woth a try??

[frenchy]

I'm really intrested in trying propecia, since it's seems to be the only thing really woking (with duta).
But seriously, almost evrybody posting here seems to experience sides while the litterature stands for like 2% of users...
And now i read stuff like permanent impotence...
im really scared, so i wonder if i should still give a shot with 0.25 EOD or something like that? or if it does woth it...
i need some gentleman's help here please

 

[zzzzz]

start finasteride .25mg daily, 1mg daily, 1mg EOD, whatever doesn't matter too much

 

[jacobi33]

Frenchy -

I'm brand new here (though a long time lurker), and my decision to sign up was based on my decision to start taking finasteride (today is day three).

I am by no means an expert on sides, but as far as permanent sides go, everything I've seen indicates that they are extremely rare (I'm not sure if there are any proven cases of permanent sides solely attributable to finasteride, but don't quote me on that).

Believe me, I do not mean to downplay anything - I'm scared as hell. I put off taking finasteride for months and lost a ton of hair as a result. I think what usually pushes us "hesitants" over the edge is when we really confront what hair loss is doing to our appearance. My decision process at that point was simple: the risk of sides no longer scared me as much as the CERTAIN baldness I was facing (it's not death, of course, but it can be a kind of social death).

I resolved at the same time to have a positive attitude - to ignore (what seem to be) initial "sides" and focus on other things. It helps to have a supportive girlfriend or wife, as the case may be; having her know what finasteride can do alleviates any looming embarrassment one might feel from a "failure to launch," and removes some of the fuel for performance anxiety stemming from the medicine. In general, it's good to have your psycho-sexual bases covered, in order to nip that nasty placebo/forum-reading effect in the bud.

Easier said than done of course. As of now, FWIW, all I can report is a seriously weird feeling, with occasional aches and pains, in my upper chest (my breasts). However, one has to take into account that my biggest propecia-related fear has been gyno (for some, such as you, it seems, it is impotence). So it's likely that any psychosomatic effects for me would run in that direction.

Beyond that, though, I have to say that overall I feel really good. I feel good that I am doing something, finally, about this all-consuming problem. I realize the risks. But I don't think I could've been happy with myself if I didn't fight this. Oddly enough, I feel better now that I'm on the finasteride than before when I was constantly waffling and worrying, watching my hair disappear by the month.

From all of my reading here, it seems to me that it's important to go into the battle with a "f*ck you" attitude. I saw my hairloss as a threat to my psychological well-being and my livelihood, my well-being in life. Whether or not that is shallow as the wise men would tell us, most of us don't have a transcendent lack of regard for appearances in us. That being said, once I experienced my hairloss as a basically existential threat, I started to view finasteride more as my best weapon for attacking that beast.

If nothing else, that attitude will give one the determination to muscle through until quitting seems necessary.

Others with far more experience and knowledge will hopefully chime in. I just thought you'd like to hear from someone who but a few days ago was still asking your questions. In a few weeks, I may have concerns of my own. IMHO, it's worth a shot, nonetheless. Remember: many, many people have zero sides; and very, very few of them actually post on forum boards.

*BTW I'm starting on 1mg per day, and will adjust accordingly if the sides seem too obtrusive to be ignored.

 

[frenchy]

jacobi33- first of all, welcome on this forum^^ thx for your testimonial, i'm glad for you starting finasteride
you are probably right about sides occurence, it seems logic that finasteride users getting no issues will not post a lot on forums and move on.. even if i indeed collect a few testimonials in private messages of finasteride users getting no sides

I see your point about a supportive girlfriend and its the big problem here:
she dosen't know im loosing my hairs and that i may start a treatment with possible sides, so i'm even more afraid because she wouldn't understand.... and i might not be able to distinguish an erectile failure due to finasteride or due to stress about finasteride


Anyway i wish you good luck in your finasteride' journey and i hope seeing you posting your progression and maybe in a few months seeing you in the "success stories" section of the forum^^

 

[happychineseboy]

China represent!

 

[jacobi33]

China represent!

haha, indeed. The heat of an oven is also representing in Wuhan this summer. In fact, it was a bad haircut (too short) I got trying to manage my sweating here that led me to perceive just how much hair I'd lost (particularly on the hairline), which in turn led to me taking the propecia plunge.

I see from your regimen section that you're also, like Frenchy, on the fence about starting finasteride (perhaps you've already begun since writing that?). --I'll try to keep updating my progress periodically over the coming months, if only to encourage some of the fence-sitters. I'm too lazy to do the whole picture thing, but as it's the sides that freak us out anyway, it doesn't matter much. We all know what finasteride does on the positive side.

*sorry if I hijacked this thread, Frenchy. I'll bow out now.

 

[happychineseboy]

haha, indeed. The heat of an oven is also representing in Wuhan this summer. In fact, it was a bad haircut (too short) I got trying to manage my sweating here that led me to perceive just how much hair I'd lost (particularly on the hairline), which in turn led to me taking the propecia plunge.

I see from your regimen section that you're also, like Frenchy, on the fence about starting finasteride (perhaps you've already begun since writing that?). --I'll try to keep updating my progress periodically over the coming months, if only to encourage some of the fence-sitters. I'm too lazy to do the whole picture thing, but as it's the sides that freak us out anyway, it doesn't matter much. We all know what finasteride does on the positive side.

*sorry if I hijacked this thread, Frenchy. I'll bow out now.

I actually started finasteride about 3 months ago. No sides, but no visible regrowth yet either. I am about to run out again, so I need to make another appt with my derma

Edit: I also wanted to mention I take .5 mg ED. I do not think this dose is enough if you are balding at age 24 like me

 

[frenchy]

*sorry if I hijacked this thread, Frenchy. I'll bow out now.

be my guest!

I'm a bit worried again, i was digging old post of this forum and i felt on this :
http://www.gourmetstylewellness.com/interact/showthread.php/45157-Equol/page21?highlight=equol

on post #206 it says:
"Propecia will actually become your worst enemy if you take it for a long time because your hair will become overly sensitive, all you do is built up something like a dam and after this dam gets cracks you are in serious trouble." among other things... is dis true ??

 

[jacobi33]

I'm a bit worried again, i was digging old post of this forum and i felt on this :
http://www.gourmetstylewellness.com/interact/showthread.php/45157-Equol/page21?highlight=equol

on post #206 it says:
"Propecia will actually become your worst enemy if you take it for a long time because your hair will become overly sensitive, all you do is built up something like a dam and after this dam gets cracks you are in serious trouble." among other things... is dis true ??[/QUOTE]

I would guess the answer is a heavily a qualified "yes." What I mean is that I've seen guys on here who have taken propecia upwards of ten years, maybe longer, and that has never happened to them; but I'm sure it's happened to someone.

The question is if that "fragility" reported is really attributable to propecia. I'm willing to believe most of the bad stuff I hear about the drug, like most of us who are terrified; my only consolation is that it is as close to "confirmed" as can be that in the short-and-medium term, lingering catastrophic effects (impotence, gyno, "the cracking dam") are statistically rare. I'm not sure it's only a fraction of the 1-2% reported whose sides were serious enough to discontinue use; but it's probably not higher than 1-2% at the highest estimate.

For some people that is acceptable risk; for others not. I've always been a bit heedless (I'm a smoker, though I've cut down significantly with ecigs over the past year), and for what I perceive as large gains I'm willing to tolerate huge risk at a sufficiently low probability. (But you know what they say: one man's "sufficiently low" is another's "f**k no").

I can tell you now I'm on day five and I still feel weird, physically speaking. No ED-type problems at all, not even ball-soreness. But damn my body is achy - really odd sharp pains all over, but particularly in the upper arms and - surprise, surprise - the chest/breasts area. I'm tempted to put up a post asking if this is something that happens to some people early on; if not, I can write it off as something else. In any case, make no mistake: I'm still terrified of gyno (that's my bugbear, as I mentioned above). But at least I'm aware that that is the risk I'm taking and I've made the choice with my eyes open.

Every time I start to doubt my decision, I find myself getting out of the shower and seeing my hair wet in the mirror. Like magic, this removes all doubts. There's maybe a bit of pathology there, maybe even a sad sort of broken vanity. My point being not to express self-pity but to note that maybe a little c-r-a-z-y, a little oomph of pathology, is required to swallow this stuff day after day. For me, that oomph was a suddenly shattered self-image after a revealing haircut. I hardly recognized myself, and I was terrified of getting to the point where I'd look in the mirror every day and disgustedly sneer, "Who the hell are you?"

For others that may not be enough; for me, it was. I think one of the things that kept me lurking here for months before I made the fateful decision was my hope that someone on propecia would reveal a comforting piece of information that would put me at ease. Hope against hope. That revelation never came, and I'm not even sure what I wanted to hear. Probably just wanted it all to be a nightmare and have an angel hand me the pills, telling me "Guaranteed safe by the Big Guy Himself," while stringing his harp. I don't know. We're all just in a sh*t situation. On top of the sh*t of the balding, there's the sh*t of the insane things we have to do to even modestly fight back against it. Any move requires a leap of faith we'd rather make with a bit more knowledge and certainty.

But to return to your initial concern, I really wouldn't add to your worries with the cracking dam thing. Most of our dams are already well-nigh cracked anyway; I'd be more than happy to let it collapse ten years down the line (not that I'd love that either, but it's better than now).

 

[frenchy]

Every time I start to doubt my decision, I find myself getting out of the shower and seeing my hair wet in the mirror. Like magic, this removes all doubts. There's maybe a bit of pathology there, maybe even a sad sort of broken vanity. My point being not to express self-pity but to note that maybe a little c-r-a-z-y, a little oomph of pathology, is required to swallow this stuff day after day. For me, that oomph was a suddenly shattered self-image after a revealing haircut. I hardly recognized myself, and I was terrified of getting to the point where I'd look in the mirror every day and disgustedly sneer, "Who the hell are you?"

For others that may not be enough; for me, it was. I think one of the things that kept me lurking here for months before I made the fateful decision was my hope that someone on propecia would reveal a comforting piece of information that would put me at ease. Hope against hope. That revelation never came, and I'm not even sure what I wanted to hear. Probably just wanted it all to be a nightmare and have an angel hand me the pills, telling me "Guaranteed safe by the Big Guy Himself," while stringing his harp. I don't know. We're all just in a sh*t situation. On top of the sh*t of the balding, there's the sh*t of the insane things we have to do to even modestly fight back against it. Any move requires a leap of faith we'd rather make with a bit more knowledge and certainty.

it really scares me to find myself in your words
so go on finasteride might be what we call "reculer pour mieux sauter", i don't know the english-equivalent but it means to step back for a better jump...

 

[jacobi33]

I have an intermediate level of French (it used to be better; my ex-wife is French, and I lived in Montpellier for a year, for what it's worth), and I read you loud and clear on the "reculer."

I get the feeling that some of the long-time commenters here are - understandably - a little weary in replying to everyone with doubts and worries about propecia. I feel bad about me being the main one discussing things with you, as I'm really not in a great position to offer la sagesse de la vie (so to speak).

I guess I just relate to your predicament, and if I'd commented a few months ago I'd have wanted someone to interact with me like this.

Maintenir le bon combat. (forgive me if my French is barbaric; I haven't used it in a while.)

- - - Updated - - -

Hmmm... I made a comment on another thread, and it disappeared.

Weird.

 

[Donny J]

I actually started finasteride about 3 months ago. No sides, but no visible regrowth yet either. I am about to run out again, so I need to make another appt with my derma

Edit: I also wanted to mention I take .5 mg ED. I do not think this dose is enough if you are balding at age 24 like me

.5mg ED is sufficient. taking just .2mg ED is 89% as effective as taking 5mg per day:

if you're not experiencing any sides, then stick with it. you could up the dosage if you really wanted to, but i don't know how much good it will do. it took me a good 6-8 months before i noticed significant change.

 

[blancodb]

I started taking 1.25mg a few days ago, and I have experienced zero sides. I feel completely the same. Take it and see how your own body reacts. My concern is actually the Minoxidil I'm taking, I think its the source of my forehead becoming very bumpy...I have acne-prone skin.