My experience on Finasteride so far (Fincar from inhouse)

[TheGrayMan2001]

I got my Fincar on Saturday, cut up a couple of the pills into 4 pieces each, so roughly 1.25 mg. My first shock was that the Fincar pills are so very tiny. I actually had difficulty cutting them evenly because they came apart pretty easily.

This marks my third day of taking finasteride. So far libido seems fine, I've kind of had what might be considered "ball ache" a little bit here and there...but I've had these same sensations before, so it might just be another occurrence of that. My groin\left upper thigh feels a bit funny today, however I work out with a pretty demanding routine doing squats. I did new weight last night so I'm pretty sure this pain is simply from doing that and messing up a little bit on my form.

I have no brain fog, no puffy nipples, no watery semen or anything of the sort so far. This "ball ache" keeps reoccurring but as I've said I've had several times in the past where I've had that...usually for a couple of days after I've went a while without any masturbation or whatnot, which happened last week, so things seem normal so far.

I was almost one of those people scared to take finasteride, thinking it would be horrible and kill me and turn me into a woman. Who knows, maybe it will, but I decided its much safer to take the plunge and test it out than lose my hair.

 

[TheGrayMan2001]

Last night and even this morning the ball ache has been really annoying. It isn't really pain but kind of dull and goes in and out. My left groin hurts a little too in the same way...I do squats and deadlifts with a barbell for my workouts and I'm hoping I didn't hurt myself...though honestly that'd be more comforting in the end than knowing this is a finasteride side effect that would stay with me.

 

[Guest]

you said you get this "ball ache" from not masturbating/having sex for a while.... just a thought but go crank one out!

you said you work out too. are you sure you didn't get a hernia or strain something? Hernia's will not always cause severe pain to the point of tears. I had a sports induced hernia when i was in high school because i had some "slight discomfort" and much too my surprise it was a hernia.

If anything i would say to get checked out. Thats one area of my body that i care more about than my hair.

 

[TheGrayMan2001]

Yeah...I've had this constant mild ball ache most of Monday night until today. I didn't take finasteride today. Since I just started I'm going off of it for a few days to see if it disappears or not. I'm not working out either.

I'm well aware that it could be in my head but it's been constant enough that I notice it comes to my attention a lot.

If it disappears and I'm pretty sure it's the finasteride I might try it again and push on through to see if it disappears.

 

[TheGrayMan2001]

I stopped taking finasteride on Wednesday of that week, ball ache was 100% gone by Friday night and libido was 100% normal. I didn't have that much of a difference during my few days on it, no erection problems but kind of wanted it less.

I decided to man up and start finasteride again.

I am not really sure of the exact amount I am taking. since I have fincar it is hard to tell how much of each pill I am really taking but I am basically taking roughly 1/8th of a fincar rather than 1/4th. I suppose each part I'm taking is somewhere between .5 and 1 mg rather than 1.25-ish.

I had slight ball ache\discomfort most of yesterday, but by 10:00 at night (about 12-14 hours after I took the pill) it disappeared. I'm going to assume it was the finasteride causing a strange thing I had last night: tons of sex crazed dreams and woke up really hard.

I took another one today, about an hour ago. If the ball ache is this manageable now that I am taking about half of what I did originally, I will easily outlast it and should see (hopefully) no more side effects after this.

EDIT: I had an interesting thing happen last week. My grandfather was in the hospital for a bad disc in his back. I stopped by to see my grandparents for a little bit and whle I was there my dad also showed up. I was about to leave when I heard my dad and granddad talking about prostate issues, my dad apparently has no problems but fro mwhat I gathered my granddad had something minor and "tried some of the medicine but just couldn't take it". I didn't jump in on the conversation but I am wondering if his doctor gave him 5mg Proscar and he had bad side effects? Might be something I inherited. My cousin on my mom's side is using 1mg Finpecia and has had no side effects whatsoever.

 

[TheGrayMan2001]

Day 3. Took another. About 2 hours later got minor ball ache, still going on but it's very managable and should go away based on what everyone else says.

I might have to order finpecia so I can regulate the amount I take better...it is SO hard to cut up the tiny tiny fincar into 6-8 pieces.

 

[TheGrayMan2001]

Alright. Been on it since Sunday. Day 5. Ball ache has continued but it comes and goes. Every morning I wake up with an erection, I have no problems there. In fact, it seems that by 11-12:00 I have no more ball ache, as if the finasteride is partially out of my system or something. I have an absurdly fast metabolism so this might be possible.

My sex drive is pretty normal...it seems like its been slightly lower at times, but higher than average at others. I have no problems getting an erection but I'll go ahead and give my explanation of the lower sex drive this week:

1) If you sit and think about the slight ball ache you aren't gonna want to get it up and
2) I've been more busy in the mornings this week (usually the time I think about sex etc the most) so that contributes too.

I still can't say exactly how much finasteride I'm taking as the pills "break" a little so its hard to get an even cut. It's less than 1.25 for sure. The ball ache has been just as bad as it was when I originally took 1.25 so I suspect doseage has no effect on me, I might play around with this some to see.

Anyway, today has been a lot better. It disappears for an hour or two at a time. Seems like waiting it out is the best thing.

Other than this, I have no reported side effects. Clarity of mind is normal and I'm not having any other side effects.

 

[TheGrayMan2001]

I took a slightly smaller than normal dose yesterday. Almost no pain at all, and really horny all day long.

I took a slightly larger than normal dose about 2 hours ago and I can kind of feel it but the pain is verrrry slight.

It looks like I will soon be over this and have no other side effects from finasteride. Hopefully hair growth will come in the next 1-3 months!

 

[TheGrayMan2001]

Just wanted to say it took six days and there are no visible side effects. I ought to put this in a "Tell Your Story" post but I figure the antiandrogen forum needs a little reporting.

If anyone reads this you'll see I stuck it out and so far it's good. I hope there will be no more side effects and that my hair on top will get to feeling thicker and that my hairline will stabilize. I haven't really posted good pics in the past so I can't really say much...mostly its been a bit of diffuse thinning on top and in the past year my hairline started to recede, but it IS miniturization and looks pretty bad.

If I manage to keep what I have and it stabilizes completely I should be good.

Get on finasteride early people. I think it is worth it.

 

[Mens Rea]

sorry man you cant base ANY conclusions in 6 days

take it for 6 months and then decide if its for you. hell, even a year.

 

[TheGrayMan2001]

sorry man you cant base ANY conclusions in 6 days

take it for 6 months and then decide if its for you. hell, even a year.

Oh, I know, but there are a lot of people on here who take it for 2 days and quit because the most minor side freaks them out.

Just trying to give some comfort here.

 

[TheGrayMan2001]

I started finasteride on May 16

As I reported, ball ache went away within a week.

I've been taking a little less than 1 mg most of this time, but I upped it to 1 to 1.25 mg a day. I had a slight bit more ball ache for ONE day after doing this, but it subsided. I suppose some people's testicles just have to get used to the extra testosterone at first, eventually it levels out.

So, so far no regrowth but it has only been one month and I haven't been taking the full doseage. Also, I am still to some extent only a NW1 (corner recession) but it is receded DEEP within my hairline and over the top.

On the bright side, in the past week the scalp itching has essentially stopped, and I rarely pull out a hair from my head. Everyone gets a little itch now and then and, from habit, I'd pull at my hair a little and end up getting a hair out when I did--it has been rare for me to get a hair out this week for the first time ever.

Shedding even seems to have gone down mildly in the shower.

I'd take pics for you guys but I have two problems:

A) I have no access to a real camera
B) I'm lazy and wouldn't do it if I did

but, anyway, even my temples seem to be shedding less. If they'd regrow fully I'd have a dense NW1 and my scalp would fill in all the way.

I'm leaving for a vacation this week, I am considering ordering minoxidil when I get back and applying it to the temples only at first.

(Also, my widow's peak has started to go back and I don't think I'll have an "island" of hair, so if I lose the hairline it's all going back :-\ )

 

[TheGrayMan2001]

Well here's the deal so far. The hairs on my left temple that were miniaturized continued to. My right temple had almost no minaturization going on. Now my left temple has thinned out a bit. This was going on BEFORE I started on finasteride in May and only got worse. No big deal I guess, I knew that part was coming.

On the bright side, about 3ish weeks ago I noticed a lot of tiny tiny blonde hairs starting to grow from roughly the center of my hairline, across the forehead area in my right temple. I am pretty sure I have about 5-6 hairs growing full on terminal now near the corner and a lot of those blonde hairs are getting longer.

The left temple has some blonde hairs growing, but not as many, and not very many are in the actual "hairline" but below it. It's a little bit depressing to look at but I have hope that if my right temple can start to recover, my left one can too.

The center of my hairline has continued to thin a bit but I think its almost stopped.

Scalp itching has essentially stopped. Everyone itches on your scalp some regardless, but it's not like it was.

Shedding seems lessened but not totally stopped. Then again, I was never losing hundreds of hairs like some people do. More than I should have been, I think, but not too many.

I am still working out. The ball/groin ache gave me some problems into early August again but those resided and I have NO side effects anymore. No fat gain, plenty of strength and energy.

I am tempted to add minoxidil for my hairline but given the start of results at the 3 month mark I am going to just stay on finasteride. My "outline" of my hairline is still pretty much a Norwood 1.5 though its not thick yet. I have some hope that it will return.

The top of my head seems a little denser. I've got a decent haircut that's shorter on the sides, a bit longer on top, but I'm pretty convinced its thickening some. There's a bit of thinness in my vertex that seems to be thickening too.

This is at 3 months in. Hopefully things will continue to improve.