My Propecia Story- Can Anyone Relate?

[Jetsfan7]

Hi,

kind of new to all of this so bare with me please, i'm a 23 year old male no one in my family has hair loss besides me. Well it all started when i graduated college in may of 2015, i used to have nice thick longer hair and styled it the way i wanted then it started receding slowly and surely so i kind of just barred with it and it is what it is. Well recently someone at work pointed out that the crown area of my head was thinning. i took a few pictures of the top of my head and it literally felt like someone punched me in the gut. i started experiencing worse hair loss if i tried to style my hair with gel or tried to dry it after a shower my hands/ towel would literally be covered.
I did some online research and realized there is a whole community for this I've read some success stories and some stories of people on Propecia who are not doing well. I scheduled a dermatologist appointment and the Doctor explained that i have male-pattern baldness from somewhere down my family tree lucky me right? my dad, older brother, cousins all have full hairlines. So the Doctor was actually pretty rude and basically laughed at me for my story. They recommended i try Viviscal a natural hair growth pill which is basically biotin. I tried it out for a month and really nothing at all and its pretty expensive. I went to another dermatologist because the last one really pissed me off. The new doctor wrote me a script for Propecia and said use that and a Minoxidl 5% solution. I've been using them both for a month and it actually has been working my barber who is a friend of mine was amazed he actually told me how thick my hair looked and the thinning got smaller I've been on cloud 9 ever since. however i'm starting to notice side effects, my libido is off a little but i'm trying to just ignore and not get in my own head. Really haven't been masturbating as much can't tell if that is a side effect. My semen one day was unbelievably watery so i ignored that but recently I've noticed there's not much semen at all. Recently, i have been feeling very off like in trance almost i feel as if my short term memory is nonexistent and i feel like i'm in a bad fog like a dream state. Yesterday i had to ask a coworker what we did all day! i read some articles that this could be a side effect. I am trying to maintain a positive attitude and talk myself through this. I am pleased with my results but i don't like this feeling if someone could relate to this or shed some insight i would be very grateful.

 

[horunger]

i started experiencing worse hair loss if i tried to style my hair with gel or tried to dry it after a shower my hands/ towel would literally be covered.

Oh yes i can relate so much to that, i had to stop styling my hair because my hands got hairy and it was too unpleasant to have hair and gel mixture on them.

As for the rest, i would go on since you are having good results, youre one of the lucky few who response really well to Fina it sounds like. On a side note i can inform you that i am in my third week on dutasteride now and side effects are actually positive, i like it but of course i cant promise that it will be the same for you, you have to do your own research and evaluation if you were to switch to duta.

 

[RatherGoBlindThanSeeItGo]

You could try to keep on a little bit longer and see if maybe you start feeling better. The studies say side effects can diminish if you continue taking the drug. If after a few months or so you still feel hazy and lacking in libido, it'd probably be for the best not to continue down this path.

I also shed a lot of hairs and I notice every time I start finasteride, within a month my shedding reduces drastically and I see new hairs growing on my temples. The first time I quit because my libido was really low as well. I stopped and my libido came rushing back after 6 days. A few months later once my hair started shedding again I tried it again but at a much smaller dose (0.1mg). It had the same effect on my shedding but my libido didn't decrease as much, still a little but bearable, but then after 2 months I started having symptoms of gynecomastia (gland under my right nipple swelling, burning/itching). So now I've been off it for a few weeks and my libido did go back up a little (mostly my orgasms are a lot less intense when I'm on finasteride, you will probably notice the difference if you decide to quit). I want to take finasteride because it's the only thing out there that really works, but I can't compromise my health, or risk getting stuck with breast tissue and needing surgery to remove it. Gynecomastia probably won't happen to you though.

If I were in your shoes, I'd try maybe for a month or two more. If you don't feel significantly better I'd stop taking it, wait for the side effects to wear off and then reassess. You could try doing resuming at a smaller dose like me (I got 0.1mg by taking a 1mg pill, crushing it and dissolving it in 10ml clear vodka, then drinking 1ml of the solution every day), I really felt it affected my libido less than 1mg did. But I wouldn't continue for too long with these side effects. If it comes down to a choice for losing your hair or for living with these side effects for years, I think the latter isn't really a valid option, even though the thought of 'choosing' to continue losing hair sounds daunting. Can't risk your health man. It's not really a choice - I think you'll understand what I mean by that if you decide to quit and you feel what it's like when the side effects disappear.

I'm still in early stages myself and it's not very aggressive but I can sort of relate. My hair loss is definitely the worst among my closest friends. My father still has the same straight hairline he's always had and he's 61. None of my many cousins or five maternal uncles have any hair loss (or barely any, in their 60s). Just me and my older brother. Got it from my maternal grandfather whom I barely knew. Feels like a punch in the gut. I used to model and can't help but feel like my life would be loads better if I'd never started losing my hair. Worst part is everybody who's not affected by it telling you it's no 'just hair', and no big deal. Nobody really respects it as an issue. I didn't either until I realized it was happening to me.

Got my hopes up for better treatments in the next few years. We could get lucky.

Good luck.

 

[checkers2]

I would reduce dosage if possible and see how you feel. But really seriously most importantly... try try try to come up with a plan, implement and forget about it for awhile. Our minds are our own worst enemy, please distract yourself with something else. Maybe even dont go on these forums that much until a predetermined time.

 

[Ashkan63]

I am same when on propecia ,a bit of memory loss or better to say lack of concentration ,lower libido,insomnia ,but at the end they are not that bad i deal with them as there is nothing else to keep my hair,the best thing is to go with 1 mg for few months then reduce the dose to half for a few months to see what happens

 

[Ruby]

I was getting some significant brain fog after 8 weeks of finasteride, but then I'm on full feminizing hormones too so the whole cosmic shift in my endocrine system could be contributing to that. I switched to dutasteride the past weekend, and had a couple days of bad sleep and increased brain fog, but now that the finasteride is clearing out of my system, my mental clarity seems to be returning.

 

[Vesemir]

Don't think about it too much. and stick with it. Side effects can get less over time, your body needs to get used to finasteride. What my derm told me is to stick with your initial dosage for at least 6 months.