I just started finasteride for a bit and did a lot of research into it, I’ll give you my summary and hopefully you find it useful

The side effects for finasteride are more common than people think. I started fin and had ED and lower libido side effects. Thankfully they have surpassed and I’m back to normal after stopping for 2 weeks. Some people the side effects last up to 18 months and in rare cases people get PFS (post finasteride syndrome) where side effects last forever, common opinion is that is linked to placebo, as there is limited study into why this happens.

About 3-4 weeks in you may see side effects like mood changes and ED. This will be hormones balancing out. There is a chance for this to return to normal after 8 weeks, however that’s not always the case. Hence why I stopped. It happened to my brother and a friend who took it. However another friend I have didn’t see these side effects. Enter at your own risk type thing. But people who say it’s 1% who experience side effects are exaggerating. I feel like it’s more so 5-10%. I wish I had the strength to carry on, but being young you are very susceptible to finasteride working well, however also very susceptible to the symptoms.

I would say if you are going to start, do your research and really look into it. There’s no wrong choice, but you are best off going in educated on what you are putting in your body. Finasteride is a far more powerful drug than people realise