Dutasteride / Avodart problem

[Beep]

Okay, I've been taking prescribed estrogen and spironolactone for about 8 months now, and things were going great, but just recently I was getting impatient with my male looking hairline.
I read about DHT and how dutasterides can inhibit it, so I decided to try Avodart without asking my endocrinologist's opinion. Now I fear I may have screwed up.

I'm going to see him as soon as possible and ask whether I should continue taking it, but in the mean time, can anyone tell me why I might be having these undesirable side effects from Avodart?:
- Losing my sensitivity as I was before I started hormone replacement, such as crying at sad parts in movies, or being grossed out by gory stuff.
- My voice is becoming more masculin again.
- My overall mind is being clouded again like before I started hormones.

Thank you.

[Padma]

As regards the effects of dutasteride beyond dormant scalp hair regrowth, recorded side-effects are pretty much all on the side of "feminising" rather than the other way round (drop in libido, breast growth). I would definitely check with your endo/doctor, it sounds more like your testosterone level has risen or something. MTF hormone and anti-androgen treatment do not normally affect the voice, so any changes to your voice will most likely not have been prompted by hormone treatment or dutasteride. If you're still a young person, it's more likely that it's just your voice dropping more with age.

[Beep]

Thank you, Padma.
Sometimes I worry too much about having male characteristics. It drives me crazy, but everyone else has pretty much confirmed that taking Avodart along with an anti-androgen is the best option for reducing male pattern baldness so I'll keep going for now.
and you're right, I AM kind of young so my voice may still be maturing.

Thank you so much for the reply.

[Padma]

It's all good - keep asking the questions, it's easy to feel like you're on your own with this stuff, but there are over 8000 of us on here only too willing to bombard you with our opinions .

[Cadence Jean]

I take Dutas, and believe me - it's way easy for me to cry.  There are a LOT of factors that go into one's mood and emotions.  Maybe something psychological is playing into it?  Padma is spot on about HRT affecting your vocal cords - all the estrogen in the world won't help out with those. :/

[Jay-Bird]

I have been on Duta's (Avodart) for 3 months now.
Have to say all is fine, well I am a little bit less frisky so to speak but other than than nothing to report.
I was prescribed it for hair loss too, it hasn't done a great deal as yet but from my understanding it takes around 5 months or so to see anything.
So far as side effects go I was under the understanding that they usually only show in the first month or so and then subside, as your body must get used to them.
Same with most drugs that change chemistry internally I believe.
Hope that helps.

Oh' by the way I just remembered it takes about a month for Duta's to build up to a strong working level, as in the 90% DHT inhibition.
Before that it sits quite lower something like 70-75% - just thought I would throw that in there - don't ask where I read it cause I really can't remember.

[Beep]

Well I'm happy to hear that most of you are having good results with Avodart, but this stuff really did a number on me.
For some reason it seemed to have completely cancelled out any androgen blocking I had from taking Spironolactone. I started having more male thinking patterns, my developing breasts stopped developing, I started getting more male muscle mass and fat, and what really sucked is I started growing dark body hair again as appose to light blonde hairs.

I don't know why this happened to me, but that's what I get for taking Avodart without consulting my endocrinologist.

On a more personal note; I don't understand why most people say that hormones can't effect your voice, because it's certainly affecting mine. Maybe not the vocal chords directly but one of the muscles in there is being relaxed instead of tensed up from testosterone, allowing me to produce a softer, more feminine voice.

[Padma]

It's possible that your vocal muscles are being affected by the hormones - but it's very unusual, and so it's a lot more likely that your mind is letting your body relax into sounding more feminine. In a way, it doesn't matter what the cause is so long as the effect is welcome.