Hi

[killbain]

I noticed when I was about 15 years old that I developed a 'kiss curl' right at the front of my rather long fringe. Didn't think anything of it at the time.

Over the next few years I was playing in bands and had shoulder length hair as was the fashion for rock bands at the time.

I grew up, realised the band wasn't going to make it and joined the fire department in 1980....which resulted in a short haircut for the first time in my life.

About 1983 aged 25 or so I was part of a soccer team and driving in the van to a game one day I noticed that the top of my head was getting cold from a draught therough the window...........the next two years were quite awful really......hair started to thin quite a lot from that point and it wasn't long before the inevitable comments from colleagues and co-workers together with the realisation of the painful reality that women, especially young women, however much we kid ourselves are not generally attracted to bald or balding men.....quite often it was the start point in many conversations with women......if they weren't interested I was very quickly asked waht happened to my hair, or how I was coping with hair loss! - well it saved time I suppose.......

I was married in the early 90's and aged 32 I came across both Minoxidil lotion and Propecia in it's earliest form. I ordered and started using both and the results were quite stunning really....within 2 to 3 months discussions and coments about hair loss became a thing of the past! Great......

But......I simply could not afford to maintain the treatment - Propecia at the time was the same price as it is today, and Minoxidil was about double the cost of today.

I ceased the treatment after about 6 months and bizarrely, the hair loss did not accelerate as I was expecting but continued very slowl and gradually over the next decade.....with off / on use of minoxidil only.

In the meantime I had several blood tests in the line of routine medicals and they found a raised enzyme function in the liver which seems to have become permanent. Doctors suggested it may be hereditary but may have been triggered by the initial use of Propecia.

Anyway......money no longer a problem....but aged now 52.

I am not bald as such and no-one aver describes me as the 'bald guy', but if I am honest part of my hair is a bit of a 'comb-over'....but incredibly thick on the back and sides of the head......so I decided to give Propecia another go, coupled with Minoxidil foam.

This is where the problems began. One week into taking the medication I developed pain in the left testicle, so severe I was having trouble walking...the pain seemed to progress from the testicular region up the upper leg and into the buttock and back......it wasn't an acute sharp pain but more like a dull terrible ache.

I stopped taking Propecia 36 hours ago and the pain has now subsided, so I feel I have established cause and effect.

The annoying thing is, that in just 7 days I could already feel small hairs (like face stubble) appearing on the top of my head......so it seems I am a responsive candidate for Propecia.......but I could not endure that pain for too many days.

Would a reduced, half or quarter dose be effective....or would it still trigget the pains?

It seems such a shame that in my 50's even I still have a chance at reasonable hair growth, but this time the sides not the cost mean it's not viable!