Finansteride - is it worth it?

[HowDoYouKnow]

Hey all,

I've been on this forum for some time, but didn't take my time to register until today.

Background story (skip if you want)
I'm 19 years old, and have been losing my hair for about a year. At first I didn't see it as a problem, because I thought it wasn't going to be noticable in many years. I didn't know much about hairloss then (who does?) but now, a year later, I am a NW2-3 and I'm shedding aggressively.

What you guys write on this forum affects me a lot, and I am so confused about what to think, or what to feel about my hairloss. Some are not bothered at all it seems, and some let it control their life.

My problem is that I can't seem to make up my mind about how bad my hair loss affects me. One second I feel like it'll all be alright, and that it's nothing to be depressed for. The other second I feel like sh*t, and want to cry/scream.

Now to the actual topic... I have some general questions about finansteride. Is it really worth taking? How big are the chances that I will experience side-effects that are permanent? After reading all the topics about erectile dysfunction and other problems, I become scared I will experience similar side-effects, and that I will forever regret taking finansteride. I would appreciate if someone could just help me, advice me, because I feel so lost, and every day I spend hours thinking what to do about my condition, and this is killing me. I need to make a decision so I can move on.

Thanks for reading, and I hope that someone replies.

 

[TravisB]

Well, officially, only about 2% of people experience finasteride side effects (and the permanent side effects are even less often). But looking on the internet, you can get a feeling that it's much more. Theoretically, you could try it for some time, and see if you have sides, and if you have, you could always drop it. But there are many horror stories about permanent side effects, or side effects that occur just AFTER dropping the drug, and ruining people's lives. For every guy that claims finasteride is safe, there is another guy that will tell you that he got sides. I was considering taking finasteride, but it's a really hard decision, and I, like you, don't want to possibly regret taking it for the rest of my life. But on the other hand, I can regret not taking it when I could, if i'll finally lose my hair. Personally, I don't see how messing with the most potent man hormone could not affect someone's health.

In the end, I don't know who to believe more - people who claim that finasteride helped them and have no sides, or people who say that it's crap and full of side effects.

 

[waytooyoung]

I'm 18, I too have major mood swings about it all and spend hours thinking about what to do. The internet is a bad place to judge the likeliness of side effects because the people who get them tend to complain on the internet, the others just get on with their lives. Im strongly considering finasteride to go with regaine and Nizoral, if you decide you don't want finasteride then you need another anti androgen, RU58841, and Topical spironolactone are the ones that SEEM on here to be the most effective.

 

[HowDoYouKnow]

Thanks for your replies.

It feels slightly better seeing others go through the same thing as me - misunderstand me right. At least I don't feel so alone anymore.

I think that if I don't go with finasteride, it's something I will regret for the rest of my life. I may sound like a shallow person to you, but I really do not think I will not enjoy life to the fullest without my hair.

Sometimes, it scares me how different I have become since suffering from hairloss. I don't know if it's just a phase I'm going through, but this is the roughest time of my life, and I've been through things that should be considered much, much worse.

Since I'm shedding pretty badly now, it feels like every day of waiting will affect how effective finansteride will be on my head. I think I'm just going to have to make a decision.
I don't know if we are allowed to write about online pharmacies here, but that's the only place that I can get finansteride, for a reasonable price. In Sweden, where I live, the doctors rarely persribe this medicine for hairloss. And the few who do, only perscribe Propecia, which is too expensive to me. So if anyone could, I would love to see some information about where I can get Proscar or any other generic finansteride online.

Best regards

 

[dinosaur_sr]

Websites like Boots and Pharmacy2u.co.uk offer prescriptions. Not sure how much use those are to you in Sweden, but might be worth a look. I've never used them myself so can't vouch, but Boots is a major company over here so they'll be legit.

I'm actually going to the doctor this afternoon to look into a prescription - most reputable sources claim the side effects are rare and reversible, and I feel like if finasteride was making so many men impotent, it'd be a much bigger news story. This is the information age after all. I may be completely wrong, but I'm trying to look at it logically.

Finding out your losing hair is pretty rough, especially at a young age - I'm 22 and not far from where you are. Hope you feel better soon and find something that works for you mate unk:

 

[n0rc]

I am on the same situation as you are.

I noticed my receding hair is getting worst!

I almost want to grab this finasteride. But I tried reading again in this forums.

But Im not feeling good anymore about this,honestly!

I need help badly to decide.

 

[ohmanohno]

It's not an easy decision but it was one worth taking for me. I'd rather not take it but many people do have success with it with little to no sides. Honestly, if RU was readily available in a bottle that was ready to use then I would go that route but it just seems to complicated. I have been taking finasteride for about 7 months. Started off at .5mg EOD to test for sides in which none occurred. Now at 1.25 my daily I experienced some achyness in my balls that went away after a week and a little less of a sex drive that seems to be recovering. The choice is yours. Good luck

 

[gh05]

Same position. Hair loss has become a obsession for me and I have many bad days mixed with the odd 'i dont care so much' day. I think it is made a lot worse by where I am in my life. If I was happily settled down with a family and nice girlfriend then I honestly think I would deal with it ok. But right now I am going through a hard time so hair loss has become a much bigger thing.

I really do not want to take finasteride - it elevates estrogen in the body which is not a good thing and there are so many unknowns as yet. Still, I can't write off the idea of taking it in future because of how hair loss affects my life.

One thing to consider is that there is a psychological dependency on finasteride. Once you start...you're never really going to want to stop - because you then have no idea how bad your hair could get. That is a bad place to be.

Also...hair loss 'sufferers' (i.e. those concerned by it) tend to have anxiety/depression issues anyway - finasteride can affect the brain negatively so that is something which has to be considered.

 

[TravisB]

Yeah, good points. I think I'm never going to take the Finasteride plunge. Instead I'm going to try RUM (prodrug of RU). And if this doesn't help me, then aaaaah...f*** it, I'm going bald. Hair clipper or razor is going to be my cure. I'm very thin on top anyways, and my thinning is aggressive, I literally feel that it's thinner and thinner day by day, so I'm quite sceptic that RUM can help me.

 

[gh05]

Yeah, good points. I think I'm never going to take the Finasteride plunge. Instead I'm going to try RUM (prodrug of RU). And if this doesn't help me, then aaaaah...f*ck it, I'm going bald. Hair clipper or razor is going to be my cure.

I don't see how the other options are safer or better if I'm honest. Those topicals are untested, can cause systemic side effects which nobody knows about...could potentially damage the hair further (who knows?) and are damn expensive. Honestly, i think people paying for those things over the net are a bit crazy and taking this stuff to the extreme.

Has to be the FDA approved solutions or nothing really. Nothing is better than anything if you can deal with it.

 

[TravisB]

I don't give a f*ck about damaging my hair, because they are miserable anyway :mrgreen:. But I DO care about damaging my d*ck. RU is a topical solution, and I bet that it's much safer than Propecia (which is digested in your stomach). People were using it, some had problems with sides, but they stopped using it and everything went back to normal. It's not supposed to mess with your whole body's DHT, just in scalp. RUM is even better formulation because it's supposed to not enter the bloodstream AT ALL (every bit of it will be absorbed into the follicles), and therefore not produce the side effects. If I don't try it, I will not know if it works for me. It's a last chance for me since I don't want to mess with Finasteride.

 

[Rawtashk]

Just popping in to add a positive story to the discussion.

I've been on it for over 3 years, and I've had great success with no (or very minor, depending on who you ask) side effects. I can vouch for its effectiveness against aggressive balding. I'm the only male on either side of my family that has their hair at age 27. My younger brother is 23 and he has less hair than I do (he also just started on dutasteride a few months back, also with no sides as of yet)

 

[gh05]

I don't give a f*ck about damaging my hair, because they are miserable anyway :mrgreen:. But I DO care about damaging my d*ck. RU is a topical solution, and I bet that it's much safer than Propecia (which is digested in your stomach). People were using it, some had problems with sides, but they stopped using it and everything went back to normal. It's not supposed to mess with your whole body's DHT, just in scalp. RUM is even better formulation because it's supposed to not enter the bloodstream AT ALL (every bit of it will be absorbed into the follicles), and therefore not produce the side effects. If I don't try it, I will not know if it works for me. It's a last chance for me since I don't want to mess with Finasteride.

How much does it cost though??? Isn't it a ridiculous amount? And don't forget that it is experimental...you can't ever be sure of the real possible effects of a genuinely untested drug.

 

[gh05]

Just popping in to add a positive story to the discussion.

I've been on it for over 3 years, and I've had great success with no (or very minor, depending on who you ask) side effects. I can vouch for its effectiveness against aggressive balding. I'm the only male on either side of my family that has their hair at age 27. My younger brother is 23 and he has less hair than I do (he also just started on dutasteride a few months back, also with no sides as of yet)

I'd feel so much more positive about finasteride if I could see other guys posting similar stories...but to be honest, you seem to be pretty much one of only a few people who report anything genuinely positive without sides. I don't buy the 'but guys who it works for don't come back on the net' story - there are so many people who've tested finasteride and documented it from the start only to run into problems.

 

[TravisB]

I don't give a f*ck about damaging my hair, because they are miserable anyway :mrgreen:. But I DO care about damaging my d*ck. RU is a topical solution, and I bet that it's much safer than Propecia (which is digested in your stomach). People were using it, some had problems with sides, but they stopped using it and everything went back to normal. It's not supposed to mess with your whole body's DHT, just in scalp. RUM is even better formulation because it's supposed to not enter the bloodstream AT ALL (every bit of it will be absorbed into the follicles), and therefore not produce the side effects. If I don't try it, I will not know if it works for me. It's a last chance for me since I don't want to mess with Finasteride.

How much does it cost though??? Isn't it a ridiculous amount? And don't forget that it is experimental...you can't ever be sure of the real possible effects of a genuinely untested drug.

It's not that expensive. You could buy normal RU for about 200 - 250$ for 10 grams, but it's from China, so the quality of it is sometimes questionable. If it goes for RUM, we are making a group order in this thread - http://www.hairlosstalk.com/interact/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=63049&start=2510 and it's the first ever order of RUM. It's 40$ for a gram. It's of trusted American source, not Chinese. We must pay for a kilo before we'll order that. The enough quantity (judging by RU usage and studies) is about 25-50 mg/ml (2,5% - 5% solution). I'm planning to buy 10 grams, and use 25 mg every day, so it will last me 400 days. It will be around 30$ a month, so it's not that expensive. I would pay more buying genuine Propecia.

 

[gh05]

I don't give a f*ck about damaging my hair, because they are miserable anyway :mrgreen:. But I DO care about damaging my d*ck. RU is a topical solution, and I bet that it's much safer than Propecia (which is digested in your stomach). People were using it, some had problems with sides, but they stopped using it and everything went back to normal. It's not supposed to mess with your whole body's DHT, just in scalp. RUM is even better formulation because it's supposed to not enter the bloodstream AT ALL (every bit of it will be absorbed into the follicles), and therefore not produce the side effects. If I don't try it, I will not know if it works for me. It's a last chance for me since I don't want to mess with Finasteride.

How much does it cost though??? Isn't it a ridiculous amount? And don't forget that it is experimental...you can't ever be sure of the real possible effects of a genuinely untested drug.

It's not that expensive. You could buy normal RU for about 200 - 250$ for 10 grams, but it's from China, so the quality of it is sometimes questionable. If it goes for RUM, we are making a group order in this thread - http://www.hairlosstalk.com/interact/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=63049&start=2510 and it's the first ever order of RUM. It's 40$ for a gram. It's of trusted American source, not Chinese. We must pay for a kilo before we'll order that. The enough quantity (judging by RU usage and studies) is about 25-50 mg/ml (2,5% - 5% solution). I'm planning to buy 10 grams, and use 25 mg every day, so it will last me 400 days. It will be around 30$ a month, so it's not that expensive. I would pay more buying genuine Propecia.

Honestly...if I were you then I'd save your money.

You don't know what you're getting. What does 'trusted' even mean - every day I learn it's best to trust people less and less. They're out to make money, it's not proven and it's potentially damaging to your health. Leave the pseudo science ('not systemic because....')...you have no idea what those chemicals could do.

 

[TravisB]

Honestly...if I were you then I'd save your money.

You don't know what you're getting. What does 'trusted' even mean - every day I learn it's best to trust people less and less. They're out to make money, it's not proven and it's potentially damaging to your health. Leave the pseudo science ('not systemic because....')...you have no idea what those chemicals could do.

Hehe, and still, you'll be able to trust Merck? Their former product Vioxx, has killed many thousands of people. :mrgreen: They are out to make money too. Our health is secondary.

 

[gh05]

Leave the pseudo science ('not systemic because....')...you have no idea what those chemicals could do.

Pseudo Science? Those claims are based on solid scientific research, many of the members on my site who are ordering this, are actually medical professionals and research scientists, if they feel comfortable enough to use it themselves, it says a lot!

Ok then well good luck to you. I however will remain sceptical because I don't genuinely believe that there can possibly be any long term safety studies of these drugs. And as for the hair gains, show me the success stories or something and maybe I might be a bit more (but still far from totally) convinced. Fact is, anybody on the internet can claim anything they want.

And medical professionals trying things out? Means nothing. Due to some serious health problems years ago I've seen enough doctors to know that many haven't got a damn clue what they're on about. Not saying these guys aren't intelligent - I'm saying that their profession means nothing to me.

 

[gh05]

Honestly...if I were you then I'd save your money.

You don't know what you're getting. What does 'trusted' even mean - every day I learn it's best to trust people less and less. They're out to make money, it's not proven and it's potentially damaging to your health. Leave the pseudo science ('not systemic because....')...you have no idea what those chemicals could do.

Hehe, and still, you'll be able to trust Merck? :mrgreen: They are out to make money too. Our health is secondary.

Did I say I trusted them? I haven't taken finasteride for a reason.

If it comes down to it though...I will take an FDA approved drug which is prescribed to millions of people around the world over some experimental chemicals sold on the internet. Definitely. I'm not fussed on finasteride at all, but these 'topicals' are just crazy.

People do get side effects from putting stuff on their skin. Not only that but these chemicals can rub off anywhere and get places...you really want this sh*t on your bedsheets, or to potentially damage your partner/kids/whoever else if they touch your hair??? You dont even know what those drugs can do.
Just be careful is all I'm saying.

 

[mashang]

dont delay..... if you want to get best results,
once your hair-loss has become more aggressive it will be really hard for finasteride to do any miracles unless you have a great response to minoxidil and regrow all your losses

i spent 2-3 years physc -ing myself up to take it and now i wish i started it sooner , as my results have not been overly impressive... maybe its too late for me ,