Just Started Propecia L, What To Expect?

[AnxiousAndy]

Hey all been a while since ive posted but finally managed to get a hold of a script for finasteride which actually turned out to be Propecia. Fast forward 5 days and still have not been charged? Hoping not lol. Anyway im on my 5th day of 1mg Propecia ( taking about 12:00 - 14:00 every day) and so far no sides but possible decrease in libido which im going to attribute as a positive thing. No notice in increase in shedding ( possibily slightly lower?) What im wanting to ask is for those of you who are or have been on propecia when did you first notice sides/shed and how long it lasted? ( or if it still persists) Sides wouldn't be a dealbreaker for me as im vain and want to keep my hair. FYI im 19 Norwood 2 on the scale with only recession on temples. Some knowledge and advice would be much appreciated!
*Edit: The L in title was a typo can admin fix please?

 

[heretosee]

Hey man, don't get your hopes up too much. I've been on it for a bit over 5 months, also for temple thinning/recession alone (I'm 22). So far i've only experienced bouts of shedding with no regrowth or maintenance. My hair has seen a constant decline since starting, and I'm now far below baseline in terms of density at the temples/hairline. 5 months is generally long enough to see if the med will work for you, so it looks like i'm a non-responder. You may or may or may not have the same response, but in my experience it sucks to get too hyped up at the beginning and have all your hopes crushed by the time you get around to month 4-5 and see nothing but continuous thinning.

on the other hand, no sides except for higher libido.

 

[jc3303]

There's no way you'll see any difference in shedding in 5 days it will take more time. Also not everybody sees and increase in shedding, my shedding began to slowly decline beginning at the one month mark. I'm now at month 5 still shedding but a lot less than when I started and my hair has thickened some. No sides except I'm losing a lot of body hair especially on my chest/stomach, eye brows and face.

Long story short everyone responds differently, some see fast results in the first months and some don't see results until after a year.

 

[Singularity2045]

I never noticed any shedding when I took finasteride, my hair just kept getting thicker, and notice a big difference at 2 months. Even had hair regrowth on the hairline... (my hairline is not that bad, just wanted to catch it early). I had sheds before though! noticed ponytail was gettning thinner over 1-2 years :/

Anyway, you have age on your side too. Eat really healthily, take finasteride, and see how you're doing in 6-12 months for a verdict.

 

[AnxiousAndy]

Thanks for the responses everyone Im sorry to hear that heretosee, have you considered dutasteride and/or minoxidil? I think its strange that finasteride can increase libido and from what ive seen most people who have that symptom seem to be non responders, my heart goes out to you man hairloss really sucks especially since we are young..

Singularity, you are a guy yeah? Your pic is misleading if so haha ( no offense intended )

I can now confirm definite decrease in libido but i actually like it. I will keep everyone posted. Tomorrow will be my first week complete and so far no sides to report I hope i can maintain what i've got

 

[heretosee]

Yeah it's really crushing to have hairloss at this age, especially for you who are even younger than I am. Hope you find success. I've been taking minoxidil for about 1.5 years now, it gives me vellus hairs that are a couple of mm long but not much more. I'm planning to give finasteride until month 9 or 10 to see how it pans out before approaching my Doctor about dutasteride. Not something I want to resort to, but I'll defs go there if i have to.

also my libido boost occurred around month 3 and lasted for about 6 - 8 weeks. It's come down again now to what I consider "normal" levels, i.e. i get horny about the same amount of times per day as I used to when I was in my late teens. Then again, I wonder if it was all only in my head? before starting finasteride I was severely depressed over hairloss, which may have contributed to my lack of interest. Immediately after starting finasteride I felt hopeful and that really lifted my mood for a short while. Now it's back to anxiety and stress, sadly.

 

[AnxiousAndy]

Quick update: I have now reached the 2 week mark with no sides to report. Shedding still seems to be about the same, it varies a little every day so i cant confirm on that yet. Overall things dont seem to have changed but i have found myself convinced that my hair is worse off only to closely analyse baseline photos to see that is not the case. The mind is a powerful tool but i shall try not to listen unless it becomes evident ( knock wood )

I will update again when i hit the 1 month mark.

Hoping for everyones success!

 

[AnxiousAndy]

Hey all im 25 days in now and still no sides to report. Some minor itching but i cant remember if i had that pretreatment. Its not severe enough i would attribute it to propecia since im experiencing itchiness all over.

Still no "finasteride shed" that ive noticed, some days i will shed more hairs than others but today very few hairs have fallen, or at least as far as ive noticed. I usually lost about 100 - 150 hairs a day pretreatment now its about roughly 100 but a fair bit less today.

HOWEVER
I seem to be still receeding, possibly slightly faster but im not sure as i change my mind many times a day. My right temple is slightly worse but this was the case pretreatment so i shaved a little big of my temple hair mostly on the sides to try and even it out a bit ( which in hindsight was probably stupid) i have taken over 20 pictures this month and its hard to tell but my hair seems to have thinned a bit at my temple points. I would say im a norwood 2.2ish but the thinning is in the 2.5 region which sucks because im only 19. If things keep going this way ill be shaving my head and going with the hair systems by 21

As you can imagine im very depressed about this but im gonna stick it out until i hit norwood 3( knock wood) and i hope i improve or at least stabilise.

The hairs that do shed are 80% thinning or miniturised hairs is this a good thing?

Some input from propecia vets would be great thanks for reading

 

[MikeW]

Pray you don't crash and end up with Post Finasteride syndrome and have your life destroyed.

 

[AnxiousAndy]

Pray you don't crash and end up with Post Finasteride syndrome and have your life destroyed.

To be honest mike i really dont care if i develop pfs at least i wont need to worry about my hair anymore ( which causes me extreme anxiety )

 

[MikeW]

Y

To be honest mike i really dont care if i develop pfs at least i wont need to worry about my hair anymore ( which causes me extreme anxiety )

You won't be able to function, have a brain or any cognitive function, but at least you'll have hair...

 

[g.i joey]

Y


You won't be able to function, have a brain or any cognitive function, but at least you'll have hair...

Hey mike, I'm really sorry to read about your situation and unfortunately I can't relate to how you feel.

But you should understand that in a lot of cases many people do not experience what you're going through. So please understand that it will be hard for most finasteride users to relate, which will in turn cause them to think you're "fear mongering".

So just a word of advice, id refrain from posting posts like the one I quoted of you. Unless, you wanna see the whole shitstorm of pro and anti finasteride users, then I suggest you write that sh*t everywhere.

Good luck man, and I honestly think you will get better

 

[Zoro]

Pray you don't crash and end up with Post Finasteride syndrome and have your life destroyed.

Bout to pop my daily finasteride pill and go rub one out. Feels good mayne

In all seriousness, my response to OP. No sides upon starting finasteride or continuing to take it, did not have a shed. That being said, finasteride alone did not stop my hairloss but slowed it down massively, and combined with RU I can say I've stopped it for the most part, however no regrowth yet. I'm a diffuse thinner and my hair looks like garbage, started treatments too late. Some people respond amazing to finasteride and get regrowth, and some people (a small minority) actually lose more hair with finasteride, it all depends on your luck/genetics.

 

[MikeW]

Bout to pop my daily finasteride pill and go rub one out. Feels good mayne

In all seriousness, my response to OP. No sides upon starting finasteride or continuing to take it, did not have a shed. That being said, finasteride alone did not stop my hairloss but slowed it down massively, and combined with RU I can say I've stopped it for the most part, however no regrowth yet. I'm a diffuse thinner and my hair looks like garbage, started treatments too late. Some people respond amazing to finasteride and get regrowth, and some people (a small minority) actually lose more hair with finasteride, it all depends on your luck/genetics.

I'm not trying to fear monger, but bad BAD BAD sh*t does happen.

Currently speaking to 3 other men. One guy used the drug for 6 years, the other guy 11 years, and the other guy 15 years.

All crashed and are dealing with PFS.

They had ZERO side effects during the entire time of usage before they crashed.

 

[Zoro]

I'm not trying to fear monger, but bad BAD BAD sh*t does happen.

Currently speaking to 3 other men. One guy used the drug for 6 years, the other guy 11 years, and the other guy 15 years.

All crashed and are dealing with PFS.

They had ZERO side effects during the entire time of usage before they crashed.

I would have to respectfully disagree and say that going all over the forums and talking about finasteride sides is fear mongering. I know people that take finasteride and have zero problems, one of them is an older dude that owns a barbershop near me that's been taking it for years and he's in his 60's now (He still takes it because he's most likely on TRT, dude has some decent muscle for his age). My derm that prescribed me finasteride said she didn't have any complaints about the drug.

If you want to talk about the side effects, that's fine, there's a subforum here for side effects I believe.

 

[g.i joey]

ive been on and off the drug a total of 3 times now, taken for 6 months is my longest stretch. Everything returns to normal after the 2 week mark every time I encountered problems.

for every 2 people that experience major sides, there's 98 people who's sides are either manageable or non existent. And these are just side effects in general, these are not even pfs numbers, which should be statistically less than more common side effects.

Anyways there is a leaflet in your pill box which indicates exactly what you've concluded and what we're suggesting. Don't give up you will almost certainly be fine again. YOU TOOK THE DRUG FOR 1 MONTH... you're gonna need some will power if you wanna fix yourself my man.

 

[michel sapin]

yeah man all the ed sides and minor sides disapear after 2 or 3 week ; i have been on it for 2 year straight .
Except for sides like damn gyno or puffy nipples

 

[AnxiousAndy]

Hey all quick update im now over a month and a half in. Probably started shedding too which are mostly thin hairs, very few thick ones. Since ive posted i dont think its gotten worse but i use elvive thickening shampoo and i must say it works wonders but the next day my hair goes back to the very greasy fine mess atop of my head which leaves me freaking out. I still have no sides and i do not think that i will get them at this point which is good. I'd say my shedding is now back to what it was pretreatment ( about 150 - 200 hairs a day ) which is a shame but ill keep holding out.
When i use the thickening shampoo my hair looks much better and when i check my temples they do not look any worse so i cant conclude anything right now.
I also think i could be a diffuse thinner? As all the hair on my head is thinning evrn in the donor area. At the nape of my neck some of the hairs are transparent and others are incredibly thin. Only 'thick' hairs i have are on the top middle of my head but they are few and far between. Its cripplingly depressing having such bad hair loss at my age ( started balding at about 14 ) while my dad who is 50 is only slightly worse off than me.

Hopefully the shedding will subside ( if it even is a shed? ) but for a few weeks my shedding definitely decreased.

Hey Gi Joey you said you were on propecia, do you think its helped you maintain at all?

God i wish we didnt have to deal with this curse without my hair ill be repulsive :'( ( big forehead, skinny arms and slim waist )

Ill update again about the two month mark. Time is flying while on this its almost scary. Goodluck to everyone in their hairloss battle do not give up hope!

 

[AnxiousAndy]

Ok guys im 100% sure im losing my hairline i have pics from week 2 and 6 which should clear temple recession my right temple is now NW2.5 and my left temple is not far from it. What should i do? Should I cut my losses and stop because i dont hear many people regrowing their hairline. At the same time i dont wanna stop cause it aint getting any better without but it's making my hair worse?

Ill upload pics eventually because nobpdy ever seems to do so. The difference in 4 weeks is startling

 

[AnxiousAndy]

This was about 2 weeks ago This was a few days ago

The recession is clear... Really hating life right about now. However the shedding has reduced since this those pics but the hair remains receded. Any advice guys? Im freaking out here