exhairy's story

[exhairy]

My experience:

30 y.o. at onset of hair loss, rapid initiation of finasteride (1mg) treatment (< 2 mos. after hair loss onset). Treatment continued for 11 months. Results: I will not comment on hair results, as there is no 'control' experiment (i.e., me without the finasteride treatment) to compare to. I can say, however, that shedding while I was on finasteride was as intense as before initiating treatment and my scalp was incredibly itchy in spite of Nizoral use.

What I really need to share with everyone are the NASTY SIDE EFFECTS, which started almost immediately with the treatment and got only worse with continued use of finasteride. These HORRIBLE SIDE EFFECTS of finasteride (PROPECIA) are a complete DESTRUCTION of my sexual life, with all that that implies to one's overall personality. Namely, I had no desire, and if I had it, my capacity to perform was severely compromised. When performing, I felt no joy, it was like robotic action. When finishing, I was more relieved than satisfied, and my ejaculate was a meager shadow of what it used to be.

Those obvious physical manifestations of my messing with my male hormones were just what I could see. What I couldn't see then, but I see clearly now that I stopped that silly habit of popping a castrating pill every morning, was the damage to my personality. After removing the chemical castration that Propecia really is (c'mon, folks, let's face it) I very shortly started to feel like my old self. And I don't mean just sexually (I feel and desire and perform normally now, only weeks after stopping finasteride), but also generally as a human being who is not blocking anything inside of his own organism. Who knows what we are doing with ourselves when we block THE hormone that orchestrates the differentiation AND maintenance of our MALE CHARACTERISTICS (physical as well as psychological).

SIMPLY PUT: DON'T DO THAT TO YOURSELF. DON'T TAKE THIS DRUG LIGHTLY. WHAT'S THE PLAN, TO LIVE NEUTERED THE REST OF OUR LIVES WITHOUT THE SLIGHTEST IDEA OF THE LONG-TERM CONSEQUENCES?

In the trade-off between my stupid hair and the rest of me, the rest of me wins by a million.

-Cheers to all.

 

[BadHairDecade]

Thank you for sharing your story and I'm sorry that you had such a bad side effect. Most people don't have prolonged side effects like you did. Yes it happened to you, unfortunately you're in the small percentage of people that experinece them. What suprises me is that despite the immediate, then continued side effects you continued to use it for such a long time afterwards. Was there a reason?
What's good to hear is that your post is a good example that once the drug is stopped your body goes back to normal.
Please don't try to scare people into thinking that if you take this drug you will without a doubt have side effects. That's kind of the vibe I got , and it just isn't true. Yes it happened to you but that doesn't mean it happens to everyone. Not trying to sound cold just stating the facts. There are other options for you other than finasteride so you still may be in luck.

 

[exhairy]

Thanks Joe

Thanks Joe for your seemingly unbiased reply. That just goes to show the level of independence of your website.

-exhairy.

PS was it you who changed the title of my posting to something acceptable to Merck & Co.?

 

[BadHairDecade]

well to start it's not my website...I'm just a user who was asked to help out from time to time a couple months ago.

yes I changed the title of your thread. If you look at the rest of this section you'll see they're all identical. It's a story section good or bad all subjects are the same.
As for your Merck comment.... if you knew anything about me or the owner of this site you'd know that we both have suffered from side effects and have been very open about it here. HairLossTalk.com (the owner) had to quit finasteride due to the side effects he had. Mine have pretty much disappeared but surface from time to time. That's not going to change my opinion that the drug is safe however. Yea it sucks but you have to look at the stats logically and objectively. Hardly an advertisment or association or whatever you were implying. sh*t if that was the case i would have just deleted your post, don't ya think?
The only thing I can say to you is to stick around and ask advice from people here on what to do next for your hairloss. That is, if you wish to continue the fight. There are other options open to you like minoxidil, xandrox, spironolactone, copper peptides, and several others. There are quite a few people here that have taken the topical only route.

Good luck in whatever you choose to do.

 

[exhairy]

your right, BHD. My apologies. Let me explain myself: I was just trying to make young people conscious of the implications of committing to long-term finasteride treatment, which I found myself pursuing recklessly just to save my hair, disregarding the other consequences of the treatment (so-called 'side effects', but can you really call it a side effect when you know this drug was originally approved for BPH and of course it must affect sexual physiology, whether with symptomatic consequences or not.)

I am also motivated by the 'careful' (to say the least) way in which Merck worded the sexual side effect quantitation reported in the original clinical study, which leaves ample room to presume that the admitted 2 % is a gross underestimate.

BHD and others, I also would love to keep my hair. I simply refuse to do it at the expense of my physiology. Before a highly specific target is discovered to treat male pattern baldness, one that is not also at the heart of male physiology (as DHT is), I refuse to experiment on myself. If taking Propecia for longer than 2 years were not experimenting, then there would not exist a need for forums like some on this site, where patients (us!) share the 'scientific' results of long-term use of the drug. There should just be doctors and patients and long-term clinical studies under FDA oversight.

It's my humble opinion, and I hope it reaches some people who are willing to look at both sides of the hair-loss coin. Reckless optimism is not the key. And being bald sucks but after all it is OK, even bald people reproduce, or we wouldn't be talking here.