Another Propecia Dropout

[Boondock]

I think I'm stopping propecia for good.

I first tried it over a year ago, and immediately it didn't agree with me so I stopped after a couple of doses. Hair loss wasn't too bad then anyway, so it wasn't such a big deal.

I've been on it again for a little over 2 weeks now, at a lower dose of 0.25mg. Sides I've experienced:

- Dull pain in prostate area, which comes and goes
- No morning erections past couple of weeks
- Lowered sex drive
- Dick just doesn't feel "right"

I'm acutely aware that it's possible to get a 'nocebo' effect from the drug, so I've gone out of my way to be chilled about it the whole couple of weeks. I genuinely thought the effects would diminish, and just brushed them off. It's important not to be emotional about it.

I set myself two weeks after starting to evaluate the drug. I've just done this, and the sides clearly have remained and have not got better.

I don't think propecia's an "evil" drug, and clearly for a lot of people it really works a treat and gets their hair back. For some, though, and probably myself included, blocking DHT in the body does have some adverse effects, and there's no getting around that. With the sides I'm having, I don't want to keep taking the drug any longer, and certainly not for several years.

My new regimen is going to be a mixture of natural, anti-inflammatory internals, and topicals (minomuck or the super zix formulas, nizoral, possibly olive oil etc). I may chuck in a laser helmet later in the year if I get the money.

For now, though, finasteride's off the menu.

 

[Boondock]

Update:

After a bit of encouragement and a realization that I neeeded to "man up" a bit, I stayed on propecia for several weeks longer. Unfortunately, the sides still persisted.

I quit a couple of weeks ago and feel much better. Sure, it could be placebo, it could be my imagination running riot. But I couldn't stop feeling like I'd been hit by a train every morning, and having almost no sex drive whatsoever.

The worst thing is it did actually work for my hair, and very effectively. I just couldn't tolerate the feeling I had on it.

 

[southern guy]

Boondock,you say you had very effective results in only a few weeks on propecia,can this be?What did you notice?I ask because ive been on propecia for three months.thanks

 

[Mew]

He probably noticed a slowing in his loss, and possibly some minor thickening.

But hes off the drug now, so it's a moot point.

 

[Boondock]

Hi SG, sorry I only just checked this again. When I said "very effective" I should have clarified that, at that stage, it was far too early to tell. I certainly didn't have regrowth sprouting up everywhere and bangs of hair popping up on my forehead.

What I did experience was less hair fallout - measured, albeit unscientifically, by how much I lost in the shower, how much I lost rubbing my hands through my hair, or by much comes out brushing my hair. This went from significant amounts of loss to almost none at all. My hair also felt healthier, less itchy, and just, well, better. This might all be placebo, but it might not be.

 

[cuebald]

Ah well. Surely baldness isn't that bad.

 

[Boondock]

^ It really isn't.