Hi
This is my 1st thread on the forum. I have been reading these forums fairly fanatically for the last 2.5 years and I just wanted to share my story as I think it could be of interest to a lot of people here. I imagine a lot of people like me just read these forums without ever posting any advice and so I feel like I want to give something back to the forum community.
I first took propecia in December 2010, I started taking the standard 1mg a day dosage and within 1 week of taking it the side effects kicked in massively. These side effects definitely weren't psychological, my penis and testicles physically shrank and it was like the nerve connections between my brain and my penis had been severed and my penis felt like a foreign object with no sensation. I naturally went into a massive panic and thought I was never going to recover. I went to the doctor who presecribed me viagra so I could still get erections whilst my body hopefully recovered. After about 3 weeks things started getting better and after about 6 weeks I could get erections again. I think the main thing which helped me recover was the viagra disguising the side effects and allowing me to not panic - the doctor said if you panic too much about it you womight risk your recovery as impotence can be made worse psychologically.
I came off propecia and I vowed never to take it again. As far as I was concerned it was poison. However, my hair continued to quickly deteriorate and I could see that I was going bald fast! I kept reading stories on the forums about people taking very low dosages, and after 9 months of losing hair I decided to give propecia another shot in September of last year with a lower dose.
When I went back on propecia I decided to take the smallest dosage that could be seen to the human eye and then not take it again for another week. I literally bit off a few small crumbs with my tooth and took this tiny amount. Surprisingly even though the amount of propecia I took was tiny (and I mean TINY) I still got a few minor side effects, but not anything so bad that I couldnt put up with it, this just goes to show the strength of this medication! A week later I took another tiny amount and then 5 days later I did the same. After a few weeks I raised it so I was taking about one sixth of a tablet (biting bits off a corner of the pill) and I took this amount every 4 days for a few weeks. For the next 4 or 5 months I then started taking I imagine one quarter of a pill between every 2 to 5 days. At the moment I am currently taking about half a pill every 2 to 4 days and this is the level I plan to stick out indefinitely.
In terms of my hair I have seen a huge improvement. My hair has massively thickened up, really decent regrowth. I still have receded temples (which i dont ever expect to regrow) and I still have a small bald spot on my crown (which i think and hope is gradually dissappearing) but apart from that I have had almost complete regrowth to my teenage years.
In terms of side effects they are really minimal. When I started on the lower dose I was getting a few minor sexual side effects but these seem to be getting better with time.
Now, the reason I wanted to post this message is I genuinely believe that propecia isn't a one size fits all medication. For me I think taking 1mg of propecia was far too much for my body. I think all I need is a tiny dosage. I guess it is the same as some men get drunk off 3 beers but some men dont get drunk off 12 beers.
I also believe that by not taking propecia every day you perhaps lower the chances of side effects. I think that by taking it every 3 or 4 days your body creates a bit more DHT in the meantime and so you are preventing yourself from keeping your DHT too low and your body crashing.
I don't know if this advice helps anyone and I don't want to be seen to be encouraging anyone to take propecia. However, if like me you were scared of propecia and scared of losing your hair, then I really reccomend taking a very small dose every few days, rather than a full dose every day.
If you go to any of the Propecia Help forums you can see that most people who got side effects were taking the full 1mg dosage and they were taking it daily. I havent come across anyone who got the persistent side effects who was taking propecia intermittently and on a low dosage (I hope I don't become the first!)
From my experience even if a man takes a tiny amount of propecia once a week it will benefit his hair more than if he takes none at all.
Anyway thank you for reading my story and I look forward to any comments.
This is my 1st thread on the forum. I have been reading these forums fairly fanatically for the last 2.5 years and I just wanted to share my story as I think it could be of interest to a lot of people here. I imagine a lot of people like me just read these forums without ever posting any advice and so I feel like I want to give something back to the forum community.
I first took propecia in December 2010, I started taking the standard 1mg a day dosage and within 1 week of taking it the side effects kicked in massively. These side effects definitely weren't psychological, my penis and testicles physically shrank and it was like the nerve connections between my brain and my penis had been severed and my penis felt like a foreign object with no sensation. I naturally went into a massive panic and thought I was never going to recover. I went to the doctor who presecribed me viagra so I could still get erections whilst my body hopefully recovered. After about 3 weeks things started getting better and after about 6 weeks I could get erections again. I think the main thing which helped me recover was the viagra disguising the side effects and allowing me to not panic - the doctor said if you panic too much about it you womight risk your recovery as impotence can be made worse psychologically.
I came off propecia and I vowed never to take it again. As far as I was concerned it was poison. However, my hair continued to quickly deteriorate and I could see that I was going bald fast! I kept reading stories on the forums about people taking very low dosages, and after 9 months of losing hair I decided to give propecia another shot in September of last year with a lower dose.
When I went back on propecia I decided to take the smallest dosage that could be seen to the human eye and then not take it again for another week. I literally bit off a few small crumbs with my tooth and took this tiny amount. Surprisingly even though the amount of propecia I took was tiny (and I mean TINY) I still got a few minor side effects, but not anything so bad that I couldnt put up with it, this just goes to show the strength of this medication! A week later I took another tiny amount and then 5 days later I did the same. After a few weeks I raised it so I was taking about one sixth of a tablet (biting bits off a corner of the pill) and I took this amount every 4 days for a few weeks. For the next 4 or 5 months I then started taking I imagine one quarter of a pill between every 2 to 5 days. At the moment I am currently taking about half a pill every 2 to 4 days and this is the level I plan to stick out indefinitely.
In terms of my hair I have seen a huge improvement. My hair has massively thickened up, really decent regrowth. I still have receded temples (which i dont ever expect to regrow) and I still have a small bald spot on my crown (which i think and hope is gradually dissappearing) but apart from that I have had almost complete regrowth to my teenage years.
In terms of side effects they are really minimal. When I started on the lower dose I was getting a few minor sexual side effects but these seem to be getting better with time.
Now, the reason I wanted to post this message is I genuinely believe that propecia isn't a one size fits all medication. For me I think taking 1mg of propecia was far too much for my body. I think all I need is a tiny dosage. I guess it is the same as some men get drunk off 3 beers but some men dont get drunk off 12 beers.
I also believe that by not taking propecia every day you perhaps lower the chances of side effects. I think that by taking it every 3 or 4 days your body creates a bit more DHT in the meantime and so you are preventing yourself from keeping your DHT too low and your body crashing.
I don't know if this advice helps anyone and I don't want to be seen to be encouraging anyone to take propecia. However, if like me you were scared of propecia and scared of losing your hair, then I really reccomend taking a very small dose every few days, rather than a full dose every day.
If you go to any of the Propecia Help forums you can see that most people who got side effects were taking the full 1mg dosage and they were taking it daily. I havent come across anyone who got the persistent side effects who was taking propecia intermittently and on a low dosage (I hope I don't become the first!)
From my experience even if a man takes a tiny amount of propecia once a week it will benefit his hair more than if he takes none at all.
Anyway thank you for reading my story and I look forward to any comments.
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