5mg Finpecia ordered, pill cutter bought -- it's time

[Shan]

You got decent hair bro, though it has receded. Stay on fin to maintain.

[El Nino]

El_Nino,

All good, sir. I frequently see things I typed in the past on this site and realize how much of a prick I can come off as. Frankly, that's just me; always has been, probably always will be.

Sorry to hear of your sides, but I'm happy to hear it was nothing serious. I appreciate your well wishes.

I'm with Aames on the muscle deterioration bit. I started lifting regularly and eating to gain mass in early Jan. I'm up like 11 pounds and half of that time was spent on fin. But, as you and I have both said multiple times, everyone is different.

Best regards, bud.

Cheers mate, yeah I sometimes regret some of my postings as well but it's too late to edit them. hehe

[BigThinker]

El_Nino,

All good, sir. I frequently see things I typed in the past on this site and realize how much of a prick I can come off as. Frankly, that's just me; always has been, probably always will be.

Sorry to hear of your sides, but I'm happy to hear it was nothing serious. I appreciate your well wishes.

I'm with Aames on the muscle deterioration bit. I started lifting regularly and eating to gain mass in early Jan. I'm up like 11 pounds and half of that time was spent on fin. But, as you and I have both said multiple times, everyone is different.

Best regards, bud.

[El Nino]

Muscle wastage? I am not attacking you as I may have in the past but how do you know for certain it was fin? Do you lift regularly? Do you get adequate protein? You realize that DHT is not active in muscle tissue?

Well my diet was the same, my exercise amount was the same. It started after the fin and has stopped after I discontinued the drug.

You can believe what you want it is no skin off my nose.

Finasteride can cause a healthy male to prematurely age into an old man. Do I know the science? No but then neither do Merk. How do I know? Because it was happening to me! I lost muscle and strength in my hands, that is fact believe it or not.

[Aames]

No need to apologise mate I can take it.

I really hope you don't experience any negative sides from Finasteride. I just want guys to be more informed than I was when I first took it in 2007.

When I started the only sides I was aware of were ED, ball ache and gyno. So these were the sides I was "looking for". But the ball ache went away after a few weeks and I never had any ED or gyno.

But in 2010 I noticed that something was negatively affecting my body (muscle wastage) and my mental health (brain fog). It was the Finasteride.

Now I'm not saying this will happen to you cos everyone reacts differently to Fin and at different time lines. Some guys have been on it 10+ years without any side effects.

However, I only wish you the best of luck.

Muscle wastage? I am not attacking you as I may have in the past but how do you know for certain it was fin? Do you lift regularly? Do you get adequate protein? You realize that DHT is not active in muscle tissue?

[El Nino]

No need to apologise mate I can take it.

I really hope you don't experience any negative sides from Finasteride. I just want guys to be more informed than I was when I first took it in 2007.

When I started the only sides I was aware of were ED, ball ache and gyno. So these were the sides I was "looking for". But the ball ache went away after a few weeks and I never had any ED or gyno.

But in 2010 I noticed that something was negatively affecting my body (muscle wastage) and my mental health (brain fog). It was the Finasteride.

Now I'm not saying this will happen to you cos everyone reacts differently to Fin and at different time lines. Some guys have been on it 10+ years without any side effects.

However, I only wish you the best of luck.

[BigThinker]

Not with certainty. But, I'm also a strong believer that there is a lot you can do to prepare for finasteride. For me, I made sure I was in a safe place mentally and physically.

I've always been a bit of hypochondriac, so I didn't want to start fin unless I felt I could take it and be objective regarding sides.

So far it's been nothing but positive. I honestly spent June-Feb stressing my hair non-stop. Every reflection was a reminder of the path my hair was headed. Sitting in class, I was running my hands through my hair, analyzing every hair that fell on my desk. In the bathroom where the light is brightest, I was gripped by my hairline and deteriorating density, even in public. I'll admit this is my own weakness, because many men move right along with hair worse than mine.

Immediately after I started fin, the non-superficial reminder (the itch) was gone. After that, the superficial reminders became unimportant. I knew that fin was going to take time to work, and I was committed. It was out of my hands, in that respect. I am now putting in 10 hour days wrapping my Master's Thesis, going out on the weekends, logging hours in at my place of work, etc, and hair consumes a negligible amount of my attention now relatively stress-free.

But, I accept that there is uncertainty regarding the future. I can only speak regarding this 1st month. I know I've been a little outspoken on this board, and it is only partially justified. I'm just so annoyed with myself for not starting fin way back in October when I first really got worried. 3-4 different times I put my card information in the order form for fin, but deleted it because of horror stories I had read -- pushing back the inevitable.

I'm not solely blaming the anti-fin guys, but they honestly cost me months of lost hair. I accept responsibility for my own actions, but I refuse to let a new member of this board only hear their side.

So, I'm sorry if I come off as obnoxious; I'm just passionate about this, and I want to see other guys hear both sides loud and clear.

[El Nino]

Well, guys, I was just having one of those days. Was in the brightly lit bathroom at work and saw the left side of my hairline (the side I typically aggressively part and comb to the side) was looking see through as ever.

It all of a sudden hit me. I'm sitting here counting the days until my dermatology appointment, and I don't even know if my dermatologist (who is a totally chill sweetheart) is going to prescribe me the 5mg Finpecia pills I am hoping to start taking. I realized, I'd just as well cancel the appointment, order 5mg Finpecia from inhousepharmacy (Cipla brand), and take matters into my own hands.

So, here we are. I paid a meager $27 for 10 pills, which I will cut into 8ths, start taking every other day for the 3 months, and then every day afterwards. I havn't cancelled my derm appointment just yet, but will once the pills arrive so that my derm can fill my time slot in with someone else.

I'm just sick of the thinning in my frontal lobe especially, and seeing the miniaturized hairs fall out every day. The hairs that fall are miniaturized 80% of the time. While I will admit my density looks a bit better than it did ~1.5 months ago, it's still not where I want it.

Just looking for a little support here, guys. I don't want to be setting up $60 follow-up appointments for eternity. I don't want to just hope she prescribes me 5 mg pill. I'm over it. I can see the roots of my hairs turning blonde. It's time to start popping the pill and worry about finishing my Master's and going full-time with my employer instead of my hair. If the fin doesn't fix it, I'll buzz my head and taper off of the pill.

Appreciate any support you guys give, but know I'm pretty set in my ways. Attached are some pics I took with decent resolution to show you why I'm so concerned.

Time to hit the gym harder than I've ever hit it to burn this anxiety away. Need a little peace of mind. I don't want to lose my looks (which feels really shitty to say).

Best regards, compadres.

BigThinker,

You have been on Finasteride for less than two months.

Do you think this is long enough to determine how it is affecting your body, whether that's positively or negatively?

[BigThinker]

You know it's implicit that I wish you the same success in all I say, compadre.

I appreciate the kind words. Throughout this whole hairloss ordeal, I've had to re-calibrate my confidence to live with this drastic change in appearance -- all the while knowing it could and probably will continue to deteriorate. At the risk of sounding manic: finding peace and genuine confidence has been absolutely paramount in my ability to continue functioning at school, work, and with women.

[Aames]

Your hair looks good, man. I sure hope you can halt your loss. I've been shedding more than ever lately too. Hopefully this is a sign the meds are working for us.

[BigThinker]

Yeah, I hope so. Was definitely a bit shocking to see my scalp like that. That's actually why I've decided to get my hair cut shorter and shorter. I want to be aware of what's going on.

If my hair just stops where it is, I'll be content. Filling the crown back in would be icing on the cake.

And yeah, the peace of mind is good. I'd be crazy if I hadn't started by now.

[25 going on 65]

Time for a 1 month update.

Since my 1-week update, all sides have went away. If there is any sort of brain fog or change in demeanor, I genuinely haven't noticed it nor had anyone comment. Nut ache never came back after the first week. Itch is still gone, and my peace of mind is stronger than it's been in the better part of year.

Anyways, I decided to snag some updated pics because I just got my hair cut and noticed I have my first bit of noticeable thinning on my crown -- bit of a bummer, but I'm hoping the finasteride will hit that, irrespective if it works on the hair line (see pics).

Also, this last week I started shedding like absolute crazy. I went out drinking all day on Saturday for St. Patties and the next day it was raining hairs. Rather demoralizing, but every single hair was completely miniaturized or tapered/miniaturized at the proximal end. I won't bother reading into that too much, but I just want to acknowledge the shed.

I'll leave it at that and check in for a 2 month or 3 month update.

With any luck these miniaturized hairs will come back stronger. If you just now are noticing crown thinning you have a great chance to halt it or even revert it (finasteride works well for the crown, people have filled their crowns in with more extensive loss than you have)
Peace of mind is a big deal. I will never forget my sense of relief when I popped that first pill....like "ahh, finally I am officially doing something about this"

[BigThinker]

Time for a 1 month update.

Since my 1-week update, all sides have went away. If there is any sort of brain fog or change in demeanor, I genuinely haven't noticed it nor had anyone comment. Nut ache never came back after the first week. Itch is still gone, and my peace of mind is stronger than it's been in the better part of year.

Anyways, I decided to snag some updated pics because I just got my hair cut and noticed I have my first bit of noticeable thinning on my crown -- bit of a bummer, but I'm hoping the finasteride will hit that, irrespective if it works on the hair line (see pics).

Also, this last week I started shedding like absolute crazy. I went out drinking all day on Saturday for St. Patties and the next day it was raining hairs. Rather demoralizing, but every single hair was completely miniaturized or tapered/miniaturized at the proximal end. I won't bother reading into that too much, but I just want to acknowledge the shed.

I'll leave it at that and check in for a 2 month or 3 month update.

[BigThinker]

One week in. I switched to 0.625mg/day two days ago.

Was running late for work and popped my fin on an empty stomach and pounded a coffee as well. In the meeting, I felt a bit of a ball ache. It was like a modest case of "blue balls"; you know, like someone is squeezing on your balls and prostrate. I've had this feeling due to a variety of reasons in the past, and this instance was mild relative to those. It wasn't necessarily alarming, nor did it really deter my attention, but obviously it was noticeable for me to be reporting it.

No other sides to report.

The main reason for this 1 week update is that my head hasn't itched a bit since the 2nd pill - that terrible itch letting you know your hair follicles are being strangled. Usually it was especially irritated when I worked out. 5 days of no itch now then. I'm not claiming the fin is necessarily "working", but it sure is seems like a good sign.

That's all for now.

[25 going on 65]

People like you suffer from Body dysmorphic disorder.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_dysmorphic_disorder

In research carried out by Dr. Katharine Philips, involving over 500 patients, the percentage of patients concerned with the most common locations were as follows;

Skin (73&#37
Hair (56%)
Nose (37%)
Weight (22%)
Stomach (22%)
Breasts/chest/nipples (21%)
Eyes (20%)
Thighs (20%)
Teeth (20%)
Legs (overall) (18%)
......

Most likely I do have BDD. I have mentioned it before on this forum in fact.