A few questions about Fincar

[energie]

Hi guys, i have a few questions about Fincar before I start taking it. any help is appreciated. thanks in advance.

1. How long do most people have to wait before they start to experience the side effects?

2. If you got a side effect when you first started taking fincar (ie. brain fog) but continued to take it because you would tolerate it, on longer term use could the side effect compound over time and somehow cause the side effect to become permanent?

3. On a typical shed, do you tend to lose more hair than before you started taking fincar, or is it about the same?

4. Were some of your sheds worse than others, or were they about the same hair loss?

5. Is fincar effective over long periods of time, like 10-20 years? Or could its benefits eventually taper off and become ineffective?

 

[energie]

Bump!

 

[southernstarter]

energie,

I have been on Propecia now for almost 10 months. I don't have answers to a lot of your questions but here are a few things I can tell you. As far as the side effects ... the only effect I have really noticed has been the watery semen and most likely (although I havent officially checked) lower sperm count. This effect I would guess started at about the end of month 1 of treatment and is still present today. I have not seen any return of normal sperm since I started taking Propecia and I dont honestly expect to see it return unless I stop taking it.

The only other thing I can think of would be an itchy scap, not sure if Propecia is causing that but I also use Nizoral 2% twice a week which seems to keep the itch away.

In general my hair loss was not very bad and I caught it early hoping to stop it all together with propecia. I dont really have any crown loss and I was just trying to hold off my receding hair line. I did not notice any shedding until about a month ago, beginning of month 9, and it just seems that everytime I tough my head 4 hairs fall out. Things still dont look that bad, but I can tell im losing ground in the front and things are thinning out a little. I am just hoping and praying this is a shed or something and it will just start at some point of my propecia treatment. But for me, although Im not losing a ton of hair at once the hair loss hasnt really stopped either and is slowly getting worse. So all I can really think is that Propecia is at least slowing things down than they would have been without treatment.

I would definitely recommend using the search function on the discussion board for some of your other questions as they have most likely already been answered in a previous disucssion. But if now, people here are pretty darn good about trying to answer your questions.

- J

 

[energie]

thanks for your response southernstarter.

 

[energie]

bump

 

[tchehov]

Hi guys, i have a few questions about Fincar before I start taking it. any help is appreciated. thanks in advance.

1. How long do most people have to wait before they start to experience the side effects?

2. If you got a side effect when you first started taking fincar (ie. brain fog) but continued to take it because you would tolerate it, on longer term use could the side effect compound over time and somehow cause the side effect to become permanent?

3. On a typical shed, do you tend to lose more hair than before you started taking fincar, or is it about the same?

4. Were some of your sheds worse than others, or were they about the same hair loss?

5. Is fincar effective over long periods of time, like 10-20 years? Or could its benefits eventually taper off and become ineffective?

1 - Varies. I started to experience side effects after three weeks on Fincar. Erections less than satisfactory and, ahem, watery semen. No brain fog or gyno, thankfully, yet.

2 - I don't think so, but I'm willing to take the chance. That's for you to decide, if you get the sides. How much does maintaining your hair mean to you? Is the trade-off worth it?

3 - More. Scary.

4 - Varies. I'm shedding at the minute, but that might be due to minoxidil foam.

5 - I don't think 20 years is a realistic expectation - 5-10 years more like, depending on the aggression of your male pattern baldness. The most often quoted expectation for the effectiveness of finasteride seems to be around 7 years. But remember that's 7 years of extra maintenance and possible regrowth. You'll have a huge advantage and there will be other meds available by then.

I understand how you feel. It took me six months to work up to the decision to get on Fincar. But now I've made the decision for better or worse and I intend to stick with it.

Good luck.