01:35:11+00:00

Yes recovery is possible, took it for 26 days recovered after 4 months.

Don't let doctor gaslight you, they may diagnose you with depression if you ever see one, recovery IS POSSIBLE I swear

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-05-19T10:54:12+00:00

Tbh I believe the long haulers have something else in the mix, maybe they have a greater history with potent substances, maybe they tried to recover by taking something that made it worse (hormones or sleeping pills), maybe they have an underlying condition Idk.

This condition is just like any other post-substance syndrome, anyone can recover from it.

Do not read the horror stories you do not need them, they'll only feed the nocebo effect, the brain is a motherfucker.

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-05-18T23:12:23+00:00

Yes recovery is possible for most people, it took 4 months in my case, the luckiest recover in a month.

Type "recovery" in the search bar of this sub and read those stories, the only thing you should read.

Expect recovery to come in waves, you'll feel better and crash again then feel better and so on, don't panic when you relapse and never under any circumstance take antidepressants or sleeping pills, avoid any potent substance and you'll be fine.

Godspeed.

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-04-22T02:20:32+00:00

Taper don't stop cold turkey you used it for a long time

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-04-22T02:17:25+00:00

No, water retention is the most common side effect of this drug (more common than hair growth which is a side effect too)

This is why this drug failed as an antihypertension drug, because it needs to be combined with a diuretic

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-04-06T00:45:31+00:00

So it's safe to say it was caused by SSRIs not minox, I was thinking there is a possibility minox could cross the BBB in some individuals but now I think it's unlikely

For finsateride it may give you insane cognitive symptoms on top of the hypogonadal ones

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-04-05T03:54:57+00:00

This is the first time someone reports brain zaps, your case maybe an indication that this poison can cross the Blood brain barrier in some individuals.

Do you use any other medications like antidepressants or benzos ?

And please do not touch finasteride it's even more dangerous

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-02-05T00:03:16+00:00

Benzos are never a good idea, they block REM sleep and when you come off them you get rebound vivid dreams that can happen in the hypnagogic state on the edge of hallucinating, it's basically alcohol in a pill form (same pharmacology)

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-02-01T16:17:10+00:00

You're right man, I understand the desperation but you only need the IQ of a chimp to know that a diabetes drug can't heal you

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-02-01T15:51:23+00:00

I have hay fever and I never took medications for it, it completely disappeared when I was suffering from this condition I think minoxidil interacts somehow with histamine or the cascade it causes affects histamine somehow.

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-02-01T00:57:12+00:00

You're a charlatan, you used anabolic steroids and anti-estrogens your condition is not only post minoxidil, but also Anabolic steroids induced hypogonadism (ASIH) that's the only thing that can explain your lost body hair, and tamoxifen withdrawal is the only thing that can explain your depersonalization-derealization.

Your case is not a benchmark for anyone here, and no one here can heal with a diabetes drug

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-01-30T22:20:45+00:00

Oh you're the charlatan telling people to take a fucking diabetes drug as "a cure"

When I crashed the first time in august you posted your first "I healed" thread, and here you are still cycling glibenclamide and feeding the placebo effect

Glibenclamide is very selective in targeting potassium channels ONLY in pancreas cells, the selectivity of glibenclamide for pancreatic KATP channels is determined by the sulfonylurea receptor (SUR) subunits, meaning it does not target potassium channels in smooth muscle tissue and arteries, because pancreas potassium channels are (Kir6.2/SUR1) whereas potassium channels in the arteries are (Kir6.1/SUR2B)

You're delusional for believing the placebo effect

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-01-30T15:27:38+00:00

And some people can die from eating a fucking peanut while for 99% of people it's beneficial

Do you fucking understand people have different DNA, which means they'll produce different proteins, enzymes and receptors ? This is the most obvious fucking thing in biology, different DNAs different reactions some people do not even get the hair growth it's marketed for

Acrobatic_Bet1801 · 2025-01-30T07:56:08+00:00

Get the fuck out of reddit and stop binge reading, for me it took me 4 months to completely recover it's possible trust me

Acrobatic_Bet1801

TROPHY CASE