Hair Loss Drugs Advice And Thoughts

[Baldingbob123456]

Sorry for the lengthiness in advance. Im hoping someone will read this whole thing and have a similar situation and experience and can help shed some light for me, so any experiences would be greatly appreciated. Attached are pics of my hair both wet and dry, in bright light and under dim light to give a good overview of my hair loss situation. Clearly I have some degree of crown thinning and overall defuse thinning and its very obvious when my hair is wet. I am considering getting on propecia or finasteride or other DHT blocker. However, I am nervous about the side effects, as a lot if us are. I don't want to permanently mess up my body and I don't know much much longer i should wait to actually make moves with this. I want to find that perfect timing to get the drugs max benefits, should i decide to use.

I have a long history of baldness in my family. Both grandpas and all of my uncles are completely bald, and all went completely bald in their 20's. Ironically the only male in my family who has maintained most of his hair is my dad (age 54) who has a slight receding hairline and slight crown thinning. my younger bro has a full head of hair (but very thin) and he's only 22. In other words, my chances of early balding are near 100%. One of my concerns is that messing with my hormones might permanently mess up my brain development, but i am 24 and I'm pretty sure my brain is done developing, not sure if i should wait longer or if there is even evidence that these drugs can alter the brain. However, I do know that that reports of personality change is an issue regarding these drugs.

My other concern is my libido being messed up. I have been considering this for a while and even talked to my Doctor last year and she had some blood tests done for my current hormone status. This was done almost exactly one year ago. My total testosterone came out to be 852 ng/dl on a scale of 250-1100 and my free test came out to be 177.2 pg/ml on a scale of 35-155 (yes, higher than the max range). My DHT came out to be 53 ng/dl on a scale of 16-79 (right in the mid). I have a very healthy sex drive and think about sex most of the day. I have no problem "getting it up". Considering all this, is there a chance that my natural levels will provide some sort of a "buffer" to the drugs effect? Has anyone been in a similar boat and can share their experiences on that? My sex life with my girl is very important to both of us and I don't want to ruin my relationship because of these drugs.

Ive looked at the studies on side effects that consisted of close to 1000 men and the negative side effects were only marginally more prevalent in the experimental group compared to the placebo, to the extent that it almost looks like random variation between groups with no actual statistical significance. Yet, when I look at discussions on this topic it seems like so many men have experienced horrible side effects and complain about "permanent issues" even when discontinuing the drug. My suspicion is that only the people who have these negative sides are the ones who are angry off enough to take the time to make these forum discussions and consist of outliers from everyone who uses hair loss drugs. Could it be that their sex drive and erection status where borderline before the drug and the minimal effects of the drug were enough to send them over the line into sexual dysfunction? Could it be that they are just being hypersensitive to negative effects because of some sort of exceptions from the drug, like a placebo effect of some sort? Could it be just natural aging thats causing the sides?

Ive talked to my primary physician and a dermatologist who "specializes" in this, and both seemed very incompetent, like they only knew the very basics of all the science behind this. Honestly seems like the people on this site are more educated on the matter and have actually done there research. That being said, what do you guys think i should do? Id be very appreciative of any personal stories or experiences.

 

[BigOl'BaldingHead]

You could consider starting out with just microneedling and minoxidil. That should atleast grow some of your hair back and will not destroy your dick.

 

[Jaka]

I give you credit for having baseline tests done and being realistic about your family history. Propecia/finasteride is something that you should seriously consider. There are millions of men on finasteride with no or minimal sides. Anyone who gets sides have the choice to discontinue using it. It's as simple as that. Internalizing the fear-mongering can have an effect on you psychologically. Trust yourself and your doctor. Having baseline tests is beneficial if you have a specialist who knows how to correctly interpret them after starting, if you choose to use finasteride. Obviously, you can add other treatments along with or after.

 

[frank1980]

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Sorry for the lengthiness in advance. Im hoping someone will read this whole thing and have a similar situation and experience and can help shed some light for me, so any experiences would be greatly appreciated. Attached are pics of my hair both wet and dry, in bright light and under dim light to give a good overview of my hair loss situation. Clearly I have some degree of crown thinning and overall defuse thinning and its very obvious when my hair is wet. I am considering getting on propecia or finasteride or other DHT blocker. However, I am nervous about the side effects, as a lot if us are. I don't want to permanently mess up my body and I don't know much much longer i should wait to actually make moves with this. I want to find that perfect timing to get the drugs max benefits, should i decide to use.

I have a long history of baldness in my family. Both grandpas and all of my uncles are completely bald, and all went completely bald in their 20's. Ironically the only male in my family who has maintained most of his hair is my dad (age 54) who has a slight receding hairline and slight crown thinning. my younger bro has a full head of hair (but very thin) and he's only 22. In other words, my chances of early balding are near 100%. One of my concerns is that messing with my hormones might permanently mess up my brain development, but i am 24 and I'm pretty sure my brain is done developing, not sure if i should wait longer or if there is even evidence that these drugs can alter the brain. However, I do know that that reports of personality change is an issue regarding these drugs.

My other concern is my libido being messed up. I have been considering this for a while and even talked to my Doctor last year and she had some blood tests done for my current hormone status. This was done almost exactly one year ago. My total testosterone came out to be 852 ng/dl on a scale of 250-1100 and my free test came out to be 177.2 pg/ml on a scale of 35-155 (yes, higher than the max range). My DHT came out to be 53 ng/dl on a scale of 16-79 (right in the mid). I have a very healthy sex drive and think about sex most of the day. I have no problem "getting it up". Considering all this, is there a chance that my natural levels will provide some sort of a "buffer" to the drugs effect? Has anyone been in a similar boat and can share their experiences on that? My sex life with my girl is very important to both of us and I don't want to ruin my relationship because of these drugs.

Ive looked at the studies on side effects that consisted of close to 1000 men and the negative side effects were only marginally more prevalent in the experimental group compared to the placebo, to the extent that it almost looks like random variation between groups with no actual statistical significance. Yet, when I look at discussions on this topic it seems like so many men have experienced horrible side effects and complain about "permanent issues" even when discontinuing the drug. My suspicion is that only the people who have these negative sides are the ones who are angry off enough to take the time to make these forum discussions and consist of outliers from everyone who uses hair loss drugs. Could it be that their sex drive and erection status where borderline before the drug and the minimal effects of the drug were enough to send them over the line into sexual dysfunction? Could it be that they are just being hypersensitive to negative effects because of some sort of exceptions from the drug, like a placebo effect of some sort? Could it be just natural aging thats causing the sides?

Ive talked to my primary physician and a dermatologist who "specializes" in this, and both seemed very incompetent, like they only knew the very basics of all the science behind this. Honestly seems like the people on this site are more educated on the matter and have actually done there research. That being said, what do you guys think i should do? Id be very appreciative of any personal stories or experiences.

I'll be brief. I don't doubt there MAY be sides with these drugs, however, I've determined that it's mostly fear mongering, hyperbole, and exaggeration. You have high testosterone. With all that free floating testosterone, I'm a little surprised that your dht level wasn't a little bit higher. Do you know your estrogen levels? Anyways, if you're nervous about popping a pill, there's always topical finasteride which only has 40% of the systemic effects that oral finasteride has. This of course is from a study I saw and I can't vouch for its accuracy. This means that your systemic dht levels will be knocked down by roughly 25%. So it would be theoretically around 37 on topical as opposed to 16 on oral finasteride. You'd still theoretically be very much in the middle with topical if you react to it similarly as in the study. Be careful not to have it rub on other people or your own hand. Just keep it on your scalp.