How do you deal with the fact you're losing hair?

[ssjpotato]

I've been on finasteride for about 2 and a half months, experiencing some sides hoping they go away soon but if they don't i'll probably quit finasteride.
I'm having a real hard time dealing with my hairloss. i thought i was only losing at the hairline but recent photos prove i'm losing at the crown too. I wish i wasn't so vain that i cared about it this much but i do. I made the mistake of telling my friends about it, and they laughed at me and made fun of me for losing hair at 21. I never had much self esteem, was overweight in high school and just over the last two years i lost a bit of weight and thought i could be confident with myself but now instead of being fat i'm going bald.
I don't think i've ever been this low in my life and it's over ****ing hair.

 

[ssjpotato]

I don't want to be ugly. If i shaved my head i would be ugly. I'm already not great looking but bald would put me there.
People telling me it doesn't matter. Funny the same people who tell me it doesn't matter are people who aren't ****ing balding.

 

[Spanishlad]

I guess everyone here feels the same as you otherwise we wouldn't be spending our time on a hairloss forum.

I was horrified when at 23 I realised it was happening to me, I obsessed about my hair, looking at my receding hairline in the mirror every day and even counting hairs in the sink.

Luckily enough treatments have been pretty good to me and I no longer look at my hair with the same dreaded feeling as I used to. I am still losing ground very very slowly but it doesnt bother me so much.

Its sad to say that with time you do come to accept it and at least I have piece of mind that I am doing pretty much all I can to delay the inevitable. If it gets too bad I will just get a hair transplant rather than spend my days looking in the mirror again.

 

[dehoha]

My hair loss started the same actually. I lost a lot of weight before going to college and thought I would never have to worry about my self-esteem again. It turns out, rapid/high weight loss can cause severe damage to your body, one of the causes for onset of hair loss. My hair loss never subsided after I started losing hair at age of 19. Luckily, I did not care much about my hair through college years, but still went out with a couple of girls (this is pretty challenging for an engineering school), and enjoyed my college/grad school years. Real havoc hit me about a year and half ago when I received two surgeries with general anesthesia within a 9 month period. My gut health got destroyed from the antibiotics and general anesthesia exacerbated hair loss severely. It's been 8 months since last surgery, but I am still suffering from massive hair loss.

Going back to your question, focus on things that matter to you. For me, during college years, the things I cared about were academics, getting decent internships, meeting with friends, and of course, girls. Telling your friends about hair loss was a bad mistake, but you just have to ignore what they say and do something better than them. In the end, smart guys with decent jobs will be more financially secure, which can potentially cover disadvantage of having less hair.

 

[Mach]

I remember in my other life in my teens and early 20s I was into weights a lot. Bodybuilding was the reason I cut back on drinking and partying. It was my high in life. I never needed a social lubricant to feel good. It really transformed my life. At 30 I was going through some photos and had one of me with my shirt off at the pits when I raced motocross, I said to myself WTF happened. It wasn't my hair it was my body. yeah losing hair sucks but losing that younger body is just as crappy. I found I could focus my frustration towards my career and back to my body. Those are things I have the most control over. Hairloss, heart disease I don't. Check out these guys. brendon burchard and Greg Plitt. They are both motivational guys and have a youtube channel. Like anything you have to want to be positive and change, it's not easy. I need everything I can get now that I am 35. It's pretty hard to make fun of someone that pulls in a six figures and a good body.

As far as your side maybe reduce the dose to every other day or something. Best of luck. I wanted to add that the reason I found these sites and treatments was me ranting to my buddy about losing my hair, he said try propecia. wish I ranted 5 years sooner to him.

 

[hellouser]

I remember in my other life in my teens and early 20s I was into weights a lot. Bodybuilding was the reason I cut back on drinking and partying. It was my high in life. I never needed a social lubricant to feel good. It really transformed my life. At 30 I was going through some photos and had one of me with my shirt off at the pits when I raced motocross, I said to myself WTF happened. It wasn't my hair it was my body. yeah losing hair sucks but losing that younger body is just as crappy. I found I could focus my frustration towards my career and back to my body. Those are things I have the most control over. Hairloss, heart disease I don't. Check out these guys. brendon burchard and Greg Plitt. They are both motivational guys and have a youtube channel. Like anything you have to want to be positive and change, it's not easy. I need everything I can get now that I am 35. It's pretty hard to make fun of someone that pulls in a six figures and a good body.

It's easy if the guy is balding. Just look at LeBron James;

[video=youtube;r5o0G54loso]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5o0G54loso[/video]

And more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww4TO2g5Q2A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRur18hq_VM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F02AX8JerUo

That's national television. The comments on twitter, forums, facebook, in real life, are all just as bad if not worse... like this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh9_HmwSJxA

 

[DENI3D]

It ****ing blows. I feel the same way. Started going bald around 21, at 22 and a 1/2 I started taking minoxidil and now I'm almost 23 and minoxidil made it much much worse. Only thing I have now is my great looks and huge muscles. Trying to stay positive and not let it affect me but it is a real downer :/ Hopefully there is a permanent cure within 5> years. I just seriously refuse to believe we can land probes on comets 300 million miles away but we can't grow natural hair on our heads. I think they're hiding the cure, but then again we would start seeing wealthy billionaires sprouting heads of hair when they did so when they start growing hair the cure for us isn't probably far behind.

 

[Quickstrike]

I think you're looking at it the wrong way.

Can't you see that 3 out of the 4 men poking fun of him are bald?

They are just saying he should stop trying to hide his receding hairline. They aren't saying "haha, you are bald and ugly".

He is not fooling anyone by wearing that head-band. Same with the men that never take off their baseball cap.

It's easy if the guy is balding. Just look at LeBron James;


And more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww4TO2g5Q2A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRur18hq_VM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F02AX8JerUo

That's national television. The comments on twitter, forums, facebook, in real life, are all just as bad if not worse... like this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh9_HmwSJxA

 

[abcdefg]

If you look at life in a prison you see what men are really like in a primitive state. They all to want to look and feel superior to other men in the battle for resources. So naturally any guy with hair wont care and will make fun of the guys without it since they know its an advantage for them because its less competition. How many guys losing hair are happy and enjoy the fact they are prematurely aging and looking older than their peers of the same age? Are there lots of them that I dont know about?

 

[ssjpotato]

Can we discuss your side effects. I maybe able to talk you out of them depending on what they are.

The main side is almost complete loss of my libido. Don't feel horny ever.

Less semen and it's watery.

No morning wood. There was one week where it seemed to come back, although they were weak. Now it only happens very occasionally and they're weak as hell.

Erections aren't what they used to be. For the most part they're probably 80% what they used to be, sometimes it's only half hard and very occasionally it's 100% normal.

 

[ssjpotato]

Ok. Here it goes. Some of the erection issues may be due to depression. Since the drug doesn't work instantly and most people go through a shed phase they become depressed as they lose more hair and their image changes for the worse. This may also have other psychological implications. Results typically don't show on finasteride for a full year. Some men it takes 1.5 years to 2 years to really see the benefit. You can start seeing results in as early as 6 months.

Loss of morning wood. This is concerning as it is healthful for your member to get nocturnal erections. If you lose these you will want to make sure you get hard a couple times a day to make up for it. I think this is one of the weirdest phenomenons of the drug, but in the end it may not be the worse thing as long as you can still get it erect, are still sensitive down there, have pleasurable orgasms, and can maintain an erection through out intercourse. For many men these issues go away as they continue the drug.

The watery semen I think might be more common than people think. But my semen gets more watery depending on the frequency I masturbate. However dht does play a role in the piping down there and the prostate (the area where sperm is stored) and so that might actually be caused by finasteride. The question then comes are you still fertile? You could get a test for that.

All in all you have to decide do the benefits outweigh the cons. Chances are these symptoms will stay the same, maybe get better, doubt they would get worse. This is what we have to save our hair. Some men who take the drug become impotent. It doesn't sound like that has happened to you. Although I would consider bringing these sides up with a doctor and getting their advice.

Erection strength. Not all of my erections are 100 percent off of finasteride. If you have 80 percent hard erections regularly that might be considered normal. That being said I do believe dht does play a role in erections. But testosterone plays more of a role I think. The women I've slept with never noticed a difference when I was on and off the drug. I will say this though. The return of morning wood became very noticeable to me when I quit. And after I have an orgasm I tend to stay hard for a little longer than I used to while I was on finasteride. But that doesn't really matter and there is no actual science behind those statements. Just perceptions and trusting my memory from over 3 years ago.

I tried to tell myself it was all in my head. I thought to myself the loss of libido could be the depression/anxiety i've been feeling since realizing i have male pattern baldness, which is still a very real possibility but no morning wood isn't all in my head when i know i used to get strong morning wood almost every morning. And from what someone else was saying morning wood, or strength of morning wood and nocturnal erections are good indicator for your sexual problems.

I am seeing my family doctor in a few days to see what he says. When i first thought i was losing my hair (a few months a go), i went to see the local doctor instead of the family doctor, he couldn't tell me much about sides and what his recommendation would be because he'd only ever dealt with a few hairloss patients and the derm i saw also didn't have much more to say. I'm thinking my family doctor won't have much insight either and just tell me to quit the drug.

I might be willing to ride it out a forth month but i'm thinking if the sides haven't subsided by 3-4 months, they probably won't at all.

 

[ssjpotato]

Ok. Here it goes. Some of the erection issues may be due to depression. Since the drug doesn't work instantly and most people go through a shed phase they become depressed as they lose more hair and their image changes for the worse. This may also have other psychological implications. Results typically don't show on finasteride for a full year. Some men it takes 1.5 years to 2 years to really see the benefit. You can start seeing results in as early as 6 months.

Loss of morning wood. This is concerning as it is healthful for your member to get nocturnal erections. If you lose these you will want to make sure you get hard a couple times a day to make up for it. I think this is one of the weirdest phenomenons of the drug, but in the end it may not be the worse thing as long as you can still get it erect, are still sensitive down there, have pleasurable orgasms, and can maintain an erection through out intercourse. For many men these issues go away as they continue the drug.

The watery semen I think might be more common than people think. But my semen gets more watery depending on the frequency I masturbate. However dht does play a role in the piping down there and the prostate (the area where sperm is stored) and so that might actually be caused by finasteride. The question then comes are you still fertile? You could get a test for that.

All in all you have to decide do the benefits outweigh the cons. Chances are these symptoms will stay the same, maybe get better, doubt they would get worse. This is what we have to save our hair. Some men who take the drug become impotent. It doesn't sound like that has happened to you. Although I would consider bringing these sides up with a doctor and getting their advice.

Erection strength. Not all of my erections are 100 percent off of finasteride. If you have 80 percent hard erections regularly that might be considered normal. That being said I do believe dht does play a role in erections. But testosterone plays more of a role I think. The women I've slept with never noticed a difference when I was on and off the drug. I will say this though. The return of morning wood became very noticeable to me when I quit. And after I have an orgasm I tend to stay hard for a little longer than I used to while I was on finasteride. But that doesn't really matter and there is no actual science behind those statements. Just perceptions and trusting my memory from over 3 years ago.

Saw the doctor.
He said that in terms of loss of libido and erection problems it's more likely a result of stress.
However, he said that loss of morning wood usually indicates something physical but that it can be affected by stress.
He wants me to get more blood work done. To look at my hormones to see if i'm getting knocked around but also to test my liver. Said something about liver problems causing rise in estrogen which then affects stuff like morning wood, erection strength ect ect.
Wants me to stay on the drug until he gets the tests

 

[frenchy]

loss of morning wood usually indicates something physical but that it can be affected by stress.
He wants me to get more blood work done. To look at my hormones to see if i'm getting knocked around but also to test my liver. Said something about liver problems causing rise in estrogen which then affects stuff like morning wood, erection strength ect ect.

ive been morningwood-free since 2003 (guess its more like 2007 but doesn't rhyme) now 27yo -> should be worried brah?

 

[Notcoolanymore]

ive been morningwood-free since 2003 (guess its more like 2007 but doesn't rhyme) now 27yo -> should be worried brah?

Damn because of finasteride or over-masturbation?

 

[frenchy]

probably over masturbation bro, only on finasteride since few weeks
edit -> may be p**rn addiction

 

[Justarandomname]

At 15, I've had 2 friends ask me if I'm going bald because of my hairline, which sucks because it means it's really noticable. I can't do anything like go on finasteride at my age because I don't want to have trouble getting a hard on for the rest of my life. So while my grandfather on my dad's side had a full thick head of hair until his 70s, my pathetic **** of a grandfather on my mum's side lost all his when he was 19, and I'm heading down that road as well. It bugs me knowing that if I had a full head until I was 70, I could have had such a great carefree life and have heaps of confidence when approaching girls (just like my dad did) but its going to be the complete opposite for me.

 

[Wolf Pack]

Loss of morning erection is a big worry guys - finasteride or no finasteride. Not normal at all - see a Doctor. Also suggests it's a physiological issue rather than psychological as your mind is not active then. I get them daily at 29, still do even on finasteride. I watch p**rn and have a gf. Before I started finasteride this was one of my criteria - If morning erection was not there I would quit. If you get through the first 1-2 months side free or sides disappear you are sorted.

 

[ssjpotato]

Loss of morning erection is a big worry guys - finasteride or no finasteride. Not normal at all - see a Doctor. Also suggests it's a physiological issue rather than psychological as your mind is not active then. I get them daily at 29, still do even on finasteride. I watch p**rn and have a gf. Before I started finasteride this was one of my criteria - If morning erection was not there I would quit. If you get through the first 1-2 months side free or sides disappear you are sorted.

yeah, basically exactly what my Doctor said today. He was adamant about the other sides being stress related until i mentioned loss of morning wood and instantly he said i needed to get hormones tested and my liver tested.

 

[frenchy]

f*cks guys that's some bad news

 

[ssjpotato]

Go see a Doctor just to be sure, man.
I don't 100% doubt my sides could just be stress and over imagination. But I gotta make sure.
Once i get the my hormones and liver tested and once the results are in i'll go from there. I'd rather not mess my body up.