5 months on Propecia (Side Effects - Testicular Atrophy)

[cp9]

So basically here's my story.. I have been using propecia for 5 months now ever since I've started noticing hairloss (slight crown thinning and hairline thinning) just before I turned 21.
I didn't taper onto the drug, instead I took 1mg from day one. There was a massive shed in the beginning which stopped around month 3, and now my hair is thickening up very nicely.
My libido has decreased slightly but that doesn't really bother me.
But here's the problem... Recently I've noticed my testicles have actually shrunk in size! Along with some dull pain (very slight, almost unnoticeable) on my lower abdomen. Sure, I've had testicular pain in the past (they were sharper) but they passed in a matter of days and have never shrunk my balls at all...
My question is, does everyone experience a slight decrease of the size of their testicles?? OR am I able to reverse these side effects if I lowered my dosage or take it EOD instead of Everyday?
I've actually lowered my dose to 0.5mg today (will continue with 0.5 instead of 1) and will see if anything happens.
I really want to stay on this drug because it's doing great things for my hair. I would greatly appreciated if anyone could give me some advice on how to minimize these side effects.
I also take:
zinc 30mg a day
magnesium 10mg a day
L-Arginine (1 month on, 1 month off)
Fish oil
Beta-Sitosteral
Biotin
Lipogaine (at night only)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading!

[greatjob!]

I don't mean to dismiss or discount your sides by any means, they suck, but how do you know you testicles have shrunken? Do you regularly measure the size of your balls?

[cp9]

I'm sure all guys touch (play with) their balls once in a while.. maybe it's just me haha. They feel a lot smaller and softer, also look smaller as well.
Have you had this issue yourself?

From my understanding.. they're not producing as much testosterone as they should be because of the increased amount of free flowing testosterone from taking propecia. I really hope lowering the dosage will solve this problem..

I would love to know if there are any ways around solving this without having to stop taking this drug.

[hellouser]

Don't let the Finasteride bandwagon dumbasses fool you, that shit is the devil's drug. And yes, testicle shrinkage is definitely possible;

http://www.propeciahelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7044

[cp9]

Oh wow, that's scary... Are there any other alternatives to finasteride then? I really don't want to lose my hair...

le sigh.

[hellouser]

Oh wow, that's scary... Are there any other alternatives to finasteride then? I really don't want to lose my hair...

le sigh.

There are really only TWO:

RU58841, which is a topical solution that works as well as finasteride. If it gets into your bloodstream and goes systemic, you might have the same sides, although they happen significantly less and if they do, theyre significantly milder.

CB-03-01
This is a steroid DHT inhibitor but only at the follicle level, nowhere else, so it will have ZERO effect on your johnson, libido, balls, bitch tits, etc. Even if it does get into your bloodstream, it goes benign, so its quite safe... and best of all, approximately 4X as powerful as Finasteride.

Both of these solutions require you make your own vehicle (liquid, usually ethanol in which the compound is dissolved in and then applied topically to penetrate the skin).

Be careful of a particular forum member named Tracey, if she reads this she WILL advise against using a non-FDA approved solution. The product afaik never made it through clinical trials and the drug was shelved. Read more here:

http://www.hairlosshelp.com/html/RU58841experiment.cfm

CB-03-01 is currently being developed by Cosmo Pharmaceuticals and they've reported no side effects in their clinical trials. The only possible side effect is skin atrophy, but the amount of CB you'd use is very little (10mg per 1ml) and the steroid is milder on the skin than the mildest steroid that could even possibly cause skin atrophy. In short, Cosmo knows what they're doing, if this was a long term side effect they wouldn't bring it forth and it wouldnt make it past trials (potentially).

Here are Cosmo's initial results with CB;



Notice hair count rose from 71 to 109 (54% increase) and hair thickness more than doubled from 0.41 to 0.88mm. This was used with iontophoresis... if you can find a device that does it on the scalp, all the more power to you, but for now people are experimenting with a liquid vehicle (dmi/dmso, ethanol/glycol, oleyl/glycol). Interesting is that Cosmo states it will use an anhydrous vehicle, which means it will be a DRY topical application.

Don't expect CB on the market until at least 2016 and thats being generous.

Check my dermarolling thread if you want to experiment with a very safe and potentially far better solution than either:

http://www.baldtruthtalk.com/showthread.php?t=13420

It mimics Follica's wounding and FGF-9 procedure to create new hair follicles (though our procedure will most likely stimulate growth from old dorman/miniaturized follicles). Read the whole thread though.

[cp9]

Thanks for the info hellouser! Much appreciated
I'll definitely look into it.. there's still hope!!

[greatjob!]

Don't let the Finasteride bandwagon dumbasses fool you, that shit is the devil's drug. And yes, testicle shrinkage is definitely possible;

http://www.propeciahelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7044

How about you blow me for calling me a "Finasteride bandwagon dumbass"! I am neither for or against finasteride. It is a drug and it has it's place. It helps many people and does not help many others. It has worked very well for me, and for other people it has been a nightmare. Like every drug it has it's side effects and some people experience them to different degrees.

I was simply wondering how you could notice "minimal shrinkage" of your balls unless you continually measure your balls, that's all, I was curious.

It is comical however that you call people finasteride bandwagon dumbasses and then as proof of you point of view you post a link from a website that is inhabited by hysterical hypochondriacs who wouldn't be able to get it up if they took a sugar pill because they are crazy.

Don't act like you know me.

To the OP, there are a lot of scary things on propeciahelp and most of them are the rants of crazy people. There are very real side effects of the drug, just like any other drug. If you are experiencing side effects that you can't handle then you should discontinue use. When I was younger I thought about using propecia but got scared off. I lost a ton of hair going from a NW 3 to a NW5/6 and I ended up taking the drug anyways with zero side effects.

There are people on here like hellhouser who will tell you the drug is the devil, and there are people on here who will tell you it is as safe as a sugar pill. Like most things the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

And to follow up with one of your last posts, finasteride doesn't decrease your testosterone levels, it keeps the enzyme 5 alpha reductase from converting testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). Often times taking finasteride results in an increase in the amount of free testosterone. I would suggest you go see a doctor about this problem and not rely on the medical advice of people on the internet.

[hellouser]

Thanks for the info hellouser! Much appreciated
I'll definitely look into it.. there's still hope!!

Forgot to mention, RU58841 and CB-03-01 are both available via black market... you just have to make the vehicle yourself (its really easy). Check my thread on how to make RU here:

http://www.baldtruthtalk.com/showthread.php?p=120497

As for CB, preparation is similar (can be the same, but efficacy will be different).

[hellouser]

How about you blow me for calling me a "Finasteride bandwagon dumbass"! I am neither for or against finasteride. It is a drug and it has it's place. It helps many people and does not help many others. It has worked very well for me, and for other people it has been a nightmare. Like every drug it has it's side effects and some people experience them to different degrees.

I was simply wondering how you could notice "minimal shrinkage" of your balls unless you continually measure your balls, that's all, I was curious.

It is comical however that you call people finasteride bandwagon dumbasses and then as proof of you point of view you post a link from a website that is inhabited by hysterical hypochondriacs who wouldn't be able to get it up if they took a sugar pill because they are crazy.

Don't act like you know me.

To the OP, there are a lot of scary things on propeciahelp and most of them are the rants of crazy people. There are very real side effects of the drug, just like any other drug. If you are experiencing side effects that you can't handle then you should discontinue use. When I was younger I thought about using propecia but got scared off. I lost a ton of hair going from a NW 3 to a NW5/6 and I ended up taking the drug anyways with zero side effects.

There are people on here like hellhouser who will tell you the drug is the devil, and there are people on here who will tell you it is as safe as a sugar pill. Like most things the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

And to follow up with one of your last posts, finasteride doesn't decrease your testosterone levels, it keeps the enzyme 5 alpha reductase from converting testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). Often times taking finasteride results in an increase in the amount of free testosterone. I would suggest you go see a doctor about this problem and not rely on the medical advice of people on the internet.

Congratulations on your rant, but I didn't even see your post nor do I care for it or this one. Stay on Fin if its working for you, but don't even for a second say it has very VERY debilitating side effects for many (erectile dysfunction? I'd rather be completely bald).

The drug should have been a thing of the past, CB will hopefully change all that without any of the shit that Fin causes.

[cp9]

I didn't mean that it lowered my testosterone overall, it actually increased it by heaps (I could lift a lot more in the gym lol). Kind of like taking steroids, with the increased amount of free flowing testosterone from Propecia I'm actually giving my body much more than what it can produce, so it stops producing naturally (hence the reduction in testicle size).
I'm gonna try lower my dosage or even take it EOD and see if that helps.. =/
But yes, I will definitely give the doctor a visit on Monday!

@hellouser
Thanks for the link!

Cheers

[DanWS]

Don't let the Finasteride bandwagon dumbasses fool you, that shit is the devil's drug. And yes, testicle shrinkage is definitely possible;

http://www.propeciahelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7044

shit like that is ****ing scary! oh well **** it, im 6 weeks in and aint gettin off now! lol

[cp9]

Well yea.. I thought the same thing as well! - Not getting off this drug lol
I'm getting really good regrowth from it at this point, which f**king sucks!

But I'm gonna try take a week or two off and see if things get back to normal, and if it does, I'll start taking the drug again at a lower dose EOD (taper on).
I just hope I don't lose any of my gains...

[Notcoolanymore]

Who cares about the size of their balls? It's the size of your D!@k that counts. And besides with your balls being so small, your D!@k might actually look bigger than it actually is.

[cp9]

yeah of course you'd say that, it's not happening to you lol (but it does make my D look bigger =P )

It's like my people saying to me: who cares about the amount of hair on your head, being bald makes you look wise and sophisticated.