Propecia problems?

Hey Bro

You and me always seem to be thinking along the same lines it seems, I remember we had been talking about issues many moons ago I guess it stayed in both our minds. So let me ask you are you losing your hair and if not what are you using to keep it. Did your recent rise in Testosterone levels coincide with you dropping the Propecia?

Because my testosterone levels have fluctuated so greatly I did not make any correlation between getting off the propecia and my levels. I have not lost any hair at all. But my doc told me that it can take up to a year to fully get the propecia out of your system so my guess would be thats when we will see the hair loss. I would use the minoxidil as long as it didnt do the same thing to me.

Sadly, Finasteride is one of the best weapons we have in our fight against hairloss. It’s sad because, although it is not too common, the stuff CAN cause unwanted side effects in some.

Hairloss is best tackled by using a multi-angled approach. If you do not want to use an oral drug like Finasteride, then you need something to tackle the DHT floating around on your scalp. This is tough to do because finding a decent topical antiandrogen or 5ar inhibitor that works as well as oral Finasteride is damn hard.

First off, forget topical Finasteride. The few studies done on it are iffy, and most think that the few times a modest effect WAS shown was due to systemic absorption.

Also, forget Xandrox. Although Dr. Lee is a good guy, their is only one teensy in vitro study done on azeleic acid’s ability to reduce 5ar in the scalp. Just use plain old minoxidil instead.

The topical antiandrogens and 5ar inhibitors available right now that can be considered ‘somewhat’ effective are:

1) 5% Spiro cream (this has some good science and studies behind it, but the fact that it’s a cream and can sometimes smell especially when it comes in contact with minoxidil makes it a tough choice for daily compliance)

2) Revivogen (this stuff is smelly, oily, expensive, and will stain your pillowcase. However, there are some solid studies done behind certain ingredients it contains and it may prove to be of benefit for some)

3) Fluridil (this a pricey treatment that some guys swear by, but the stuff only has 2 decent studies backing it, and both were done by the company that made the stuff. Still, it was featured in a pretty reputable medical journal and I know of a few people personally that benefitted from it)

4) Nizoral 2% (yup, good old prescription strength Nizoral has antiandrogenic properties)

That’s it boys. At least that’s it for stuff that is easily available.

If you want to go Finasteride-free then give some of these a shot and throw in some Minoxidil too.

Thanks Leather

The Revivogen isn’t all that smelly and it hasn’t gotten my pillow case any color but it is oily and sticky but I do like it and really think it does work. I was thinking of trying Dr Lee’s Xandrox because the rivivogen guys also talk up those azeleic acids. I may also order the 2% Nizoral I have been using the 1% but I may move up. I really don’t want to lose my hair being a single guy it’s important to look good and I like having hair. But I’m just not digging the Propecia sides.

Thanks Dino for keeping us updated. I’ve been cutting up generic Proscar (5mg) into 1.25mg and been doing that for many years. Much of my hair has grown back to the point where I never get balding comments anymore and when I tell people I’m balding, they tell me I’m not. When I began reading your thread, I had a feeling that the original rush you felt would eventually start to stabilize. Because it’s been so long, I don’t have anything to compare it too but I feel okay. I’m still overly horny although now if I get really boozed up, I get a bad case of whiskey dick which I have been attributing to age.

I’m glad to see some people have had the courage to do it. Just remember, your hair only naturally falls out in the shedding phase and only grows in the growth phase. This is why any product that claims it can grow thick hair in a couple weeks is bogus. The same is true when your hair falls out. You will have to go through a few shedding cycles before you will notice recession.

Leather brought up some good suggestions. You can always take the topical route and it sounds like you are trying that. Anyway, have you ever tried the shaved head look. Your a big guy and usually the bald look goes over pretty good with the ladies when you have the stature to carry it well (although it takes a few days to tan it up a little). Just a thought.

Good luck Dino and thanks again for keeping us updated!

Hey Gut

Well you kind of blow the can’t lose weight theory because your in great shape and pretty well cut up. How have your PE gains been? I wonder how you would feel if you went off for a few weeks.

I tell you guys last night I got scared I had such night wood that it hurt and wouldn’t go down it was diamond skin bursting hard and it just wouldn’t stop. I had to try everything even think about Rosie O’Donnell before it finally deflated a tiny bit. I also had a rough time at the gym yesterday I was on the precor exercise machine and my dick slipped out of the pee hole in my boxer briefs and I had a chick on the stair master in front of me looking hot. And before I knew it from the movement and the chick I had a semi of about seven inches swinging around looking like a happy dogs tail in my sweat pants.

Thanks Dino and funny story about the gym! I’d pay to see that chicks expression.

My PE gains have been pretty meager but that I believe that is due to lack of consistancy from having very little privacy and time. I started at 6” x 5.25” and got up to 6” x 5.75” at one point. Now I am about 6.2” x 5.5”. I get pretty solid morning wood but since I undertrain, that shouldn’t be affected anyway. I have a feeling if I got off finesteride, I would get a surge just like you did. That would be cool but I really don’t have the balls to do it. That’s why I’m glad you do, because I’m curious to see the results (hopefully good).

Dino,

See what a little bit of selective editing can do? LOL.

May your unexpected rise in libido continue…

Peforeal

That’s too funny :rolling:

Gut

It’s just too funny looking at your avatar and thinking that your worrying about your hair or that your in great shape:rolling:

Dino

TRUST ME. The Revivogen guys will openly admit that the MAIN ingredients in Revivogen are the fatty acids and not Az acid. In fact, the only 2 ingredients in Revivogen worth a damn are the fatty acids and the grape seed extract.

Stick with regular minox my friend. You’ll save time and money.

Good luck.

p.s. I would also try the new rogaine foam. The stuff is awesome! It dries instantly and doesn’t gunk up your hair. You could fit TWO applications of Rogaine foam a day in and apply Revivogen before bed. This would help a tiny bit more if you were going all topical.

Leather

Thanks bro and I always have trusted you. I have learned more about stopping hair lose from you than anybody else:)

Ok today I feel pretty normal I still have a great flaccid which hardly changes through the day and doesn’t seem sensitive or as sensitive to caffeine. My anger management is much better now. So far my hair looks ok but I guess it doesn’t happen over night. All in all things are clearer off it and I seem to be able to make decisions faster and easier so I think their might be something to the brain fog side effect. At the very least I’m off for the immediate future and maybe for good unless my hair goes fast that I rather be a foggy brained guy with hair”maybe”. I was just talking via yahoo text to a chick that loves to run her hand over my hair when it’s short and sort of spiked she didn’t say she wanted to run her hand over a bald spot.

Hey all. Most of us were in the thread I started a few months ago about my seriously considering dropping Propecia and switching to Revivogen or Spiro. I haven’t done it yet. My libido has been cyclical while on Propecia: sometimes it’s great, sometimes it sucks. Well, it’s been sucking for about five weeks now, longer by far than ever before, and I wonder if it will ever be okay again. So I’m done with P.; I’m switching ASAP. Dino, your experience going off it is encouraging. Even if it can be problematic, I can only hope to have the kind of testosterone rush you’ve had! Please keep us updated on that and the hair situation; I’ll do the same. Today is day one off P for me.

thelovelybone

Hey Brother so far the hair is looking OK with the system I’m using. I’m pretty much back to almost normal with the rage problem. I’m still getting better than normal flaccid that don’t seem to fluctuate like they did before which is a good thing it’s always nice to know what your packing. I have been having incredible night wood almost painful it’s so hard and while I got night wood it wasn’t like this with the Propecia. I’m sad to report that my balls when back to normal which sucks it was nice to have big swaying horse balls:) .

On the brighter side I think my dick might have finally gotten past it plateau I mean not by much but a small gain all though I’m not going to check again until maybe next week. Any gain after all this time would be great and it would really be something to think about if it comes after I go off Propecia.

You should try my routine for a while and see if it works for you. Keep us posted:)

Snow wondered if Propecia would help his baldness

It all started back in October 2002 but just a brief history before that. I started losing my hair in my late teens, early twenties but it has been a slow decline rather than heavy shedding. I tried minoxidil but because my hair is long it always made it look messy. When I heard about Propecia I thought what a great idea. Take a tablet each day and that’s that. It really did look like the miracle cure us baldies had been waiting for.

I started taking Propecia in October 2002. I got it from the Internet because it wasn’t available in the UK as far as I knew. I contacted Merk in New Zealand which is were my batch came from and they confirmed it was legitimate and not a cheap counterfeit. I showed them to my doctor and although he hadn’t seen Propecia before he asked me a few questions about my general health and said I would be ok to take them if I wanted to. I read the note about the 2% of men suffering from a lowered libido but also the fact that this returned to normal on stopping Propecia and also went away in men who continued to use the drug. I wasn’t dating at the time so I really did have nothing to lose, I just figured if I met someone I would stop using the drug and hey if it meant I would masturbate less I really didn’t care. I took the tablet each day for about 5 and half months. The drug had a huge affect on my hair and it grew a lot quicker and a lot thicker. All my friends noticed including my stylist, I was very happy about the positive effects.

Then I met someone I was really excited about. I immediately stopped taking Propecia and we started dating once a week. After a couple of weeks that’s when I realized things were quite the way they should be in the trouser department. I tried to masturbate but I could not get an erection even after a long time trying. Previously I had never had a problem and had always been quite a horny guy. I put it down to finasteride and thought that maybe I needed to give my body a little longer but after more time still no change. I became concerned and started searching on the Internet with Google. My worst nightmare was staring at me in black and white on the computer screen. Not one, but many cases of finasteride induced impotence. Men who had not recovered even after 3 or 4 years of finasteride I was completely distraught. I could not sleep and I could not eat, and I could not think about anything else. I cried and cried many times and the angst was almost unbearable.

# I went to see my GP and told him everything, he was very understanding and made me an appointment with a doctor who was a Psychosexual specialist. I broke down in front of my girlfriend one night and told her everything and she was incredibly understanding and said she would stick by me no matter what. This was a huge relief and I was able to sleep and get back to some sense of normality. The specialist convinced me it was all in my head and he gave me some exercises to do with my partner and also Viagra to help me get over the problem. I believed him and practiced “sensate focus” with my partner and eventually used the Viagra. I did this over a 3 month period. Still suffering from impotence I decided after more research that the answer may lie within blood tests. I believed that Propecia had upset the hormone system and something was greatly out of balance. I went to see an endocrinologist and explained my symptoms as follows: No morning erections and no daytime erections.
# Great difficulty in getting or maintaining an erection for intercourse or masturbation. Watery semen
# I felt very passive
# My penis felt smaller, wrinkly, less full
# My testicles hung lower and felt less full, my testicles previously would well up if I didn’t masturbate for a day or so.
# My penis felt “disconnected” from my brain in some way.
# Sometimes my erections stopped short and my penis would arch to the left.
# An increase in tummy fat.

He did some basic blood tests and told me everything was normal but my Testosterone was slightly sub normal i.e. it was below the minimum range. He said that maybe I was a low Testosterone male. He said I could go on TRT either having Testosterone injected or a rub in gel. I didn’t like the sound of this as I would have to do this for the rest of my life. I also discovered that this would shutdown my testicles and I would not be able to have children whilst in this state. We agreed to leave it another 6 months and then see how things went. We did some more tests and this time my Testosterone was slightly above the minimum range. The endocrinologist was only open to basic TRT and was unwilling to try and restart my system or do any further tests to find out what was causing my the problems. As I didn’t agree he referred me to a Professor of endocrinology . I went to the appointment with great hope, after all the person I was seeing was a professor. I came out of the appointment and cried. He didn’t believe me and said it was all in my head and that I should stop doing research on the Internet. He wouldn’t treat me as everything was between the “normal” ranges in my last test. So this leads me to my present day. 3 doctors who don’t believe I have a problem and all unwilling to treat me, believe me or even investigate. I quit Propecia in March 2003 and I am still suffering side effects. I wrote to Merk a few times but they fobbed me off saying there was nothing they could do and they weren’t allowed to help me. Although things have improved slightly I am far from normal. Not only is my quality of life suffering I am now increasingly concerned for my future health. No one knows yet what Propecia does to cause this condition and no one knows what the future ramifications are. Struggling with the symptoms is one thing, ignorant doctors just make the uphill struggle ten time harder. Still the fight goes on and I am currently in consultation with a doctor in the USA. I’ll keep you posted and if I could have my time again and I would never have taken Propecia. The truth is there are many men out there whose lives have been torn apart by a drug that was supposed to stop their hair falling out. I have heard of cases were finasteride has only been taken for as little as one month, the damage appears to be irreparable by the body alone and it is not known yet whether the damage can be repaired by treatment.

If you are considering Propecia exercise extreme caution and if you want my advice, stay well away.

http://www.andr … rg.uk/snow.html