Friends, I'm giving up the Fin

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  • Kloser43
    Junior Member
    • Nov 2012
    • 13

    Friends, I'm giving up the Fin

    So guys, after a relatively short battle (around 9 months) I'm packing in the fin.

    I realised the other day how low my libido has got. I toyed with the idea of lowering the dose and continuing but I don't want to increase the chance of more permanent loss.

    It's funny looking back, my hair wasn't a disaster by any standards, but to me (and people around me) my unruly/wild hair had always big part of my character. So after the first sign of loss, and the first comment or two, I jumped onto fin. Fast forward 9 months and I would honestly say not much has changed. I think my crown has improved, but the front/middle scalp has gotten worse. But the real stickler is the libido. It's slowly deteriorated to a point where I think its a concern.

    It's such a messy business. The panic that comes from the realisation of hairloss. Emotionally so much has changed since I first realised.
    I'm not sure how i feel about the drug itself. Obviously people benefit, others don't. What I do feel is that I'm loosing my hair at a time where there is no definite solution, no clear understanding, and because of that you can expose yourself to risk and stress.

    "god I'll look so old without hair" "shall I shave it off"
    "Fin/ No Fin" "Side effects/No Side effects"
    "concealer/no concealer"
    "you can take this, but it may or may not work"
    " you can take this, but all your hair will fall out first, causing even more panic"
    "maybe its phycological?"
    **Trolling**

    All of these (and much much more) I'm going to try and leave behind.

    If I've gained any wisdom from this experience (from my mistakes) to pass on to other follically challenged brothers, I would simply recommend being extremely cautious and sensible. If you want to start Fin, speak to a doctor, take pictures. Also, use websites like this constructively, keep steady updates, ask questions, keep searches specific, DO NOT endlessly search post after post. For all the well meaning people on here, the negativity can and will lower your self-esteem.

    So I shall quit starting tomorrow, try and find time to hit the gym, maybe take the odd vitamin/zinc/biotin and see what happens. Hopefully things will return to normal before long.

    I'll return in a month or two with a post-fin update.
  • Buster
    Senior Member
    • Jul 2012
    • 210

    #2
    I really don't think Fin has helped my hair either, if anything, my hair looks worse than it did when I started. I guess it would be about a year now. My hair thinned out a lot a few months after starting it, in a diffuse pattern, which I assumed was the "propecia shed" that I heard about. To this day it hasn't recovered, so I have no idea what to expect. I'm going to stay on it though, because I haven't experienced any sides, but I was really hoping my hair would get better, not worse. It makes me wonder where I would be right now if I didn't start the drug.

    Comment

    • chrisis
      Senior Member
      • Feb 2012
      • 1257

      #3
      Hi Kloser43,

      Can I suggest that you wean off the drug? I'm no doctor, but I went cold turkey and have the long term sides.

      What dose are you on right now? If it's 1mg, I'd cut it down to 0.75mg (or as near as possible) then down to 0.5mg, 0.25 and then 0. Do this over the space of several months.

      It's possible you'll fare better this way.

      Comment

      • win200
        Senior Member
        • Jul 2012
        • 420

        #4
        Originally posted by chrisis
        Hi Kloser43,

        Can I suggest that you wean off the drug? I'm no doctor, but I went cold turkey and have the long term sides.

        What dose are you on right now? If it's 1mg, I'd cut it down to 0.75mg (or as near as possible) then down to 0.5mg, 0.25 and then 0. Do this over the space of several months.

        It's possible you'll fare better this way.
        This. I know you're eager to get off, but it's much, much better for your system to taper off. I'd do a month-long taper off, at least. I'm not a doctor, but I've always been recommended by doctors that I taper off and on medications... that's doubly important when they impact your endocrine system.

        Comment

        • chrisis
          Senior Member
          • Feb 2012
          • 1257

          #5
          I actually wonder whether tapering back on and then back off might be crazy enough to resolve long term sides.

          Not sure if that's been tried by anyone but when all else fails what's the worst that could happen?

          Comment

          • Kirby_
            Senior Member
            • Jan 2012
            • 447

            #6
            Originally posted by Buster
            I really don't think Fin has helped my hair either, if anything, my hair looks worse than it did when I started. I guess it would be about a year now. My hair thinned out a lot a few months after starting it, in a diffuse pattern, which I assumed was the "propecia shed" that I heard about. To this day it hasn't recovered, so I have no idea what to expect.
            Same here; hasn't recovered. However a dermatologist did diagnose Telogen effluvium, but everyone I've mentioned that to on forums has dismissed it immediately, so I'm doubtful.

            Comment

            • Kloser43
              Junior Member
              • Nov 2012
              • 13

              #7
              Hey guys thanks for the suggestion. Maybe I will gradually reduce the dose. It makes sense, most serious medication requires it. I'm on proscar 1/4 so I'll have to just cut it down as best I can.

              Anyway, I'll do a month by month update until I'm completely off it. Fingers crossed

              Comment

              • philippe
                Member
                • Oct 2011
                • 64

                #8
                fin is no joke--i too suffered from sides during my time taking it. luckily for me the sides passed about 3-4 months after quitting. i would also recommend weaning yourself off by lowering your dosage over the course of a month or two. good luck

                Comment

                • Assemblage23
                  Senior Member
                  • Aug 2009
                  • 197

                  #9
                  I posted the same thread a couple months ago. I stopped fin for four weeks for the same reasons as you. Expect morning and random boners to come back after a couple weeks.

                  I got back on fin when I realized concealers would give me a full head of hair if I stayed on fin.

                  Comment

                  • BigThinker
                    Senior Member
                    • Oct 2012
                    • 1507

                    #10
                    Originally posted by Kloser43
                    Hey guys thanks for the suggestion. Maybe I will gradually reduce the dose. It makes sense, most serious medication requires it. I'm on proscar 1/4 so I'll have to just cut it down as best I can.

                    Anyway, I'll do a month by month update until I'm completely off it. Fingers crossed
                    Who knows. Maybe weening off of it you'll get your random boners back.

                    Regardless, I think it's sensible to get off the drugs if your libido gets messed with.

                    Comment

                    • Exodus
                      Senior Member
                      • Nov 2012
                      • 318

                      #11
                      Agreed, if the sides kick in and they get worse, you know really you can continue and hope or just kinda accept this isn't working and move on.

                      Comment

                      • Kloser43
                        Junior Member
                        • Nov 2012
                        • 13

                        #12
                        Hey

                        I thought I would drop an update for anybody who may find interest in it.

                        So I quit Fin just over two weeks ago. My plan was to taper off the drug, however I had already began cutting down the dose for two weeks, and off the back of some anxiety over libido issues I couldn't taper any longer.

                        Results:
                        Over the last two/three days I've experienced a much more normalized libido, which I think has coincided with a more general "appetite" for the opposite sex. I was surprised its only taken two weeks, however as i said before, had tapered for around two weeks prior.

                        Thoughts:
                        I'm well aware some have experienced short lived recovery followed by another drop, so I'm not getting too carried away yet. Also, my improved libido coincided with a stress free/ rest filled bank holiday back home with friends/family etc.

                        In terms of shedding or loss I think its two early. Plus my hair is on the shorter side so its hard to tell. It'll come, its just a matter of when.

                        Final thought:
                        I kinda suspected a great deal of this could have been psychological (and I guess it still could be). I am a ball of anxiety most of the time. But It's been amazing to me just how effective the Fin potentially can be. If I continue to feel as I have the last two days then It's clear to me that Fin can be a nasty, If not equally as effective, piece of work!!

                        Fingers crossed

                        Stay Weird
                        Kloser

                        Comment

                        • Kloser43
                          Junior Member
                          • Nov 2012
                          • 13

                          #13
                          2 months off propecia...

                          Not been on here for a couple of months. Here's an update for anyone who could be interested in my tale.

                          To summarize: I quit Propecia around 2 months ago due to some Libido/Performance issues. My initial shed wasn't terrible, but not all of the shed hair ever returned, so in fact it left me with slightly thinner hair than i started with. I had been on the drug around 9 months. Maybe another 9 months would have brought results, but who knows!

                          Anyway, the initial few weeks after quitting were fantastic! I quickly regained a roaring libido and a much more familiar appetite. However since then I had a slight decrease, before stabilizing. Much like my hair, my libido seems less than it was before it started. I'm not completely out of the game (so to speak) but its just made the whole arousal/sex etc etc a bit of a struggle.

                          So basically a negative experience for me, though not as catastrophic as others. Propecia just seems to have fast forwarded hair loss by about 1 year and left me with a temperamental penis (sigh). Funny, despite my plight, and self-loathing for not just accepting it like a man and avoiding this disaster in the first place .....rogaine keeps coming to mind.

                          Stay Weird
                          Kloser

                          Comment

                          • FearTheLoss
                            Senior Member
                            • Dec 2012
                            • 1589

                            #14
                            RU is better than fin anyway. Try it with the KB vehicle

                            Comment

                            • Henkeh91
                              Senior Member
                              • Apr 2013
                              • 127

                              #15
                              Good decision pal! I've been on fin for 2 months and so far no sides (knock on wood). Going immedatly swap to RU if I notice any sides from the fin.

                              Comment

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