Young men and Finasteride (Propecia)

[Gxm100]

Hi Everyone,

I am addressing this post to all men, especially younger men who are considering Propecia but are scared to take the plunge. Just a forewarning this is going to be fairly lengthy.

MY STORY

I am a 23 year old male and have been losing my hair since I was about 17. I didn't notice until I was 21 or so, but now looking back at pictures it's pretty clear to see. Really I have no idea how I didn't see it. Anyway, nowadays I am sitting at about a norwood 2.5-3. A lot of you reading this have probably caught your hair loss fairly early and are exploring your options. I'm sure that almost all of you will give Rogaine a chance first because there are relatively few side effects, no prescription needed, you've heard of it before, etc. I can't speak for everyone, but in my case it did very little to help. I started Rogaine at 21 when my hair was still looking pretty decent because I didn't want to take the "risk" that comes along with Propecia. I used Rogaine alone for a year, and all I did was lose a good bit more hair.

Around the time that I noticed my hair loss, I started reading these forums and was terrified about the thought of Finasteride. Terrified because I was a 21 year old, very social, not too bad with ladies and I couldn't take the thought of any sexual side effects. For months and months and over a year I read these forums and just got more and more scared but more and more aware that what I was doing (rogaine) wasn't helping and I needed to try something different. I did research on finasteride through these forums, google, youtube and other sources and even eventually asked my sister who is a Physician Assistant. You could find conflicting opinions everywhere! I mean literally every source shows different statistics and different opinions. I waited and waited and WAITED until my hair loss just was bothering me beyond belief.

MY FINASTERIDE RIDE SO FAR

Finally, on my 23rd birthday I scheduled a doctors appointment (what a celebration) and got prescribed Proscar. He said that I would be surprised about how many patients my age he has taking finasteride in one form or another and that he has many patients who have been on it for 15-20 years with great success. By the way, this is just my family doctor - he is not a hair restoration doctor trying to convince me of anything. I've now been on finasteride for several months and can happily say that my hair loss has STOPPED. If it hasn't stopped, it has slowed to an extreme crawl. The day that I started finasteride, I shook my hair pretty rough over a sink and had about 50-60 hairs fall in just 30 seconds. Today I can do the same and have maybe 5 or 6 hairs fall in an even longer time period. As for SIDE EFFECTS, the part everyone cares about, this is what I experienced:

2 weeks of slight testicular discomfort (completely bearable)
2 weeks of extremely extremely INCREASED libido (this has since returned to normal or maybe even a little better than normal)
2-3 weeks of restless sleep (not even sure that this was caused by Finasteride)

All of these have completely gone away and my sexual life is completely fine!

THE POINT OF MY MESSAGE - I do believe that people have poor experiences with Finasteride. However, there is absolutely 100% a bias on these forums. You occasionally see someone suggest that maybe the people that Finasteride works for stop posting on these forums. I am a testament to that. I do not post often, but since I started Finasteride (even before I knew it was working) I've completely stopped viewing the forums. Maybe it's just because of peace of mind that I am doing something. Anyway, today I thought it'd be a good idea to post out here just to let people know.

MY REAL POINT - I would be willing to bet that you won't regret giving Finasteride in some form a try. But I guarantee you that if you are just starting to see thinning/recession, it's going to get worse. If you do nothing about it, it WILL get worse. Don't let these forums scare you about Finasteride without giving it a shot yourself.

I'll try to answer any questions that anyone has on this thread. Please for everyone else, don't start posting about the "evils of finasteride" - there's enough of that out there already.

 

[GiveMeAccessToMyAccount]

Good post. I agree with you about having peace of mind because you are doing something about your hairloss. I feel the same but I stick around to soak in some motivation from success story section, and maybe give my opinion on some stuff since I am a "veteran". I'm seeing great results in 2 months of big 3 but I still stick around.

 

[Gxm100]

Link me the thread where somebody is scaring people away from finasteride without backing up evidence for irreversible side effects. I think people should be informed on these issues before making a decision whether to take finasteride or not.

@Vincent777 sorry but I don't think that I ever said that people are making unsubstantiated claims about finasteride. What I'm saying is that you hear a lot more of the bad stories than the good stories. Also, I was not aiming any comment specifically at this forum, but at the numerous forums out there.

 

[RatherGoBlindThanSeeItGo]

How long did it take before you saw decreased shedding on finasteride? Are you still using minoxidil?

 

[Gxm100]

For me it was about a month that I noticed decreased shedding. Every now and then I'll have a day where it seems like I'm shedding, but it's few and far between. I've stopped with minoxidil for now because I wanted to see what kind of effect finasteride could have on it's own considering it is so much easier to use than minoxidil. After 9 months or so if I think I can improve results I may add minoxidil back to the routine. I just don't like the hassle involved since I'm always on the move for my job.

 

[RatherGoBlindThanSeeItGo]

For me it was about a month that I noticed decreased shedding. Every now and then I'll have a day where it seems like I'm shedding, but it's few and far between. I've stopped with minoxidil for now because I wanted to see what kind of effect finasteride could have on it's own considering it is so much easier to use than minoxidil. After 9 months or so if I think I can improve results I may add minoxidil back to the routine. I just don't like the hassle involved since I'm always on the move for my job.

I'm in a sort of similar position hair loss wise. 23 and NW2, I was shedding a lot of hairs (50+ in the shower daily, could shake another 50 out of my head above the sink in the evening) and a lot of them in varying thickness. No bald spots and people told me I was imagining hair loss, but definitely thinner hair. I started minoxidil and finasteride after seeing a hair clinic at the beginning of March. I noticed side effects pretty much the day after taking finasteride, as I lost morning wood and spontaneous erections. No ED or incompetence but less libido and less intense orgasms. After three weeks and not noticing much change I decided to stop finasteride and everything went back to normal.

Then a week after finasteride all of a sudden I was losing much less hairs. Like 5 in the shower instead of 50, and 10 throughout the day instead of 50+. Maybe this was denial, but I thought maybe I don't have male pattern baldness just chronic hair loss because of having extremely low BMI (though blood tests showed no malnutrition) and this is minoxidil helping my underweight-related hair loss. But now less than 2 weeks later I feel like my hair loss is slightly increasing again. The decreased shedding was probably the finasteride (it was exactly a month after starting it), and now it's going back to normal because I quit.

I think I will wait another few days to see what happens with the shedding. If it gets worse again I am faced with a real dilemma. The side effects scared the **** out of me, but not losing 100+ hairs a day made me feel so good. At least I know now the side effects are reversible. Maybe they will subside with continued use too. It just sucks that it feels like I have to trade my libido to keep my hair, but at least it means propecia works which is more than some can say.

 

[Gxm100]

@RatherGoBlind

There certainly could be an alternate cause to your hair loss. A lot of people do say that the side effects diminish after a month or two of use, and mine have definitely gone away.

I am by no means saying that the sides are in your head, but keep in mind it is a possibility. I definitely tricked myself a few times. What I mean is this - while not on propecia, I don't think most 23 year olds pay too much attention to their erections. So if a doctor gives you a pill and says now pay attention to your erections, you're bound to be more critical. There are plenty of other reasons for no morning wood (stress, a bad night of sleep, etc).

Of course, I see your dilemma and empathize completely. Only you can decide whether or not to go back on it. If you decide to give it a second shot, just do it before the hairline gets too much worse! A lot harder to grow back than maintain.

 

[RatherGoBlindThanSeeItGo]

@RatherGoBlind

There certainly could be an alternate cause to your hair loss. A lot of people do say that the side effects diminish after a month or two of use, and mine have definitely gone away.

I am by no means saying that the sides are in your head, but keep in mind it is a possibility. I definitely tricked myself a few times. What I mean is this - while not on propecia, I don't think most 23 year olds pay too much attention to their erections. So if a doctor gives you a pill and says now pay attention to your erections, you're bound to be more critical. There are plenty of other reasons for no morning wood (stress, a bad night of sleep, etc).

Of course, I see your dilemma and empathize completely. Only you can decide whether or not to go back on it. If you decide to give it a second shot, just do it before the hairline gets too much worse! A lot harder to grow back than maintain.

That's definitely true.. And I'm very open to that being possible. Hair loss by itself is stressful enough to mess with your head at this age, propecia or no propecia, and it's not like I have been in the best shape mentally and physically the past few months. I will just stay on minoxidil for now and monitor my shedding. Like I said, I haven't lost great amounts of hair yet so it's not like I'm at the point of no return right now.

Thanks for sharing your story though and empathizing with mine, I'm glad everything's working for you. Best wishes

 

[GiveMeAccessToMyAccount]

If it doesn't happen to you (loss of libido) just move along and consider yourself one of the lucky f*cks who don't get sides. I don't get sides, but I will never tell anyone who does that it may all be in their head and to just think it away like the Hook scene where Peter Pan(Robin Williams) and friends are imagining a big dinner and it all actually comes true. I just thank the penis lords that I don't get affected by that. After all you are taking a pill that is messing with your hormones.

 

[megatron1234]

Link me the thread where somebody is scaring people away from finasteride without backing up evidence for irreversible side effects. I think people should be informed on these issues before making a decision whether to take finasteride or not.

We never know when a meteor strike might happen.. Doesn't mean we have to live in fear in a bomb shelter.

 

[ItsGoing]

Here's the deal. Everybody is different. Some people get sides, some don't. I think anybody taking any drugs for anything that's going to be a life long commitment should really research it first.

I did my research and started very slow, like .5mg finasteride every 3 days, and then after a month every other day. I think it took me 3 months to get to 1.25mg every day. I did experience very slight sides at first, then they went away. That's what worked for me.

Congratulations on your success!

 

[medreduce]

I have used finasteride for over a number of years and luckily those side effects don't seem to take place on me. To save money on the prescription, since this isn't covered by insurance I typically use the following codes to get ~70% off retail:

RXPCN = PRX
BIN = 610210
GROUP = PHARMRW1
ID = 1604421

Hope it helps everyone.

 

[spring15]

I took it for a month and was struggling to get hard, came right off finasteride as soon as I noticed, 3 years later side effects all worn off but will never touch the stuff again.

 

[Norwood One]

Lol yeah, those sides make going bald not seem so bad after all.

It's not "just sex". That sexual drive/libidinous energy usually motives many people to get out of bed in the morning and go become the best/conquer the world. Really feels like crap if you don't have that in you anymore.

 

[623]

Agree with you OP. Started at age 20 (now 23). The earlier you start the better, and if you don't you will just keep losing hair.

Fairly sure that the percentages reported in the finasteride studies for side effects (3.8% vs 2% placebo) are very telling. People on placebos report side effects all the time - showing that there is indeed a mental component. People on placebo can even see the effects of the drug they think they are taking but actually aren't (crazy I know).

Even if the studies underrepresent side effects, it likely around 5%. Those 5% plus people who have been primed by hearing negative stories go online to post about it. There are millions and millions of men on finasteride with no issues. They sides are real but are massively overrepresented on the Internet.

 

[transam]

Lol yeah, those sides make going bald not seem so bad after all.

It's not "just sex". That sexual drive/libidinous energy usually motives many people to get out of bed in the morning and go become the best/conquer the world. Really feels like crap if you don't have that in you anymore.

thats an excellent point!
you know what gets me out of bed in the morning?....confidence.
the idea of knowing that I look good. If I'm 25, but my hairline says I'm 63, I'm gonna feel like ****....no matter how big my dick is

 

[richie122]

Have been on it 2.5 months now and have noticed no sides, fingers crossed it continues

 

[youngkidwithhairloss]

finasteride isn't even strong, I started taking it at 16 lol. It's crazy how finasteride can give people E.D. 17 now and I've never experienced a side effect and it's not maintaining my hair either.

 

[Hairon]

OP, the sides don't come after a month or two, they come after half a year, after a year. it's not happening right away, the more you take the drug the more it fkcs up your DHT in your body, you body will go through mutation, all those people who got massive sides effect that haven't heal even after they stopped taking finasteride, is because their body mutated from so many years of finasteride.

 

[Joey jo jo jr.]

Nice post