jthomas123
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Hello,
I'm 26. About a year ago I noticed when I bent down in front of the mirror there appeared to be some thinning on the top of my head. After obsessing about it for a few months, in mid April of 2015 I started Rogaine brand foam. In mid may of 2016 I started generic 1mg finasteride. I've been getting it from Costco who has crazy cheap prices ($7/month). For the first year I was on Actavis Finasteride. They have just recently switched to Aurobindo Finasteride.
My results:
Minimal to no side effects. Potentially slight soreness for a week or so, but no decrease in libido. I would not know that people worried about this had I never gone on the internet.
My hair seems about the same in many ways. When I started the Rogaine/Finasteride I was seeing a good amount of hair in the shower and styling (40-50 each morning and a lot on the pillow)
I don't really notice any re-growth, and am still getting 20 or so hairs each time I shower. I shudder to think about the amount of hair that has fallen out in total over a year, but so far it hasn't seemed to make a noticeable (to me anyway) difference positively or negatively. But when I was 22 I got 0 hairs in the shower and 0 hairs styling. So while I understand the "It's normal to lose a decent amount of hair every day" It's concerning to me that I'm a year on this, and haven't seen much if any improvement in that regard. Also if I give a decent yank at any hair on top of the head, I can get a good amount of hair. The hair on the side of my head won't come out with the hardest of yanks.
I would really like some sort of re-assurance that the Finasteride is working. I'm a little bit concerned about the switching companies from Costco however, I have a close family member that works at Merck's top competitor. They assured of 2 things:
1. The FDA is so ridiculously strict, if there were an outbreak of people with serious sexual issues because of the drug, the FDA would shut the drug down before you could blink. They've shut down drugs for far less before.
2. While there is no guarantee a generic is 100% what is in Propecia, again the FDA heavily regulates and monitors all drugs coming into the US, and if a company were to sell placebos to a big outlet like Costco, it would get discovered relatively quickly, and that pharmacy would get banned from the US. Simply, it's not worth it for a cheap drug anyway.
I guess my post is two-fold. I was terrified of starting Finasteride because of all the warnings I saw on the internet. While a very small proportion of people may have issues, there's just as much reason to worry about liver problems with acetaminophen.
I was also hoping that someone had some advice for figuring out if the finasteride is taking and doing it's job. I'm still young and with a good hairline, but there is some thinning mid-scalp. My hope is the finasteride can halt where I am, and a transplant can take care of the lost ground. But each time I shower and have 15-20 hairs in my hands total by the time it's over, it's hard to feel truly confident that I'm being helped by it.
Left is April '16, Right April '17 - 11 months after starting finasteride. First was taken in a location I no longer live and having trouble duplicating the lighting.
Thanks in advance.
I'm 26. About a year ago I noticed when I bent down in front of the mirror there appeared to be some thinning on the top of my head. After obsessing about it for a few months, in mid April of 2015 I started Rogaine brand foam. In mid may of 2016 I started generic 1mg finasteride. I've been getting it from Costco who has crazy cheap prices ($7/month). For the first year I was on Actavis Finasteride. They have just recently switched to Aurobindo Finasteride.
My results:
Minimal to no side effects. Potentially slight soreness for a week or so, but no decrease in libido. I would not know that people worried about this had I never gone on the internet.
My hair seems about the same in many ways. When I started the Rogaine/Finasteride I was seeing a good amount of hair in the shower and styling (40-50 each morning and a lot on the pillow)
I don't really notice any re-growth, and am still getting 20 or so hairs each time I shower. I shudder to think about the amount of hair that has fallen out in total over a year, but so far it hasn't seemed to make a noticeable (to me anyway) difference positively or negatively. But when I was 22 I got 0 hairs in the shower and 0 hairs styling. So while I understand the "It's normal to lose a decent amount of hair every day" It's concerning to me that I'm a year on this, and haven't seen much if any improvement in that regard. Also if I give a decent yank at any hair on top of the head, I can get a good amount of hair. The hair on the side of my head won't come out with the hardest of yanks.
I would really like some sort of re-assurance that the Finasteride is working. I'm a little bit concerned about the switching companies from Costco however, I have a close family member that works at Merck's top competitor. They assured of 2 things:
1. The FDA is so ridiculously strict, if there were an outbreak of people with serious sexual issues because of the drug, the FDA would shut the drug down before you could blink. They've shut down drugs for far less before.
2. While there is no guarantee a generic is 100% what is in Propecia, again the FDA heavily regulates and monitors all drugs coming into the US, and if a company were to sell placebos to a big outlet like Costco, it would get discovered relatively quickly, and that pharmacy would get banned from the US. Simply, it's not worth it for a cheap drug anyway.
I guess my post is two-fold. I was terrified of starting Finasteride because of all the warnings I saw on the internet. While a very small proportion of people may have issues, there's just as much reason to worry about liver problems with acetaminophen.
I was also hoping that someone had some advice for figuring out if the finasteride is taking and doing it's job. I'm still young and with a good hairline, but there is some thinning mid-scalp. My hope is the finasteride can halt where I am, and a transplant can take care of the lost ground. But each time I shower and have 15-20 hairs in my hands total by the time it's over, it's hard to feel truly confident that I'm being helped by it.
Left is April '16, Right April '17 - 11 months after starting finasteride. First was taken in a location I no longer live and having trouble duplicating the lighting.
Thanks in advance.
