Quit Propecia For One Reason.... Realized It Could Have Been Causing Many Issues. What Now?

[JohnnyE]

Hi,

A bit of background here.

I started taking half a propecia (0.5g) and minoxidil 5% about 6 years ago at 26 as my hairline was slightly receding and thinning on the crown. I had a very high sex drive, probably more so than most of my friends so with that in mind I dismissed the possible sexual sides, as I guess at 26 I felt invincible. I was a confident cocky kind of guy.

I took Propecia, and straight away I said goodbye to my loyal morning wood, my ejaculate became a bit watery, but hey, this didn't seem to effect my sex drive or performance, so thought it was a fair trade off for a full ish head of hair. Within a year I had grown back most of my lost hair, it was looking thicker and healthier, everything was good. I worked out 3 times a week had a steady GF and good job. No complaints.

After a couple of years, my morning wood came back some days during the week my sex drive was pretty good but my hairline started to recede just a tad bit more although the crown was better than it had been years prior to treatment. I was also having the odd depressive spell and brain-fog issues but in no way at the time put the depression down to Pro, I thought I had become a bit anxious as I was getting older.

So at this time, I decided to up my Pro to the standard 1g per day, being slightly worried about the sides.... What happened for about a month took me by surprise. My sex drive went through the roof, I was getting sporadic erections, things were great. After a month things went back to how they were before upping the dose. Again I put to the back of my mind that I was taking the drug and thought everything was fine, carried

Fast forward another year and I had become the most anxious person, avoiding any confrontation, or difficult social situations (despite being very sociable and outgoing before) no drive in my career or in life. I felt tired most days and worrying about everything but again, just put this down to "life might not be as good when you get older" kind of attitude. I had also developed sleep issues, waking up in the middle of the night, just panicking about everything, worrying, and being very low at this time. Also by this point my sex drive had pretty much gone.

So while not thinking of any of the issues above, but only relating it to the sex drive issue. I stopped taking Pro cold turkey hoping that my sex drive would return.

Within the first week, my sex drive lowered even more, then in the second week something interesting happened. Morning woods returned, sex drive returned with a vengeance, and my depression has lifted and I feel confident, with more energy and more clarity. I didn't expect the personality changes or that even cross my mind, so that wasn't something I was looking for. I just feel like my old self.

I guess why I am writing, is that I wanted to know, if any guys had experienced personality changes without realising it was happening? Or similar stories?

I came off Pro just to get my libido back, and got a lot more of myself back. Is this a coincidence, or was Propecia slowly chipping away at what made me a man personality wise all these years without me noticing?

Also, what the hell now for my hair ha. I doubt I will maintain this all with Min alone...Although, going bald doesn't scare me anymore. It can kind of look good :/

 

[Manochoice]

Hi,

A bit of background here.

I started taking half a propecia (0.5g) and minoxidil 5% about 6 years ago at 26 as my hairline was slightly receding and thinning on the crown. I had a very high sex drive, probably more so than most of my friends so with that in mind I dismissed the possible sexual sides, as I guess at 26 I felt invincible. I was a confident cocky kind of guy.

I took Propecia, and straight away I said goodbye to my loyal morning wood, my ejaculate became a bit watery, but hey, this didn't seem to effect my sex drive or performance, so thought it was a fair trade off for a full ish head of hair. Within a year I had grown back most of my lost hair, it was looking thicker and healthier, everything was good. I worked out 3 times a week had a steady GF and good job. No complaints.

After a couple of years, my morning wood came back some days during the week my sex drive was pretty good but my hairline started to recede just a tad bit more although the crown was better than it had been years prior to treatment. I was also having the odd depressive spell and brain-fog issues but in no way at the time put the depression down to Pro, I thought I had become a bit anxious as I was getting older.

So at this time, I decided to up my Pro to the standard 1g per day, being slightly worried about the sides.... What happened for about a month took me by surprise. My sex drive went through the roof, I was getting sporadic erections, things were great. After a month things went back to how they were before upping the dose. Again I put to the back of my mind that I was taking the drug and thought everything was fine, carried

Fast forward another year and I had become the most anxious person, avoiding any confrontation, or difficult social situations (despite being very sociable and outgoing before) no drive in my career or in life. I felt tired most days and worrying about everything but again, just put this down to "life might not be as good when you get older" kind of attitude. I had also developed sleep issues, waking up in the middle of the night, just panicking about everything, worrying, and being very low at this time. Also by this point my sex drive had pretty much gone.

So while not thinking of any of the issues above, but only relating it to the sex drive issue. I stopped taking Pro cold turkey hoping that my sex drive would return.

Within the first week, my sex drive lowered even more, then in the second week something interesting happened. Morning woods returned, sex drive returned with a vengeance, and my depression has lifted and I feel confident, with more energy and more clarity. I didn't expect the personality changes or that even cross my mind, so that wasn't something I was looking for. I just feel like my old self.

I guess why I am writing, is that I wanted to know, if any guys had experienced personality changes without realising it was happening? Or similar stories?

I came off Pro just to get my libido back, and got a lot more of myself back. Is this a coincidence, or was Propecia slowly chipping away at what made me a man personality wise all these years without me noticing?

Also, what the hell now for my hair ha. I doubt I will maintain this all with Min alone...Although, going bald doesn't scare me anymore. It can kind of look good :/

I am not a Finasteride user myself but have been on the fence about using it for sometime now. I just kept reading stories after stories. Some of great success, some of great anguish. I did encounter quite a few stories similar to yours, where sides (other than the adjusting ones) seem to slowly creep up on you and due to this slow build up (as well as the desperation of gaining back more hairs) you are not realizing all the changes. I've also read quite often that sides seem to kick in when one changes their dosage as it seems to have happened to you. Hopefully more Finasteride users will be chiming in as you probably won't put to mach weight to what I am saying since I've never tried Finasteride.

How long have you been off Finasteride now? You may be tempted to try again Finasteride in the future (especially when hair loss will hit again - and it could do it at a more aggressive pace) and of what I've read that could also be tricky: quite a few members here have reported to have things turn bad after getting back on Finasteride after interrupting. It's not a give but it can happen. What's your plan? Will you stay off? Do you want to try again? If you do wanna try again you should probably do so at a small dosage and maybe stick to it...

 

[Feelsbadman]

I don't mean to sound rude but what you said sounds like it could be very placebo. The mind is very powerful.
Many people go through episodes of feeling anxious or depressed.
Morever you say that when you're erections came back you felt more confident and energetic.
Again - see the placebo connection here?
Erections back = feel good = more positive = more energetic = more confident etc etc

 

[tomJ]

I don't mean to sound rude but what you said sounds like it could be very placebo. The mind is very powerful.
Many people go through episodes of feeling anxious or depressed.
Morever you say that when you're erections came back you felt more confident and energetic.
Again - see the placebo connection here?
Erections back = feel good = more positive = more energetic = more confident etc etc

Saying this stupid sh*t causes people to keep trying it when their body is telling them it isn't for them. I was one of them who convinced myself to keep trying. Dumb move

 

[Feelsbadman]

Saying this stupid sh*t causes people to keep trying it when their body is telling them it isn't for them. I was one of them who convinced myself to keep trying. Dumb move

Yea and some people have sides for a short period before they subside and they then can keep their hair and take finasteride for years. smart move.

 

[genetically_cursed]

Story sounds so familiar. Also the no drive part...

Look into microneedling, zix and the even more experimental stuff like sandalore for maintenance.

And know we're closer than ever to real alternatives.

whats ur regimen urself? did u get off finasteride too?

 

[genetically_cursed]

Yup, now I'm testing microneedling only and see what it does.

what sides forced u off finasteride?

 

[genetically_cursed]

Had very high libido before fina after 1 year of fina my libido was nuked, also ED, brainfog and like OP mentioned, no drive in life.

It's weird, but libido is very much connected to your motivational drive, you only notice how importent it is when it's gone.

Fina is hormone therapy and absolute poison for every healthy male, especially in the long run.

yeh, well, there's not much choice, is there?
how bad is ur hair loss?

 

[genetically_cursed]

Am NW2, fina did stop my hairloss but at a great cost after that I went on seti and was lucky I maintained but I quit seti too because it's harder to get and now on the microneedling train.

And yeah I know, you go to fina out of hopelessness. But there are alternatives imo.

I recommend everyone to try every alternative before hopping on fina.

-Microneedling (+ minoxidil if you want)
-Zix, a lot of people mentioning maintenance
-Topical fina, but of course being very cautious because it will probably go systemic. But many guys who got sides on oral fina don't have sides on topical fina
-Try Sandalore and the newer more experimental things.

Also if you're a NW3+, I would advise getting a transplant and using one of the above mentioned methods for maintenance.

And if you're balding really aggressively, then I'd advise getting a hair system, I've seen so many good ones these last years.

But oral duta or fina are a big no from me after all I know now.

Also funny I started taking fina in 2013-14 along with a guy on a different forum. The guy was very pragmatic and started a thread with all the studies surrounding fina, etc and he concluded on those studies that side effects are rare. Now after a couple of years, guy had serious side effects and had to quit too... Internet is full of these ancedotes. Wish fina was the silver bullet but it's not, it'll wreck you sooner or later.

check my last thread if u dont mind
also minoxidil doesnt stop hair loss, does it?
i havent tried topical finasteride with minoxidil, but from what i read it still permeates into bloodstream and u still get sides

 

[genetically_cursed]

Yeah some people still get side effects from topical fina so that's one of the last resorts imo.

And check the microneedling thread, minoxidil + microneedling doesn't only stop hairloss it can literally give a couple of Norwood's of regrowth. Someone made a result thread with pictures in the research section.

u didnt get my point. minoxidil doesnt stop hair loss at all, does it? it just promotes regrowth

 

[genetically_cursed]

If it promotes regrowth it can also stop hairloss. Many people on minoxidil alone that maintain. But also many that don't notice anything or where it just stops working after x years. (some people with fina also experience the same issues and notice it being less effective after x years)

minoxidil + microneedling seems to be a golden combo though.

Just need to to try everything for yourself en see what happens.

well, ive ordered propecia, so i think ill give it a try and see how it goes?
im scared of minoxidil shed cuz im very diffused already, also minoxidil has sh*t sides too