On Propecia for 10 years, photos, measurements, concerns and questions

[memoryboy]

Hi there!

I have been lucky to not have been cruising these forums for years and now Im back..

I first noticed my hair loss when I was 24. I got on Propecia in the fall of 2006. And have been on it for 10 years. There have been days, sometimes weeks and I think one or two times even a month or so, when I was off it but all in all I have been taking it for 10 years quite consistently.

My 36 years old brother has a bit receded hairline, like NW 2+ but not more. My father in the years of 60 has receded hairline maybe NW 3 but otherwise full head of hair. One of my grandfather from fathers side had Brad Pitt hairline with temples and all until 70. The other (mother side) grandfather was in NW 5 by that age. My uncle has full head of hair.

I think I started taking finasteride in the fall of 2006. I don't have exact records. Unfortunately I also don't have blood tests done before taking Propecia. I have semen test after a couple of months on it (done in unrelated reason).

I popped a 1mg each day pill and largely forgot about my hair loss problem. Did try Minoxidil a bit in the beginning but didn't stick to it. Didn't have anything else in my regimen besides occasional Nizoral.

I think largely my hair has stayed the same throughout my Propecia regime. I'm now 34.

I didn't grow back my temples though. So hairline has been receeded since I first noticed my hairloss. I think a few times I developed an itchy scalp and dandruff in the hairline and then each time that happened, I lost a bit more ground. Nizoral helped with that but I was always a bit late to get to it.

When I got on Propecia I think I was Norwood 2 and now I'm somewhere between Norwood 2 and 3. No hairloss for now at the crown.

I've got a lot of hair in the top and I have thick hair, so with my styling, so far I've been able to hide the receding hairline. At least somewhat and at least for those who are not hair loss sufferers themselves and not super conscious*about it. I haven't been able to choose many different hairstyle though. Always been sporting a*forelock of some kind.*

This was my hair in 2009 –*https://www.dropbox.com/s/itwi67rds6rs2y5/2008.jpg
This was my hair in 2015 –* https://www.dropbox.com/s/hpcgln5uh8k1t3v/2015.jpg

This is my hair right now –*https://www.dropbox.com/s/syvp18wo6w97z5x/2017.jpg
This is 2,5 months after quitting (or making a break in taking) Propecia. Before that I had gone from 1mg a day into 0,5 mg a day for 2 months. Hairline has definitely receded some more after quitting. The (regrown?) fuzzy hair before my high hairline is gone and it's definitely NW3 now. I think 2015 photos look slightly better as the hair was shorter but yeah, they were slightly better than after quitting for sure.

I don't know exactly about my possible side effects throughout my regimen. They definitely weren't bad enough for me to quit taking the medicine and I wasn't really informed. When I started taking it, not much information existed and doctors didn't warn me from anything. I thought I can always quit when anything goes awry. I think when I got on it, I didn't notice anything serious. Over time I noticed the watery semen. And smaller volume in ejaculation. I think libido was alright. I wasn't able to go second rounds in sex, but I didn't know whether I could be able to go anyway. I was a late bloomer and didn't have proper sexual intercourses before that. I had depressive periods and I've had fatique and emotional lability/lack of energy from time to time. But that's a long period of almost 10 years and I couldn't say whether Finasteride was to blaim. I certainly didn't think so. I had groin or testicle pain maybe a few times during that whole period of years.

Sometime last summer I found out there's a generic version, so I jumped onto that.

This summer I also got into a new relationship. Unluckily was a bit one down in the relationship at first, so I had some erection problems. I fought them by taking Viagra and Cialis and everything was fine. I found out I can a still go without that too, so I didn't worry to much. The proplems could have been psychological as well and I even think they were at least to some large extent. In any case, my erections seemed soft and not lasting enough without taking Viagra or Cialis and to be sure, I went to the doctor to get myself checked.*

To my surprise, I was told I had*prostatitis. I had no idea how long I've had it. I didn't notice any symptoms that I was able to connect to prostatitis myself. I was put on antibiotics for a month.

I quickly got some symptoms though too. Maybe I caught the disease early?
I needed to go to toilet frequently and even an night, felt the pressure to urinate often, got some pain and pressure in the abdomen and sometimes anus and in the groin and in the back.

I read there might be a connection for taking finasteride as a young man and developing*prostatitis later on in life. I also read about other stuff here, so I freaked out a little.

When prostate massage was performed to me, I was told it's swelled and uneven. The massage was very painful. I was told it shouldn't be.

Now, after 5 months my symptoms are somewhat lessen but they're still there.
I took antibiotics forma month. Then I took Flosin and Trimetop for some time. I can live with it but my symptoms are still there after 5 months.

When I went to the doctor in the fall, they also did blood tests as I asked.
FSH 6.7 (1.5 ... 12.4 U/L)
LH 3.93 (1.70 ... 8.60 U/L)
Free androgen index (FAI) > 100.00*↑ (35.00 ... 92.60 %)
S-SHBG 20.90 (18.30 ... 54.10 nmol/L)
Testosterone 22.49 (11.40 ... 27.90 nmol/L)
Estradiol*121.8 (>223.0 pmol/L)

Also my sperm quality was really bad. Not sure whether it was because of the infection in my prostate or because of finasteride or both. Probably both.


Some time after that I went onto 0,5mg daily Propecia and some time after that in December I stopped taking it.
At first it was because I suddenly realised none of the pharmacies in my country carry this any more. It suddenly had become a special medicine that needed a special clearance and with a warning. 5 mg Proscar was still available but I didn't have prescription for this. Then after becoming more and more aware, I though it would be good idea anyway to stop taking it or at least take a break.

To see what my hairloss will do, what my hormones will do and whether I'll recover.

A few weeks after stopping I did a new blood and sperm test. Just a week before it had been 10 times better. Still bad but now it was totally shit. Semen cells count was from 110 millions (10 years ago) to 16 million just before quitting finasteride to literally 1 million. And they were all defected.
Sperm test was total shit. I was pretty much infertile.

Blood tests as follows. Testosterone had plummeted. My testosterone was like a 50 years old or worse.*Correct? Estradiol has gone up. And other changes as well. This test is some weeks after quitting finasteride.

FSH 8.2 (1.4 – 18.1 lU/l)
LH 3.78 (1.5 – 9.3) lU/l)
Free androgen index (FAI) 15 – 95 (71.47)
S-SHBG 24 (17 – 66 nmol/l)
Testosterone 17.1 (8.4 – 28.7 nmol/L)
Estradiol*125.2 (>146.0 pmol/L)

This blood and sperm test is from 9 weeks ago. I will be making a new one tomorrow and with some more measurements.

Actually, even though I'v become more and more paranoid. I've had my morning and*spontaneous erections returning for some weeks now. I haven't had these for years.
Sure hope my measurements in*Testosterone and others have turned to the better. Fingers crossed. I still feel fatigue and have problems with my prostate. Also feel more and more depressed now with these problems.

I also have a chronic back problem with two discs that cause me pain 24/7 so it all adds up.

I'll have my next doctors appointments next week. I don't know if I want to be put on Propecia any more. I just hope I'll recover and get my hormones back in order.
Or should I consider going back on it and maybe taking 0,5mg any other day?

What choices do I have in terms of hair?
I've researched and was thinking to try Revivogen +*S5 Topical Spironolactone Cream?
As substitute for Finasteride. Any thoughts?

I was also researching hair transplant but I know this would be in the future to see where my hairloss is developing. I would definitely like to have a lower hairline but I would also be fine if it stays like this. For now it seems it's receeding more after quitting Finasteride. I'm still on Nizoral. Just some weeks after quitting Finasteride I developed a bad rash and redness with flaky skin in the hairline. And boom I had lost more ground.

I've never had super short hair in my life. If nothing works how do you cope with becoming bold in less than a year? I of course don't know how deep it develops. But it's especially sudden as because of my forelock and thick hair, most people haven't even noticed anything and everyone think I have great hair.

Also will probably start to take*Zinc, magnesium, vitamin B6 for my*Testosterone after my doctors appointments.