Please sway my wavering mind ...

[Hairless Goat]

Hi all,

Been creeping around these parts for a while, figured it was time to post.

Over the course of a year, I've done my fair share of research on finasteride. Truth be told, I'm wary of taking this effective treatment, in no small part to the litany of troubling anecdotes and scary articles from legitimate source (so one would think). But, something in the back of my mind tells me to take everything I read with a grain of salt.


I'm not really a pill person, but I've contemplated taking the plunge today. I've had the prescription (5mg finasteride tablets which I'd quarter) since January. I filled it in February and the bag has been lying on my desk ever since. One moment I resolve to not take the drug, the next I'm surveying the sparser areas of my scalp and reconsidering that resolution. I'm fine with my hair now -- it could stand to be thicker and more filled in -- but what drives me to finasteride is that the thinner areas serve as a portent of what is to come.


I've been on Rogaine 5% since January of 2011 and Ketoconazole shampoo since this past April/Early May (I forget). I know finasteride is the big Kahuna, however. Not to mention more effortless than anything else in my regimen, except for maybe Biotin (which I take on a daily basis). Any advice? Testimony to sway me one way or the other?


Dan

 

[Benjamin36]

I have been taking it since February with absolutely no side effects in the beginning or presently.

 

[Hairless Goat]

Thanks, I thought you've been on it since March?

 

[Benjamin36]

Yeah, I meant March.

 

[Rawtashk]

That is one guy, ONE GUY! Also, that is a HUGE laundry list of side effects. I am more than a little bit suspicious that many of them are psychosomatic.

As for another first-hand experience, why not mine? On it 4 years. No side effects to report. Had a little ball ache at the start, but went away in about a month or less. If you're so worried, then might I suggest starting it out at a lower dose? Get some 1mg pills and cut them in half, or even in quarters. .25mg of finasteride is still better than 0mg of finasteride, as far as keeping your hair is concerned.

Here's what's going to happen to you, I can almost guarantee it. You're going to have the finasteride sitting there, staring you in the face. You'll keep putting it off and putting it off because you're scared of potential side effects. Sooner or later you're going to see a picture of the crown of your head, and you're going to realize that you're at the "make or break point". You're either going to have to start finasteride RIGHT THEN, of you're going to to have to accept baldness. My thought is that you're not going to accept baldness (due to the fact that you have finasteride already purchased). So...why put it off? Sooner or later your going to pop that pill, so do it now, before you lose more hair. It is 100x easier to MAINTAIN the hair that you have than it is to REGROW what you've already lost. Trust me...I know from first-hand experience. I was about to start taking finasteride 6 years ago...and then I ran across some horror stories. Freaked me the **** out, let me tell you!!! 2 years later I saw a picture of the crown of my head....and I was HORRIFIED at the thin spot I had! It was damn near BALD! That was my "make or break" point, and I ordered finasteride that same day, and popped it in my mouth the day it arrived in the mail. 4 years later....and I still have a good amount of hair, and my thin spot has filled in quite nicely. There aren't many things I regret in this life....but I would give $1,000,000 to go back in time and start finasteride 2 years earlier. I'd have 90% of my hair right now instead of 75% of it :-/

Check out my story for more pics and stuff.
http://www.hairlosstalk.com/interac...ide-and-Rogaine-NEWEST-pics-page-14-May-12-12

 

[Lead Farmer]

A year from now, it'll be a laughable idea to use finasteride for hairloss. Depriving your body of its more critical androgen, along with neuroactive steroids, all for a cosmetic purpose was never a good idea. Take your finasteride poison pills and flush them down the toilet. You'll be glad you did.

Yet many, many people have been using finasteride for more than 10 years with no side effects or problems. Explain.

 

[Lead Farmer]

http://www.hairlosstalk.com/interac...-the-big-3-and-counting-(45month-pics-update) (7 years)
http://www.hairlosstalk.com/interac...ars-on-finasteride-diffuse-with-pics(05-2007) (7 years)
http://www.hairlosstalk.com/interac...s-story-(45-years-old-new-pics-added-9-14-07) (5 years)

The only reason I couldn't find any threads older is because there doesn't seem to be anything dating back that far. Nevertheless if someone has not experienced any problems after 5+ years they are highly unlikely to experience any after that.

Allow me to rephrase my aforementioned statement to fit the above evidence:
Yet many, many people have been using finasteride for more than 5 years with no problems. Explain.

 

[Lead Farmer]

Can you point to the posts where they say they've experienced zero problems? It looks like damnthis has suffered problems. He pointed out a lower body temperature--a known finasteride side effect.

Thank you for giving me confirmation that you are a troll.

 

[Hairless Goat]

Thanks for the feedback. You're right, Rawtashk, one day this will come to a head (hopefully nothing on my head won't bring that about :salut. Yesterday, while at work, I resolved to finally start, but I agonized for hours when I got home and never did. I would like to stick it to the incredulous stories -- but it appears it's less a fear of the side effects than it is about being dependent on a drug for years. I feel I was designed with so much DHT, was disrupt the order of things. As for seeing my crown, I look at it all the time. All I do is turn my back to the mirror in my bathroom then look into a handheld mirror and inspect the loss. My hair loss is worse than yours, Rawtashk, when you began, congrats on the gains! At least I'm doing something about it, Rogaine 5% Foam and ketoconazole shampoo -- but it's hard to apply the Rogaine to your hairline twice a day. I don't want my scalp to be entirely messy, not to mention it makes the baldness more salient.

Anyway, one of the problems I ran into last night was that it was hard to cut the tiny 5mg finasteride tablets into perfect quarters. The tablets were not scored to facilitate cutting or breaking. If, hypothetically speaking, I were able to cut the tablets into perfect quarters, could one quarter contain, say 3.5mg of finasteride, while another contained like 0.60mg, then the other two quarters contained varying amounts? Or is it completely homogenous, just a matter of cutting the things as accurately as possible?

I feel finasteride is like woman I can't bring myself to marry. While she may offer a generous dowry, I don't know if I want to commit to her for indeterminate amount of time.

 

[IrishFella]

Habeas Corpse is the biggest ****ing troll I've come across on this site and it would be wise to ignore him. Google "finasteride/propecia studies", see the actual SCIENTIFIC data, don't be swayed by some anonymous fool spouting garbage from unverified sources.

Joe-1991, Amalgamated, just do everyone a favour and give it a rest. No cares for your opinion.

 

[Rawtashk]

Assertion lacking evidence.

Yup, exactly like yours. You're just spouting off whatever dribble furthers your agenda. Us, on the other hand, well....we actually have fact that back it up. For example, the TEN YEAR study that showed 94.1% of men had no reported side effects at all (5.9% did, but there's no mention of the level of sides. It could be very mild ones, for all we know).

http://gabelcenter.com/blog/2011/10...-your-provider-of-hair-transplants-in-oregon/

There, it's a 10 year study. Now go back to whatever hole you crawled out of and spew your hate in there. People like you piss me off to no end.

 

[wangho75]

stay bald if you want ya slack-jaws. Why are you so worried about being horny and your sperm count? I say, GOOD! We could use a few less people in the world and some people SHOULD NOT be spreading their seed. You don't need to get any ***. Join the priesthood instead.

 

[fml]

Read this guy's experience with the drug: http://mypropeciasideeffects.com/

Anxiety, paranoia, panic attacks, hopelessness, gasping for breath, loss of REM sleep, stuttering, slurring, loss of tongue motor control......
Ahahahah, that is one funny page. Fruitcakes gunna be fruitcakes.

Something tells me your scaremonger post is not actually going to scare the OP though. It might even push him the other way. From what he has said, one can tell he has this seed of rationality inside him. I suspect it will grow and by time the year is out he will be taking finasteride, and hardly thinking about it. And he will be having a little grin to himself when coming across posts like yours.


To OP:

But, something in the back of my mind tells me to take everything I read with a grain of salt.

That is your unconscious competence trying to get the job done. You have sufficient experience with people in general such that deep down you know something is not right with the fear campaign. You just cant put your finger on it. Life experience dealing with all the fools in the world talking nonsense, though, has already trained your BS filter. Youll trust it soon enough hopefully.


--
Edit: Just read you are more concerned with being a lifelong slave to medication. But is that really it? You have the same issue with minoxidil and nizoral but it didnt stop you.

I think youll end up taking finasteride and you will wonder what the fuss is about. And you will wish you took it earlier. Good luck with whatever you decide though.
--

 

[Rawtashk]

Goat, go to WalMart and get a pill cutter. You'll get (nearly) perfect quarters every time

Also, the finasteride is mixed around with the filler pretty consistently, as far as I'm aware.

Also, I'm afraid that you are SOOOO stressed out about this that you're going to find side effects where there are none. I mean, just think about it....when was the last time you REALLY paid that much attention to your junk, your sleep schedule, or how tired you felt during the day? Usually you jerk it and go about your day, you go to bed then wake up and go to work, and if you're tired then you take a nap. I'm afraid that now you're going to be freaking out about EVERYTHING! "Oh, damn, I'm tired today. Was I tired yesterday? Am I more tired today than usual? DAMNIT!!!!! MAYBE THIS IS THE finasteride HAVING AN EFFECT ON ME!!!!!!?!?!?!??!?!?" Just an example, but I think you get my point. If we have no reason to think that something is wrong, then we won't think there is. If you take a pill and your Doctor says "Ok, now this and this and this and this might happen", then you're going to put a microscope on those things and you will analyze them to DEATH until your mind finds something wrong.

The mind is a VERY VERY powerful tool. Don't underestimate how much power it wields over you.

 

[Hairless Goat]

Yeah -- I'm essentially ready to begin taking the drug, but the issue of the moment is how I will take it. The tablets I got from Walmart are not scored, thus not meant to be accurately halved or quartered. I called Walmart and they gave me the number for the manufacturer and they did not recommend splitting a tablet that was not scored, as the finasteride is not evenly distributed throughout the pill. As far as I'm concerned, I would need a horizontal and a vertical score to accurately quarter it. I don't want to get close to 2.5mg of finasteride in one dose, then next to nothing in another. Any thoughts?

 

[Rawtashk]

Classic troll move. Spout off conjecture and anecdotal evidence with no source or studies, then ignore all points made that are in contradiction to his narrow minded opinion. Anyone else notice how he didn't address any of the points that were raised against him? Just throws out insults and pretends like he's the "winner". Sad, sad little troll.

 

[Rawtashk]

I like how you think a SINGLE SOURCE (one guy that got depressed and killed himself) somehow should be a warning for NO ONE EVER to take finasteride. I showed you a study were 110 out of 118 reported ZERO side effects, and yet somehow I'm the bad guy and my point is the weak one? Wow...just....I mean, WOW!!!!

Also, I am a perfectly potent male. I am sorry if you took finasteride and it didn't work for you. But, that's life. There is risk in EVERYTHING we do, every.single.day. Hell, I take a risk every time I cross the street to get to my car after work. What if someone blows through that red light and runs me over? That'd really suck. Did you know that you have a 1-in-114 chance of dying in an automobile accident in your lifetime? Those aren't really good odds, yet I bet you're going to continue riding/driving cars.

 

[Lead Farmer]

Habeas Corpse, rather than avoiding it by resorting to insults and slander, please answer the following question in regards to the study Rawtashk linked to:

http://gabelcenter.com/blog/2011/10/...nts-in-oregon/

Why is it that the vast, vast, vast, vast, vast, vast majority of people involved in the study did not experience side effects after 10 years on finasteride?

 

[Wuffer]

Hairless Goat, take note of how obvious it is that Habeas Corpse is trying to push his agenda. He is giving you every reason he can think up to convince you NOT to take the drug. He has no interest in presenting a well weighted assessment of the safety of the drug, because he isn't able to even consider anything other than his version of reality. Take a good look at his post history and see that every one of his posts is 100% against finasteride, and he pushes his fear mongering with childish insults and name calling. Also illustrated by his posting history, he is unable to respond to challenging questions with anything other than the same trolling behavior.

His version of the reality of your decision boils this down to the following two choices:

1. Don't take finasteride, deal with your hair loss (which according to him is a completely cosmetic condition with absolutely no negative impact on self esteem) and live a life of sexual potency.

2. Take finasteride and you will experience immediate and total impotence along with a smattering of the other side effects he posted on page 1, which are clearly permanent and affects everyone who takes the drug, looks at it, or even speaks it's name. Oh, you might turn into a woman also, watch out for that one!


Fortunately, most people recognize the fact that life is not black and white. To this date, there has not been a single controlled medical study done that conclusively links finasteride to persistent sexual dysfunction, or anything else even remotely similar to this condition. Tens of thousands of men have taken this drug for years in dozens of placebo controlled studies, and side effects like these have never been seen. These are the 'little' facts that Habeas doesn't feel are important enough to mention.

That being said, this doesn't mean it's not a possibility. Much like how people can rarely end up with life-threatening reactions to any medication (over the counter or prescription), it is certainly possible and likely probable that finasteride can cause persistent and serious reactions due to unfortunate genetic disposition. However, there is absolutely NO indication that these reactions are common. In fact, the current (extremely limited) data we have shows that it is extremely rare. The fact that the descriptions from people suffering with the side effects vary so dramatically indicates that many people are likely experiencing symptoms due to an unrelated condition or cause.

 

[Lead Farmer]

I have no idea why you call 5.6% of subjects experiencing unpleasant side effects "the vast, vast, vast, vast, vast, vast majority."

I'd say it's because 94.4% didn't experience any side effects? Also it wasn't specified whether the side effects the few experienced were unpleasant or not, so don't manipulate the facts to suit your own ridiculous agenda.

I'm not going to respond to the rest of your post as it's extremely immature and pathetic. That study is far more formal, accurate and conclusive than ANYTHING you have ever provided yet you have the nerve to try and discredit it (which you failed at I might add).

This isn't about an internet argument, this is about giving the OP the most accurate information possible to aid his decision on whether or not to take finasteride. You are shamelessly pushing corrupt, alarmist, baseless propaganda rather than giving him the information and help he requires.