Fin it to win it

[abusername]

Hey guys, just got the nerve to fill my prescription of propecia today and i will be taking my first pill tomorrow and i just wanted to thank all you guys for helping me come to this decision, this is a great forum!


So a little about me, i started receeding at the temples like a year ago, my birthday was a couple weeks ago and im 20. Just this past month the widows peak turned flat so i figured it was time for action. With all the stories i honestly can say i believe in the fact that success stories are the vast majority and as much as i love reading stories, i always followed more of the learn by trying kind of path in life.

I get to the gym about 4 times a week and do mostly heavy lifting kind of stuff with aerobic exercise every other day. I am a college student and my brain is not slightly foggy, i'm quite sexually active and everything works great down there.

So let me be your example as i start a medical regiment for the sake of vanity! and please feel free to ask any questions, i'll try and update well so i can have some opinions along the way :-D

[Zao]

Good for you abusername! Don’t let the anti-Propecia mafia try to bully you. You’ll be fine and probably keep your hair like I have. Don’t even think about side effects, I never did and I am doing great!
Good luck!

[abusername]

Good for you abusername! Don’t let the anti-Propecia mafia try to bully you. You’ll be fine and probably keep your hair like I have. Don’t even think about side effects, I never did and I am doing great!
Good luck!

Appreciate it man, you were one of the first posts i saw to defend against propecia in the thread with the doctor from propecia help and i would have totally stayed away from it if it weren't for those.

When i saw ryan555's comment were he said "propecia gave me back my 20's" it really struck a cord and i knew i had to give it a try.

When i talked with my doctor about the sides and propeciahelp etc his advice was that the best thing i could do is stay off the web. I understand this because mentality and placebo and very strong things. But i felt i had to make a thread mostly so that if i do experience anything terrible i got my doctor to vouch and a decent record of events.

[ryan555]

Good luck, man. You will definitely be better off not spending your college years obsessing about hair loss. I freaked out when it started but after i started the propecia I never thought about it again. Interestingly, when I started taking it, there was never any discussion about all the terrifying side effects and there very few people online talking about them. The doctors claimed then that it had a very low incidence of side effects and they still claim the same thing today. Unfortunately, the hysteria has run amok on the Internet, much of it coming from men who have never even taken the stuff but have decided how evil it is based on the few isolated cases reported by guys who did have bad side effects.

I do have one suggestion. If I were you, i would go to a doctor who can perform a bulk analysis or microscopic miniaturization test to make sure you are actually losing hair not just developing a mature hairline. To this day, I do not know if I actually ever needed medication. By looking at your photos, it does not appear that you have hair loss, but it could be the very early stages.

[abusername]

Yeah ryan everyone thinks im crazy for worrying, but i told my doctor that my uncle started balding when he was my age and my grandfather (both on my dads side) and he told me that it wasn't even worth doing a screening because mpb runs in my family and i've noticed it receding but i really would like to get something done, were would i get something like that done?

But for the record, i do and always have had very thick hair which i believes help to mask it a little.. i will post pics out of the shower with my hair back because i feel like thats when i really see it the most.

[DepressedByHairLoss]

Hey Ryan, are you still on Propecia? And how long were you on it? I've been on it for about a year, and although it really did decrease my shedding, I haven't seen any hair regrowth. Also, I'm concerned because I really think it has been affecting my performance in the gym. My muscles seem to much flabbier and softer, and they used to be hard as a rock. Plus, I haven't been able to lift as much weight either.

[PropeciaVictim]

Good for you abusername! Don’t let the anti-Propecia mafia try to bully you. You’ll be fine and probably keep your hair like I have. Don’t even think about side effects, I never did and I am doing great!
Good luck!

LOL, the real organized criminals work in Rahway, New Jersey. Great advice you just gave him. I followed the same regimen and I ended up with nerve damage.

[PropeciaVictim]

When i talked with my doctor about the sides and propeciahelp etc his advice was that the best thing i could do is stay off the web. I understand this because mentality and placebo and very strong things.

My doctor said the same thing and I initially disregarded the reports on PH as being misguided or all out lies. However, a few days after starting the drug I developed a loss of sensitivity and ED which never went away. Recently, I was tested and found to have pudendal nerve dysfunction and I will follow up with a neurologist to see if this is treatable since even Viagra won't restore sensation.

My advice to you is to recognize there is a risk you are taking, albeit very minimal. If you are willing to accept that, then take the drug and don't look back. By the way, your doctor is ignorant on the subject as there have been labeling updates and research articles published on the topic in recent months. More revisions from the FDA are coming shortly.

[abusername]

[QUOTE=PropeciaVictim;32249]LOL, the real organized criminals work in Rahway, New Jersey. Great advice you just gave him. I followed the same regimen and I ended up with nerve damage

Lol i lived in rahway for a couple of years, Propecia victim trust me i am well aware that there may be a risk involved and i have read over all of propecia help and all of your threads and posts on this site (talk about a broken record!)

I am a man of very strong body and mind, i take great caution starting a daily milligram pill that will affect my hormones and i am confident that if i pay attention to my body, no permanent damage will occur.

[ryan555]

Hey Ryan, are you still on Propecia? And how long were you on it? I've been on it for about a year, and although it really did decrease my shedding, I haven't seen any hair regrowth. Also, I'm concerned because I really think it has been affecting my performance in the gym. My muscles seem to much flabbier and softer, and they used to be hard as a rock. Plus, I haven't been able to lift as much weight either.

I am not on it anymore. I stopped over a year ago due to an unrelated health issue that required me to stop taking anything and everything. I also work out regularly and haven't noticed any difference in that department since I stopped the drug. The only differences I have noticed are slightly better erections and stamina, plus better urinary flow.

[doinmyheadin]

Its funny a good proportion of people get on party drugs every weekend with more chance of side effects or worse with out even thinking twice, yet propecia with minimal chance of side effects because it regards there manhood some people freak out. Remember the mind is a powerful thing, try not to read too much negative things you will be fine, best too start early. Wish I started 1 or 2 years earlier. I think I was in denial about my hairloss as I have very thick hair and like you have been able to hide it.

[benson&hedges]

Its funny a good proportion of people get on party drugs every weekend with more chance of side effects or worse with out even thinking twice, yet propecia with minimal chance of side effects because it regards there manhood some people freak out. Remember the mind is a powerful thing, try not to read too much negative things you will be fine, best too start early. Wish I started 1 or 2 years earlier. I think I was in denial about my hairloss as I have very thick hair and like you have been able to hide it.

Very well said ^^^^

[the_charger]

Good choice! Ive been on propecia for around 2 months now. Its too early to tell if ive had any benefit from it yet, but I am pretty sure I’m losing way less hair. I am quite young, and Im personally glad I caught it early enough. You are in the same boat and catching it early. You should be able to hopefully expect a full head of hair for the next 5-10 years, or at least until something way better and more effective is available!

I haven’t noticed any side effects at all, everything is still exactly the same. I actually work out pretty regularly and before starting, I had a deadlifting max of 180bs. After 2 months on the stuff, I am able to deadlift 200. I’ve put on probably 5 pounds of muscle in the last 2 months, and honestly not having all the anxiety of worrying about my hair has allowed me to focus on the important things in my life. I honestly feel, like ryan said, I have my 20’s back! Hair loss is really the farthest thing from my mind.

While it’s unfortunate some people have been seriously harmed by this stuff, it’s a very small group of people who are EXTREMELY vocal.. they are extremely persistent at getting their point across on every single forum and it seems like everybody gets permanent problems from propecia. Well on the internet it does.. But ive talked to my family doctor and he talked to some of his colleagues, and not a single one of them have ever heard of or seen a patient with these problems. And hes estimated he and his coleagues have prescribed it to thousands of people. Apparently it’s a popular drug where I live!

But yeah I would prefer to “bury my head in the sand” and not spend every day worrying about a very small (less than 1 in 1000) chance of having these severe problems, and just enjoy my 20’s with hair, even if its in ignorance. There is a chance I’ll really regret it, but as a compromise to starting propecia, I quit smoking. So for me, ive just reduced my chance of hundreds of health problems!

I don’t want to discount anyone who has had really bad problems. some of them seem like great people, like mens rea for example, but I guess we all need to understand there is a risk, be it is very small. For me, going by my doctors opinion (he is a brilliant man, he’s been my doctor my whole life) it isn’t something im going to personally worry about.

I think that taking propecia and worrying myself sick about these problems is worse than worrying about and stressing out about my hair loss, anyway. But that’s just me…..

[sadscalp]

Good for you abusername! Don’t let the anti-Propecia mafia try to bully you. You’ll be fine and probably keep your hair like I have. Don’t even think about side effects, I never did and I am doing great!
Good luck!

That's exactly what people told me, and what caused me to make the decision to get on it.

And to OP, go ahead and do it if you want, just as long as you're aware that this not without risks. I was on it for about 6-7 months without experiencing any side effects at all (didn't do anything for my hair either, which was disappointing and surprising since I had had great results from minoxidil initially, but that's beside the point), and then one day in March, bam, ED, penile shrinkage, no libido and ball ache. And I didn't even worry about side effecs at that point.
Been off it for a little over 3 months now and I've recovered some, but not completely. Still low libido and my d*ck and balls feel and look somewhat weird. Some days are better than others though, for some reason.

I've read stories of people who were on the drug for as much as 7 years without having any side effects, and then suddenly got hit hard. Seems to me that finasteride is very unpredictable, and that you never know when you might get sides. Then all you can do is hope that they go away. Trust me, you'll know when/if you get these sides, they're very, very unpleasant.

If you think you're fine with that, good for you. At least you're making an informed decision. But don't say no one warned you. Personally I'm sticking with minoxidil and keto, and hoping for something new (and safe) to hit the market. There's no way I'm putting that sh*t in my body again.

[PropeciaVictim]

But yeah I would prefer to “bury my head in the sand” and not spend every day worrying about a very small (less than 1 in 1000) chance of having these severe problems, and just enjoy my 20’s with hair, even if its in ignorance.

You really shouldn't say the chance of persistent side effects is less than 1 in a 1,000 when nobody really knows. For Proscar (5mg) the 4 year follow up study found 2% of users had persistent side effects.

For me, going by my doctors opinion (he is a brilliant man, he’s been my doctor my whole life) it isn’t something im going to personally worry about.

No matter how smart he is, he may simply not know. There have, thus far, only been two articles published and most doctors go off the PPI which is printed by Merck. Merck has done its best to conceal this information, still has deliberately false information about finasteride in its literature, but only recently included the reports of permanent ED in their brochures.