Gents,
Been wanting to post this story for a while now. Bit of background - I'm a 24M with modest thinning across temples since about the age of 20. At present my hairline is noticeably thinner but is sufficient enough with sensible styling. I have been on regaine for a couple years with not much success and so in November last year I decided to try Propecia.
I had done a lot of reading about it and was encouraged by the success stories and scared by the sides. I started taking 0.5mg daily on 2 November last year. First month went very well. Had a small 2 day shed then hair and scalp started to feel really good with no sides. On 10 December I had my first sides - weak erection, lack of morning wood. 15 December I dropped to 1/8th of 1.25mg to try alleviate sides. I stuck with this until mid January with no improvement in sides. I started doing 1/8th every 4 days but at 31 Jan I'd had enough.
The psychological effect of no erections / sexual performance was extremely severe for me. Much worse than losing my hair. I had an occasion during the above where I couldn't perform in bed when it really mattered... disaster! So in total I did propecia for 3 months.
On finishing I suddenly was faced with the prospect of sides and when would they subside. This had me very anxious and I would recommend not reading these forums during this period.
After about 2.5 weeks I started getting the odd day where I was horny and getting solid erections. Eventually these days became more regular. The good news is that I'm back to full erections from around the beginning of March. So 1 month complete recovery.
Hopefully this provides some slightly reassurance to those in similar situations. These forums can be a dark place.
With regards to the hair.. I think I'm destined for a transplant.. I'll stick to my regaine and Nizoral complimented with scalp exercises but I'm fighting a losing battle and I'm not willing to mess with hormones again.
Happy to answer questions.
Been wanting to post this story for a while now. Bit of background - I'm a 24M with modest thinning across temples since about the age of 20. At present my hairline is noticeably thinner but is sufficient enough with sensible styling. I have been on regaine for a couple years with not much success and so in November last year I decided to try Propecia.
I had done a lot of reading about it and was encouraged by the success stories and scared by the sides. I started taking 0.5mg daily on 2 November last year. First month went very well. Had a small 2 day shed then hair and scalp started to feel really good with no sides. On 10 December I had my first sides - weak erection, lack of morning wood. 15 December I dropped to 1/8th of 1.25mg to try alleviate sides. I stuck with this until mid January with no improvement in sides. I started doing 1/8th every 4 days but at 31 Jan I'd had enough.
The psychological effect of no erections / sexual performance was extremely severe for me. Much worse than losing my hair. I had an occasion during the above where I couldn't perform in bed when it really mattered... disaster! So in total I did propecia for 3 months.
On finishing I suddenly was faced with the prospect of sides and when would they subside. This had me very anxious and I would recommend not reading these forums during this period.
After about 2.5 weeks I started getting the odd day where I was horny and getting solid erections. Eventually these days became more regular. The good news is that I'm back to full erections from around the beginning of March. So 1 month complete recovery.
Hopefully this provides some slightly reassurance to those in similar situations. These forums can be a dark place.
With regards to the hair.. I think I'm destined for a transplant.. I'll stick to my regaine and Nizoral complimented with scalp exercises but I'm fighting a losing battle and I'm not willing to mess with hormones again.
Happy to answer questions.