Figures On World Wide Finasteride Usage

[LosingMyLocks]

Been lurking here for the last month since realizing that my hairline is receding and thinning. I love my hair and want to keep it. Went to my GP who was happy to prescribe finasteride but also warned me of potential sides (he said they would stop upon cessation but I think he's wrong - PFS seems legit). He wants to run full bloods first so we can gauge any changes.

Anyway, something I'm starting to believe is that Finasteride usage is a crap shoot. There is no way I can believe that the amount of horror stories online is an over-representation. Finasteride isn't THAT popular a drug worldwide - indeed, my GP has only ever prescribed it twice, on both occasions for prostate issues. Nobody I've spoke to about it has ever heard of it. I don't buy this argument that there are millions of men out there taking finasteride without a second thought, maintaining there hair for years. Is there any evidence of that? Does anyone actually have any figures on worldwide usage of finasteride for hair loss?

My friend likened it to 'The Pill' for women - it messes with their hormones and a tiny minority of users get messed up by it. But the pill is used by 100's of millions of women, and bad sides from it are exceedingly rare. I doubt finasteride usage equates to even 1/50th of that, and yet the internet is awash with horror stories.

No doubt this will get the seemingly typical response of "Sides are rare, driving a car is just as risky, I've been on it 3 months with no sides ETC..." but whatever.

I'm still on the fence about taking it, not because of the sexual sides, but because there are WAY too many stories of it speeding up hair loss - my hair is still awesome and I would be bereft if I started taking a pill that robbed me of it more quickly than I would lose it otherwise.

I'll probably wait for it to get noticeable, shave it, wait for it to stabilize, then get an FUE.

Then again, I'll probably change my mind again tomorrow and decide to jump on finasteride anyway.

What a load of bullshit hair loss is.

 

[telogen]

the battle against hairloss is not for the weak one, you have to take big risks to be in this fight and those who choose to play it safe will lose their hair. You give something and get something, you wont get it both ways.

 

[Hair_doc]

I've seen many patients on it, guys who experience PFS are incredibly small. If you have anxiety/panic disorder or susceptible to the nocebo effect, do not go on it.

 

[LosingMyLocks]

I've seen many patients on it, guys who experience PFS are incredibly small. If you have anxiety/panic disorder or susceptible to the nocebo effect, do not go on it.

OK random man on an internet message board, I'll take your testimony over actual usage stats - cheers!

 

[Hair_doc]

OK random man on an internet message board, I'll take your testimony over actual usage stats - cheers!

Random man who treats hair loss patients, but please don't take my word for it, it is your health.

 

[brownhair]

Wish I hadn't bothered with Finasteride, completely ruined my hair and has definitely sped up the loss after just 6 weeks on 1mg a day. No one could notice my hair loss... 10 months on and I now have to use toppiks. My skin is constantly greasy and my head burns for the majority of the day. Bullshit drug, don't take it

 

[LosingMyLocks]

Wish I hadn't bothered with Finasteride, completely ruined my hair and has definitely sped up the loss after just 6 weeks on 1mg a day. No one could notice my hair loss... 10 months on and I now have to use toppiks. My skin is constantly greasy and my head burns for the majority of the day. Bullshit drug, don't take it

That's my fear mate - my hair at the minute is sound. It's receding and thin at the front but nobody else has noticed it. Once it's noticeable I plan to buzz it, and if I can't rock that then I will go the FUE route. What's your plan long term?

Saw your post about Finasteride, making a similar point to mine - where is all the evidence of the 90%+ of guys who take it with great success and no sides? Load of bollocks.

 

[brownhair]

That's my fear mate - my hair at the minute is sound. It's receding and thin at the front but nobody else has noticed it. Once it's noticeable I plan to buzz it, and if I can't rock that then I will go the FUE route. What's your plan long term?

Saw your post about Finasteride, making a similar point to mine - where is all the evidence of the 90%+ of guys who take it with great success and no sides? Load of bollocks.

Yup, to be honest, I don't have a plan. From what I've read anything stronger will do more damage. Plus the side effects I have at the moment are hard enough to take, I don't want to get on some sex change pill and risk more!

I would never advise anyone to take this drug and I'm so annoyed at myself for doing so. Before taking it, I, like you posted on this forum but I was too quick to listen to people's recommendations of getting on it "you're the perfect candidate, side effects are less than 2%. Not one study shows increased rate of hairloss". I've since read those same people struggling with aggressive of hairloss. So people refuse to accept what damage this drug is doing.

 

[Hair_doc]

That's my fear mate - my hair at the minute is sound. It's receding and thin at the front but nobody else has noticed it. Once it's noticeable I plan to buzz it, and if I can't rock that then I will go the FUE route. What's your plan long term?

Saw your post about Finasteride, making a similar point to mine - where is all the evidence of the 90%+ of guys who take it with great success and no sides? Load of bollocks.

Then don’t take it?

 

[LosingMyLocks]

Then don’t take it?

You've quoted my post, in which I stated that I wouldn't be taking it.

 

[Hair_doc]

You've quoted my post, in which I stated that I wouldn't be taking it.

Literally in your OP you said “I’m on the fence taking it.”

 

[LosingMyLocks]

Literally in your OP you said “I’m on the fence taking it.”

Which do you think came first - the OP or the post that came after the OP?

 

[Hair_doc]

Which do you think came first - the OP or the post that came after the OP?

You’re kind of all over the place man. I bet you’ll decide to take it once you see your hairline regress. Look, it’s your health, do what you want, but your OP had you “on the fence” as of what, Saturday? Now you’re not going to take it? Fantastic news, let me alert CNN and let them know. You’ve also posted zero statistical data on how much the drug is prescribed worldwide for MBP and BPH. You just “believe” that’s it’s not prescribed that often. Your post is somewhat lame to be honest .

 

[LosingMyLocks]

You’re kind of all over the place man. I bet you’ll decide to take it once you see your hairline regress. Look, it’s your health, do what you want, but your OP had you “on the fence” as of what, Saturday? Now you’re not going to take it? Fantastic news, let me alert CNN and let them know. You’ve also posted zero statistical data on how much the drug is prescribed worldwide for MBP and BPH. You just “believe” that’s it’s not prescribed that often. Your post is somewhat lame to be honest .

This is bizarre. It's surreal to me how people behave/communicate online.

 

[Hair_doc]

I

This is bizarre. It's surreal to me how people behave/communicate online.

I agree, especially when people accuse me of being “some random guy on the internet “ when I’m in the medical field and in this group to help men recover from from finasteride.

 

[LosingMyLocks]

I


I agree, especially when people accuse me of being “some random guy on the internet “ when I’m in the medical field and in this group to help men recover from from finasteride.

Who on Earth are you to me, if not some random guy on the internet? Bizarre behavior.

 

[Hair_doc]

Who on Earth are you to me, if not some random guy on the internet? Bizarre behavior.

You would think with your concerns over the drug and your current medical disposition you’d welcome the help of a medical professional. But anyways, good luck man.

 

[brownhair]

https://www.hairlosstalk.com/intera...-call-aggressive-balding.123761/#post-1813792

Heres what it did to me in the space of 9 months. What you can't see is how it's thinned my hair, turned it from black to brown, the constant burning of my scalp and poor quality of my hair. But of course this doesn't count because.... aNeCdOtAL

 

[brownhair]

Unfortunately if there are no "studies" about this kind of things or about the long lasting side effects that are on the leaflet anyways, nobody will believe you, not even doctors that most of them don't know sh*t anyways... It's far gone over the medical part and it became only a business.. Most dermatologists don't even know what the f*** they are prescribing, salesmen come to them with a study and the pill itself, the dermatologists negotiate their prices with the salesman and that's that... They prescribe you the drug, it's your obligation to read the leaflet and if something happens they are absolved of any guilt and you can't do sh*t about it, especially since they prescribe hormonal altering drugs without blood tests and for a cosmetic disease... But this is how the world works this days and it's our duty to inform ourselves before taking something and unfortunately if you choose to ignore all the negatives and believe only the positives, if something strikes you nobody can help you anyways... And being such a stressful and frustrating thing, most people are willing to do anything to keep or regrow their hair, bypassing all the negatives, evading and ignoring all the downsides and discrediting all others negative experiences, studies, etc..

All the years i was lurking this kind of forums i never saw a negative post not being invaded by people offending and discrediting the person who reported the sides or their experiences with this kind of drugs, not even one... Only offence, only insults and even when the proof was right in their faces you would see the desperate kids who say that they would trade their whole families and health just to keep their hair, so for me they are out of the game from start and their word or opinion means nothing, and not because of what they choose but just because they don't have a saying in such a conversation.. Everybody needs to know the truth and after decide, not just "2%" could get whatever or who knows what, when or for how long, we need more studies, more information about everything, but if this happens and the truth comes out, 90% of their incomes will go down because a lot of people would not take it in the first place if they would knew the real percentages of people who experience sides, etc !

Yup, you're right. What has happened to me isn't even listed as a side effect yet you can see so many accounts on here in the same state. And others just telling them to keep on the drug. I eventually had to come off of it because it put me in a severe depression and gave me panic attacks which have cleared up 10 months off of it.

People don't want to believe that damage this drug is doing and happy to accept side effects to keep their hair. I've recently read on this forum people questioning PFS. It should be banned along with dire sites like this

 

[INT]

Yeah because banning drugs always helps...

Oh wait