My story of quitting propecia after 7 years

[Sony]

Over the years I've found this website to be a great source of insight and information, so I thought I'd share my story of quitting propecia.

I was a diffuse thinner, and had excellent results, getting complements over the youthfulness of my hair! However after 7 years, I quit propecia in Nov 2013. Sexual side effects kicked in around year 6. I ignored it for a while, but after reading about possible damage, I started to really worry, and I decided it was time to get finasteride out of my system.

The first change, was an increase in energy. This could have been due to the relief that I was no longer on the drug, but I think I generally got tired more easily before. Hair wise, finasteride had made all the hair on my head more coarse, and this was reversed within about 3 months. However, overall the first 12 months were okay. I was in a honeymoon period, free from finasteride with no visible signs of hairloss.

However after a year, I could really feel the progressive change in hair density. I'm at the 16 month mark now. My hair feels much thinner and as a diffuse thinner I can see a lot more scalp in the mirror. It's not as fast as I feared, but basically I'm going bald (again). Sadly, as in 2007, there doesn't seem to be many other options apart from trying rogaine, so I'm just trying to accept it. However I must admit that even though I'm 8 years older, hairloss I'd still a big issue with me, and my general confidence is being affected.

So, although I'm grateful to have this drug out of my system, (it took me a year to almost recover from my sides) I wonder if I should have experimented a little and acted quicker. I was a very disciplined user, and lowered to 0.5mg daily for the last two years. However, I see some people are taking regular breaks and lower dosages, which has overcome any side effects.

 

[TD500]

Well thats unfortunate, how old are you?

Sexual dysfunction comes along with age depending on how old you are... just saying. It's weird that you got sides 6 years into it.

 

[BiqqieSmalls]

Can you post any pictures of your hair before treatment and then one during your best years?

I would also look into topical finasteride.

 

[kirk]

Well, time to get back on finasteride!

 

[Notcoolanymore]

It is great that you are feeling more energetic off of finasteride, but soon the quality of your hair will not matter since you will not have very much of it. Also the increased energy would be great, but looking at myself in the mirror bald would be deflating. I hope things work out for you though. Up until this point I haven't have sides that would make me want to stop taking finasteride. Maybe this will change in the future, but for now I can't even imagine not taking it.

 

[doublebatman]

It is great that you are feeling more energetic off of finasteride, but soon the quality of your hair will not matter since you will not have very much of it. Also the increased energy would be great, but looking at myself in the mirror bald would be deflating. I hope things work out for you though. Up until this point I haven't have sides that would make me want to stop taking finasteride. Maybe this will change in the future, but for now I can't even imagine not taking it.

I don't recall having any lasting sides on finasteride, that said I'd be interested to see if I feel my energy levels etc change if I dropped finasteride. I hear a lot of people only notice how finasteride affected them when coming off

Ofc I'm not going to do this as I'm not ready for shiny bald.. I want to keep my stubble on my head.

 

[Notcoolanymore]

I don't recall having any lasting sides on finasteride, that said I'd be interested to see if I feel my energy levels etc change if I dropped finasteride. I hear a lot of people only notice how finasteride affected them when coming off

Ofc I'm not going to do this as I'm not ready for shiny bald.. I want to keep my stubble on my head.

Not to offend anybody, so I will apologize in advance just in case, but I think most of the claims of increased energy and other benefits people claim are just BS. Of course I am sure there are some that will benefit from dropping finasteride, but for the most part nothing positive will be gained. I guess it would make it easier to come to grips with my decision to stop meds and go bald if I had a good reason behind it like my health. It just doesn't sound as good to say "I dropped finasteride out of fear although I never had sides, and now I am bald".

 

[doublebatman]

Not to offend anybody, so I will apologize in advance just in case, but I think most of the claims of increased energy and other benefits people claim are just BS. Of course I am sure there are some that will benefit from dropping finasteride, but for the most part nothing positive will be gained. I guess it would make it easier to come to grips with my decision to stop meds and go bald if I had a good reason behind it like my health. It just doesn't sound as good to say "I dropped finasteride out of fear although I never had sides, and now I am bald".

I personally don't buy into all the finasteride scaremongering. Its a relatively harmless drug and I don't think there's any excuse for people serious about hair loss to not give it a go. That said, when I think back I remember feeling less sluggish pre finasteride, but that could also be related to numerous other things.

Even if finasteride is causing mild effects I think its still a much much better deal than the alternative

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

Well, I can attest in my time with finasteride that there are changes that take place. However, I had side effects from the get-go. Those that feel no side effects on the meds are less likely to see any noticeable difference between being on the drug and not being on the drug. As for me, after about 6 weeks the finasteride finally cleared out of my system completely and I noticed some distinct changes in my sex drive, energy levels, brain function, and mood. All for the better I'll say, but that is just my experience. All these stories you here are purely anecdotal, and the negative ones seem to outnumber the positive ones because there's no reason to come on this or other message boards like this and complain about finasteride if you haven't been negatively affected by it.

 

[Sony]

So, I've been reading the comments.

In hindsight I don't think it's strange at all that I got issues later on. All side effects increased subtly over time. I didn't even realise when on it that I had less energy. I felt that I had slightly less body hair, but wasn't sure and didn't care. Sexual sides came slowly, allowing me to deny they existed for a while.

Saying that, I still believe finasteride is a relatively safe drug. Some people do seem to blame any issuing they're having on it. I'm sure the majority of users don't get issues and have no need to post on these sites.

Thanks for the suggestion about topical finasteride, I've heard anecdotal stories that it's less likely to cause issues. So it is an option, however, I'm still a bit reluctant to go back to finasteride after the scare I had and worry it caused.

 

[Aesthetic]

I personally don't buy into all the finasteride scaremongering. Its a relatively harmless drug and I don't think there's any excuse for people serious about hair loss to not give it a go. That said, when I think back I remember feeling less sluggish pre finasteride, but that could also be related to numerous other things.

Even if finasteride is causing mild effects I think its still a much much better deal than the alternative

i was always tired before finasteride and im always tired afer finasteride

its easy to say "oh boy i feel tired" lol everyone feels tired all the time, unless u just woke up or your at your peak mental state of the day (look it up)

i can take a bunch of caffeine and mentally feel awake or physically tired

 

[TD500]

i was always tired before finasteride and im always tired afer finasteride

its easy to say "oh boy i feel tired" lol everyone feels tired all the time, unless u just woke up or your at your peak mental state of the day (look it up)

i can take a bunch of caffeine and mentally feel awake or physically tired

i was always tired before finasteride and im always tired afer finasteride

its easy to say "oh boy i feel tired" lol everyone feels tired all the time, unless u just woke up or your at your peak mental state of the day (look it up)

i can take a bunch of caffeine and mentally feel awake or physically tired

Same here was always tired pre finasteride and still tired on finasteride. I also have low libido but both the tiredness and low libido I contribute to depression as I've had them prior to even starting finasteride. Only thing I can say for certain is finasteride gave me watery semen thats about it.

 

[Yoshi3Mario]

I purchased some generic proscar. A new warning on the med i had never noticed before warned of increased tiredness and dizziness when taking alcohol with the drug. I'm almost wondering if some peoples gradual sides over time really have to do with increased alcohol intake? Just a thought.

 

[g.i joey]

^^ this just made me wanna take a break from finasteride when I go to flordia for 10 days... will I lose ground ?

- - - Updated - - -

I can't believe u people deny the boost of energy they get from coming off finasteride... a HORMONE alot more POTENT than T causes an increase in energy when produced in a male, is it really thay farfetched? Anyways as long as I work out after I pop my finasteride I'm fine. But if I don't I really start feeling sluggish.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm not denying the fact that while on finasteride our body has ways of regulating itself energy levels..

 

[doublebatman]

I purchased some generic proscar. A new warning on the med i had never noticed before warned of increased tiredness and dizziness when taking alcohol with the drug. I'm almost wondering if some peoples gradual sides over time really have to do with increased alcohol intake? Just a thought.

Interesting, I've never heard of that

 

[Yoshi3Mario]

It was right on the proscar warning label. Maybe it is because it's a prostate drug and so there are different warning labels. But it said right on there alcohol may increase the side effects.