Taking action was the best thing I ever did. My story!

[Proper]

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the long post, I just thought I'd share a story for all the people it may interest because I know there are people out there like me who find interest in reading long posts (Or maybe I'm just the only crazy out there). For those who don't care, here is a summary:

Fin - 8ish months, maybe a bit longer
Minox - 2 weeks

Semen is a bit watery but other than that, no other sides, no gyno, no teste pain, no nothing. Hair thickened nicely from scalp visibility looking in the mirror to none at all unless looking at it from straight above with bright lighting. Even then, its hard to see thinning. My gf is a hair stylist and she cuts my hair and she use to say it was really bad to now, it doesn't even look like I'm thinning. So maybe that says something about fin to the readers.

Minox, is too soon to tell but I did get really bad headaches and dull ache in right testicle but there were other factors that contributed to that I believe. Scrolldown to the paragraphs between *** to see what I say about it.

The story:

My name's Matt and I'm currently 23, turning 24 next month (I think? Was born 1989). I keep forgetting my age year after year. I'm not sure exactly when I started losing hair because I have always had a semi big forehead. I am active, hit the gym 3-5 times a week depending on how lazy I am. I am still in school and eat mother******* healthy as I am on a strict routine to increase muscle. I'm currently on finasteride, 8 months aprox, and recently 2 weeks ago, started minoxidil.

I believe S started thinning at the vertex and midcrown of my head when I was 19. Was in university and doing mdma. Noticed hair wasn't as thick but it wasn't noticeable that it was thinning and I thought it was a trade off for doing drugs and losing some hair (accepting the consequences moreso). I never touched m ever again after that binge.

At 20, my hairline started to recede a bit at the corners of my temples. This was when it started to bother me because I couldn't buzz my head anymore without feeling the tension of everyone looking at my receding hairline. It's all a mental thing but hey, as long as i'm still in school, I needa look good right? Haha. Anyways, I went to my family doctor and asked him about my diffusing and thinning. He confirmed that I was losing hair and that there IS medication for it. However, he didn't approve of it and told me many people take it with no positive benefits. Instead he told me to start worrying about the quality of life and start living a healthier lifestyle. I took his words and basically let go of my hair thinning problem.

At 21, I buzzed my head and this was when I notice my hairline was the v shape. My widows peak always remained. I started reading forums and looking in finasteride and minoxidil and weighing the pros and cons. I was researching about these products from once a week to almost everyday and started reading stories after stories about people's hairloss. I started let my hair grow, about 4 inches. I started working construction, all sorts of general labor (YOU NAME IT, IVE DONE IT). After every work session, I notice when I took off my construction helmet, I could see my scalp through my hair. (WTF!!!) I freaked and stopped working because I take the public transit and didn't want people to see my thinning. That's how bad it got.

I went to a hair doctor after research and I got his advice about my hairloss. He said I'm definately thinning and that I was at a norwood 2. He drew on my head with a pen (which I thought was hilarious but tried not to laugh) and told me I'd need about 1500 grafts to fill in my receding hairline and maybe lower it by a third of a cm. The procedure would've costed me about 12000 bucks!!! And being a student and on OSAP, that is definately not an option. He recommended me finasteride. Okay, I bought a 30 day supply. Best thing I ever did, THANK YOU DR. RAHAL!

I bought the finasteride in Jan of 2011 and contemplated on taking the drug everyday for about a year. I finally started medication in 2012 at the end of March. My hair at this time wasn't too bad, it was definately noticing IF I spreaded my hair apart, my scalp would be visible. But my hairstyle was moreof like George Clooney's, how it's always combed over to the side or like Adam Levine (not spiky though). I always buzz the sides a 1 or 2 and leave the top long since I was a kid. By the end of August, early September, my scalp didn't show anymore. I was working in a factory in the summer and during the months of April and June, I always notice in the washroom mirror that I could see my scalp if I tiled my head at certain angles. As the months progress, there was no more visibility. I never went through any shedding, not that I noticed.

Fast forward to 2 weeks ago was when I decided to take minoxidil. I just want it to thicken up a bit more because even though my hair thickened up quite a bit from finasteride, I am feeling greedy. And plus, I'm hoping that it'd fill in my hairline a bit. I am still rocking a v shape but my hair stopped receding, my head is thick of hairs and nobody could tell I'm thinning.

When I applied minoxidil for the first time, I got such a big headache, it felt like a really hard caffeine crash on an empty stomache but it lasted basically 24/7 for a week. I always applied it when i got out of the shower and dried my head til its damp. I think this was what was causing it. I stopped applying it after every shower but wait til my head was dry and honestly, I started to get this ball ache. I thought it couldve been from fin started suddenly giving sides but no, I couldn't come to the fact that it was finasteride.

***
Anyways, I've come to the conclusion that it was not fin and the ache, which lasted for a week has gone. I've been waiting about 4 days since I registered on this forum to be able to post about it but today, when it finally did, the ache subsided, as well as my lower back fatigueness. There were too many factors that were present to rule out exactly what the cause was and I hate myself for it. The week of my dizziness from minox, I did heavy weighted hyperextensions and deadlifts so I guess my lower back was really sore from it except it wasn't the same workout sore, more of a pulsing ache, even when I'm sitting down and lying down. I also started taking these old vitamin pills from Visaulus that I had a year ago because it was there and what the hell right, more vitamins, more better.

I believe the ache, not sure if it was from my right testicle, or moreso, within my stomach, like when someone kicks you in the nuts but because my lowr back muscles were so fatigued, other muscles were being strained to compensate and it might have been putting pressure on the nerves around my prostate or something and causing a dull ache. Anyways, I been using 1ml of minoxidil religiously ever since I started it and finasteride with no sides whatsoever.
***

The only thing I notice from fin is that my semen did get a bit watery and maybe the orgasms aren't as satisfying as before. Other than that, I can get erections fine and still get them during school when i'm sitting in lectures. To me, it's totallly worth it especially if the anxiety arising from hairloss is enough to make me quit a job and lose sleep over it.

Hope you enjoyed my stoy and that it would be of help or interested to anyone that reads this. I will be posting progress once in a while and start becoming an active member of this helping society. I will get pics up when I get the chance. I have to ask my sister if she still has any of me when I was in my teens. I didn't keep track of my progress since taking fin or minox, but I did take pics of myself during the past year to see my muscle progress, so maybe I can find close up hair progress from those. Thank you for your time!

[BigThinker]

Thanks for taking the time to share your story.

Finasteride is definitely the jam. No sides for me either. At 25, I'll be sitting in the computer lab or at work and still can't even concentrate because I'm so horny. It's insatiable, which is a feeling you take for granted until you read about guys who lose it, and you try to empathize. Like you, I've bee hitting the gym pretty religiously as well. I feel like that's kept me mentally and physically fit, irrespective of the finasteride.

I was worried that in my mid 20's I would be more likely to get sides than say a dude in his 30's or 40's, but to read of a guy as young as you being on it is reassuring.

Getting rid of the awful itch and not being worried about hair every waking second has been a dream. I wish there was some way I could convey that to dudes who regular this forum who are on-the-fence about finasteride.

Keep in touch - will be interesting to see how everything turns out with you at say 12 and 18 months. Only 1 month in here myself, so I'm excited to see what kind of results I get.

[Proper]

Like you, I've bee hitting the gym pretty religiously as well. I feel like that's kept me mentally and physically fit, irrespective of the finasteride.

This exactly. The gym is just awesome. Lifting anything in general is just awesome. It has definately put my mind in a stable place and help keep my mind off of things.

And yah, at least I could say I tried something against my hairloss rather than sitting back and moping about it, realizing ten years down the line when im bald that I have deep regrets for not just taking the plunge with it.

I think the best part for me was that when I was starting the medication, i wasnt really expecting much out of it. I was taking it cause it was the only thing approved by the fda out there ad that everyone recommends it for hairloss. So when my hair actually thickened up from fin, it was quite a major bonus for me and So starting rogaine now im not expecting anything much of it either. If my hair does thicken more from it, im gonna celebrate by buying a couple bottles of vodka and smash em for fun. Something just feels right about being destructive and wasting money like that rofl.

[UK_]

Usually there is a spike in testosterone as your body attempts to counteract the exogenous suppression of DHT.

This can result in heightened libido whilst on the drug, however, post finasteride syndrome is classed as a 'post-disorder' as it occurs after the drug has been completely discontinued. There is usually a period of around two weeks after discontinuation of the drug in which the patient feels completely normal, and then a 'crash' occurs which many men fail to recover from.