If baldness isn't discouraging enough for some people, the FDA now wants the label for hair loss drug Propecia to include a "suicidal ideation" warning. is requesting and action. "
But it's too late for the family of Stephen Kenny, a police officer in Doraville, Georgia.
Kathleen Kenny died in 2014 at her 42-year-old He talked about his son who took his own life. this. Steve blamed himself for being conceited. ''
Stephen had been taking Propecia for his four years. In his 2013, three years after his discontinuation, he participated in a Baylor University study on the side effects of this drug.
"He had insomnia, fatigue, sexual dysfunction, and numbness in his pelvic area. A doctor conducting research at Baylor said his problems were related to fenasteride.
Prostate also contributes to male pattern baldness By blocking the production of the male enzyme 5-alpha reductase.Blocking it limits the hormone DHT and reduces hair loss. It statesthat it has been prescribed safely in 10,000 cases, but some addresses brutal downsides such as depression, erectile dysfunction, loss of libido, thoughts of self-harm.
"At five months, I started having suicidal thoughts," an IT worker in his 50s on the East Coast told The Post. He gave up his dream of youthful hair after taking generic finasteride for his 11 months. “Side effects began with erectile dysfunction, followed by brain fog and memory loss.
"I could have jumped off a bridge," said the man who asked to withhold his name for self-consciousness. I researched a big bridge.The Golden Gate is nice, but I need a place closer to home.It's my time zone bridge."
It's been almost 7 years since I stopped taking it. , the IT worker says he still has ED issues and continues to have suicidal thoughts.
Although he has avoided discussing his suicidal thoughts with a therapist for fear of being detained for his 72 hours for his own safety, he has I told his son what I had done.
My hair started falling out," he said. "He wanted a hair transplant and his doctor told him to take finasteride beforehand. He told me that without knowing what I was going through. Can you believe how embarrassing that was, but I had to protect him—and he didn't take a single pill."
Hair loss marketed as Propecia A spokesperson for Merck, the company that introduced preventative finasteride, told the Post: label. Since the FDA approved Propecia in 1997, millions of men and their doctors around the world have found Propecia to be the right treatment for them. "
According to a study published in 2020, Dr. Michael S. Erwig, a specialist in endocrinology at his Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, said: said like this. Alopecia can be suicidal if the sexual ramifications and insomnia persist. However, in a study of six suicide victims, "more research is needed to establish whether finasteride is causally associated with suicide."
69}New warning brought by petition from patient advocacy group Post-Finasteride Syndrome The Foundationattempted to withdraw Propecia from the market unsuccessfully
In a statement to Reuters, Merck said: I'm here. We do not endorse a causal relationship between Propecia and suicide or suicidal ideation, and these terms should not be included in the labeling of medicines. "Merck will continue to work with regulatory authorities to ensure that potential safety signals are carefully analyzed and, where appropriate, included in the Propecia label."
"They are now But we sell it and promote it as safe," Dave, a 38-year-old Seattle-area healthcare worker, told The Post. "You think the side effects won't happen to you, and if they do, you can stop and the side effects will go away. But they won't and I'm still pissed."
Dave says he experienced insomnia, tinnitus, panic attacks, blurred vision, and erectile dysfunction within a month of taking finasteride.
Rock bottom. He scribbled something like a suicide note on the prescription label for finasteride when he fell into 2000. Ask about side effects not listed."
He didn't take enough medicine, didn't notice hair growth, and consulted a doctor.
"Things got worse when I feared the side effects would be permanent," he said, explaining that this happened about four months after stopping. “I lay in bed and couldn’t sleep. That’s when I started feeling suicidal. I hurt myself. I had to go out in public and I didn't want to look crazy."
Dave estimates he spent $15,000 on potential treatments. He recently started a round of shockwave therapy, which uses low-intensity shockwaves to increase blood flow to his penis. Dave, augmented with generic Cialis, said: Suicidal ideation is being resolved free from sexual side effects. I remember him crying in his room thinking that if this didn't work out he would die. Shock wave therapy saved my life.
Unfortunately, Stephen Kenny, who was on Propecia from 2006 until 2010, never had that turn around moment.
"Steve was a police officer and exercise addict. During the first year of taking Propecia, he suddenly began to feel dizzy and dizzy.
115} When he, too, developed erectile dysfunction and depression, his mother Kathleen said, he began to question whether he would be able to continue working.'He sought treatment from physicians and psychiatrists. Valium, waste. "He was physically and mentally debilitated," said Bob. "After a while he had this hopeless veneer. I kept trying to break through and told him things would get better. But Steve, who was overseeing eight detectives, said, I thought I would eventually be in a wheelchair or in a hospital bed and would need to be cared for.”
On September 8, 2014, the Kennys had their first son. I received a call from Mike. Mike moved to Georgia from Chicago to get a teaching job and help his younger brother.
"Steve didn't come to gun training that morning," recalled Bob. "Steve didn't seem to be awake. So Mike went into the house and went into the bathroom and saw Steve on the floor. He hung himself from the doorknob."
Looking back, Kathleen said: It's pathetic that a company can put out a drug like this.
The suicide occurred eight years ago, she added, but the wounds in her heart are still fresh. I am thinking what I was feeling and what I was doing."