So my last blood test (about just two months ago) my t levels were 33 which is on the medium to low female range ive heard and my e levels were good too...my endo added finasteride due to concerns about dht's affects and I read that it can actually raise t levels by nine percent....I feel ive been noticing more and faster body hair growth when I had VERY little before....my libidos been super high which I don't mind but is concerning me about t level... also I rarely had noticeable pain in my breasts before unless I pushed down but now it seems even rarer that I have it....ive tried calling my endo but shes very bad about getting back to me, charges huge appointment fees and is far too....I basically wanna know am I imagining this stuff due to worry or is it possible my t levels raised significantly due to finasteride alone .....she said a long time ago that my T levels should stay below 50 so is it possible or likely that my t went above 50 due to finasteride?? Am I just imagining these things most likely and worrying too much? Someone please either reassure me or let me know the facts so I can deal with this appropriately thankyou

DHT is the strongest part of T so normally the body tries to compensate so Finasteride can increase total T, but not the the free T. However (my HRT doctor explained this to me) when used with HRT (E and Spiro) it can help lower your total T. For me that's what it did. After 4 months on standard HRT, my T was in the 175 ng/dL and 186 ng/dL at the 7 month mark. Well below male normal but too much about the normal female levels. She didn't like this and wanted to bring my T levels down but didn't want to up my Spiro so she upped my E a little and significantly upped my Finasteride. 3 months later my T was way down to 15.2 ng/dL and Free T was down to 1.32, all in the female range.

Thanks and any other opinions?? I need as much info as I can get

It does what some say bioidentical Progesterone also does - it blocks the activity of the 5-alpha-reductase enzyme in an effort to prevent the conversion of testosterone into DHT.

So overall t levels might be a bit higher.

How long are you into hrt ? Its possible in the first few months there is a feed back effect, the body getting signaled t is low and trying to increase output a bit... this might recede after a few months.

I personally would go with bioidentical progesterone instead. It might also help with mood and breast growth, and some side effects of estro.

And, as Sydney_NYC said, estro might be raised a bit...

talk it all through with your endo...


hugs

Hi Anna,

I wouldn't be alarmed. This is normal.  "Finasteride treatment led to a modest, but significant (P <0.001), increase relative to placebo in serum testosterone, with this increase greatest in patients who had low baseline testosterone levels."  (Urology. 2003 Nov;62(5):894-9).

Testosterone has several fates in the body.  One is reduction by 5-alpha-reductase to dihydotestosterone (DHT), which is an even more potent androgen than testosterone itself.  DHT is primarily responsible for the development of male secondary sex characteristics.  It also causes male pattern baldness. Finasteride is a specific inhibitor of Type II 5-alpha-reductase. If that metabolic pathway is blocked, there will be an increase in either free or serum-bound testosterone.

One important thing to note is that free and bound serum testosterone does not have androgenic effect unless it binds to androgenic receptors.  Also note that estradiol also binds to androgenic receptors, but does not give any androgenic response - in other words it is a testosterone antagonist.

If you are taking estradiol (or spironolactone, also an anti-androgen), you should not be suffering from the androgenic effects of increasing serum testosterone.

I hope that helps reassure you a little. BTW, I love your avatar.  You look gorgeous!

Terri

my experience with finasteride was rare BUT i was on spiro and e for over a year and my t was still 600. they had me take finasteride and my t levels dropped to 60 in 3 months. i havent had a bloodtest in a while so it could be higher now but it seems doubtful. hope this helps!!!

Please note - discussion of dosages is not allowed.