I just felt the responsibility to put the word out there with the full knowledge that it would be picked apart and slammed. It doesnt matter to me what you think nor the opinions of any other loyal finasteride users out there. Putting chemicals and pharmaceutical pills in your body is serious business and before one does I believe they should arm themselves with as much information as possible. To me it just seems a bit like overkill, sort of like using a bazooka to kill a house fly(albeit an annoying one that eats your hair). You very well might kill the fly but may end up severely damaging your house in the process. What I am against mostly are those that say with full authority that Propecia/finasteride should be your first and best line of defense against hairloss. This drug carries sides that have not even been documented yet. Anything that turns your semen to watered down campbell soup and states that your pregnant wife/girlfriend/future babys momma should not come in contact with it for fear of genital birth defects is something that one should REALLY consider before downing. We're treating hairloss people not cancer for gods sake! Is it REALLY worth it? And obviously the answer to some or most hair loss sufferes seems to be, YES. My opinions are not for everyone and they are not meant to be, but they are for someone. Someone out there who is on the fence with this drug and not sure what action to take. I am only stating the other side of the argument. There are more than enough posts of "happy go hairys" who swear by propecia/finasteride and feel that its the messiah of hairloss if not its the next best thing until further notice. They stick it right at the top of their regimens and urge you to do the same. I am not a scientist nor would I get caught out there trying to speak in that vernacular. I am just a very average guy that is fighting and coping with hairloss but not willing to compromise my health or common sense in the process. There ARE other just as effective and in some ways more effective ways to reduce DHT levels IN THE SCALP where you need it the most. I am not a 100% sure what role DHT plays in the male body but I am pretty sure its there for a reason not just to attack your hair. Lowering those levels throughout the whole body is not the smartest thing for a man, who likes being a man, to do. You are losing the hair on your head not throughout your whole body so it only makes sense to treat it locally. The tests and clinical studies I have seen on propecia are nothing in my opinion to write home about. I am not saying that it doesnt do what it says it does only that it also does what it doesnt say. For the short time that I was on the drug almost immediately during the first week I started feeling the onset of the sides. Subsequently my semen got disgustingly watery, my penis lost a lot of thickness and size. My "balls" just hung between my legs like empty walnut shells and physically I felt weak. My voice also became slightly higher pitched, I just got the sense of not feeling very manly at all. I have never been a super macho man but I never knew how much my masculinity meant to me until I started feeling it slip away. After a couple of more weeks and a harrowing false alarm that the woman I am with thought that she was pregnant and that if the child would be a boy that he could, possibly, have a genital birth defect just because "Dad" wanted to thicken up his hairline. After that I started asking myself some really honest questions about whether it was worth it or not. I must state this disclaimer that I have no solid proof that finasteride is "dangerous" or that it may give your newborn sons vaginas but guess what, I am not willing to take that risk FOR ME its just not worth it. Hairloss is a problem that has to be tackled from many different angles over a period of time and consistently, you cant cure it you can only treat it. Nowadays you have a lot of treatments and options available to you, try to reach for the fly swatter, FIRST, before the bazooka. Give other options a truly fair try and if after you have exhausted all other possibilities then by all means run and get that script. Dont listen to all those panic driven red level terror alert fear mongeres out there screaming that everyday you are not on finasteride you are wasting precious time and losing more and more hair. I am against those that are too lazy and undisciplined to actually do the hard work of researching and trying other options first before taking the pill plunge then promote with all certainty that finasteride should be at the top of everyones regimen (if you are not one of those then you wont get offended by that, if you are offended then I guess the shoe fits). One of the most painful aspects about hairloss is that sense of loss of control and choice. The truth is that you do have a choice and nowadays you have a lot more than one just make the best and most educated one, for you.
(This will be my last response on this subject regarding propecia, I feel that I have more than stretched every penny of my five cents to the limit. My aim in writing this was not to have anyone agree or disagree, it was only to voice my opinion and weigh in on this very hot topic in the hopes of doing my part in helping to balance the argument)
