May 16 2008, 3:34 pm PT | Posted in: Drugs
Couple questions:
- I read in one of the questions/answers here that DHT is not as strong as testosterone, but the first paragraph for DHT Wikipedia (take it with a grain of salt) says that DHT is 3x more powerful than testosterone. How is this contradiction explained?
- I’m having a hard time distinguishing between propecia and anabolic steroids. Both increase testosterone levels in men. Propedia does this by inhibiting DHT while anabolic steroids do this simply by adding more testosterone. Also for both, this increase in testosterone might mean an increase in estrogen levels/aromatizing and everything that comes with that i.e. fat in a female pattern, breasts, stunted growth, etc. With professional sporting organizations banning finasteride b/c it masks steroids, this further confuses the issue. I even saw propecia being touted on a bodybuilding website as something that seemed to mimic using an anabolic steroid. Is taking Propecia basically the same as taking an anabolic steroid?
I am not a pharmacologist and what I know about these drugs are practical things that I read about. DHT is more powerful that testosterone at some things like the development of male sex characteristics at puberty and the development of other male sex characteristics as boys grow into men. From a sex drive point of view, I do not believe it is as powerful as testosterone. The fundamental building blocks of the various adrenal and sex hormones have great chemical similarity, but small changes in the molecules make very different responses in the various organ systems of the body.
Taking Propecia is very different than taking anabolic steroids… like night and day. The observation that testosterone levels go up with Propecia is not to suggest that if you take it you will be having the same impact as taking anabolic steroids. If this answer is too cursory, then take the initiative and read about it, looking at the things that seem to interest you. I’d guess that these things are covered in extensive writings in text books and research papers. Unfortunately, I don’t have all the answers (though I wish I did sometimes), and I am not the source for this type of detailed information.
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Balding Forum
DHT is often misunderstood. It is indeed 3-5 times stronger than Testosterone in terms of how it binds to the androgen receptor (AR).
But testosterone is the active androgen for muscular development. But this is only because DHT is mostly deactivated in muscle tissue; otherwise DHT would be more anabolic than testosterone in muscle tissue.
DHT is CRUCIAL to libido and sexual development. It is DHT that is primarily responsible for sex drive. This is demonstrated in cases of congenital 5-AR deficiency.
An all too common side effect from people who take Proscar (finasteride) is the loss of libido.
Caution should be used when using finasteride. It is not necessarily a benign drug that can prevent baldness. Like all drugs, it has side effects.
I highly recommend the article “DHT - Is It All Bad?” to learn more about DHT and finasteride:
http://www.mesomorphosis.com/articles/arnold/dht.htm