[Galwayguy35]

Originally Posted by Birdnuts

I officially retired my comb last year when I started shaving my head after a long battle with slow but steady hair loss since the age of 27(I'm 35 now). I should have done it years ago!! - life is so much easier now and I'm no where near as self-concious as I use to be. IMO unless you have hair of the quality of Bobby Ewing et al, your just as well without it and all the faffing about trying to make it look good!!

Same as that. Going light on top for a few years now and this year retired the comb for good. Going the comb over route or spending money on products that won't work wasn't for me. Keep it shaved to no. 1 level now and it feels great.

[GEKKO135]

I'm not trying to turn people off the idea of taking propecia/finesteride but i'm currently two and a half weeks into taking the medication and I'm nearly 100% confident that i'm not as horny as i used to be. I'm using nizoril shampoo and minoxidil too. I still find women attractive so obviously nothing extreme has happened and my mood is exactly the same. Still my happy self. Having said that i stopped taking it yesterday as my erections have not been as strong as before and that is definitely unnerving! I'd say it goes to about 80% of what it used to be and it does not stand to attention without some sort of mental/physical stimulation. Another thing is that my morning glories are more like morning semis if not less.

I'm seriously afraid to continue so i'm going to see if i go back to my horny self after stopping and then try and reduce my intake of 1.25mg a day to .625 and see how i get on. Wish my genitals luck

Hope this helps...but I would also be of the opinion that side effects occur to a much larger percentage of people. Definitely not 2%. The doctor didn't do anything wrong but i have a feeling that he knew 2% is not accurate information. If anyone has any questions shoot.

[BrianG23]

Originally Posted by GEKKO135

I'm not trying to turn people off the idea of taking propecia/finesteride but i'm currently two and a half weeks into taking the medication and I'm nearly 100% confident that i'm not as horny as i used to be. I'm using nizoril shampoo and minoxidil too. I still find women attractive so obviously nothing extreme has happened and my mood is exactly the same. Still my happy self. Having said that i stopped taking it yesterday as my erections have not been as strong as before and that is definitely unnerving! I'd say it goes to about 80% of what it used to be and it does not stand to attention without some sort of mental/physical stimulation. Another thing is that my morning glories are more like morning semis if not less.

I'm seriously afraid to continue so i'm going to see if i go back to my horny self after stopping and then try and reduce my intake of 1.25mg a day to .625 and see how i get on. Wish my genitals luck

Hope this helps...but I would also be of the opinion that side effects occur to a much larger percentage of people. Definitely not 2%. The doctor didn't do anything wrong but i have a feeling that he knew 2% is not accurate information. If anyone has any questions shoot.

I was the same man, I also believe it's closer to bloody 50% than 2%. Anyhow, I can't even take .625 but I have fully eh...got 100% bone back and I was taking 1.25 then /.625 for months/ I might try and go back on it at like .200

Also, yeah the doctor had no idea for me. Luckily, Minoxidil and Nizoral are working for me, I just started getting back like my whole hairline although it still has noi color, you can see it in light, starting to grow in. So if I can manage to add just a little bit of Finasteride in, might get lucky.

[funkey_monkey]

I'm in the same boat. Been taking Finasteride now for a few years but the temples are still retreating at a depressing rate. I also use Nizoral x2 per week.

Has anyone been for a consultation with a HT surgeon? How did you get on with them? I was considering HRBR for a consultation for €250 - but I was wondering if anyone has had experience of them?

I''m thinking of now starting Spectral DNC - it seems to get good reviews. Has anyone on here tried it and has it worked, done nothing or made it worse? I've read that this product produces a large initial shed but that it grows back. Is this correct?

[BrianG23]

Originally Posted by funkey_monkey

I'm in the same boat. Been taking Finasteride now for a few years but the temples are still retreating at a depressing rate. I also use Nizoral x2 per week.

Has anyone been for a consultation with a HT surgeon? How did you get on with them? I was considering HRBR for a consultation for €250 - but I was wondering if anyone has had experience of them?

I''m thinking of now starting Spectral DNC - it seems to get good reviews. Has anyone on here tried it and has it worked, done nothing or made it worse? I've read that this product produces a large initial shed but that it grows back. Is this correct?

That's actually where I went, I don't really recommend HRBR to be honest, they didn't seem very professional imo. He put me on the big 3 which is what I would have done anyway, he basically told me the info I found out on the net, but I thought I needed to get a Finateride prescription off him, didn't know if Gp's would give me one. I recommend adding Minoxidil to your treatment and see if it does anything because i'm having some results with that alone (+ niz)iright now. Apparently Finasteride and Minox together rocks, I use Kirkland minox from Ebay...much cheaper than Rogaine but same product(apparently)

They also tried to convince me that Finasteride has no side effects and it's extremely rare. From different boards around the net it seems different though, much more, no one really reports persistent side effects though among my travels. Seems you can either tolerate it or you can't. And have to wait for it to leave the system after that

Have no idea about the spectral stuff. Anyway, you can try HRBR if you like but they'll probably put you on Minoxidil and if it doesn't work, offer a hair transplant/ They didn't mention any other treatments at all to me while I there, the Miniturisation test was also sceptchy too, I thought it was supposed to be done under a microscope to have confirmation? The guy took pictures of my temples and there were a few mini hairs though so I dunno if that is valid or not

Ah Hairloss, proof god either doesn't exist, or is a ****

[Hillmanhunter1]

I'm 50 and I've been bald since I was 19 or 20. It bothered me a little at that age, all things considered I'd have preferred to have a head of hair. At that age, when all but the most confident are to some degree socially awkward, and perhaps especially when it comes to the pursuit of women (speaking for myself at least), I felt I could have done without losing my hair.

The good news is that if baldness were unattractive to women then natural selection would have eliminated it millennia ago. It has not because, for the most part, women don't really care.

I have two young sons, one has his mother's hairline, but I think that in a few years I'll be giving this advice to the other!

[TerrorFirmer]

I've been hit pretty bad with receding hair the last few months, it was grand until I was 24, then close enough to my 25th, both temples started peeling back pretty rapidly. I am going to give Minox/Niz a go, but I refuse to try Propecia, I know the odds are unlikely but there are too many horror stories out there surrounding its use, the worst being permanent impotency. As for taking .2 Fin etc, what's the point - why not try something like Saw Palmetto, which works more or less like a very weak Finasterade. I figured I'd give that a go too, alongside Minox and Nizoral, but if it doesn't help much I figure I'll just have to get a buzz cut. Funny thing though, that only since I started receding have I noticed that more or less 50% of men I see daily around my age or slightly older do have receding hairlines, I just never would have noticed before.

[GEKKO135]

Off propecia for five days now and i am already feeling like my old sexually frustrated self. Quite a relief but still upsetting knowing ill be losing my hair. I'm sure I'll come to terms with it at some stage though

[GEKKO135]

OK, wasn't going to post this due to embarrassment but I think it's too important to keep from people who are considering propecia to prevent hairloss. I am now two weeks off propecia. I came off the drug because I was feeling side effects with regards to sexual functionality etc [check previous posts]. After 4 or 5 days my libido was back to normal and it was all hunky dory. However, 3 days later after work I wasn't feeling well. I had a sickish feeling in my lower abdominal region, my testicles where extremely sore and my lower back was stiff. I thought nothing of it but the next morning my balls were still sore and still had the bad feeling in my lower abs.

I went straight to the doctor. He tested a urine sample which was negative meaning infection was ruled out so he put me on an anti-inflammatory. Two days later the swelling had subsided as well as the pain in my balls. Unfortunately it's been replaced with an aching feeling in my perineum/gooch area making it difficult to sit down for long and is just uncomfortable in general. Another visit to the doctor and still no infection and he was slightly baffled to be honest. He said there was no doubt that the finesteride was the cause for my problems and said to continue with the anti-inflammatories.

My simple theory is that finesteride served one of its other functions and had shrunken my prostate by blocking DHT. So once I stopped taking finesteride I imagine my prostate has now had a negative reaction to or is unable to cope with the increased levels of DHT. As a result my gooch is killing me and after reading horror stories on the internet, not so dissimilar to mine, I'm fearing that I may now have a condition called chronic prostatitis. It's still early days but I'm now in a state of panic and will probably be getting blood tests done next week. I've no idea what to do really and hopefully the pain will subside. I will make sure to give an update soon.

On one of my first posts I said that I'm not trying to stop people using this drug but now I feel like I have a obligation to tell people not to. I would never recommend this drug to anybody. If I could go back to 3 weeks I would punch myself in the nose and throw the propecia down the toilet. That's what I'd do anyway. Please don't take the risk, It's not worth it if you consider the position I'm now in.

[GEKKO135]

Just want to give one last update on how I'm getting on. Had a very rough week last week with side effects especially pains in what could only have been my prostate. Thankfully the pains have subsided a lot and I'm hoping my hormones levels and whatnot are back on track and that they'll stay that way. I can't explain how frightened I was. It was probably the scariest thing that's happened to me. I spent days on the internet to see what was happening to me and it was actually worrying to read the amount of similar stories to mine. What really worried me was the fact that nobody really mentioned that they recovered so my head was in a right tizzy.

Anyway, thankfully that chapter of my life is over and I can move onto the next one, that being the bald mid-life crises finasteride relapse part....haha i doubt that somehow.

[funkey_monkey]

Originally Posted by GEKKO135

Just want to give one last update on how I'm getting on. Had a very rough week last week with side effects especially pains in what could only have been my prostate. Thankfully the pains have subsided a lot and I'm hoping my hormones levels and whatnot are back on track and that they'll stay that way. I can't explain how frightened I was. It was probably the scariest thing that's happened to me. I spent days on the internet to see what was happening to me and it was actually worrying to read the amount of similar stories to mine. What really worried me was the fact that nobody really mentioned that they recovered so my head was in a right tizzy.

Anyway, thankfully that chapter of my life is over and I can move onto the next one, that being the bald mid-life crises finasteride relapse part....haha i doubt that somehow.

That sounds rough. I think there are a lot more suffering from Propecia than is known. The side effects are massive ranging from those you outline above to problems with semen viscosity, lack of sex drive, penile shrinkage etc.

Out of interest, have you got any more feedback from your GP as to what actually happened? I've been to my GP for a check up and mentioned that I was taking it and suffering some side effects. I'm still awaiting a response - it's an approved drug for hair loss, but I think the manufacturers are lying big time about its side effects.

I've just noticed that the FDA are re-opening a safety review of the drug. You might have made a good call there!

[GEKKO135]

My GP didn't really have a definite diagnosis and he didn't comment to much on the drug as he wasn't extremely familiar with it. That said he still believed it was the cause and said that hormones are not worth experimenting with for the sake of having hair. He really did give me peace of mind though as he ruled out most of the potentially serious conditions ie prostate cancer, epyditimitus, prostatitis. I wouldn't say I'm out of the woods though as I still have very mild pains as if I've been lightly kicked in the nuts or something but still improving every day.

Can I ask how long you're on propecia and how you're finding it? From my research the worst affected from propecia are those who come off of it after years of use.

[funkey_monkey]

Originally Posted by GEKKO135

My GP didn't really have a definite diagnosis and he didn't comment to much on the drug as he wasn't extremely familiar with it. That said he still believed it was the cause and said that hormones are not worth experimenting with for the sake of having hair. He really did give me peace of mind though as he ruled out most of the potentially serious conditions ie prostate cancer, epyditimitus, prostatitis. I wouldn't say I'm out of the woods though as I still have very mild pains as if I've been lightly kicked in the nuts or something but still improving every day.

Can I ask how long you're on propecia and how you're finding it? From my research the worst affected from propecia are those who come off of it after years of use.

I was going to reply via PM, but I think it is important that any others reading this are made aware of the problems with propecia.

I've been on it for approx 4 - 5 years. I've currently no balding at the crown although my temples have receded to the point where I've got a definite widows peak.

I'm trying to 'wean' myself off it in the hope that slowly decreasing myself off it will lessen the problems you've had rather than going cold turkey.

I've had the dull ache that you've mentioned. I've seen my doctor about it and am concerned about many of the issues as I've had a few of them. I've also seen that Chinese researchers have seen it reduces penis size in mice (or possibly rats).

The side-effects vastly outweigh any benefits. Therefore, I'm coming off it now. The fact that the FDA has opened a new safety review of the drug. I'm not waiting around to find out what I think will be an obvious outcome. Far more people are being effected that the manufacturers quote. As the side-effects gradually kick in I think many men just accept it or assume that it might be age related.

Are you now giving up on hair loss products or are you going to try something else?

[TerrorFirmer]

Thanks for sharing. It's hugely important to share these stories, I read through hundreds of them over the course of a few weeks and decided to avoid Propecia, it's high success rate comes at a high price for a lot of individuals. That said, however, a friend used it, and had absolutely zero side effects - it's a game of roulette really, you're simply not going to know until you try, but it is a chance I'm not willing to take. Not when, at the end of the day, a receding or balding head never stopped anyone from achieving anything in life, really!

I've started using minoxidil foam, taking saw palmetto and using Nizoral shampoo. If it's not going to help, I'm just going to accept the inevitable.

[GEKKO135]

I definitely think weaning off of it is a good idea. I imagine it will result in less of a shock to the system so hopefully your body can readjust at a gradual pace and hopefully your prostate wont flare up like mine did.

I think it's great that the FDA is having another safety review of the product as the studies previously taken really don't stand up to scrutiny. I found it ironic/frightening that the anti-inflammatories I've been using are produced by Merck, the same company that produces finasteride!! Kind of surprised they haven't made me spontaneously combust or something.

Anyway, to answer your question funky-monkey, I'm going to continue using Kirklands Minoxidil and Nizoril shampoo for the next year anyway.

Good luck with coming off the drug anyway. If it does cause side-effects just try not to panic, give it a couple of weeks maybe even months seeing as you're on it for a while. At least you know that I got through it. Actually, I should of mentioned that I did some things that did help with the pain - jogging seemed to really help and may have increased blood flow to the area, taking very hot baths helped to relax the muscles and drinking loads of green tea to detox. Hope this helps man, good luck.