TheGrayMan2001
Senior Member
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I just typed a huge post detailing every outline of my hairloss since I first noticed it until the male pattern baldness itch got unbearable in spring 2010, prompting me to start finasteride. I realized few people care to read an essay on this so I'll just post some short notes instead.
I've been very scientific about hairloss from the beginning, and I intend to continue to be as long as I am fighting it. Bogus supplements and "natural" hairloss remedies are repeatedly shown to fail and I have little to no interest in them.
--started finasteride May 2010, still a 'nw1', but diffuse and losing more on one side than the other
--whole hairline has moved back a little, but still decently low in the middle and NW1 shape
--my hair is not extremely dense, but it's wirey, creating the illusion of vast thickness if it's any length over an inch and a half
--noticed finasteride side effects: groin/ball ache, slightly lower libido
--August 2010: had a strange effect. my testicles started to pull up to my body. It was very obnoxious, but after about two weeks went back close to normal (though they never hung as low as they used to since, something odd--size has remained normal though. Never have figured out the reason for this.)
--Sex drive remains constant for a while, I increase finasteride doseage to 1.5 to 2 mg per day. By October I started to have "retrograde" ejaculation every once in a while--sometimes nothing at all. It was very annoying. I cut back on finasteride and everything seemed to return to normal. I upped the dose again and never had that problem, but sperm remained watery\less
--by January 2011 I noticed I had less feeling in the genital area. I didn't get morning wood anymore, though I did sometimes notice night time erections. I ran out of finasteride in mid-January, and my hair was doing great, so I decided to hold off on buying some more for a while.
--within three days (January 18 or so) my sex drive exploded and I had about two weeks of non-stop horniness. By the two week period's end it was the most terrible I've ever been in my entire life. It tapered off to about normal levels soon after (I have an extremely high sex drive before and when off of finasteride)
--noticed hair receding again by early March, felt the male pattern baldness itch returning, I got back on finasteride at the lower dose of 0.25 mg.
--Less sperm, but still decent amount, and slightly lower sex drive, and no morning wood\random erections. I did not mind this at all really, in retrospect. Hair slowly started to recover back towards the state it was in in January.
--ran out of the finpecia i bought in late July, but I found a pack of fincar I had missed from my first order. I started to take these until September 10th, 2011, in 1.25mg doses. I felt my testicles hurt when I first started, and everything seemed normal, but I slowly felt my sex drive going away more than ever. It was very, very annoying.
-I stopped finasteride when I ran out in early September
-sex drive exploded for a few days, then seemed to go in and out for the next 3 weeks. I was wondering if I would stay in this limbo or what, so I ordered some zinc pincolate to see if it was actually of any use. I took 50mg a day, 25mg in morning and 25 at night, and within three days my sex drive was 100% normal. Morning erections, random boners, etc.
-on the downside, hairloss has already started again (I had stopped minoxidil too because I was quite broke and couldn't afford any more. New job, though, so I ordered plenty)
-I know my DHT is definitely up. Hair loss, slight itch (though this might be from the minoxidil), and I've noticed some new small dark hairs growing on the back of my upper arm and my chest.
So, in conclusion, I have decided to run an experiment. I have ordered some dutasteride (0.5mg Dutagen from InHouse) and I am going to try it for a while. Over at the HLH forum, myself and poster DecadeTwo have noticed that in some individuals, dutasteride actually has less side effects than finasteride--or none at all. This does not seem to be the norm, but I have seen enough anecdotal reports of it to convince me to give it a try. Here at HairLossTalk.com, Monty has reported the same thing, though he seems to have had bouts with other stuff in the meantime, and had developed some sides.
I'm going to give it a shot. If I see sides and they don't go away, I'll definitely stop and get back on 0.25 mg of finasteride, which seemed to work the best for me so far. Tomorrow morning (10/26) I will be taking my first dutasteride capsule. I did not see any shedding on finasteride, and I'm hoping I won't see any on dutasteride either like some people have reported.
This almost ended up being an essay too. Wow. I'm very long winded, apparently.
I've been very scientific about hairloss from the beginning, and I intend to continue to be as long as I am fighting it. Bogus supplements and "natural" hairloss remedies are repeatedly shown to fail and I have little to no interest in them.
--started finasteride May 2010, still a 'nw1', but diffuse and losing more on one side than the other
--whole hairline has moved back a little, but still decently low in the middle and NW1 shape
--my hair is not extremely dense, but it's wirey, creating the illusion of vast thickness if it's any length over an inch and a half
--noticed finasteride side effects: groin/ball ache, slightly lower libido
--August 2010: had a strange effect. my testicles started to pull up to my body. It was very obnoxious, but after about two weeks went back close to normal (though they never hung as low as they used to since, something odd--size has remained normal though. Never have figured out the reason for this.)
--Sex drive remains constant for a while, I increase finasteride doseage to 1.5 to 2 mg per day. By October I started to have "retrograde" ejaculation every once in a while--sometimes nothing at all. It was very annoying. I cut back on finasteride and everything seemed to return to normal. I upped the dose again and never had that problem, but sperm remained watery\less
--by January 2011 I noticed I had less feeling in the genital area. I didn't get morning wood anymore, though I did sometimes notice night time erections. I ran out of finasteride in mid-January, and my hair was doing great, so I decided to hold off on buying some more for a while.
--within three days (January 18 or so) my sex drive exploded and I had about two weeks of non-stop horniness. By the two week period's end it was the most terrible I've ever been in my entire life. It tapered off to about normal levels soon after (I have an extremely high sex drive before and when off of finasteride)
--noticed hair receding again by early March, felt the male pattern baldness itch returning, I got back on finasteride at the lower dose of 0.25 mg.
--Less sperm, but still decent amount, and slightly lower sex drive, and no morning wood\random erections. I did not mind this at all really, in retrospect. Hair slowly started to recover back towards the state it was in in January.
--ran out of the finpecia i bought in late July, but I found a pack of fincar I had missed from my first order. I started to take these until September 10th, 2011, in 1.25mg doses. I felt my testicles hurt when I first started, and everything seemed normal, but I slowly felt my sex drive going away more than ever. It was very, very annoying.
-I stopped finasteride when I ran out in early September
-sex drive exploded for a few days, then seemed to go in and out for the next 3 weeks. I was wondering if I would stay in this limbo or what, so I ordered some zinc pincolate to see if it was actually of any use. I took 50mg a day, 25mg in morning and 25 at night, and within three days my sex drive was 100% normal. Morning erections, random boners, etc.
-on the downside, hairloss has already started again (I had stopped minoxidil too because I was quite broke and couldn't afford any more. New job, though, so I ordered plenty)
-I know my DHT is definitely up. Hair loss, slight itch (though this might be from the minoxidil), and I've noticed some new small dark hairs growing on the back of my upper arm and my chest.
So, in conclusion, I have decided to run an experiment. I have ordered some dutasteride (0.5mg Dutagen from InHouse) and I am going to try it for a while. Over at the HLH forum, myself and poster DecadeTwo have noticed that in some individuals, dutasteride actually has less side effects than finasteride--or none at all. This does not seem to be the norm, but I have seen enough anecdotal reports of it to convince me to give it a try. Here at HairLossTalk.com, Monty has reported the same thing, though he seems to have had bouts with other stuff in the meantime, and had developed some sides.
I'm going to give it a shot. If I see sides and they don't go away, I'll definitely stop and get back on 0.25 mg of finasteride, which seemed to work the best for me so far. Tomorrow morning (10/26) I will be taking my first dutasteride capsule. I did not see any shedding on finasteride, and I'm hoping I won't see any on dutasteride either like some people have reported.
This almost ended up being an essay too. Wow. I'm very long winded, apparently.
Very disheartening, cause I did experience at least SOME results before... Now it's all gone to sh*t. I really don't know what to do no more... Cause in many ways I just CAN'T lose my hair (really).