Survey: Finasteride Users on this forum (one big Finasteride Thread)

[MichaelBK]

I noticed the side effects before I even read about the details. I had heard there could be some, but did not know about lower volume, watery semen, less pleasure in climax, so the side effects are definitely real with me. I understand that some have no side effects, but I wonder if that is with people that only have small volume of semen and lower sex drive to start with. If you have a strong sex drive and enjoy contracting 10-15 times with huge volume during ejaculation then I suspect you will experience these side effects. I hope all goes well for you.

First of all, I find this entire thread to be quite informational and I apriciate everyone who shared their experiance.

This comment in particular resonates with me because, I too, have less volume of ejaculate, but mine is often thicker versus watery. Additionally, the distance it 'shoots' is far from impressive, but I have no plans on making porn or children, so it's fine with me.

Additionally have noticed my lobido to have dimenished some, but at 38... It was a bit above average to begin with, so yet again, I'm willing to see what happens next... I'm only at 6-weeks.

The brand I'm on is Ziering's "Z-pro/Z-Vita" combo (which is a 1 mg finasteride tablet and vitamin combo) taken daily.

Other than side effects: My shedding has slowed drastically, which is a great sign! No more hair in my hands in he shower (and I rub hard... Just to see) and very few on he pillow/bed, other than the cats.

Now we sit and wait to see if this just holds me in place (which will result in an HT), or if it will fill my crown back in, too (cuz it's currently packed with super fine/lite hairs that are trying to survive their DHT strangulation #rude)

To be continued, fella's...

[sanook]

I was on finasteride for the most part from the age of 25 to 31, when I was only losing hair on my frontal 3rd. It certainly didn't regrow lost hair for me. My hair loss continued just at a slower rate.

Side effects I experienced:

• Lowered energy levels.
• Lowered sex drive.
• Brain fog.
• Depression, which lead to social anxiety and reclusion.

These crept up on me over the course of years of use. They most certainly didn't happen over night.

A tipping point for me was when I was 31 and got into an argument with a loved one and found myself in a state where I was trembling/shaking and struggling to spit a word out. They knew something was wrong and so did I. It was time to change something, so I decided to stop finasteride. I didn't realise how bad all these side effects were until weeks after I got off it.

I'm now 34 and recently had a HT on my frontal 3rd. Just after the HT I decided to take finasteride again to maximise the results (Really stupid given my history with it, I know). A week into it I noticed my sex drive dipping considerably, more so than ever before. I wasn't aroused by anything - this scared the hell out of me. So I stopped immediately and it took a few weeks for it to get back to normal.

That's absolutely finalised my experimentation with finasteride. Never again.

I've now decided I would rather minimal scarring from FUE procedures from a decent surgeon than experiencing the ongoing toxic side effects from something that offers me minimal improvement.

From reading the replies in this thread it clearly reacts differently from person to person. If you're determined to try it I would recommend you start on a small dose and monitor your progress with it. Try to keep track of any slight changes to your sexual health, personality and physicality. Let family or close friends know you're on it too. Keep it as safe as possible.

[UK_]

hows the gyno.

[medreduce]

Only down side is that this drug is so expensive. In my experience Finasteride isn't covered by any insurance plans, so what I had to do was to use a discount code to get 73% off. Give the following to your pharmacist:

RXPCN = PRX
BIN = 610210
GROUP = PHARMRW1
ID = 1604421

I typically buy 90 day supplies.

[buford]

Side effects seem to be gone now!

[starsalign]

Hi guys,

I've just finished my 1st month supply of propecia. Does anyone have any before and after pics which shows improvements?

[buford]

bTW I quit taking it altogether. The side effects are starting to go away. Im still not a 100% back to normal though

[rudda]

I noticed the side effects before I even read about the details. I had heard there could be some, but did not know about lower volume, watery semen, less pleasure in climax, so the side effects are definitely real with me. I understand that some have no side effects, but I wonder if that is with people that only have small volume of semen and lower sex drive to start with. If you have a strong sex drive and enjoy contracting 10-15 times with huge volume during ejaculation then I suspect you will experience these side effects. I hope all goes well for you.

Cheers for your reply. I'm just going to have to try and see what happens. Me and my girlfriend both have a high sex drive so I hope it doesn't have a negative effect.

[buford]

side effects are real

I noticed the side effects before I even read about the details. I had heard there could be some, but did not know about lower volume, watery semen, less pleasure in climax, so the side effects are definitely real with me. I understand that some have no side effects, but I wonder if that is with people that only have small volume of semen and lower sex drive to start with. If you have a strong sex drive and enjoy contracting 10-15 times with huge volume during ejaculation then I suspect you will experience these side effects. I hope all goes well for you.

[rudda]

Hi there. I'm just about to start taking 5mg finasteride. Pill cut in half and taken every other day as a lower dosage as advised by the surgeon who carried out my hair transplant. I'm 23 years old and my personality is very outgoing, confident and not too much does get me down. I have suffered quite a bit of hairless and seen the positives and negatives from taking this drug. I'm going to take this with a positive outlook as my surgeon believes that a lot of these side effects can be psychological. My sex drive is very high I must admit, almost always turned on so to speak. Any feedback from you guys would be amazing. Cheers.

[buford]

I started taking fin about 5 months ago after hair transplant surgery. Started noticing side effects maybe a few weeks to month in. 3 months in, I reduced dosage from 1.25mg to half that (.625mg). It did not help. Now I am taking .625mg every other day for the last two weeks hoping the side effects will decrease, but they have gotten worse. I now can almost have no climax or ejaculation. The other problems are low sex drive, lower volume, less number of contractions, less distance shooting, more watery, a little ED as well. My question is: should I completely stop taking this now or give the .625mg every other day more time or come off by weening off? I read a lot of conflicting info on cold turkey vs weening. Thanks

[sleepybp]

Hey Guys !
I am 32 years old and have been on propecia 1mg daily for 3 months now.
In the beginning, between weeks three and week 8 of taking the pill I noticed some increased shedding (I currently only am thin in the front and front corners of my head).
But after getting into the second month and third month I can see that my hair is growing in thicker now than before I ever started propecia. My hair density is improving slowly and covers my scalp better in the front.

I have had a noticeable decrease in sexual drive that started around week 3 on the drug. I am still able to perform and have fun with the girlfriend but I do not get random erections in shower or in bed as I did before. I also feel like my erection is not as firm as it was before the drug.

Despite these side effects, I believe that they would subside if I had to stop taking the pill eventually. So I will continue to use, because what is the point of having a stronger sexual drive if I scare all the chicks away with my hairless head? LOL Come on guys you got to appreciate some humor on this forum

Also some notes to some angry posters out there:
1. To the man who got breast cancer and blames it on propecia, I wish you a healthy cancer free life. But you must be aware that in life, there are some men who will get breast cancer. Just as there are men who will get testicular cancer or have a heart attack. You cannot blame a drug for something occurring because you do not know if your genetic condition would have caused you to get cancer whether you were on finasteride or on tylenol pills. People get cancer every day...

2. This same logic applies to the poor man who experienced permanent erectile dystfunction while on propecia, and it remained after stopping the meds as well. Honestly, my heart goes out to you man, that is something no man deserves.... but there are also many men who suffer from ED naturally. They suffer from ED without having ever taking ANY hormone influencing drugs such as propecia. My point is, you could have been one of the unlucky ones that would have gotten ED regardless of whether you took propecia or not. Only long term statistical data can prove if there is a connection between propecia and permanent ED.

3. I saw a post about a guy who quit taking finasteride after month two because he said his hair looked worse than before he started it. As I have posted above, my hair looked worse in weeks 3 through 7 also. I have read that there can be an initial shedding stage and am thankful that I decided to go into month 3 to see very positive results that are better than before I ever started the pill.


In closing: Us fellow hair follicle challenged males should always make posts in the best interest of all men out there. Keep your information factual in stating your results and side effects while taking the drug. Do not prevent others from the potential benefit of 10 more years of hair that propecia might be able to give them by making wild accusations that cannot be proven.

[sleepybp]

Hey Guys !
I am 32 years old and have been on propecia 1mg daily for 3 months now.
In the beginning, between weeks three and week 8 of taking the pill I noticed some increased shedding (I currently only am thin in the front and front corners of my head).
But after getting into the second month and third month I can see that my hair is growing in thicker now than before I ever started propecia. My hair density is improving slowly and covers my scalp better in the front.

I have had a noticeable decrease in sexual drive that started around week 3 on the drug. I am still able to perform and have fun with the girlfriend but I do not get random erections in shower or in bed as I did before. I also feel like my erection is not as firm as it was before the drug.

Despite these side effects, I believe that they would subside if I had to stop taking the pill eventually. So I will continue to use, because what is the point of having a stronger sexual drive if I scare all the chicks away with my hairless head? LOL Come on guys you got to appreciate some humor on this forum

Also some notes to some angry posters out there:
1. To the man who got breast cancer and blames it on propecia, I wish you a healthy cancer free life. But you must be aware that in life, there are some men who will get breast cancer. Just as there are men who will get testicular cancer or have a heart attack. You cannot blame a drug for something occurring because you do not know if your genetic condition would have caused you to get cancer whether you were on finasteride or on tylenol pills. People get cancer every day...

2. This same logic applies to the poor man who experienced permanent erectile dystfunction while on propecia, and it remained after stopping the meds as well. Honestly, my heart goes out to you man, that is something no man deserves.... but there are also many men who suffer from ED naturally. They suffer from ED without having ever taking ANY hormone influencing drugs such as propecia. My point is, you could have been one of the unlucky ones that would have gotten ED regardless of whether you took propecia or not. Only long term statistical data can prove if there is a connection between propecia and permanent ED.

3. I saw a post about a guy who quit taking finasteride after month two because he said his hair looked worse than before he started it. As I have posted above, my hair looked worse in weeks 3 through 7 also. I have read that there can be an initial shedding stage and am thankful that I decided to go into month 3 to see very positive results that are better than before I ever started the pill.


In closing: Us fellow hair follicle challenged males should always make posts in the best interest of all men out there. Keep your information factual in stating your results and side effects while taking the drug. Do not prevent others from the potential benefit of 10 more years of hair that propecia might be able to give them by making wild accusations that cannot be proven.

[Keyu33]

Who here has used finasteride vs natural? This ebook looks interesting http://www.hairgrowthcure.com ?

[gillenator]

Glad to see many of you having effective results with low dose finasteride. Although it will never completely stop hair loss, it can however slow down the progression of MPB in many men including myself. I started it in 1996 before Propecia was approved by the FDA. So low dose finasteride can buy us time and it really is a matter of personal choice.

I do want to caution many of the men who are losing their hair to first get examined and properly diagnosed for MPB by a licensed physician experienced in treating genetic hairloss. There are qualified derms who treat MPB, medicinally speaking.

There are many internet sites where you can just go online and buy finasteride but you owe it to yourselves to first be properly diagnosed.