Hey everybody I've been reading posts around here for a long time, but I've never actually written anything until now. I started noticing my hair loss in spring of my senior year (2004). It wasn't too bad and it didn't bother me until winter of that same year it seemed like my hair all over had thinned awfully. I started becoming obsessed with it and depressed, and I've been that way ever since. It took me until August of this year to summon up the courage to start propecia, and I've been on that for a month. Everything was fine, the first week or so I was a little sore down there, but after that everything seemed normal. Just a few days ago, passed the month mark, I'm not sure if I'm experiencing side effects from the propecia, or just from being so bummmed out. Depression can squash libido so it's hard to tell what is causing it. My sex drive has plummeted which is weird because for the first month i was on it, my sex drive seemed fine. It seemed like I went through the period where your hormones adjust in the first week, and after that was over things should just stay the same. Can side effects start at any time after you've started treatment? I just figured if you could handle it for a few weeks than everything would be fine. Well in any case, I've been trying to get myself ready to just accept this baldness bullshit if the side effects really are from the medecine, and I was wondering if and how anyone has been able to get this off their minds. It's driving me crazy to the point where I can just burst into tears thinking about it. I've always considered myself a decent looking guy, but now all I see in the mirror ugliness. I'm not even 20 yrs old yet and my hair looks like sh*t it's so thin and whispy in the front. If anyone has any advice on how to just accept this, or at least stop thinking about it I would greatly appreciate it. Sorry for the long post I just needed to get this off my chest.
Airhed's Story
- Thread starter Airhed
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Update
Ok, so about my previous post, the "side effects" were completely in my head. I really believe that most of the side effects are psychological. If you read the posts on this site, it's pretty easy to see that most of us are in a pretty depressed and anxious state of mind. That's exactly what leads to sexual side effects like low libido and impotence. Sexual arousal is a complicated psychological process. When your mind is thinking about hairloss and how ugly it makes you feel, no wonder it crushes your sex drive. So many people are just quick to blame it on the finasteride, and while a lot of side effects are truly from the drug, I believe the majority are psychological. I was in a weird funk about a year ago, before I was on finasteride, and I had no desire for sex whatsoever. I was super stressed out, depressed, and had so much on my mind. And when you try to force yourself to do anything, the guy downstairs just doesn't work. This drug does not cause impotence, when you're not in the mood you're not in the mood. That's all. Sorry for the long post again, but I remember reading through this side and delaying propecia for almost a year because of all the horror stories. If I would have started at that time, I'd be in much better shape right now. I'm not blaming anyone for this, I'm just saying don't delay propecia because you're afraid of it. For anyone reading this and thinking about propecia, JUST TRY IT. If you think you're having side effects, ask yourself: What am I thinking about when this happens? Am I telling myself this is going to happen? Was I in a good mood, is there a lot of stuff on my mind? When I was experiencing the side effects I described on my last post, I was down in the dumps about my hair, and couldn't stop thinking about it. Over the last week, I've stopped thinking about it so much, and my libido has magically returned. Not to sound like a phsychologist, but you really have to analyze your thought process with things like this. If anyone else can back me up on this please reply.
Ok, so about my previous post, the "side effects" were completely in my head. I really believe that most of the side effects are psychological. If you read the posts on this site, it's pretty easy to see that most of us are in a pretty depressed and anxious state of mind. That's exactly what leads to sexual side effects like low libido and impotence. Sexual arousal is a complicated psychological process. When your mind is thinking about hairloss and how ugly it makes you feel, no wonder it crushes your sex drive. So many people are just quick to blame it on the finasteride, and while a lot of side effects are truly from the drug, I believe the majority are psychological. I was in a weird funk about a year ago, before I was on finasteride, and I had no desire for sex whatsoever. I was super stressed out, depressed, and had so much on my mind. And when you try to force yourself to do anything, the guy downstairs just doesn't work. This drug does not cause impotence, when you're not in the mood you're not in the mood. That's all. Sorry for the long post again, but I remember reading through this side and delaying propecia for almost a year because of all the horror stories. If I would have started at that time, I'd be in much better shape right now. I'm not blaming anyone for this, I'm just saying don't delay propecia because you're afraid of it. For anyone reading this and thinking about propecia, JUST TRY IT. If you think you're having side effects, ask yourself: What am I thinking about when this happens? Am I telling myself this is going to happen? Was I in a good mood, is there a lot of stuff on my mind? When I was experiencing the side effects I described on my last post, I was down in the dumps about my hair, and couldn't stop thinking about it. Over the last week, I've stopped thinking about it so much, and my libido has magically returned. Not to sound like a phsychologist, but you really have to analyze your thought process with things like this. If anyone else can back me up on this please reply.
YOU'RE NOT ALONE. I'm in the same boat. We're all in the same boat. Take heart in that.
I have noticed the traffic on this board tends to certain sub-forums, this not being one of them. This is a sub-forum where you tell your own story. But everyone's already scared for themselves; it's hard to be scared for someone else, too.
This doesn't mean you shouldn't participate or try to reach out. Nor does it mean you should visit this stie too often. Negative stories will only heighten your anxiety.
I have noticed the traffic on this board tends to certain sub-forums, this not being one of them. This is a sub-forum where you tell your own story. But everyone's already scared for themselves; it's hard to be scared for someone else, too.
This doesn't mean you shouldn't participate or try to reach out. Nor does it mean you should visit this stie too often. Negative stories will only heighten your anxiety.
imissmyhair
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dude i went through the same as you, i started propecia on the sept. 1st, the sides i got are sometimes a little pain behind my balls, then a month later i got very depressed i guess it the finasteride was starting to kick in and it just killed my sex drive also. i think the depression just really kills me im really considering to stop propecia just coz of the depression i mean i could just sit down with this blank look on my face staring off in to space i just seem so sad and i feel like im on the brink of crying all the time but never do because nothing happend, its just depression from the drug 
Imissmyhair, your depression is probably from the fact that you're dealing with this hair loss bullshit. I'm still bummed out too, but I was the same way long before I started taking finasteride. Dealing with this has a huge impact on a lot of things. The depression is what's killing your sex drive. It really sucks, I know believe me. My first year of college and now into my second, and this is still controlling me. f*** genetics I say.