- Reaction score
- 3
So first, some back story, I'm 22, it's hard to tell when I started balding, but I think I was around 18-19 when it started, considering I can still style my hair in a way where you can't notice it too much I guess you could say it's been progressing slowly. Though I did have to cut my hair (used to have it very long) as it became way too obvious about a year ago.
I started looking into treatments around February, and found out about nizoral shampoo, regaine, and finasteride, I started on just nizoral shampoo by recommendation of my doctor, as there isn't much history or male pattern baldness in my family, she thought my then inflamed scalp could be the issue, I stayed on it for months and saw no improvement, I went back to see my doctor who said at that point the only thing she could point to was male pattern baldness.
So I started using regaine foam, probably around 3-4 months ago now, in the hopes that I could avoid finasteride, as tbh, I was terrified of the horror stories I had heard about it. Then I moved house around October time, and my new bathroom had a... very unflattering light, placed directed above the mirror, that revealed the extent of the damage, I was terrified of losing even more hair. So I started doing research into finasteride for a fair few weeks, thinking it over carefully and talking to my girlfriend about it. In the end we decided I should give it a go, but stop if I get any side effects. So I ordered it online and it arrived about a week ago.
I kept it in my draw for a few days, trying to work up the courage to start taking them, I also knew there'd be a good chance I'd get placebo effects, as I suffer quite severely from healthy anxiety, so what I decided I'd do is just for a few days, was to convince myself I was on them (when I wasn't), and see if my mind would try screw me over or something (sounds silly I know, but this has happened in the past). And sure enough, my libido went down, my testicles ached, and I struggled to get an erection, all because I had kept telling myself I was on the drug at that time, even though I wasn't. Once I managed to convince myself that the symptoms were purely psychological, and went away, I started taking finasteride.
It's been 3 days now and as far as I can tell, I've had no side effects so far, except from low libido in the mornings when I wake up. My sex drive has remained the same (which my girlfriend has happily pointed out to me a few times
), it may have even gone up, but I think that's because the stress I was under on whether or not to take finasteride has gone now. I haven't started any shedding yet, but again I guess that takes some more time.
Sorry for the very long post, I just felt like I should go into as much detail as I can for anyone else who may have be in a similar position to what I was in.
Hopefully I'll see some really good results, and carry on getting minimal side effects over the coming weeks/months, I'll be sure to update this post whenever I spot any kind of result or new side effect.
I started looking into treatments around February, and found out about nizoral shampoo, regaine, and finasteride, I started on just nizoral shampoo by recommendation of my doctor, as there isn't much history or male pattern baldness in my family, she thought my then inflamed scalp could be the issue, I stayed on it for months and saw no improvement, I went back to see my doctor who said at that point the only thing she could point to was male pattern baldness.
So I started using regaine foam, probably around 3-4 months ago now, in the hopes that I could avoid finasteride, as tbh, I was terrified of the horror stories I had heard about it. Then I moved house around October time, and my new bathroom had a... very unflattering light, placed directed above the mirror, that revealed the extent of the damage, I was terrified of losing even more hair. So I started doing research into finasteride for a fair few weeks, thinking it over carefully and talking to my girlfriend about it. In the end we decided I should give it a go, but stop if I get any side effects. So I ordered it online and it arrived about a week ago.
I kept it in my draw for a few days, trying to work up the courage to start taking them, I also knew there'd be a good chance I'd get placebo effects, as I suffer quite severely from healthy anxiety, so what I decided I'd do is just for a few days, was to convince myself I was on them (when I wasn't), and see if my mind would try screw me over or something (sounds silly I know, but this has happened in the past). And sure enough, my libido went down, my testicles ached, and I struggled to get an erection, all because I had kept telling myself I was on the drug at that time, even though I wasn't. Once I managed to convince myself that the symptoms were purely psychological, and went away, I started taking finasteride.
It's been 3 days now and as far as I can tell, I've had no side effects so far, except from low libido in the mornings when I wake up. My sex drive has remained the same (which my girlfriend has happily pointed out to me a few times
), it may have even gone up, but I think that's because the stress I was under on whether or not to take finasteride has gone now. I haven't started any shedding yet, but again I guess that takes some more time.Sorry for the very long post, I just felt like I should go into as much detail as I can for anyone else who may have be in a similar position to what I was in.
Hopefully I'll see some really good results, and carry on getting minimal side effects over the coming weeks/months, I'll be sure to update this post whenever I spot any kind of result or new side effect.
