Educated Questions from a Newbie *pics*

[Notcoolanymore]

The connection between fin/dut and sexual side effects is not straight forward. I have had the complete opposite reaction to fin and dut where my sex drive and erections increased (but semen changed a little). But there's definitely a lot of bad news surrounding these meds and sexual side effects - I think there's some crazy guys out there who have vendettas and who flood the net with their stories purposefully trying to make other men avoid the meds.

Best of luck with whatever you choose.

I believe there are guys out there that have suffered sides, but I think many of the guys are the ones you describe in your post.

[Tortoise]

The connection between fin/dut and sexual side effects is not straight forward. I have had the complete opposite reaction to fin and dut where my sex drive and erections increased (but semen changed a little). But there's definitely a lot of bad news surrounding these meds and sexual side effects - I think there's some crazy guys out there who have vendettas and who flood the net with their stories purposefully trying to make other men avoid the meds.

Best of luck with whatever you choose.

[mpb47]

What bothers you more: a life long commitment to minoxidil, or the horseshoe look? If you want to do what you can to avoid being a NW6 or worse, give minox a try. You can always say screw it and stop if you decide it is a pain to apply. Not saying minox will do anything, but I personally would give it a try for at least 6 months. What do you have to lose, 50 bucks?

Also have you considered microdosing fin? MPB47, actually posted in this thread that he was no longer taking fin because of the sides. He jumped back on it at .25mg(I believe) and is seeing results.

That is correct. i am taking .25 2x a week. It is working though I would say this time my results on a small dose are more typical than the first time. By that i mean it is working better in the back than in the front and the new hair is thin and soft. But still better off than before for sure. Since I am not having any issues, i am considering upping the dose to see if crown will fill in more.

[manimgoindowndown]

I feel you guys. I'm sure you guys come across a ton of posters who have a mental inability to come to terms with their baldness, but I have a great mind body connection and make sure to keep all things except for my variable the same (dosing). I actually find out what people are using, google what I feel and the medicine's name after my experince, to see if there is any connection with the medicine I am talking, vs knowing the symptom beforeh and I DEFINITELY felt it with fin. This was more than a year ago so I might have been on it for more than a week, but I could definitely feel a lack of sexual drive, recovery time on lifts etc.



From what I understood, and what is my current concern is that much more often than not, and proven scientifically, rogaine does not grow hair on the top of your head. Combined with my father's side of the family losing hair, I wonder if the marginal benefit of rogaine (which is a lot less than fin) is worth it.

The way I look at this is I have to shave my head everywweek and from a time stand point it's probably a lot easier rubbing Rogaine on top of my head 90 seconds every morning. The only side effect I had on Rogaine was some bags underneath my eye and it being hot and going to the gym, not having the foam fully absorbed, or being secreted after I sweated in the gym.

[Notcoolanymore]

What bothers you more: a life long commitment to minoxidil, or the horseshoe look? If you want to do what you can to avoid being a NW6 or worse, give minox a try. You can always say screw it and stop if you decide it is a pain to apply. Not saying minox will do anything, but I personally would give it a try for at least 6 months. What do you have to lose, 50 bucks?

Also have you considered microdosing fin? MPB47, actually posted in this thread that he was no longer taking fin because of the sides. He jumped back on it at .25mg(I believe) and is seeing results.

[vcity]

I get really skeptical of people claiming they got sides, especially within only a week (aside from watery semen, which shouldn't be too much of a concern and should be expected because finasteride affects your prostate). More often than not, it's anxiety causing the "sexual sides" .. i.e. try getting an erection normally thinking you're not going to get an erection - it's a physiological as much as mental process. This trend is even more apparent with forum posters and avid readers .. they post how nervous they are before and then stop relatively quickly .. of course, because you were nervous/anxious to begin with.

That being said .. personally I don't think there's that much of a point starting rogaine this late, your pattern is already well advanced. I'm your age and started balding at 15-16 (didn't notice until the end of my sr year in highschool though) and I started treatment at 17. Thankfully I have been able to hold off the inevitable with the meds (although now i feel its starting to lose effectiveness unfortunately ).

On a plus note, you look good bald and you don't mind the look .. if I were you I would get out and enjoy life and stop reading forums.. They're only going to make you more depressed. Same goes with starting meds, even of you grow a bit of hair back.. You're never going to be happy or completely satisfied and always going to worry. Heck, I don't remember the last time I've been completely happy or worry free in the past 5 years because of hairloss.

Key point: if you can accept baldness, not point in trying to grow anything back. Unfortunately i can't accept it .. not yet anyways.

[manimgoindowndown]

Hey guys reviving an old thread. I gave up fin because of its sexual side effects, a week after trying it initially and have ONLY been shaving my head since.

I am thinking of going to Rogaine Foam for a couple of months, but I wonder if I am low enough on the NW scale (dad and his brothers all bald) for anything to happen.

This is my hair grown out a couple of weeks. All my baldness is on the TOP of my head, where I read Rogaine doesn't work. I really wonder if its worth the commitment of 2x daily application for the rest of my life, if I will still have hair covering a 'shining dome' on top? How much hair could I realistically grow back?

This is I think a 6 week grow out.

[manimgoindowndown]

Also would anyone haave a picture off of google or something that shows what a guy who is 'gyno prone' looks like?I have some big pecs and my bodyfat is double digits, so I'm kind of ambiguous to that standard

[manimgoindowndown]

Second day on fin. Not bad and I guess some things are so subtle that the placebo fear freaks me out.
Taking 1.25mg . I would have liked to start with 1mg, but the 5mg proscar tablets from Target are round, not pentagonal.

A few things happened today. Had a stye inside my left eye...this barely happens with my allergies and it was pretty sudden. Kind of freaked me out. The left eyelid (once you open it ) was also a lot more red than my right eye. No allergies present at the moment.

I also lift weights for strength. DEFINITELY felt my legs give out quicker on squat, all things equal on normal days. To be fair here I did up my weight on squats from 180 to 185 ( I am 215 pounds) on a 5 rep scheme. This might be the difference, but increased recovery time.

Libido's been fine. Erection felt a little numb like there was a lot of blood in my penis the second time I had a go today with the lady.

My right eyebrows hairs were shiny/white and I pulled it out easily. Apparently this is a side effect for some people? I thought body hair (as opposed to face hair) is DHT dependent. Am I wrong , or was this a coincidence)

Kind of weird pinching feeling on the left rear delt, but then again I have been lifting hard and I get all kinds of weird body responses all the time.

I'm still kind of on the fence for fin. I was like I'll give it a year, but if there are any sides to it, like showing on my second day (vs paranoia), I think I look good bald, and it is actually kind of liberating and a motivator to continue to workout as I think bald+musclar is sexy.

I also read one thing at this point that seems to still bother me about estrogen/estradiol levels being raised as much as 15%. That kinda sucks ;(

Also, what are the advantages/disadvnatages of a topical DHT blocker? I assume it doesn't show up in your blood serum as much. Isn't it safer in that sense?

[Pate]

And I don't know anything about pill splitters but I would think any one would work fine for Proscar.

[Pate]

I'm not sure how long it takes the body to replenish the DHT from a dose of fin but I know Rassman talks about it only taking a few days for DHT to start damaging follicles after you stop taking it.

If you're right and it takes two weeks you could probably get away with 2.5mg of fin every 3 days but personally I don't like the idea.

The fin test is called the HairDX test. I don't actually know much about it, but you seem pretty switched on, I'm sure you can research the hell out of it if you're interested and tell us.

I use the Big Three, fin, minox and ketoconazole shampoo. Been on minox for about six years and fin/keto for three years, nearly four. Recently I have switched from straight minox to Spectral DNC. I have never had sides from fin except possibly putting on weight but that might be purely coincidental.

Unfortunately I left it too late to start fin (didn't realise how bad my hair had got because nobody mentioned it) so while I grew back hair on my crown almost completely I didn't grow back much at all at the front or top, so I am very thin there. On the plus side I haven't lost any more hair from what I can tell so my regimen has effectively halted my hair loss. Both my grandfathers and my father were full NW6 so I'm not going the transplant route because I know I won't have enough donor hair to make it look good.

You will lose any hair you grew if you come off fin and you will also lose any hair you kept - you will go straight back to where you would have been if you had never taken it at all.

Personally I think you look fine with a shaved head, you pull it off better than most people can. I agree that olive complexion is best for a shaved head. When it's that short it hardly even looks like you're balding with the amount of loss you've had so far.

If I were to give you any advice it would be to decide if you want to try fin ASAP and then go through with your decision. If you get sides, stop taking it. Then regardless of whether take it or not, you look fine with a shaved head so keep shaving your head and get on with your life!

[manimgoindowndown]

Also I would like to split my generic proscar 5mg into 1mg peices (as opposed to quarters) since I heard the difference between 1mg and 1.25mg might cause a lot of the side effects. Anyone know a pill cutter that splits for proscar? Or maybe a tool I could buy to cut it myself like a sclapel/knife? A link particularly to Amazon where reviews are would be nice


What's the expiration/shelf life of finasteride if the tablets are stored in a dry cool place?

[manimgoindowndown]

Hey one more questions guys! I once remember reading a study that said didn't see an effective improvement in finasteride over a certain dosage (.25mg vs 1mg?)...does anyone remember this study and the dosage and frequency it mentioned?

Also I guess I will at least have to start this every day at 1mg (lower dosage) and I'm hoping after a year to switch to duasteride if there aren't any noticeable side effects.

[3rdDecade]

I don't see your problem, bald suits you. Correct skin tone to pull it off

No offence on British or American people but slightly darker skinned look better bald.

Thats why i'm not to bothered going bald myself with olive skin tone

[mpb47]

something else you also brought up is that minoxidil is temporary and the hair you made (strengthened rather) falls out after you stop it.

Why is it that I have heard that although you can discontinue finasteride and side effects go away...why doesn't your hair fall out like with minoxidil?

If it is true and there are side effects in less than 2% of males...why isn't finasteride a wonder drug then?

Sorry for sounding so juvenile!

Tell me how I look bald

You will lose any hair you grow if you stop ether minoxidil or fin. I have done both and starting losing hair around the 3 month mark after I stopped.

Have been using minoxidil for 15 years and it's still working for me.
I used FIN for several years and it worked much better than I expected, but I got sides and had to stop. You may never have problems, you just have to try it and see. Just keep an eye on things and get off of it FAST if you get the sides.

Good luck...