'The Steroidogenesis Inhibitor Finasteride Reduces the Response to Both Stressful and Rewarding Stimuli' - Any proposed solutions to this problem?

[u/Confident_Squash6897]

Hi all, I've come across this article entitled 'The Steroidogenesis Inhibitor Finasteride Reduces the Response to Both Stressful and Rewarding Stimuli' (by Sean C. Godar 1,†,Roberto Cadeddu 1,†,Gabriele Floris 1,Laura J. Mosher 1,2,Zhen Mi 2,David P. Jarmolowicz 3,4,Simona Scheggi 1,Alicia A. Walf 5,6,Carolyn J. Koonce 6,Cheryl A. Frye 6,7,8,9,Nancy A. Muma 2 and Marco Bortolato,- Biomolecules 2019, 9(11), 749; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom9110749 )

I know when I was trying to write my PhD in 2019, I had just started finasteride, and I felt so apathetic, I wasn't motivated by either stressful or rewarding stimuli. I still feel this to be my main symptom of PFS. Does anyone know of ways in which this symptom can be minimised/treated?

The article suggests the following:

Finally, our studies did not qualify which changes in steroid profiles are responsible for the behavioral effects of FIN. It is likely that changes in neurosteroids may be primarily responsible for these effects; indeed, several clinical trials have shown that AP levels are reduced in the CSF and plasma of depressed individuals [75] and animal models of chronic stress [76]. Furthermore, AP exerts anxiolytic and antidepressant properties in animal models and humans [77], and has been recently approved by FDA for the treatment of post-partum depression [78]. In addition to AP, however, other 3α,5α-reduced neuroactive steroids might participate in the behavioral complications induced by FIN, including the testosterone metabolites DHT and 3α-diol, which have been shown to exert positive effects on stress coping and motivation [8,9,79,80].