READ THIS!!!

[Z-Man]

I know this should probably be in success stories, but I had to let everyone know in this forum cause there's so much aprehension here.

Look at my regimen. I started .25mg of Finpecia 4/1/06 and have had excellent success both with hair and side effects. Here's a little history...

I started this whole thing with Avodart. After 1.5 years I had horrible headaches, dizzyspells, and even got epidydimitis and bad nipple burning. Then, I tried Finpecia at 1mg. The side effects were terrible. No libido, ED, depression, nutache and again a little nipple burn. I quit after about 1.75 months. Things returned to normal in about 2 weeks.

I decided to give it another chance, only this time starting off at .25mg cause I read people had the same results as if they were on 1mg but less sides. It's true!! Ok, I had a drop in libido, ED and a little nipple burn for about 3 weeks, but these went away! Now I have a baguette in my pants all morning.

Here's where the suplements come in. Zinc is overall great for sex drive. I take about 30mg/day. DIM is an excellent control for gyno (nipple burn, etc), and the multivitamins balance things out.

Now for the hair. When I took an extended break from DHT inhibitors, I didn't shed at all, but I felt this crappy cold feeling on the top of my scalp. Plus my hair was turning lighter and coarser, which meant it was being choked by DHT. About a week after starting finasteride at .25mg, the cold feeling went away. Then, my hair turned darker and softer at about week two. Now I shed regularly, but that's a sign it's working as it pushes old hairs out and makes newer, healthier ones.

I considered uping the dose .25mg at a time over several months but I'm not sure if that will make a difference since .25mg is working great for me right now.

Best of luck.

 

[Nesrednug]

Dude, that's fantastic. I'm very happy to read that, because I just decided to give Propecia another go at .25.

I stopped taking Propecia after a month, due to terrible sides, about 6 months ago. I had terribly achy balls, frequent urge to urinate.. and generally uncomfortable feeling in the prostate area that was really uncomfortable. No ED, at least nothing bad. Just moderate discomfort to the point where I decided it wasn't worth it.

Even .5mg was giving me sides, albeit not as bad.. and I had given up.. but I also had read about how .25 mg was proven almost as effective as 1mg so I just filled my prescription and picked it up about an hour ago.

Your post makes me a little more hopeful this will work. This is going to be my last ditch effort with Propecia.. and I hope to Bob it works because the hair loss is getting worse by the month.. there are hairs still in the areas I want to grow, just very thin and/or vellus hairs, but not completely shiny bald, so I'm hoping I'm in time to save those follicles before they completely die off.

I would think that it's not worth upping your dosage if this is working great for you. As they say, If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I'm hoping .25 will work for me, so one refill will last me four months instead of one.. Not only that, but less exposure to ANY drug is better for your health all the way around, IMO..

Thanks for sharing your story, maybe all is not lost. (pun intended)

 

[shinycap]

This ois encouraging. I was on propecia for about 4 months and had to stop do to crazy sides (major skin rash). I took a month off and started up on 1/3 propecial pill per day. Been doing that for 2 months. No sides to speak of now, but I can't tell if my hairloss now is propecia shedding or just hairloss (i.e, the lesser dose isn't doing anything for me).
After i get out of the shower and comb, I count between 20-30 hairs on the floor. When I used to be on full dose of propecia it was between 5-10 hairs everyday.

Any thoughts? Don't mean to hijack your thread bro.

 

[Z-Man]

Any thoughts? Don't mean to hijack your thread bro.

No it's all good. I know for sure that the shedding I'm experiencing is from finasteride, because the few months before I started again I didn't shed at all. So I think that your shedding is from the finasteride and not from balding.

Stick with it for at least six months, a year preferably. From what I read a lot of people's hair takes time to grow in thick.

 

[Nesrednug]

Just an update, this is the second day I'm on the .25 dose now and you're right, the side effects are much reduced. I guess I'll give it a few weeks and see if they go away totally. It's not that bad really and no achyness like there was before. Nothing I can't handle, really.

I've decided to hit it with the minoxidil as well, my hair is buzzed pretty short right now so a big shed shouldn't be noticeable.

 

[Hawaii male]

Ive gotten epidydimitis 5 times in a 5 month period. once a month.. treated it with doxocyclene and cipro. Damn Finasteride! I know exactly where your coming from.