stopped propecia, losing all my hair, live in regret, and depressed

[patrik]

well title says it all. i started propecia three years ago when i noticed i was losing hair. i maintained my hair fine, until two years ago i made the worst decision that i will regret all my life. i added another oral medication at a low dose because i wanted to strengthen my battle against hairloss. i immediately got sexual side effects the following day that scared the hell out of me.

i stopped that medication and returned to normal by about 50%. i continued on the propecia for another year and a half hoping that the sides would go away completely or improve, but they did not. eventually a few months ago i had to stop the propecia. even though i am much much better in terms of side effects, and for the most part normal, i am paying the price because i am now losing so much hair, i dont believe it. i am diffuse thinning badly. looks like propecia was doing a great job at holding my hair.

i cannot believe i am in this position. i am only 22 years old. i was already a recluse at the age of 17 because of bad acne, and NOW I HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS?!!! i am furious and filled with regret. i have no idea what to do. i am trying revivogen and minoxidil right now, but i dont have much hope. im looking in SMP, hair systems, or hair transplantation but just feel incredibly bad. why was i given such bad genes. i just want to be normal, like the other guys my age. any thoughts? im starting to worry about my mental health, that was already damaged because of having bad acne.

 

[giannis]

Hey patrik why dont you try propecia at lower dose half pill for exaple or every other day and see how things go. I am little confused you got sides after you added another medication (what was the medication?) but never returned to normal after quitting or you were having sides before only on finasteride?. Also Dont stress out too much about hairloss it can make it worse

 

[patrik]

hi giannis.

I got sides immediately after i VERY STUPIDLY added low dose oral spironolactone, as i had seen people doing on another forum. i was completely fine on propecia. i had taken 25 mg of spironolactone a few times here and there to see how i reacted and was fine. the day my life went to hell was when i took 50 mg in one day. then next day i took 25 mg, so i took 75 mg in TOTAL of spironolactone. while i cannot believe i was so stupid and am living with the consequences of such a ridiculous decision, at the time i thought it would be fine, since many people were saying such a low dose would have no sides. hell, many of them were taking 100-200 mg of spironolactone a day, in addition to propecia, for many months, and did not have the side effects that i experienced apart from gyno.

i have never found a single person who experienced these sides that i had, and even the doctors i saw did not believe this could happen at such a dose. i guess it was the same like taking ecstasy once, and dying.

over the year and a half i lowered my dose to half a propeca pill, then down to 0.25, still i did not recover fully. things were just getting worse to be honest. When i stopped propecia, within a week sexual sides improved tremedously.

 

[swingline747]

Im in your boat.
I had to stop finasteride in like june/july fully due to MAJOR sides.

All the progress gained is already diminished, yes that quick. My front is awful, my crown is thinning by the day and my hair falls out like crazy.

Im depressed, BUT when I get depressed I get severe anxiety and massive anger issues, Im a borderline danger to be around at times because I will get very reckless nad pick fights with EVERYONE. Just more great qualities I inherited from my idiot pops with his hair, unlike my brother who seems to have gotten all the better qualities from my ma's side.

Im on lexapro but its not helping, it doesnt fix the root of the problem. Im thinking of just dropping the meds all together so I can finally just snap, live in an institution and whither away in a medicated coma where I dream I still have my head of hair from my early twenties.

minoxidil will do nothing. I dont care what anyone says. You actually have to be one of the like 5% with a very specific chemical makeup to have it work. There is a test overseas I read that will tell you off the bat if its worth it but I guess the pharm companies who make it wont let it get here for obvious reasons.

Get a hair transplant. Im looking into it but honestly Im also afraid that is a road you have to complete and it may never look natural.
Youll never get the nice density of natural hair and I can always spot it a mile away on someone else. Even one of the surgeons I Saw had one and it was horribly obvious. If he is one of the most credited surgeons with such a bad hair transplant then what can I expect?


How do you look shaved, I personally do not look good. Im not tall enough and way more built than I should be for a bald head. I look like a mean short skin head (Im like 5-9 or 5-10)

 

[patrik]

Swingline,

i get what you mean about being angry, i want to pick a fight too. im angry at my genes, but im even more angry at the choice i made that day, two years ago. one of my friends had a transplant, and i must say with excellent results. in my country the doctors are saying they have seen excellent results with transplants so there is hope. i look better with hair, but because i am arabic and a bit tanned a shaved head doesnt stand out that much like on white people. i am 6 foot. the problem is that i LOVE my hair, thats why i cannot just shave it and accept it.

 

[giannis]

If finasteride was working for you why did you take oral spironolactone man? it makes no sense. what side effects you got? As for your hair well i dont think is wise to get back on finasteride because you might get sides again maybe try topical finasteride?? or perhaps stay on revivogen and minoxidil and see if things improve just give it time and be patient.

 

[patrik]

it makes no sense at all. only excuse i had at the time was that i was so terrified of going bald, that i thought it could only help. an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, sort of thing. i punish myself every minute of every day for that decision. and believe me, I am suffering. the sides i got that day were ZERO function below. believe me, id tell myself to go to hell, but i think im already there.

 

[giannis]

i see i too panicked of going bald and got on finasteride. Sometimes we rush and make wrong decisions only to realize it later. if you remember at the beggining of your treatment with finasteride did you have a shed and when you started seeing results like slowing hairloss or regrowth. thanks in andvance.

 

[patrik]

i had a shed in the beginning, at four months, and at one year. i saw results at one year, stopped losing hair and my hair was at its thickest then. btw giannis, are you greek?

 

[giannis]

Yes

 

[patrik]

Im in your boat.
I had to stop finasteride in like june/july fully due to MAJOR sides.

All the progress gained is already diminished, yes that quick. My front is awful, my crown is thinning by the day and my hair falls out like crazy.

Im depressed, BUT when I get depressed I get severe anxiety and massive anger issues, Im a borderline danger to be around at times because I will get very reckless nad pick fights with EVERYONE. Just more great qualities I inherited from my idiot pops with his hair, unlike my brother who seems to have gotten all the better qualities from my ma's side.

Im on lexapro but its not helping, it doesnt fix the root of the problem. Im thinking of just dropping the meds all together so I can finally just snap, live in an institution and whither away in a medicated coma where I dream I still have my head of hair from my early twenties.

minoxidil will do nothing. I dont care what anyone says. You actually have to be one of the like 5% with a very specific chemical makeup to have it work. There is a test overseas I read that will tell you off the bat if its worth it but I guess the pharm companies who make it wont let it get here for obvious reasons.

Get a hair transplant. Im looking into it but honestly Im also afraid that is a road you have to complete and it may never look natural.
Youll never get the nice density of natural hair and I can always spot it a mile away on someone else. Even one of the surgeons I Saw had one and it was horribly obvious. If he is one of the most credited surgeons with such a bad hair transplant then what can I expect?


How do you look shaved, I personally do not look good. Im not tall enough and way more built than I should be for a bald head. I look like a mean short skin head (Im like 5-9 or 5-10)

swingline, are you going to try and treat your hairloss? how much hair have you lost since you stopped propecia?

 

[swingline747]

Its funny. It really helped me so much but almost everything I gained is gone. I just took some pics today but its hard to tell since Ive been keeping it longer. I always like my hair a bit longer, it looks good on me.

I am using nizoral, and minoxidil but honestly I think both are pretty much worthless. The only true worth while treatment is unfortunately finasteride which I cant take safely.

a hair transplant is my next best bet but im terrified it will "look" like a hair transplant


heres some pics

http://tevilblog.blogspot.com/p/hair.html

 

[patrik]

Its funny. It really helped me so much but almost everything I gained is gone. I just took some pics today but its hard to tell since Ive been keeping it longer. I always like my hair a bit longer, it looks good on me.

I am using nizoral, and minoxidil but honestly I think both are pretty much worthless. The only true worth while treatment is unfortunately finasteride which I cant take safely.

a hair transplant is my next best bet but im terrified it will "look" like a hair transplant


heres some pics

http://tevilblog.blogspot.com/p/hair.html

i would not be able to tell you were losing hair in those last pics

 

[swingline747]

its because of the garbage combing over. let a good wind hit me and its done. Plus I JUST nizzed and conditioned which lets it relax and straighten out. Wait until tomorrow, when its curling up more and the lighting is affecting it. Its MUCH longer than the first set, but i HATE shaving my head, i look like a mental patient.

better yet I can take one wet, its disgusting.

 

[patrik]

its because of the garbage combing over. let a good wind hit me and its done. Plus I JUST nizzed and conditioned which lets it relax and straighten out. Wait until tomorrow, when its curling up more and the lighting is affecting it. Its MUCH longer than the first set, but i HATE shaving my head, i look like a mental patient.

better yet I can take one wet, its disgusting.

swingline, i always wondered how minoxidil works so well for other people. for example i think i saw a study were they reviewed over a thousand men, and 4 out of 5 men maintained hair counts on minoxidil. i wonder why it doesnt work as well for some.

 

[swingline747]

swingline, i always wondered how minoxidil works so well for other people. for example i think i saw a study were they reviewed over a thousand men, and 4 out of 5 men maintained hair counts on minoxidil. i wonder why it doesnt work as well for some.

http://www.appliedbiology.com/minoxidilresponsetest/indication.htm


Anyone in EU willing to front me a test if I send the hairs and cash lol

 

[Travalanche]

Oh man I feel bad for you, 22 and thinning THAT bad? I for one would rahter have a full head of hair than a working penis due to being sort of asexual, it's not that my penis is small (It's 7 inches) I just look at it this way, you might use your penis a few minutes every few days if not longer. You have people see your hair 12+ hours a day and it's unable to be hidden. I had no side effects really but I just went into things with that perception and it worked.

Getting off Finasteride after such a long time must have been HORRIBLE!!!!! I can just imagine the amount of rapid hair loss you'd experience due to the blocked Dht being reintroduced to your body in mass like a second puberty. I honestly don't think I could cope with that if it's any consolation to you. Your best bet is to at least take half a dosage, idk if it would be enough to regrow your loss but it is better than nothing!

TLDR do something fast before it gets worse, if your reading this snap to it now. nfire:

 

[swingline747]

Again, some people need perspective here. That bad? No, this is minimal loss, plus it's at the back, who cares, you still have a frame for your face.

Who are we talking about here?
Are you referring to me, because I think Im the only one here with pics?

Anyway my face frame is screwed really. My forehead is enormous and makes my face so weird.

The little bit of hair I have front is super sparse, but its just longer at the moment. the front now looks worse then my first pics before finasteride. I will try to get a wet pic.

 

[isishearmyplea]

swingline what do you mean you had to discontinue?? did you have the sides suddenly or did you endure it for that long??

patrik. cant say nothing but wish you luck with revivogen, maybe give finasteride another shot. best of luck mate.

 

[swingline747]

no if you read my welcome post I was on finasteride 8 months with minimal sides. THEN it gave me what seemed to be the worst prostate infection that would NOT go away until I stopped.
Started 2 more times with discomfort, and some weird atrophy down there.

"better" now but I cant use it anymore.