19, Losing Hair & No Sex Drive - Perplexed

[Searching71]

Hello all. I made a thread here back in September with a few photos. Over the last two years I've steadily been losing hair, first at the temples and then at the frontal hairline. I'm probably a NW1.5 with noticeably thinning temples. Two years ago when I was 17 I had a perfect thick full head of hair.

Brief family history: Dad has great hair in his early 60s, my only brother is completely bald at age 27. I seem to be following my brother's path as he lost hair at the same age as me.

Now that I'm 19 and my hair loss is noticeable and progressing, I've become depressed about it. I just recently got a prescription for propecia and have been taking 1mg daily for three days now.

Here is where I'm scared as hell: my sex drive started declining at 17 and two years later [now] it's the lowest it's ever been. During high school I always had a high sex drive and now I don't ever feel the urge to masturbate. I could easily go more than a week without getting off. Obviously this is another source of depression for me...

What should I do? I think I'm a pretty rare case in that my sex drive was destroyed even before starting finasteride - and I'm so young which makes it even more puzzling. I'm worried that taking finasteride will only sink my sex drive lower and that it'll be even harder to ever get it back. But on the other hand I am very desperate to keep my hair.

On top of that I paid $90 for 30 1mg pills of propecia. I had no idea the stuff was so expensive and I'm not really sure if I want to sink $1000+ a year for the medication.

Is a normal libido and keeping my hair too much to ask for?!?!

I'd appreciate any input you all could give. Reading this forum has been a great educator for me and it seems like there are lots of quality people here. Thanks.

 

[DoctorHouse]

I know you don't want to hear this but unless you get your depression under control naturally, you are always going to have a low libido and if you believe Propecia will lower it even more, it will. My libido fluctuates strictly by how much stress, anxiety, tiredness, or self esteem I have. The mind is very powerful. I will not deny Propecia can cause sides for some people. However, you would be surprised just how powerful the mind is if you change your thinking about YOURSELF into a positive frequency. If I would have been going thru the same thing you are now at 19, my libido probably would be killed too. I read on another thread that a poster said he would rather take Propecia and risk lowering his libido just so he could trade it for faith in keeping his hair. He felt having a full head of hair was way more important than a lower libido. He said going bald would probably lower his libido more than if he was on Propecia. If your libido is way more important, than stop taking Propecia if it does lower it more. I would see your medical doctor too and get your thyroid and hormones tested to make sure that is not the cause too. Another words, rule out any medical cause before you decide its strictly depression.

 

[TheEscapist]

I'm 17, and have had issues with a lacking sex drive for the past 2 years. Its been a long time, but I think I've finally pinned down that cause as watching too much p**rn. Combine that with several bouts of depression, and it becomes a big, unhappy, complicated mess of interconnecting and semi-mutually dependent cycles of desensitization/anxiety/depression.

I had my hormones checked, and that confirmed it was psychological. The next step was to find out what specifically psychological was causing it. Therapy and self examination lead me all over the map (still is sort of) to the point that I'm now at, where I believe firmly that p**rn has caused it (most of it).

Not sure if you watch p**rn at all, but it really can affect your neurological wiring. Too much easy access creates an absence of the sense of novelty that your sex drive thrives on. Soon, the hot girl sitting next to you in class becomes nothing more significant than any other class mate to you (scary feeling!)

If you do watch p**rn, its entirely possible it could be at least one cause of your sex drive failure. I for one know that when I was in depressive periods (over other separate things), I increased the amount of p**rn I watched because it had that great feeling that it has (I never really wanted to turn to drugs or drinking, and I didn't have a girlfriend then) like a drug.

Or it could be something else entirely. You very likely have the answer somewhere in your head, sometimes you just need to do some introspection, and some good brainstorming with someone who will listen/can understand in order to find it.

I too was worried about starting Propecia, because I didn't really have a sex drive to gauge whether or not there was a loss from the drug..

 

[anxious1]

firstly its not 1000$ a yr, ur supposed to cut thse tablets into quarters and take a quarter / day i.e. 1.25 mg, so 1 pack should last u 4 months, so at the most its 270$ / yr, and even less if u ask for generic. and visit a discount pharmacy.

secondly going for a week without sexdrive is nothing out of the ordinary. so i wouldnt worry about that either.
having less sex drive than other men isnt neccessarily a bad thing. ur brain is able to function on other things better. some people only think about sex, and are never able to acheive anything.