Question concerning Finasteride

[tega]

Would taking this drug also ****** muscle growth



Secondly?any particular concern substituting a divided (by 5) dose of Finasteride 5mg for Propecia 1mg
(for hairloss)
My derm prescribed the former for me (on my request)...But i am worried about some of the side effects. Especially some of the anti-androgenic effects.

Any comments will be helpful.

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[ckent]

Propecia is just a brand name of finasteride, so I don't see why there would be any concern over that. Theoretically, I suppose that finasteride would ****** muscle growth even though I don't see that listed as a side effect under my epocrates. Maybe they never studied it? Anyways, I had no idea that people were prescribing finasteride for acne. If you want to take it though, you should just think of it as a cost benefit ratio. If the benefit of being on the drug is greater then the cost, then why not go ahead and take it. You can always work out while on the drug, and maybe the conscious decision to work out will offset any potential decrease in lean muscle mass that finasteride may cause.

 

[jalabert]

I?m going to assume, due to the question, that you already lift weights for muscle growth. There has been a clinical report of myopathy, in Muscle and Nerve I believe, do a Medline search. Theoretically though, there are two primary reasons finasteride should not impact skeletal muscle hypertrophy to any great extent. First, since finasteride is a 5 alpha reductase inhibitor, and 5 alpha DHT is not the active androgen in skeletal muscle, there should be little effect. Further, 5 alpha reductase levels are relatively low in muscle, so, the actual impact of finasteride itself on the target enzyme should be minimal. It could even be argued that there might be a beneficial effect by reducing conversion of endogenous testosterone to DHT and in effect reducing the clearance of active testosterone within the skeletal muscle itself. Aside from testosterone/DHT, muscle growth is multi-factorial, and endogenous androgen levels, in and of themselves, play a relatively small role in skeletal muscle growth. The other factors (mechanical, growth factors, intracellular signaling) elicited in response to strength training should override any negative effects elicited by reductions in endogenous androgen levels (within reason). Just keep pumping the iron and you should be fine.

 

[tega]

much thanks to both of you

i'll run that med line search