Poll: What Did Finasteride Do For You?

[MasterYolo]

Been on it for nearly 8 years, first 2 years holy f*** my hair was amazing, but after a year 5 my hairloss got worse and worse. Switch to duta, now my hairline is non-existing and receding badly all over my scalp.

I've been on finasteride for a little over 6 years. I had amazing results at about the 18-24 month mark. Recently (last 12 months) I felt it was losing its effectiveness so about 6 weeks ago I took a 2 week break then restarted. Holy s***! The shed is crazy right now! I'm going to try to give it till the summer before I decide to buzz my head. My hair has thinned really bad. Also brain fog, loss of libido, and loss of energy have become pretty bad, almost to the point that I look forward to going bald and getting off of this crap.

 

[xyzxyz]

As the title says, what did Finasteride do for you? Explain your situation if you can such as age and level of hair loss and what Finasteride did for you.

The day I started taking Finasteride, my hair loss stopped, and within a month, my hair felt a lot more "solidly anchored" -- hard to describe. There were no loose hairs all over the bathroom floor anymore. I knew my hair loss was completely arrested, and it felt like I was getting some follicle thickening too (a reversal of the "miniaturization" process).

HOWEVER -- and this is important -- within 6 weeks, I suddenly noticed *major penile shrinkage*. We're talking 1/4 of the original volume, both flaccid and erect. It happened quite suddenly, I think, although it's hard to tell since there's a lot of normal variation in size anyway. The difference was striking, shocking and scary. I came off of Finasteride immediately, and haven't taken it since. It was a sickening feeling to be so emasculated so quickly, and I have never even cared about my size before. It took about 3 years to regain 75% of the original volume, and about 5 years to get back to maybe 85-90%. I don't think I ever fully regained size. Of course, there's no way to prove this in court. BEWARE THE EMASCULATING EFFECTS OF FINASTERIDE.

 

[reyl]

The day I started taking Finasteride, my hair loss stopped, and within a month, my hair felt a lot more "solidly anchored" -- hard to describe. There were no loose hairs all over the bathroom floor anymore. I knew my hair loss was completely arrested, and it felt like I was getting some follicle thickening too (a reversal of the "miniaturization" process).

HOWEVER -- and this is important -- within 6 weeks, I suddenly noticed *major penile shrinkage*. We're talking 1/4 of the original volume, both flaccid and erect. It happened quite suddenly, I think, although it's hard to tell since there's a lot of normal variation in size anyway. The difference was striking, shocking and scary. I came off of Finasteride immediately, and haven't taken it since. It was a sickening feeling to be so emasculated so quickly, and I have never even cared about my size before. It took about 3 years to regain 75% of the original volume, and about 5 years to get back to maybe 85-90%. I don't think I ever fully regained size. Of course, there's no way to prove this in court. BEWARE THE EMASCULATING EFFECTS OF FINASTERIDE.

Look I'm not the biggest fan of finasteride but this is absolutely impossible being on it for 6 weeks at only 1mg, I'd believe you more if you were on it for a year straight.

 

[xyzxyz]

Look I'm not the biggest fan of finasteride but this is absolutely impossible being on it for 6 weeks at only 1mg, I'd believe you more if you were on it for a year straight.

I promise, I'm not making this up. It was dramatic and seemed sudden, and took a very long time to even partially recover from. Everybody's biology is slightly different. I know I have naturally very high testosterone levels -- off the high end of the normal scale. This didn't just affect my DHT, it affected regular testosterone too.

 

[Juan1991]

My alopecia is very agressive and started when I was a teenager. At 16 I was using Minoxidil and as soon as I was 18 I started taking propecia to try to slow down the progress.

My erections became weaker, my semen was like water, I became anxious and developed depression. Despite all that I was keeping and regrowing my hair so I kept on taking it without questioning it too much for 5 years

The wake up call came one day looking at photos from before I started. Suddenly I realized that my face was totally different. My jawline had been destroyed and I was like a meek, pale, anxious, ugly version of the guy I used to be as a teen.

It was a hard hit to digest. It was not worth it. That day I decided to quit immediately. What I didn't know is that the worse part was about to come.

I'm not going to get into detail but the braingfog and digestive issues I developed after quitting were horrific. I also lost almost all the hair that I kept.

So in my experience Propecia is an extremely serious and dangerous drug with the potential to f*** you up permanently. Don't play with it. If despite the risk you want to try it, be on guard and stop as soon as you notice anything strange. Don't delude yourself as I did. Hair doesn't worth sh*t when your physical and mental health are at stake.

 

[Jambo]

Your opinion is wrong, my brother was a thin nw3 8 years ago with a very solid bald spot. Fast forward 8 years he’s a full density nw2 with a completely recovered bald spot.

How do you KNOW that recovery was due to finasteride?

 

[Aqalp]

2 years EOD. NW4 with thinning crown. Has only slowed it down somewhat, but nothing earth shattering.

 

[g.i joey]

How do you KNOW that recovery was due to finasteride?

Cause that’s all HE used to treat his hair.. and he noticed improvements as early as 3 months

 

[Oscar66]

In terms of the hair you already have ,has it made a difference to it? Has it made it thicker?

Yes. Definitely. It did not grow new. Thickened up what was there from mostly peach fuzz. Took over 1 year to see and feel a difference. Last 4 months or so reduced to .5 pill

 

[ljodrvi]

initial hair shed is common. if you lost your boners you should probably lower your dosage though.

I'm actually not quite sure why everyone takes a "one size fits all approach". when drugs are administered in a hospital, they usually administer it based on your height, weight, age etc. So 1mg in my opinion is too much for the majority of people, especially if they're on the smaller and lighter side.

Also if you have an inactive lifestyle i.e you stay inside a lot or are inside an office all day with no regular exercise/lifting, I wouldn't start finasteride yet.

Why not?

 

[mangezfrais]

I've been on 0.25mg for just over a month. Late 20s. I've noticed over the last week or two that the hair I already have has gotten much thicker and darker than I ever remember it (last few years), however the crown thinning is still there (hasn't gotten worse, about the same). Hoping for some improvement there by the end of the month.

I have diffuse thinning at vertex and crown with minimal issues at the hairline.

My alopecia is very agressive and started when I was a teenager. At 16 I was using Minoxidil and as soon as I was 18 I started taking propecia to try to slow down the progress.

My erections became weaker, my semen was like water, I became anxious and developed depression. Despite all that I was keeping and regrowing my hair so I kept on taking it without questioning it too much for 5 years

The wake up call came one day looking at photos from before I started. Suddenly I realized that my face was totally different. My jawline had been destroyed and I was like a meek, pale, anxious, ugly version of the guy I used to be as a teen.

It was a hard hit to digest. It was not worth it. That day I decided to quit immediately. What I didn't know is that the worse part was about to come.

I'm not going to get into detail but the braingfog and digestive issues I developed after quitting were horrific. I also lost almost all the hair that I kept.

So in my experience Propecia is an extremely serious and dangerous drug with the potential to f*** you up permanently. Don't play with it. If despite the risk you want to try it, be on guard and stop as soon as you notice anything strange. Don't delude yourself as I did. Hair doesn't worth sh*t when your physical and mental health are at stake.

DHT is essential for puberty and development, At 16-18 I'm not surprised you had side effects. I think at late 20s it would be safer to take.

 

[reyl]

Why not?

I can make a more in depth post but basically your testosterone levels will be lower (yes T technically rises on finasteride from less of it being converted to DHT but the effects are definitely felt), and your "neurosteroid" levels will be far lesser if you live an inactive lifestyle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GABAA_receptor

it messes up your allopregnanolone levels which has been found to be low in individuals with neurodegenerative disorders. These levels are already usually lower than average with people who live the aforementioned inactive lifestyle.

So in other words mental side effects are far more likely when you're not regularly exercising/lifting or even just going for walks outside a lot.