Thickandthin
Experienced Member
- Reaction score
- 21
Hear me out.
When I read the more objective information about Propecia - i.e. the statistics about its efficacy, the low incidence of side effects, the millions of prescriptions currently being used, etc, I feel a lot better about my decision to take it and I'm hopeful that it will work for me. Ditto when I read the Success Stories forum - I probably wouldn't have ordered finasteride if I hadn't seen some of those before and after pictures.
But then I inevitably end up in the General discussions forum or Antiandrogen or here, and see a comment that catches my eye and causes me to lose all faith in the treatments. Somebody b****s about finasteride not working for them.....somebody says it made their hair loss worse......somebody says it made them impotent.....somebody says it gave them brain fog. So then I get depressed and check my hair more closely and wonder if Propecia is maybe making *mine* worse. Or if my dick isn't working like it was. Or if I have brain fog. And then I obsess over it and wonder if I should even be taking Propecia at all. Or if so, at what dosage. 1.25 mg everyday? 1 mg everyday? .5? Maybe take it EOD? At night or in the morning? AGHHHH. Enough.
I'm thankful for the information I've received from this website and others, but sometimes I do wish I had never found them. I wish Propecia's commercials never said anything about side effects, and I wish I had went to a doctor who said simply, "Take this everyday and you will keep your hair". No googling propecia/finasteride/proscar, no success/failure stories, no before and afters.....just plain ignorance and obedience.
I know it sounds extreme but I think its a valid point. For example, I'm about to buy a newish used car. I just test drove it and loved it. It looks great. It handles great. But then I got home and googled the make, model, and year and found all sorts of random reviews. Some were good. Some were bad. Some were nightmares. Of course, the only ones I remember are the nightmares. But what's the story behind these nightmares? Did the people buy the car knowing something was wrong? Did they service it correctly? Was it their fault? Are they paranoid or maybe just expecting too much? And will mine succumb to the same faults? Nevertheless, now I have doubts I never would have had if I hadn't researched it, when in all likelihood the car will be just fine.
I think we all know just enough to be dangerous.....to each other and to ourselves. Because of so much junk science, anecdotal reports, and paranoid/depressed posters, we're all making this into a bigger deal than it really is. Too much discussion about pointless topics that ends up doing more harm than good. Is there really a difference between .5 mg and 1mg? Oh, 1mg gave you a limp dick and .5 didn't - are you sure it wasn't a placebo effect? Did Propecia *really* hurt your hair or was it your genetics, or maybe your imagination? Too late, you've already posted about it and scared half the members here. Did finasteride really not work for you, or have you regrown quite a bit of hair that you can't see because of body image issues? Or maybe even maintained?
Sorry for the rant but since finding this place nearly a year ago I have been utterly consumed by hair loss, and I'm only a NW2. I'm making it into a far bigger problem than it really is. I know some of you really do have a noticeable hair loss problem, but you are making it worse by logging on here everyday. Because by posting here, you keep thinking about it and you keep it in the forefront of your thoughts.
I once wondered why there aren't literally millions of members on here or HairLossTalk.com, considering these places are top results for a google search of "Hair loss". Why wouldn't people register to learn more about it and ask questions? Then I realized that for most people it's 1) A cut and dry issue. They are losing their hair, they can take finasteride or not. Some do, some don't. Or, 2) It's a non issue. Why spend time researching, discussing, and agonizing over something that doesn't dominate their life (like it does for us). If hair loss was a massive problem and EVERYONE who lost their hair agonized over it as much as us, this place probably would have a million users (considering nearly everyone uses google and has internet connections now).
So we're clearly in the minority and we need to stop to thinking about it so damn much. If you're bald, you're bald. Sure, check in every year or so to see if HM is coming out, but other than that, THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO (save a hair transplant). Accept it and stop talking about it because that simply exacerbates the problem, because by simply being here you are reinforcing it as a PROBLEM when for most people it's simply a natural part of life. Same goes for NW4,3,2, etc. Still have hair possibly worth saving, but we all know that realistically, the big 3 are it. Take them or not. But stop agonizing over the little details that don't matter, and stop thinking about it. Pop the pill and shut up.
/end rant.
When I read the more objective information about Propecia - i.e. the statistics about its efficacy, the low incidence of side effects, the millions of prescriptions currently being used, etc, I feel a lot better about my decision to take it and I'm hopeful that it will work for me. Ditto when I read the Success Stories forum - I probably wouldn't have ordered finasteride if I hadn't seen some of those before and after pictures.
But then I inevitably end up in the General discussions forum or Antiandrogen or here, and see a comment that catches my eye and causes me to lose all faith in the treatments. Somebody b****s about finasteride not working for them.....somebody says it made their hair loss worse......somebody says it made them impotent.....somebody says it gave them brain fog. So then I get depressed and check my hair more closely and wonder if Propecia is maybe making *mine* worse. Or if my dick isn't working like it was. Or if I have brain fog. And then I obsess over it and wonder if I should even be taking Propecia at all. Or if so, at what dosage. 1.25 mg everyday? 1 mg everyday? .5? Maybe take it EOD? At night or in the morning? AGHHHH. Enough.
I'm thankful for the information I've received from this website and others, but sometimes I do wish I had never found them. I wish Propecia's commercials never said anything about side effects, and I wish I had went to a doctor who said simply, "Take this everyday and you will keep your hair". No googling propecia/finasteride/proscar, no success/failure stories, no before and afters.....just plain ignorance and obedience.
I know it sounds extreme but I think its a valid point. For example, I'm about to buy a newish used car. I just test drove it and loved it. It looks great. It handles great. But then I got home and googled the make, model, and year and found all sorts of random reviews. Some were good. Some were bad. Some were nightmares. Of course, the only ones I remember are the nightmares. But what's the story behind these nightmares? Did the people buy the car knowing something was wrong? Did they service it correctly? Was it their fault? Are they paranoid or maybe just expecting too much? And will mine succumb to the same faults? Nevertheless, now I have doubts I never would have had if I hadn't researched it, when in all likelihood the car will be just fine.
I think we all know just enough to be dangerous.....to each other and to ourselves. Because of so much junk science, anecdotal reports, and paranoid/depressed posters, we're all making this into a bigger deal than it really is. Too much discussion about pointless topics that ends up doing more harm than good. Is there really a difference between .5 mg and 1mg? Oh, 1mg gave you a limp dick and .5 didn't - are you sure it wasn't a placebo effect? Did Propecia *really* hurt your hair or was it your genetics, or maybe your imagination? Too late, you've already posted about it and scared half the members here. Did finasteride really not work for you, or have you regrown quite a bit of hair that you can't see because of body image issues? Or maybe even maintained?
Sorry for the rant but since finding this place nearly a year ago I have been utterly consumed by hair loss, and I'm only a NW2. I'm making it into a far bigger problem than it really is. I know some of you really do have a noticeable hair loss problem, but you are making it worse by logging on here everyday. Because by posting here, you keep thinking about it and you keep it in the forefront of your thoughts.
I once wondered why there aren't literally millions of members on here or HairLossTalk.com, considering these places are top results for a google search of "Hair loss". Why wouldn't people register to learn more about it and ask questions? Then I realized that for most people it's 1) A cut and dry issue. They are losing their hair, they can take finasteride or not. Some do, some don't. Or, 2) It's a non issue. Why spend time researching, discussing, and agonizing over something that doesn't dominate their life (like it does for us). If hair loss was a massive problem and EVERYONE who lost their hair agonized over it as much as us, this place probably would have a million users (considering nearly everyone uses google and has internet connections now).
So we're clearly in the minority and we need to stop to thinking about it so damn much. If you're bald, you're bald. Sure, check in every year or so to see if HM is coming out, but other than that, THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO (save a hair transplant). Accept it and stop talking about it because that simply exacerbates the problem, because by simply being here you are reinforcing it as a PROBLEM when for most people it's simply a natural part of life. Same goes for NW4,3,2, etc. Still have hair possibly worth saving, but we all know that realistically, the big 3 are it. Take them or not. But stop agonizing over the little details that don't matter, and stop thinking about it. Pop the pill and shut up.
/end rant.
unk: