3 years on finasteride, with practically no side effects

[blizeH]

Hi all,

Just looking for an opinion here... my dad is bald, and was bald from around the age of 18 or so. From a similar age I've had somewhat receded hair, a II on the scale that I can't remember the name of, and maybe it was in my mind, but I think it was always getting progressively worse.

At the age of 24 I started taking finasteride, a quarter of a pill each day, 4 days on, 1 day off. My hair is definitely no worse than it was 3 years ago, and in fact, if anything it's got a little thicker.

I've had absolutely no side effects to speak of, other than a drop off in my sex drive (although when I met my girlfriend 2 years ago this wasn't at all an issue) which doesn't really effect things at all, it just means my girlfriend has a slightly higher sex drive than I do, which judging by some of the stories from colleagues and friends (who are so desperate for sex it turns their girlfriends off, and they never get any) isn't actually a bad thing.

Anyway, I was curious, if we were to try for a baby (not for at least 8 years, I'd say) should I come off the finasteride? And then I stumbled across this forum: http://www.propeciahelp.com/forum/index.php

LOTS of horrific horror stories. Lots of people with irreversible damage.

But now I'm wondering, 3 years in, and I'm fine. I like having hair. I like that I don't have to worry about it any more, knowing I'm doing all I can to try to keep it.

I'm scared that if I stop, all of the good work done by the drug will be reversed and I'll be left with nothing. But then I wonder, what if I'm like my uncle, someone who was mocked at the age I was for going bald, but retained all of that hair, and now into his forties has far more hair than the people who once mocked him? I am a lot like my uncle in so many ways, so I was hoping I'd be like him in this respect too.

So I'm wondering - if finasteride seems to be working for me, with practically no side effects, would I be crazy to give it up?

Would welcome any opinions, thank you

 

[IrishFella]

You'd be crazy, yeah. If you're going to let a website like the one you posted, then I don't know what to say, I wonder how long it will take before you start imaging effects because you've been on that website.

 

[blizeH]

Wow, you're not wrong - I posted a very reasonable question on there, and it got rejected simply because it was too balanced, and not an anti-propecia/finasteride post. Crazy.

 

[Quantum Cat]

propeciahelp people are charlatans who want to ruin it for everyone else, just because they (claim) were affected badly by Finasteride

if you are positive that you will start experiencing side effects, you probably will.

 

[Rawtashk]

If you want to keep your hair, then yes...you are crazy to give it up.

I've been on finasteride for over 5 years, and I STILL sometimes worry about side effects when I read about them. However, statistically speaking, you're FAAAAAAAAAR more likely to have none (or mild) ones as opposed horrible ones.

You can think of it as an allergy, if you want. These people that took finasteride has some sort of allergic reaction to it (Yes, I realize that is NOT the case, I'm just making an analogy, so stick with me ). If you were "allergic" to it, then you probably would have already had the reaction. I have a cousin that has a peanut allergy, but I've eaten peanuts for years without problems, so I'll continue to eat them.

Or, you could just look at it from a statistical perspective. EVERYTHING you do in life is a calculated risk. For example, do you realize that 1 in 144 people die in car wrecks in their lifetime? So, every time you drive to work, you're taking that risk...but it's worth it, because you need that money to survive.

etc etc etc.

Also, remember that propeciahelp is a site that is STRICTLY for people who have problems. It's essentially a group of people that have nothing good to say about something, so you're not going to get a good gauge of anything over there.

The reason that there SEEMS to be more bad than good online in regards to propecia is simple....and I will paint a little picture/story for you.

Situation A:
You go on Amazon, and you purchase a TV. Your TV comes to you in 3 days. You hook it up, and everything works. Good picture, good sound, and it stays working for 3 years. That's it, end of story.

Situation B:
You go on Amazon, and you purchase a TV. Your TV takes 2 weeks to get to you. The package is dinged and messed up. Your TV looks like it's cheaply made. You hook it up, the sound is tinny, and the picture is fuzzy. While trying to troubleshoot it....it breaks. What do you do? You go online and leave a scathing review on Amazon telling people to stay away from it. You also might call up customer support and rant and rave about how horrible of a product it is.

You see, the internet is basically customer support for the world, about everything. Customer support hears about all the BAD things that happen. When was the last time you called customer support to thank them for a wonderful product? I'll bet the answer is "never"...because that's just the way humans are. If something works as intended (In this case, Propecia keeping your hair on your head), then you go about your business and that's that. If it DOESN'T work as intended, then you try to find a way to fix it! I'm guilty of it myself. I'd been on finasteride for almost 4 years with great results before ever making a post on these forums.....simply because it never crossed my mind.

So that, in a nutshell, is why propecia seems worse than it is.

I hope you enjoyed my stories

 

[azuri]

I have been on finasteride for around 9 years and im sure im experiencing very mild effects but overall, my body tolorates it very well.

 

[jazz1]

I'm doing propecia every other day, would I be better doing 4 on one off?

 

[Quadzilla99]

Been on finasteride 10+ years. Supermild pretty much non-noticeable side effects in my case as well

 

[Kirby]

Been on finasteride 10+ years. Supermild pretty much non-noticeable side effects in my case as well

Ah, 9 years? How well has it held out your hairloss? Have you been using any other treatments?

(Reason I ask is there is an urban legend about finasteride only working for 5-7 years that you read sometimes on hairloss forums, so it's reassuring to hear accounts of people who've had results for longer.)

 

[Quadzilla99]

Ah, 9 years? How well has it held out your hairloss? Have you been using any other treatments?

(Reason I ask is there is an urban legend about finasteride only working for 5-7 years that you read sometimes on hairloss forums, so it's reassuring to hear accounts of people who've had results for longer.)

Here's a link where I tell my story with some pics:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=142250361&p=952195853#post952195853

Big believer in ketoconazole shampoo: http://www.hairlosstalk.com/interac...ic-alternative-to-Nizoral-its-called-Sebizole Been using that since I read about in Muscle Media in the late 1990s. A guy named Michael Mooney first brought it to the publics attention in that mag used keto probably 70% of the time since then. There have been longs periods where I didn't use it tho have used finasteride consistently since the early 2000s I think I started in 2000 or 2001 iirc

 

[IrishFella]

Hey, Quad, are you a pornstar?