Tamulosin and Finasteride

Hi david,

Before my HoLEP procedure in April this year I had been taking both types of pills either on their own or both together. The dutasteride, the shrinker is quite effective and in the early days I would only take it until it had shrunk my prostate sufficient for me to pee well and not have retention over night. Them some many months later, in the early days, I would start up on the dutasteride again until prostate shrunk again, and so on. in some 13 years I probably only used the dutasteride for lest than 2 years total because its a powerful drug and no one realy knows what long term damage both pills can do.

See your doctor,but it didn't do me any long term harm stopping and starting the dutasteride. I did the same with the tamsulosin in the early days but  in the last 5 years took it full time.

I'm not a doctor but my psa was 4 before my op and my consultant was worried about that but I've read that if you are in your 70's a psa of under ten is normal. I'm not an expert on these thing so I expect others will reply to you soon.

I think you can survive for some time without the drugs but eventually the p problem will return, unless its possible for the prostate to shrink on its own after a certain age.

I've read that after taking both alpha blockers (tamsulosin) and finasteride for 6 months or more, one might be able to stop the alpha blocker, still with almost the same benefits as taking both. You can try to stop tamsulosin. Hank

I've been on both of these, but at separate times. I believe Tamsulosin opens the bladder neck and urethra, is immediate, and can also be stopped as an experiment - if it was doing any good, you'd soon know it as you would get symptoms returning, of slower flow. Finasteride takes months to have full effect and it shrinks the prostate. I'm presuming it would therefore take a while for the prostate to enlarge again, but I believe it surely would.

Tamsulosin gave me postural hypotension (dizziness on sudden standing up) as well as retrograde ejaculation. My urologist warned me that Finasteride would lower both desire and potency, but I haven't noticed much difference. My sex drive isn't strong, but I can maintain erections and now have normal, though not voluminous ejaculations. I've taken it for nearly six months now. I guess it depends on your individual condition. Have you had scans etc?

It’s probably Tamulosin causing the ejaculation issue it’s a common side effect commonly called retrograde ejaculation . It did this to me . Normal service resumed when I was swapped to a different Alpha blocker . 

If you haven't already, I recommend you ask your doctor about stopping one or both of these drugs. (It's always good to get an opinion from a medical professional in addition to random strangers on the internet!)  He may recommend that you taper off rather than stopping "cold turkey."  As someone else noted, if you stop tamulosin (the alpha blocker), you will likely notice within a week whether it was working or not.  Good luck!

David, I am 74 and I take both Tamsulosin and Dutasteride daily for many years - doing quite well with them - but I wish I didn't have to take them. As you stated, I'm sure there must be some side effects that are not obvious. However, if I miss a dose - I can tell the difference that same or the next day - I have to go more frequently - more urgently and the stream slows down. So, in my case, I know I cannot get off them unless I have one of the procedures done. But, reading all of these horror stories makes me reluctant to have any of them done. I was scheduled for REZUM to be done - next week - but cancelled - sounded too risky to me. Grandpa always said if it ain't broke don't fix it.   

David. 4 years younger than you.  I started Tamulosin to reduce the frequency of peeing, and did so for a number of years.  I noticed (and my urologist confirmed) this was reducing and sometimes stopped ejaculation.  Others on this site say the same.  I now take NO pills.  To combat/reduce the frequent peeing, I opted a fortnight ago to have a PAE procedure (which aims to block arteries feeding the prostate, thus causing it to shrink).  Too soon I think to say if it has worked and I aim in a month to see theguy who did it.  Another MRI should show if prostate now smaller.  Fingers crossed!