Finasteride sides are wayyyyy overblown. They definitely do exist, although I question the severity of them when members like INT make threads about wanting to restart finasteride after years of so called “recovery”... like really? One look in the mirror and you’re willing to give that so called horror story another go lol. doesn’t make sense to me
Yeah to be honest for a second I was considering to make a new profile to talk about restarting finasteride knowing that I would add a little bit of credibility destruction to myself, and to everyone that got fucked over by the drug. I decided to just use my own account because I feel that, like is so often the case in a polarizing debate, the truth is somewhere in the middle.
Here is my current view on finasteride:
- I do not believe in the 2%
- I do believe in persistent side effects from finasteride that are not just nocebo.
- I do believe that one can recover from from these persisting side effects. It just takes a lot of work but in the end, your entire health will benefit from the method of action.
- A lot of the stories of people that report side effects should not be taken serious and unfortunately they make people that actually get hit hard less credible.
I will try to explain why I am CONSIDERING restarting finasteride. Bear with me and after that you can judge me all you like.
I got hit by the side effects big time 2,5 years ago. Two weeks after my first pill I could not get ANY erection and I had to leave work to go to the hospital for a panic attack (which I had never had before). Till this point I had not even read about the side effects of finasteride. I heard some stories but I figured that that would only happen to low test beta males, just like whoever said that in this thread. Me, being the deep voiced, muscular, hairy, low fat 'alfa male' did not think that would happen to me. I started reading about the side effects and decided to drop the dosage. After some time the side effects got less but I became depressed. It was the time right after my graduation and I spent most of my time drinking, wasting time being hungover and even though I still went to the gym I did not take care of myself. Then I lost the love of my life at the time and I moved to another country which was Telogen Effluvium most stressful period I ever experienced. In 1 year I went from a guy that had a 9 girlfriend, was in great shape, studied what he loved, a full head of hair, living in his comfort zone to a depressed, anxious, balding loser who could not get his dick up, living in a big strange city where I knew no one, working at a job I hated.
Fast forward to now....At the moment I feel great, I have never been happier, I am healthy and I think I can say I am recovered. However... My hair has started to thin. I have long thick curly hair... I am not a bad looking guy and my hair is a big part of this. My nick name is Jon Snow... Guess that says it all.
There are so many questions I am having at the moment:
- What if my bad reaction to finasteride was because of my bad lifestyle at the time?
- What if my side effects were not that bad but just exacerbated by the sh*t that was going on in my life at the time?
- What if I would try it again, starting from a completely different baseline healthwise?
- Could I crack the PFS code? I have much more knowledge know about my own body and the drug on a hormonal and neurological level.
- Would I feel less shitty about my hair loss if I could get rid of the 'what if' feeling and I would find out that my body simply does not tolerate finasteride.
Look, what I went through at the time was horrible and I do not blame all of that on finasteride, that would be too easy Now that I know that you can recover from persisting side effects from the drug I just want to give it one last shot. That does not mean that I was imagining things at the time. What I felt was real.
My ego (can I beat this) and my vanity (can I keep this) are getting the best of me and I know it. I hope I can make it work but even if I don't I wouldn't mind becaus it will be easier for me to close my ears for them in the future.