Hey I am a anxious, paranoid, balding singer/songwriter :/

[Tracy C]

And? I'm not here to treat those who attack me on other threads [for simply outlining my experiences with minoxidil] politely.

You do not "outline your experiences politely". You are a fear monger and nothing more. You keep attacking me because you hope that if you shut me up, no one will notice that you are fear mongering.

You start this crap. Each and every time it is you who starts this crap. If you can't deal with anybody defending themselves and fighting back, don't start crap.

[Tracy C]

If you have not read the information on PropeciaHelp then you can tell yourself that you are not making an informed decision in taking Propecia, its as simple as that.

Here we go with the fear mongering again... Propeciahelp is a site for fear mongers and ambulance chasers. The garbage "information" they share on that site is far from accurate.

[UK_]

Here we go with the fear mongering again... Propeciahelp is a site for fear mongers and ambulance chasers. The garbage "information" they share on that site is far from accurate.

Have you even read the content on propeciahelp? I suppose the patients on propeciahelp who are able to put needles painlessly through the skin of their penises are also just 'ambulance chasers' too huh? You’re probably able to get away with knocking the statements on the forum, but when I link potential Fin users to propeciahelp I am linking them to the IMPARTIAL MEDICAL RESEARCH the website uploads and highlights for its users.

You know.... stuff like this:

“In a group of 61 otherwise healthy former users of finasteride who developed persistent sexual side effects, depressive symptoms were present and categorized as mild in 11% of users, moderate in 28% of users, and severe in 36% of users. Suicidal thoughts were present in 39% of former finasteride users, and an additional 5% chose the statement “I would like to kill myself.”

http://article.psychiatrist.com/dao_1-login.asp?ID=10007988&RSID=16409503147040

The only attitude that can amount from the advice offered by TracyC is: "Oh it'll never happen to me", and that is a shockingly idiotic attitude to have when you're risking PERMANENT SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION.

[25 going on 65]

IMO the dangers of fin are very overstated on internet forums. The symptoms on propeciahelp.com also happen to men who have never taken this drug.
I do believe PFS (persistent finasteride syndrome) is real for a very small % of users, but this is a judgment I have made based mostly on anecdotes. If someone challenged me to substantiate this with controlled studies I would not be able to mmake a strong case.
and let me just say, I have sympathy for anyone who is truly suffering long term sides from this or any other medicine. These people do not deserve to be mocked, their plight should be taken seriously. At the same time however....the posters who sound alarm bells whenever fin comes up, telling new guys they will probably have to quit and endure years of therapy, are doing a real disservice to men who want to treat their hair loss.
The fact is, our options for stopping hair loss are extremely limited at this time. If you really want to address the problem as a male, without gambling your hair, you basically have finasteride or dutasteride. There are useful supporting treatments but they alone will not maintain your hair. so telling everybody that the only truly effective treatments will ruin their lives is basically trying to ensure everyone who starts going bald, will finish going bald. That is not helpful and not what this forum is about.

I have been on fin almost 2.5 years and started dutasteride almost 2 weeks ago. If I believed some of the stuff I read on this forum, I would be a NW3v today at best instead of a NW2. Instead of worrying myself sick on sites like propeciahelp I looked at controlled studies and felt confident the evidence was on my side. As someone who was horribly depressed, even feeling suicidal at times, about impending baldness I can say it means the world to me to be able to go out on Friday night and socialize like a normal guy in his 20s. Other guys who come here looking for help deserve tha tsame chance....some of them will choose not to take meds and that is fine, but at least give them the chance instead of freaking them out about something that could completely change the next decade of their lives

My two cents.

[baldozer]

Here we go with the fear mongering again... Propeciahelp is a site for fear mongers and ambulance chasers. The garbage "information" they share on that site is far from accurate.

Well now I have seen that the Propeciahelp site has links to published medical journals and also media videos. At least those are not garbage. IMHO, all possible side effects of a drug should be disclosed to people, so that they can make a wise decision. In this way, if they do get those side effects, they wouldn't go on blaming everyone else.

[baldozer]

so telling everybody that the only truly effective treatments will ruin their lives is basically trying to ensure everyone who starts going bald, will finish going bald. That is not helpful and not what this forum is about.
My two cents.

In a way this is a good thing, because more bald men means the medical community has more of an incentive to invent ways to regrow hair! And if they do that, even if you are bald, you'll end with a full head of hair. Don't you think so? Probably if Propecia was not here, they would have already found a solution.

[Tracy C]

After all tho arguing i'm starting to get afraid to take the propecia hahahaha. I'm supossed to get them on Monday too lol

Unfortunately, the reality is that if you are genuinely afraid of any medication, you should not take it. Because simply being afraid of a medication dramatically increases your chances of getting the possible side effects associated with that medication. Doctors have known about this phenomenon for hundreds of years.

The true numbers are that for every four men who experience any side effects at all from Finasteride, there are 96 men who have benefited from this medication without side effects. For every one man who has experienced "PFS" from this medication, there are over 900 men who have benefited from this medication without any side effects at all. About half of those men who do experience sides effects, including PFS, are experiencing a Psychosomatic phenomenon that is well known in medical practice. Those are the real numbers that fear mongers and ambulance chasers do not want you to know. Fear mongers and ambulance chasers want you to believe that EVERYONE who takes this medication WILL get the possible side effects. Keeping the fear of Finasteride high is a revenue generating cash cow - and the ambulance chasers want to keep that revenue comming in for as long as possible.

[UK_]

Dont go to TracyC for answers, she just regurgitates whatever is said by the American Hair loss Association because she is a boring 'sit on the fence' type of person with a black soul due to years of lonliness, her insecurities and a depressing life.

Our main hope at the moment is here:

http://www.utsandiego.com/video/play/48502/

Wow I just watched this interview and what a complete bint the interviewer is.

Next time get someone with some knowledge of the biotech industry to do the interview.

She's also quite sexist, doesnt hold back on propping up Gail as a 'power woman' (lol) and apparently female hair loss is a concern but male hair loss isnt? (wtf, how sexist).

[25 going on 65]

In a way this is a good thing, because more bald men means the medical community has more of an incentive to invent ways to regrow hair! And if they do that, even if you are bald, you'll end with a full head of hair. Don't you think so? Probably if Propecia was not here, they would have already found a solution.

I see what you mean but Im afraid I disagree. The number of balding men now is almost exactly the same as it would be if fin never existed, because almost no man ever takes an effective treatment for hair loss let alone finasteride. At least 8/10 just let baldness happen, or maybe take some useless junk like saw palmetto before giving up.
That is something I think a lot of people do not think about on this forum....finasteride is a commercial failure. Look at the size of the target market (at least 1 billion men) and look at how many men take this drug....1 or 2 million maybe?

I would say there is more motivation now than ever for a baldness cure. Image is as important as any other time in history, if not more important, and more people these days have the "disposable" income to spend on their looks
But then maybe we are just living in a hair loss bubble. The average guy might just not care much about hair compared to people like us who post on baldness forums

[baldozer]

The average guy might just not care much about hair compared to people like us who post on baldness forums

If it was the average girl rather than the average guy who was not caring much about hair, then every bald/balding men would be happy, LOL!

[UK_]

I see what you mean but Im afraid I disagree. The number of balding men now is almost exactly the same as it would be if fin never existed, because almost no man ever takes an effective treatment for hair loss let alone finasteride. At least 8/10 just let baldness happen, or maybe take some useless junk like saw palmetto before giving up.
That is something I think a lot of people do not think about on this forum....finasteride is a commercial failure. Look at the size of the target market (at least 1 billion men) and look at how many men take this drug....1 or 2 million maybe?

I would say there is more motivation now than ever for a baldness cure. Image is as important as any other time in history, if not more important, and more people these days have the "disposable" income to spend on their looks
But then maybe we are just living in a hair loss bubble. The average guy might just not care much about hair compared to people like us who post on baldness forums

Saw Palmetto isnt actually useless junk, it is capable of reducing serum levels of DHT after a period of 6 - 12 months, there is medical evidence published in journal articles that have documented this, do a google search to find out more.

[konfusion]

Why not? You saw Demi Moore when she was bald, she was still very attractive that way.

there is a big difference with a skinhead and a NW7 pattern. let's see her with the horseshoe look with maybe one or two strands left on the top. will she look attractive?