Re: Help me understand what Dr Powers' model for PFS says about risk profile of quitting finasteride.
u/drwillpowers
r/DrWillPowers2026-05-23T02:14:50Z
Dr Will Powers’ own statements and theorizing
Mentions treatments or doses — not guidance
Summary (paraphrased)
Powers explained that under his model, the risk on quitting finasteride mirrors the risk on starting: the problem is an inability to adjust to the change. Since the drug remains active in the system for about 21 days, he advised anyone fearful of a cessation syndrome to taper exposure very gradually — fewer days per week over a span of weeks — giving the system time to adapt, and not to rush it. As an alternative, he suggested sequencing one's own genome to check for the susceptibility glitches. He expressed strong confidence in his own genome, saying he would take finasteride on camera without fear, and noted he has published the major susceptibility genes on the subreddit. He closed by mentioning that a PSSD patient of his was about to volunteer for a chemical castration trial loop.
Key points (paraphrased)
- Quitting risk = starting risk: the system's inability to adjust to change.
- Taper advice: reduce days-per-week very slowly over weeks; finasteride persists ~21 days.
- Alternative: personal genome sequencing to check for susceptibility variants.
- Claims enough confidence in his own genome to take finasteride publicly; says major susceptibility genes are published on the subreddit.
- A PSSD patient was slated to begin a chemical castration trial.
Why it’s in the corpus
The only entry addressing the cessation/onset risk profile directly — important for the corpus because PFS onset after stopping finasteride is a signature feature of the syndrome, and Powers' "inability to adjust" framing ties it to the threshold model. Also an early mention of extending castration trials to PSSD.
Context — the post Powers was replying toVerbatim third-party text, shown for context only — not Powers’ statement. Usernames removed.ShowHide
Powers' comment replies to a community member:
Knock on wood it’s the same. It’d be a much quicker cure for pssd
(Parent context recovered from the r.genit.al mirror on 2026-10-07; Powers' comment text itself is from John's user-provided export.)
Some fields on this page come from the release’s Markdown edition, which carries text the JSON edition omits.
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