Gyno from Propecia in *5 days*? Are Ultrasounds Reliable?

[GynoHelpWanted]

I am 30 years old; very lean with no fat.  5 months ago, I took propecia for 5 days (1/2 dose).  I started to have headaches, and noticed a slight increase in fat on my chest area and decided to pull off of the drug.  For a month after, the symptoms subsided.  For the 3-4 months after that, and up until now, they have returned.  The symptoms seem to be better in the morning and worse at night.  At times, I feel no tenderness/discomfort in my breasts, and also have no headaches.  Other times, there is a pretty large discomfort.

I visited my local doctor, who seemed to confirm the gyno, and was worried about some possible lumps/tissue on the outer sides of the breast, under the armpit, down the sides of the breast.  I believe she called these fibrocystic lumps, and said women often get them.  Unfortunately, I am not certain if that is what she called them or not.  I do not seem to have any apparent growth underneath my nipples, though..the only hard area I feel I believe to be simply my rib cage/breast bone area.  She wanted me to immediately have the ultrasound and MRI done.

I had the ultrasound and MRI earlier today, and the ultrasound revealed nothing out of the ordinary, and the doctors did not notice any breast tissue or gyno...which was encouraging.  The MRI results will be back within a week.  Are these ultrasound results reliable?  I still feel as if there is definite growth, that is still going on, as well as tenderness in the area.

Here are some recent blood test results.  Unfortunately, the doctor did not retest my testosterone levels:

Results from a couple days ago, old results are in brackets:

HCG, Quant (1 to 3mIU/ml): <1
TSH, Thyroid (.358 to 3.74): 1.08 [1.23, late 2011, pre-propecia]
Lutinizing Hormone (1.50 to 9.30): 5.63
Prolactin (2.1 to 17.7): 5.90 [9.70, right after taking propecia]

CMP Comprehensive Metabolic Panel, items of note are shown:
--Glucose (74 to 106): 72
--Creatinine (.60 to 1.30): 1.30 [1.0, 1.0, both pre-propecia]
--BUN/Creatinine Ratio (7 to 20): 10.8 [16,22, both pre-propecia]
--Alkaline Phosphatase (50 to 136): 42 [39,45 pre-propecia]
--AST, SGOT (15 to 37): 12 [10,10 pre-propecia]
--ALT, SGPT (12 to 78): 23 [28,23 pre-propecia]

Estradiol, Estrogen (<=39.80): 17.03 [28.89, right after taking propecia]

Testosterone, Total (241 to 827)
Right before Propecia, 7 months ago: 478
One month after Propecia, 4 months ago: 628

Testosterone, Free (9.3 to 26.5)
Right before: 11.7
One month after: 13.2

DHT (16 to 71)
One month after: 31

The following symptoms remain:
-headaches that often occur later on in the day (I never had these before)
-apparent gyno, that is still tender/uncomfortable at times; again, I feel this more often later on in the day; I believe I just feel the breast bone/ribs underneath the nipple and no hard lump. What I feel, and what the doctor felt, is on the outer sides of the breast, from under the armpits down the side.
-occasional tiredness, falling asleep or being very tired when I shouldn't be..for example, right after eating a couple hours after a good 8 hours of sleep
-slightly weaker erections, and possible decline in sex drive  

I would love to know if the ultrasound tests are reliable or not, and what I should do for my next step.  I am still only 4-5 months into the possibly gyno, and I would hope to stop it as soon as possible.

Thanks a lot!

[Paa_Paw]

What was the reason for the tests initially? When I was your age I think I went through a decade at a time without even seeing a Doctor.

I will admit to a certain amount of prejudice about drug usage. Using a drug that can have an adverse effect on your reproductive physiology simply to control balding seems awfully vain to me. Yes, I am a bald old man. Using the same drug later in life to deal with a prostate problem seems a reasonable risk though.

There are a lot of tools in the kit for a Doctor. The Ultrasound and MRI are only a couple. The tests themselves are reliable enough but the interpretation of the tests might vary. The interpretation of those tests needs to be left to experts.

[xelnaga13]

I have a 26 year old friend that lost his ability to maintain an erection after a month of propecia. Sex for him has lost all enjoyment with the distinct possibility of losing his ability to preform.

Testosterone converts to estrogen/DHT, when you take propecia you make it difficult for T to convert to DHT. Your testosterone begins to rise, and your estrogen levels as a result. DHT is a strong androgen and has the ability to block estrogen receptors in areas such as your breast tissue. It's also responsible for providing that extra rigidity in an erection that makes all the difference. I would prefer a bald head than breasts/and a useless appendage.

[fsugrad]

I am 30 years old; very lean with no fat.  5 months ago, I took propecia for 5 days (1/2 dose).  I started to have headaches, and noticed a slight increase in fat on my chest area and decided to pull off of the drug.  For a month after, the symptoms subsided.  For the 3-4 months after that, and up until now, they have returned.  The symptoms seem to be better in the morning and worse at night.  At times, I feel no tenderness/discomfort in my breasts, and also have no headaches.  Other times, there is a pretty large discomfort.

I visited my local doctor, who seemed to confirm the gyno, and was worried about some possible lumps/tissue on the outer sides of the breast, under the armpit, down the sides of the breast.  I believe she called these fibrocystic lumps, and said women often get them.  Unfortunately, I am not certain if that is what she called them or not.  I do not seem to have any apparent growth underneath my nipples, though..the only hard area I feel I believe to be simply my rib cage/breast bone area.  She wanted me to immediately have the ultrasound and MRI done.

I had the ultrasound and MRI earlier today, and the ultrasound revealed nothing out of the ordinary, and the doctors did not notice any breast tissue or gyno...which was encouraging.  The MRI results will be back within a week.  Are these ultrasound results reliable?  I still feel as if there is definite growth, that is still going on, as well as tenderness in the area.

Here are some recent blood test results.  Unfortunately, the doctor did not retest my testosterone levels:

Results from a couple days ago, old results are in brackets:

HCG, Quant (1 to 3mIU/ml): <1
TSH, Thyroid (.358 to 3.74): 1.08 [1.23, late 2011, pre-propecia]
Lutinizing Hormone (1.50 to 9.30): 5.63
Prolactin (2.1 to 17.7): 5.90 [9.70, right after taking propecia]

CMP Comprehensive Metabolic Panel, items of note are shown:
--Glucose (74 to 106): 72
--Creatinine (.60 to 1.30): 1.30 [1.0, 1.0, both pre-propecia]
--BUN/Creatinine Ratio (7 to 20): 10.8 [16,22, both pre-propecia]
--Alkaline Phosphatase (50 to 136): 42 [39,45 pre-propecia]
--AST, SGOT (15 to 37): 12 [10,10 pre-propecia]
--ALT, SGPT (12 to 78): 23 [28,23 pre-propecia]

Estradiol, Estrogen (<=39.80): 17.03 [28.89, right after taking propecia]

Testosterone, Total (241 to 827)
Right before Propecia, 7 months ago: 478
One month after Propecia, 4 months ago: 628

Testosterone, Free (9.3 to 26.5)
Right before: 11.7
One month after: 13.2

DHT (16 to 71)
One month after: 31

The following symptoms remain:
-headaches that often occur later on in the day (I never had these before)
-apparent gyno, that is still tender/uncomfortable at times; again, I feel this more often later on in the day; I believe I just feel the breast bone/ribs underneath the nipple and no hard lump. What I feel, and what the doctor felt, is on the outer sides of the breast, from under the armpits down the side.
-occasional tiredness, falling asleep or being very tired when I shouldn't be..for example, right after eating a couple hours after a good 8 hours of sleep
-slightly weaker erections, and possible decline in sex drive  

I would love to know if the ultrasound tests are reliable or not, and what I should do for my next step.  I am still only 4-5 months into the possibly gyno, and I would hope to stop it as soon as possible.

Thanks a lot!

Wow.  I took propecia for 10 days approx. 2 years ago. After the day 3-5 I noticed extreme burning in both nipples. I quit completely at day 10.  After a few days being off the medication the pain went away. Things were back to normal or so I thought.

About 3-4 months later I began having painful burning and throbbing sensations in both breasts but mainly my right. However this time it wasn't just confined to my nipple area but a much larger area. Like you the pain seemed to always be worse at night.

My endo didn't not suggest an MRI or ultrasound. He ordered a mammogram and sure it enough it confirmed "proliferation of diffuse breast tissue radiating from the nipple complex".

After that did lab tests that showed high normal Total T, low normal Free T, High SHBG, and normal E2.  Please note that I have been tested with low-normal Free T five years prior to taking Propecia and I have never had any issue with this.

After the mammogram he placed me on tamoxifen at 20 mg/day. I stayed on this for many months. It is effective in helping with the the pain but in my case it did not reverse any tissue growth or even stop it.  He then tried arimidex (estrogen-inhibitor)since my E2 results would sometimes show a trend to being high-normal.  I gave this a try for four months and it  didn't really do much.  At this point I went back to Tamoxifen for several months.

As a last resort he placed me on TRT. He tried Androgel first but for some reason we could't get much of a response with symptoms or lab numbers. We then moved to T-cypionate injections (100 mg/wk) spread over 2 shots per week. While on injections he did place me back on arimidex to prevent the rise in E2. I tried this for 3 months but to be honest while helping my strength and energy levels I think it may have made it slightly worse. That my be unfair because the general trend no matter what medication I tried my gynecomastia continued to get worse over time.

Surgery is now my last resort. I also have noticed a change in overall body composition since taking propecia. Much more of a tendency to deposit bodyfat in a female pattern: low abs, hips, thighs, etc.  Good luck and feel free to PM me with any questions.  I am 39 by the way.