Can anyone help me identify my situation?

[notthatguy]

Hi everyone,

Im 19 years old, started balding around 17. Been on minoxidil liquid 5% ever since which i think slowed down the proces but im not sure.. anyways.

i started finasteride 1mg about 2 weeks ago and its already been a hell of a ride and im in a postion of great insecurity about the effect of the medicine on me. I hope some people can help me, any thoughts are appreciated. Im afraid i might be experiencing hypoandrogenic effect.

im just trying to describe my situation as detailed as possible and im honest about everything.

finds:

- the first week and a half i had a pretty bad itch on multiple parts of my body: my shoulders, the side of my biceps, at the back of the knees, my face (beard area, under the eyes) and forehead, also on my scalp, and my wrists. on some places there was even a rash, on my wrist, and under my eyes, other places were often reddish.
The itch went away bit by bit and is now pretty much gone everywhere, after 1.5 week.

- my hair is thinning at the front, - but my hairline is not receding. seems to be the left side thinning more than the right for some reason. there are a lot of reports on shedding on fin astride but not after 2 weeks, often after 4-6 weeks.
every time i do as much as touch my hair to just style it a bit im losing like 5 hairs, when i shampoo it, it sometimes goes up to about 15-30 hairs.

- my temples don’t seem to have receded any more since taking finastride 1mg and my hairline might have even got defined a bit more. Some small hairs are starting to grow at the sides of my hairline. - not sure if this is the finasteride because it needs way longer i know, but maybe its because of the minoxidil thats working better because of the lowering of dht.

- sexual side effects: havent really noticed anything except watery seamon about 2 times, i have no problems getting a erection. i have always been someone who mastrubates a lot and i always had premature ejaculation problems, which i still have on finastride, and i still mastrubate quite a lot, pretty much daily. so no actual sign of lowered libido. feels even increased some days. - sign of hypo effect?

New scare: i think the finastride makes my skin incredibly dry and might cause me to age quicker. i remember before going on fin astride i had such an oily forehead a the end of the day to the point where it bothered me, my back was also quite oily, my back now seems to be at normal condition. although my face feels really dry and my big fear is that it is giving me wrinkles and “crows feet” already, around my eyes especially. - which would be a reason for me to quit finastride. but im not sure if its happening because of finastride, i have been noticing that im looking quite a bit older for some time now - although fin astride might be contributing to this proces. i have been dealing with balding for a while now and i am extremely self-concious about to the point where i am only now realising that it might be mentally very unhealthy what i am doing, and i am maybe afraid that i have even developed some kind of phobic anxiety, continuously throughout the day im basing my choices on my balding problem. i might be interested in talking to a therapist.. i also might have problems letting go of things. throughout my days i feel like im never really relaxed but constantly mentally occupied with whatever it may be at that moment. - doing some research ont he internet now and i think my cortisol levels might be out of the roof.. its describing what im feeling every step of the day.

Really need to hear the thoughts of people who deal with the same stuff as me, i dont really have anyone to talk about it.

Thanks,

-

[Herbaliser]

Sorry for your situation.
First of all stop the Minoxidil asap (all of them actually), because i was in the same situation as you.
The reason is the recovery time for healing your symptoms, and i bought all the possible expensive creams to heal.
It takes time but you will heal eventually, and the cream that actually helped me was http://www.dexemrepair.com/int/produ...xem-cream.aspx
I think is the same as the Swedish version https://www.apoteket.se/produkt/dexem-60-g-243484/

If you go in the section in this forum: hair loss treatments, snake oil?
This works for me and it´s all natural without any side effects and it boosts your health as a bonus.

[notthatguy]

Thanks for the reply Herbaliser,

could you tell me more about "The reason is the recovery time for healing your symptoms"
i don't really understand what you are saying, were you experiencing itch too or? i see the creme is for curing eczema. My itches is actually pretty much gone aside from the ocasional wrist itch. Please let me know some more about your situation.

- anyone who has any thoughts on it let me know i would love to talk! I will be staying active.

[schmoops]

I think that most people sides if they get any at all only last a few weeks at most. It's good that your itchiness has pretty much already gone away and you have no sexual sides. I would stick with it. Plus, who the hell wants oily skin? Just get some good face lotion. And apply after every shower, preferably one with spf in it. I use Neutrogena face lotion, it works wonders And doesn't clog pores.

[notthatguy]

yeah definitely its just that i felt like the dry face was making me get wrinkles around my eyes but i could have been imagining it, but i did find a lot about finasteride changing peoples faces like that on propeciahelp, i dont really know anymore, taking this drug makes me think about side effects so much because there are so many things happening that could be related.

but you dont think i am experiencing hypoandrogenic effect? because im basicaly shedding after 14 days which is really early. i believe most people get the expected shedding after 4-6 weeks. Thats what im so afraid of, any ideas?

[schmoops]

I don't know, I'm not an expert at all here but one thing I do know is to stay away from propeciahelp. You want to read some stuff? Go read stories about how alcohol effects people's lives, or any other drug for that matter. It's just a collection of people who experienced the worst stuff possible and go to share their stories. An AA meeting of propecia if you will.

[notthatguy]

yeah i get what you are saying but i don't think Propeciahelp should be disregarded in any way, the thing is, there is so much unknown about finasterides effects on differerent people and there is information there that you won't find anywhere else. There's a lot of worst case scenario stories but i might as well be in the middle of one, i can find info there and it made me more aware and cautious. Finasteride is dangerous im just glad there are people sharing their experiences for others like me to learn from, im lowering my dose and ill see how it continues.

- anyone having any thoughts on my situation?

[Herbaliser]

The cream helped me during and when i stopped using the drug minoxidil as i got itches, rashes and wrinkles.
It took me about 4 months to get the minoxidil out of my system, since it is a drug it takes time for you and the body to heal.
When i had minoxidil in my system i i tried everything possible, to reduce the symptoms since it gave me hair.

But then i realized that i was going to be stuck with this drug, for the rest of my life to save my hair.
Every other non drug related treatment will always be considered as snake oils, but it helped me an probably a lot of other people.

[notthatguy]

oh really so your'e saying minoxidil might be the culprit for wrinkles and itches? didn't even think about that, i have been using minoxidil 5% 2x daily for so long now (1,7) years and i never ever had any effects from it, i always thought so lightly of it. But maybe, by taking finasteride the effect of minoxidil on me changes. Really going to try to monitor this. thank you so much for this insight, this is exactly the kind of stuff im looking for.

have any other people experienced itches and wrinkles after finasteride and or minoxidil?

[Herbaliser]

Remember that it´s drugs we are talking about.
I´m not surprised about the lack of interest to talk about side effects, and it´s because a lot of users tell themselves that it´s only in my mind and not the drugs itself.
The reason for this is hair loss and the frightening thought to loose it, therefore the blockage and trying to find other reasons.
Many in this forum tells people not to listen to the horror stories, and instead to go with the big 3 without questions.
Wouldn't it be better to find out the reason for the hair loss first and go from there?
The horror stories are true (just google it) about the side effects, but swept under the carpet due to as mentioned above and the industry itself.
I stopped using 5% minox because of the itches and rashes, that spread from my head and down.
I woke up one morning after 3 months of minox usage looking 20 years older and stopped directly.

Of course it varies from people regarding side effects, and people have to decide them self if it´s worth the risk.
Is there any long term studies made about using Fin, Minox etc.. or did they just approve these drugs by the content itself?

[notthatguy]

yeah i think people shouldnt disregard information on side effects and other peoples experiences just because it makes them feel uncomfortable. The information is there. Take it in, take your chances.

I dont know about any long-term studies monitoring those particular side effects like rashes and aging. I felt like i was aging crazy after 2 weeks on finasteride, and there are a lot of reports about it on propeciahelp. I freaked out, calmed down now, i think it was in my head for a part but it definitly doing something about me aging around my eyes, but like you said if might be the minox and not the fin? i dont know.. i think i might start applying minox liquid 5% 1 time daily instead of 2. also using this fattening creme for my face untill i visit the derm next week hopefully. i think an oily creme might be better, because fin took the oiliness away, what do you think?

[Herbaliser]

i´m quite sure that there is no interest for the companies, to recherche that much further.
This is gold for the companies because it´s a never ending cycle to keep the hair, and as soon you stop your hair will fall.
They are triggering people´s self confidence for beneficial reasons, a so called doctor in the front with his arms folded and a couple of smiling nurses in the back ground on the sites telling there is still hope for you.

You can absolutely try to lower the consumption to once per day instead.
My earlier post regarding the dexem cream helped me big time to recover, instead of all the expensive creams.
Maybe you can try Emu-oil on your skin as it absorbs quickly. http://www.justemuoil.com/benefits-of-emu-oil-on-face/
I´f you try it remember to use a 100% pure one.

Soon i´m going to post my experimental treatment, as i took pictures 4 days ago as a reference to show how my progress with snake oil.

[notthatguy]

yeah its not like the companies give a shit which i think is weird because if they refined their product to a point where it might work, they would sell even more right? But Finasteride is probably a doom drug with no real option for improvement.

Yeah i think im going to switch my regimen to 1 time liquid minoxidil 5% daily, and Finasteride 0.25 daily.

Really need this ****ing shedding to stop. Losing 5-8 hairs everytime i touch my hair, saw some perfectly healthy hairs in there now too which i havent been seeing before. If i go on like this i will be incredibly bad in about 2 weeks.

ill talk to my derm (who doesnt know shit about Finasteride) about the oil. Cant really handle any further high costs actually, im paying a crazy amount of money for Minoxidil already here in Europe. And the Finasteride is really expensive too, altough i can last 4x longer with it now that im on 0.25mg. Hope the necessary oil wont be too expensive too..

This balding shit really wears me out mentally you know.
Hope the snake oil works Herbaliser ill be checking for it!

[Herbaliser]

The oil heals the skin. (highly recommended)
The cost is about 8 pounds for 50 ml, and you only use about half a tsp (even less) for your whole face or scalp for that matter.

I´m going to show my result already inside 1 1/2 week, since i have a really rapid growth.
I explained in another thread that i´m not a tree hugging guru that misleads people, because this is a alternative method for those with side effects or simply wants to skip the medical treatment.

[notthatguy]

Are you talking about the snake oil or the emu oil?
im guessing the snake oil, thats good to hear. looking forward to seeing the pic's.
im guessing your from Sweden? Where do you get the snake oil? Online or at a store?