Fin users - How did you get past your fear?

[Superstar]

Those are good points 25 going on 65. Some of the things you said made great sense to me, because I've been really thinking lately, am I going to worry more about the sides and let them discourage me from taking them, & always wonder what would've happened to my hair if I did take fin?

Or, should I just take it now and see what happens. I guess that's what my confusion has been the last few months.

Ryan, I never planned on taking it that long either. However, in Spencer's last show, he said that if something does come out, he's sticking with fin for the rest of his life so he doesn't lose what he's kept because of fin. He even said something to the effect of, when he's in a nursing home, they'll have to give it to him. It got me to thinking, and I really don't want to have to do that...so, that's what made me think about having to be on it for the rest of my life..

Dan, you're right about what you said. Fin is unpredictable about how it will effect you. As far as my situation goes, I'm not sure if my depression is something I'm genetically prone to deal with, as other members of my family have dealt with it, or is it mostly because of certain situations that's currently on going in my life. That's why I haven't taken the depression meds the dr wants me to take. I've told him that it's just a mask, because even if I take the meds, the things that bother me in my life will still be there.

I think maybe my biggest fear is, reading on here how guys have said fin has actually made their hair worse I don't see how that's possible, but apparently it is. Also, if I'd take it awhile, and stop, would the hair I have now get worse?

It's the fear of the unknown because I do still have a good bit of hair left *knock on wood*

[25 going on 65]

As far as my situation goes, I'm not sure if my depression is something I'm genetically prone to deal with, as other members of my family have dealt with it, or is it mostly because of certain situations that's currently on going in my life. That's why I haven't taken the depression meds the dr wants me to take. I've told him that it's just a mask, because even if I take the meds, the things that bother me in my life will still be there.

I took 2 different kinds of antidepressants and fin worked better than both because it actually did something about my biggest source of depression. ryan's comments applied to me definitely.
However I can see meds, also therapy, being useful if you are using them while addressing hair loss (if hair loss is the cause of your depression). I sometimes consider them as I still have pretty bad spells of depression, mostly due to my BDD I think

I think maybe my biggest fear is, reading on here how guys have said fin has actually made their hair worse I don't see how that's possible, but apparently it is. Also, if I'd take it awhile, and stop, would the hair I have now get worse?

It's the fear of the unknown because I do still have a good bit of hair left *knock on wood*

I know this feeling, I was very worried about shedding when starting dutasteride as well.
However there is no hair on your head that fin can harm, that would be left untouched by MPB

[ryan555]

Ryan, I never planned on taking it that long either. However, in Spencer's last show, he said that if something does come out, he's sticking with fin for the rest of his life so he doesn't lose what he's kept because of fin. He even said something to the effect of, when he's in a nursing home, they'll have to give it to him. It got me to thinking, and I really don't want to have to do that...so, that's what made me think about having to be on it for the rest of my life..

Well at the very least, I am sure they will perfect or greatly improve hair multiplication and we can just let our hair fall out and get a great HT in our 50's.

[BigThinker]

This is for Fin users. How did you get over your fears of side effects, life long commitment, etc to start taking it?

Because my hair continued to deteriorate, and I couldn't stomach the idea of going bald. Also, the odds are in my favor, so I rolled the dice.

Also, if you did take it, do you regret it, or was it a great decision?

I don't regret it. I'm only 3.5 months in, and if at 12 months it hasn't worked then I'm out $60 -- whoopy doo. I'm glad I didn't wait any longer. though; no way I could stand just starting now, my hair where it is.

[akai]

To be honest I didn't research the drug that much before I took it. Was recommended to me by friend I lift with who takes it. That was two years ago. Didn't know about sides until I looked at my first hairloss forum a year ago. None of my friends who take it have sides. The majority of people who rail against finasteride on this site have never taken it, which is odd.

Like whoever posted above: 5% chance of sides (even if it was higher I'd still give it a shot) vs 100% chance of going bald. Easy decision in my opinion.

[abadacus]

I'm pushing 6 months with fin.. I can say for certain at this point I am seeing improvement .. definitely no loss and I had no shedding issues. As far as sides.. none. The generic being 4 dollars a month .. cost has no bearing on my decisions to take it.. I'll take it till i'm 80. Doesn't feel like a commitment having to take it on a daily basis.. takes 5 seconds a day... and 15 minutes to stop at Walmart once a month.. insignificant compared to watching my hairline dwindle a little every month.
Sides did worry me slightly at the beginning but I went in positive knowing any sides would be very unlikely .. and for them to be permanent would be way more unlikely. I'm not a dr. but it is hard to believe that it's not psychological when someone posts in the forum that they took a small dosage for 3 days and they're noticing improvement or they're having life altering side effects..

[Superstar]

Well, all these posts certainly have made me feel better about taking it. It's just, I've suffered a lot of trauma the last few years because of my failed hair surgery, and as Spencer says, fin is probably the best treatment that we currently have. However, because of that trauma that I've gone through, if this fails for me too, or makes my hair worse, I don't think I could deal with that.

I know that probably sounds silly, but that surgery messed me up bad for a long time, daily head pains, I had to get an MRI and Cat scan of my head/brain, just to make sure that there wasn't something else going on, and that thought of fin failing for me has gone through my mind a lot, and when I let it get to me, I then start thinking of the sides, and then I'm pushed to start a thread like this one. Actually I'm glad that I did, because it's been a great discussion and it's brought up some great, positive points.

I think that's a BIG problem with the internet perception of fin. We don't hear very often from the people that this thread has heard from, and that being guys that's actually had positive effects from fin and have good things to say about it. We just seem to hear the negatives about it. Instead of possibly 5% or whatever the number is of guys who could have sides, you would think 50% of guys could have sides from the negative things that we read daily.

I read a post on here about if you take fin say something and there was a link to another site and a thread and one of the guys posted how fin ruined his hairline, which I've seen that kinda thing a few times. Has anyone experienced that problem?

Abadacus, what improvements have you seen in the 6 months you've been on it?

Akai, you mentioned neither yourself or your friends have sides, how many of them are on it? What kinda improvements have you/them seen?

[Superstar]

I was wondering, what are the percentage of side effects?

What I mean is, what's the overall percentage of men that experience them? Are these numbers from Merck, or an independent study?

What's the % of sides of sexual, gyno, depression, and whatever else is reported.

Is there some kinda recent study that someone can link that talks about these?

[UK_]

I was wondering, what are the percentage of side effects?

What I mean is, what's the overall percentage of men that experience them? Are these numbers from Merck, or an independent study?

What's the % of sides of sexual, gyno, depression, and whatever else is reported.

Is there some kinda recent study that someone can link that talks about these?

Just google scholar it.

[Jcm800]

UK - you resumed treatment yet?

[Proper]

Its the best thing I ever did for my hair. I use to come on this site a lot and search around for stats on propecia and how it works. Ever since I've been taking it, about a year and a half now, I never search for anything about hairloss anymore. I come on this site once in a while and see posts like these and I just want to put in a word that propecia has been working for me indefinately. Otherwise, I'd be one of the, I believe, many people that propecia has done something for but just don't feel the need to advertise.

I'm not saying that it will work for you or not but I've experienced no sides, quite strangely, no shedding... just improvement. I started minoxidil after a year of propecia and I can honestly say that my hair has been making great gains. I'm still at a widows peak, NW2, since I started treatment but my hair has thicken back to almost perfect from diffusal. I always get a fade anyways so the NW2 actually looks good with my hairstyle.

[DifferentLine]

Hey Proper, how long until you started to see improvement with fin?

[Proper]

It took me about 4-5 months. Pretty much I started just after getting home for summer on May 1 and noticed improvement going back to school just before September. And from there it slowly improved over the months until I didn't see anymore scalp in late September. I continued taking it until Feb-March ish which was about the time I started minox and although I don't notice anymore imrpovement cause my hair got so thick, its starting to stand again instead of laying flat on my head because of the density of my hair increasing (or my hair shafts are thickening in diameter or maybe even both). So I would say, yes propecia and minox is definately doing its magic for me.

But yah, before I started taking propecia, I had a supply of 30 pills and held onto it for quite a while before actually taking it. I don't remember how long I postponed it for but it must've been about 6 months I was skeptical about popping em til I decided that I was a ***** and whatever happens happens.

I work in retail now with lots of mirrors and I love looking at myself lol whereas before I hated anyplace with lots of mirrors, reflections, and people.

[Superstar]

Thanks for the reply Proper. I can relate, I've held onto mine for 8 months now, without taking it, haha. I just can't bring myself to do it. I think the trauma of my failure of my minor strip procedure that did has just scarred me, because if Fin causes me problems too, I'll just be devastated.

That's why I made this post, in hopes I'd get the replies that I have gotten thus far and that it'd push me to do it. I'm closer than I've been, but not quite there yet.

You said you've made improvements, what kind of improvements have you seen?

[Jcm800]

Proper, did you taper on to it, or just start 1mg daily? Thanks.