8 3/4 years feedback, off finasteride for 2 1/2 yrs

[Veteran]

Hi guys,

I took finasteride for over six years, starting at the age of 18.

I caught hairloss early and finasteride really works wonders on your hair.
But because I started so early it also stunted my develeopement into what I call a "full grown man".

It halted my facial and body hair developement, leaving me with no reasonable beard growth. It also did reduce my ejaculate volume to about 30-35 % of what it is now/normally.

So at age 25 I felt a need to quit finasteride, because I felt blocking my masculine hormones wasn't the right way anymore. I wanted to integrate my masculinity.

I quit finasteride in July 2011 and used a topical anti androgen for about six months afterwards I think. This really helped me to avoid a post finasteride crash on top of my head.

To clear myself I also stopped the topical and now I am completely off any regimen for nearly two years.

I am able to maintain my hair at about pre finasteride levels.

What I do now to preserve my hair is the following:

- mediate
- live with body awareness
- drink still, clean water
- alcohol and caffeine in moderation
- eat less meat, especially pork
- eat more vegetables
- maintain a "youthful attitude" (I know it sound a bit "tried" )
- deal with my emotions
- sleep when tired
- dont overdo sports anymore - this one is big too, if you overdo sports / animal protein consumption your body tends to go too acid which also leads to hairloss in many men. Don get me wrong, sport is very important, I do 3-4x a week. You cannot really "overtrain" but you definitively CAN under-regenerate which led to hairloss for me!

I feel changing your lifestyle is very important when you want to maintain your hair without hormonal manipulation via drugs.

Best of luck to anyone of you guys, I really feel for you. If you got any questions, feel free to ask in this thread or PM me.

Best regards,

Kay

 

[swingline747]

did you get any sides from/after finasteride?

 

[Veteran]

apart from the sides mentioned above I got some sort of "puffy" face. Like more fluid retention in my skin. This made my face always look kinda "overweight" even if I had good body shape overall. I just could not get that masculine shape in my face because the water would always cover up the facial bones that tend to be very pronounced in males compared to females.

After quitting finasteride the sides disappeared. I chose the date of quitting very carefully when I was on vacation all by myself on a pilgrimage/hiking trip for four weeks, so that I could relax. And I used a topical anti andro as a "post regimen therapy".

My internal sex organs took about six months to recover starting quite fast after quitting. The ejeculate volume increased month after month kinda linear. There was some pain or rather discomfort associated with it from time to time, but nothing major really.

 

[FTSYMG]

.

 

[swingline747]

Welp now I know for good not to take finasteride at my age (18)
geuss ill have to stick with biotin and keto shampoos to maintain my NW1.5
Really hope I don't take after my dads hairline

Do you have siblings? How does their hair look?

 

[FTSYMG]

Do you have siblings? How does their hair look?

gramps still has full head of hair but younger brother (41) has much worse hairloss than myself

 

[Veteran]

I went for my fathers hairline for a long time. I even balded faster than him. I was Norwood 2.5 at 18 when starting finasteride. Now I seem to bald (knock on wood) way slower than him, still being a Norwood 2.5 at 27.5. I analyse his behavior and attitudes towards life and balance them (he's dead btw). F.e. my father started his days with one or two cups of coffee with some 3 big spoons of sugar in it. Was a heavy smoker too. He also seemed to have bad lifestyle in his 20s which made him bald.
So imo genetics play a big factor but lifestyle choices (see my first post) matter more. If nature gave you baldng genes, why not make the best out of it and use it to monitor your overall health/condition?

Ahh, and btw: When my father fell in love again after divorcing from my mum he regrew some hair without treatment at the age of 54. He went from Norwood 6.5 to 6 again. Talk about the power of love here ! That was so funny

 

[mugsy8]

Although I have not done so to the extent you have AT ALL whatsoever, I agree that changing your lifestyle and thought process has a great impact on hairloss and many other aspects of life. I aspire to get to the point you are at now. I am 26 on finasteride, Min, and Regenepure. I started it a little over a year ago and am unsure if I see results. I am extremely neurotic though. I obsess over things too much and drive myself crazy (especially appearance). Recently I have contemplated even seeing a therapist to deal with these emotional issues but I am still unsure. I have recognized that I need a lifestyle/outlook change but putting it into motion is proving to be a challenge for me. Coming here and getting some info as well as getting things off my chest helps but I most definitely am seeking much more.

 

[Veteran]

I visit a psychotherapist on a regular basis. It really helps me. Wards off depression and other stuff that you dont enjoy. Dealing with emotions is a big factor in becoming healthy. Go ahead mugsy, you are on the right path!

 

[musclemd]

Thanks for sharing
Important for the younger men to hear

 

[Veteran]

Btw what's also important for me is my shampoo. I use one mainly consisting of natural ingredients on some sort of "healing soil" base. As far as I can tell it helps me too.

 

[yadayada029]

Wish I could have stunted my beard and body hair. I'd call that a win. I stopped reading after that. Why you'd consider body or beard hair a plus is beyond me. Shaving absolutely F***ing sucks, and body hair? Really?

 

[Veteran]

I have to say that I dont have THAT much body hair though. But not being able to grow a beard was a bis bummer for me.

 

[md2002]

Glad I found this thread. You're experience is exactly what I'm looking for. I posted about a month ago that I've been on Propecia for about 15 years now, maybe longer. I wont rewrite my whole post but the bottom line is I want to get off of it. I've been on it for so long it's tough to say if I have any other side effects. After over 15 years this is normal to me, I may have side effects but not know it. I've never had sex issues since I've been on it and I just had a child so my sperm is swimming. I'm 40 years old now. The reason why I want to get off if it is because I think it is causing memory loss and "fog brain" which I hear a lot about. I have NO memory what so ever! It is a pretty scary feeling, it may not be the Propecia but it could be. It would also be nice to know if it's doing anything else to me that I don't realize because however I feel is just normal to me.

My question, and my concern is, did you lose all your hair once you stopped taking Propecia? I was well on my way to being bald, very bald and Propecia stopped it the baldness in it's tracks and regrew my crown. I have to assume I will go bald if I stop. I just don;t know how fast it will fall out. At this time I have cut my dose down and I'm thinking of starting Rogain to see if that will keep my hair. Let me know what you think.

 

[Veteran]

Hey md2002,

honestly I would say I lost about 80 percent of what I regrew. Back to Norwood 2.5ish. I heard the "hair loss gene" is actually a survival mechanism of the body in which it uses ressources in the scalp to aid other systems eventually leading to exhaustion / depletion of the scalp and then baldness as we age and our internal organs are getting older. So finasteride just blocks that 5 alpha reductase induced metabolic pathway I guess. Once you are off the body returnes to it genetically unaltered state I assume.

 

[XXXXXXX]

- mediate
- live with body awareness
- drink still, clean water
- alcohol and caffeine in moderation
- eat less meat, especially pork
- eat more vegetables
- maintain a "youthful attitude" (I know it sound a bit "tried" )
- deal with my emotions
- sleep when tired
- dont overdo sports anymore

Every single one of those is useless. If you're not blocking DHT, you're not saving your hair.

 

[GwenGwen]

Thanks for this testimony, really.

 

[Veteran]

Hey 7X,

you know that your enivironment, your behaviour, your attitude, sports, emotions etc. all effect hormonal levels?

And that your brain and body adapt daily?

 

[Diffuser44]

Glad I found this thread. You're experience is exactly what I'm looking for. I posted about a month ago that I've been on Propecia for about 15 years now, maybe longer. I wont rewrite my whole post but the bottom line is I want to get off of it. I've been on it for so long it's tough to say if I have any other side effects. After over 15 years this is normal to me, I may have side effects but not know it. I've never had sex issues since I've been on it and I just had a child so my sperm is swimming. I'm 40 years old now. The reason why I want to get off if it is because I think it is causing memory loss and "fog brain" which I hear a lot about. I have NO memory what so ever! It is a pretty scary feeling, it may not be the Propecia but it could be. It would also be nice to know if it's doing anything else to me that I don't realize because however I feel is just normal to me.

My question, and my concern is, did you lose all your hair once you stopped taking Propecia? I was well on my way to being bald, very bald and Propecia stopped it the baldness in it's tracks and regrew my crown. I have to assume I will go bald if I stop. I just don;t know how fast it will fall out. At this time I have cut my dose down and I'm thinking of starting Rogain to see if that will keep my hair. Let me know what you think.

I've seen prior posts of yours where you had quit finasteride temporarily and went back on it. Would you suggest not going back on finasteride a second time? What is your current status?

 

[Nickola]

Hi guys,

I took finasteride for over six years, starting at the age of 18.

I caught hairloss early and finasteride really works wonders on your hair.
But because I started so early it also stunted my develeopement into what I call a "full grown man".

It halted my facial and body hair developement, leaving me with no reasonable beard growth. It also did reduce my ejaculate volume to about 30-35 % of what it is now/normally.

So at age 25 I felt a need to quit finasteride, because I felt blocking my masculine hormones wasn't the right way anymore. I wanted to integrate my masculinity.

I quit finasteride in July 2011 and used a topical anti androgen for about six months afterwards I think. This really helped me to avoid a post finasteride crash on top of my head.

To clear myself I also stopped the topical and now I am completely off any regimen for nearly two years.

I am able to maintain my hair at about pre finasteride levels.

What I do now to preserve my hair is the following:

- mediate
- live with body awareness
- drink still, clean water
- alcohol and caffeine in moderation
- eat less meat, especially pork
- eat more vegetables
- maintain a "youthful attitude" (I know it sound a bit "tried" )
- deal with my emotions
- sleep when tired
- dont overdo sports anymore - this one is big too, if you overdo sports / animal protein consumption your body tends to go too acid which also leads to hairloss in many men. Don get me wrong, sport is very important, I do 3-4x a week. You cannot really "overtrain" but you definitively CAN under-regenerate which led to hairloss for me!

I feel changing your lifestyle is very important when you want to maintain your hair without hormonal manipulation via drugs.

Best of luck to anyone of you guys, I really feel for you. If you got any questions, feel free to ask in this thread or PM me.

Best regards,

Kay

Sorry about that Veteran and all of you guys that you think Veteran is right,BUT YOU ALL A JOKE!I used to take finasteride at my age of 18 for over 2 years.In those years my beard grown as ****,i have a full beard at my age of 25 now.SPORTS DO NOT AFFECT HAIRLOSS u dumbs,even if you do sports every day,i got friends that spend at least 2 hours in the gym,with heavy lifting and ****,every singly day for years now,and they got heads FULL of hair,without taking and dht blocker pills etc.I started taking finasteride at my age of 18,but i am a big muscular man,and tall,and i am not even working out.The nly efects i had were the water seaman,no morning woods,and some sex issues which sucks being 20 years old and not getting hard that easy as it should be