> There is a strange phenomenon online where in every discussion of propecia, someone will show up and claim they had terrible sexual side effects. But in the o

> There is a strange phenomenon online where in every discussion of propecia, someone will show up and claim they had terrible sexual side effects. But in the original clinical trials, the rate of such side effects was nearly the same as placebo. "Known sexual side effects may appear" is a chilling phrase for a man to read. So before considering using a 5-alpha reductase inhibitor (finasteride or dutasteride) I pored over the literature. What I read was almost comical and made me grateful that I've developed a bit of scientific literacy to dig into these studies for myself. In a finasteride trial of nearly 1500 men, here's what "known sexual side effects" looked like: > Only 11 men (1.4%) in the finasteride group and 8 (1.0%) in the placebo group dis-continued the study because of sexual adverse events, which resolved after discontinuation. These adverse events also resolved in many of the patients who reported them but who remained on the finasteride regimen and continued in the study. [0] The absolute numbers are ridiculously low. I felt relief b/c I just imagined myself in a venue with 1500 other guys. Guess what, there are probably 8 of them experiencing some kind of sexual dysfunction. It doesn't take long to realize that the general population has numbers of sexual dysfunction that align with the study participants. Hell, I found out riding a bike has a greater probability of causing sexual dysfunction than using one of these medications. Mind you, there are reams literature, with long-term studies, and meta-analysis all basically reporting the same data about side effects. Moral being, do your homework and make a decision for yourself. [0] http://sci-hub.tw/10.1016/s0190-9622(98)70007-6 http://sci-hub.tw/10.1016/s0190-9622(98)70007-6