More then a year on propecia

[Kareltje]

Ok so I started using propecia when I was almost 23 (my doctor prescribed it, but wasn't happy about it), I was getting some thinning on the crown, not visible to the mere mortal eye, but I surely saw some thinning there. Everybody said I was crazy though that I was never going bald.
Now I'm 24 and so far it has only gotten worse. I started propecia because of the fact that I didn't wanted to lose my hair, I was barely thinning if any. Right now I am thinning quite a lot though on the front (the crown is ok), not on my temples, but more diffuse.

I wanted to use it to:
a. prevent hairloss
I lost quite a lot of hair during that one year
b. Reduce the amount of body hair
I've been getting more body hair during the year

On the upside I barely had any negative side effects:
- probably have to go to the bathroom more
- I'm tired more often, but this could be something totally different

Now most people will probably tell me: hey if you wouldn't have used propecia it would have been worse. But that sounds a bit too easy for me. Isn't there the possibility that propecia would have the opposite effect on some people?
Anyways I'm probably quitting after this month, if I go bald anyways might as well go bald without having to pay money for it . But I would love to hear what others think of this case.

 

[fromchicago]

sounds like you're shedding -- hairs should come back thicker in their next cycle. buzz it and ride it out

 

[Kareltje]

Shedding for a year? That seems a bit long to me .

 

[fromchicago]

hmm, perhaps your male pattern baldness is very agressive, or yea, shedding for a year. have you taken any pics? the mind's eye is tricky, so they say.

 

[Kareltje]

Not really but I know I wasn't thinning when I started taking finasteride and I am clearly now. Ah well not going to use it for another year, only to find out it doesnt work .
But it's just that in the back of your head you will keep wondering if another year of finasteride would have helped.

 

[fromchicago]

well, if you wern't thinning in the first place, there was potentially very little to gain, sheds are only going to make you, well, shed

 

[fireman]

I have the exact same problem. My hairloss was really not that bad at all before I started propecia. I would have been happy to just maintain.

It seemed alright for the first 3-4 months, but for the past 6 or so months I've just been losing ground. I have about 3 months worth of pills left, so if I don't see improvement after I'm finished with them I'm done.

 

[dresden]

I'm in the same situation as well.. i've been on finasteride for a year and my hairloss is still getting worse. Did any of you think about trying dutasteride?

 

[Kareltje]

Not really, I always thought propecia wasn't that big a deal, but dutastaride seems another step higher on the messing with your health part. I think I'll just slowly lower the dose of fina and then quit in a month?
Really curious how things would have looked without fina though.

 

[FreeloaderUK]

propecia doesnt work on everybody im afraid. could be down to bad luck. male pattern baldness progresses overtime & if ur taking propecia but it doesnt work then it may seem that it is infact propecia that is causing it.

 

[Epiphany]

Not really, I always thought propecia wasn't that big a deal, but dutastaride seems another step higher on the messing with your health part. I think I'll just slowly lower the dose of fina and then quit in a month?
Really curious how things would have looked without fina though.

Don't give up now. Even a year isn't long enough to make a proper judgement. Look at douggie's story in the Success Stories section.

I have been on finasteride for 16 months and I have no reason to quit. I've maintained my hair so far, so who knows - regrowth might just be around the corner.

 

[brentx]

Don't quit unless you're in the unlucky 2% getting killed by side effects. Chances are that results are just around the corner. I guess it depends on how much hair means to you. Photos help too, so you don't get "tricked" by your eyes. All the best in whatever you choose to do.

 

[Kareltje]

Just a bump of this topic.

Ok I didn't quit, but now I really am planning too, I do not have any side effects I can say with certainty that my libido hasn't gone down, nor do I have emotional swings.

But just taking a pill each day which could create side effects doesn't seem like the best thing to do if it doesn't work on my hair.

I tried taking pics, but I hace got a crappy cam so it seems like my hair is really thick. I know for certain that my hair has gotten worsen over the last 14 months though. Now this could have been the same with or without propecia, anyways at the rate it is going now I will be forced to shave my head in 2, years so why stick with the propecia .

Again it is sad that it has come to this, 24 now and although my hair seems just fine at the moment if I let it dry up first and then put some wax in I know that it is indeed thinning at the top (especially on the right side). I wouldn't have minded a horseshoe like my dad, but the gnome look just isn't me .

edit: to clarify my crown seems to be better then when I started (very little thinning on the crown, but that is what got me started with propecia), but then again it could be because the rest of my top is thinning.

 

[BDSander]

I have been on propecia for almost 19 months and it has totally ruined my hair. I have debated so many times on whether to stay on it or to get off of it. I always seem to come to the conclusion to stick with it, but with my hair getting worse and worse it is becoming more more evident that propecia isnt for me. I always think I should just get off of it, but the thought always creeps into my head what will happen to my hair if I stop taken propecia. Will I lose all of the hair that I supposedly "maintained"? Has anyone had a similar experience?

 

[HT55]

Chances are you were both going to lose your hair with or without Propecia. One thing I can tell you is I'd be willing to bet if you stop finasteride today in a year you will have MUCH LESS hair.

 

[Kareltje]

Well I'm off propecia for a week now I guess. No noticable changes yet, but I am afraid me and my somewhat healthy head full of hair have to part ways in the foreseeable future.
At the rate I was losing hair on propecia it wouldn't have taken more then a year either before I'd go the clippers without a guard route anyways. Now like I said before, I prefer to keep my hair, but I am not sure propecia was helping that much to justify the sideffects.

And reading up on some sideeffects people were having and which I may or not end up having in the long run caused me to just stop taking it alltogether. Not sure if that was good though, maybe I should have gradually slowed down?

Well 1 week later:
- hair doesn't look to good, but then again I never thought it looked good over the last year
- my crown is itching again, now even though the hair on top of my head was thinning while on propecia, I am pretty sure my crown got a bit fuller so I am afraid I am getting a helicopter landing platform

I'll keep you guys updated.

 

[abcdefg]

Everyone needs pictures. How can you even be taking propecia without some kind of pictures to know if it did anything or not? Memories are not that reliable with something that grows very slowly over the course of a year. I mean someone says propecia made their hairloss much worse but no one ever has pictures of it which unfortunately is about the only proof you could give.

 

[Kareltje]

Another bump:
Hair on the crown seems to be thinning rapidly. I thought this wouldn't bother me that much anymore but I guess I thought it would be a slower process.

To conclude: propecia was helping, probably going to take it again (why o why did I threw away the 100ish pills I still had left ).