I am 28, Norwood/Hamilton 3, work out every day for an hour. 80 squats, run, lower abdominal work out pulling legs up while pending on a bar, run, 12 pushups with parallel bar, 7 pullups with bar, run, 140 abdominal crunches, run, 12 more pushups with parallel bar, run, 100 meters sprint, arm and leg stretching, 30 traditional pushups. Basically military training. My diet is healthy and abundant in carbohydrates(mostly), vegetables, dried fruits(Fig, goji, raisins, plums, etc.), nuts, small quantities of meat, salmon, natural juices, etc.

I just recently, two months ago, started ingesting Ginseng 500mg capsule, Cod Liver Oil capsule, Biotin 200mcg pill daily. And apply GNC Biotin shampoo daily on the scalp.

I started taking 1mg of finasteride and Minoxidil %5 in 2008, and had some weeks and probably a month of rest every now and then. The side-effects were moderate, watery semen and mild erections. I was still hoping for more independent scientific studies evidencing that the majority of finasteride side-effects were rare. And the more recent Japanese study concluded that only %0.7 suffered from side-effects. That sounded to me like a fairy tale. Mainly because I had already read the updated manual in september 2011 aproximately, regarding side-effects, Merk added: permanent sexual disfunction and mamal cancer. I kept reading in other respectable sources how propecia aumented the probability of Gleason score 8-10 prostate cancer . This worried me but as long as my nervous system did not complain I would continue with the treatment. It was until I reduced the dosage to 0.25mg every day, and had a 2 week rest from work out, that I started feeling some spikes in my head. At first I thought it was Minoxidil, but as I stopped it and continued Finasteride, I concluded that Finasteride was the cause. I later reduced the dosage to 0.25mg every other day, but still felt a very subtle chronic head ache. Took the 0.25mg dosage every three days, but the spikes and subtle pain persisted. It was up until mid January of 2012 that I decided it was too much: Amidst my daily squats, at about 40, when my heart starts pumping harder and more frequent I felt an alarming pain at the back of my head, between the spinal cord and the encephalon. This is when I decided Finasteride was too much of a risk. It happened 3 times, after the third time I just stopped Finasteride and now I can keep my workout regime.
Sexual side effects, and even prostate and breast cancer at that point seemed unimportant compared to the neurological implications lacking 5alpha-reductase type II has.
up until one week ago, I was on a moderate treatment. Now I quit.

FWIW...in that same study about the increase on the gleason scale, there was also a pretty significant decrease in developing low grade cancer while taking Finasteride...

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Newhairplease!!
Dr Rahal in January 19, 2012
4808 FUT grafts- 941 singles, 2809 doubles, 1031 triples, 27 quads

My Hairloss Website

Wow gatso

This explains why you had such a strong opinion over my post on the other thread .

I have taken branded propecia first since 2006 , bought from the Be1gravia Center in London , in 2007 I started to take generic Finasteride, supplied by another male GP , cutting 5mgs into four and taking 1.25mgs daily , then cutting them into five pieces and taking 1mg daily , now I buy it from an online Pharmacy in the UK and have reduced my dose to 0.8mgs daily by cutting the tablet into six pieces , with no noticable hair loss .

I train in the gym three times a week , 30 mins cardio and 30 mins on light weights , because of what I do I have to remian light but lean and strong .

I'm not going to deny there are side effects with every drug , and I can't make you believe me , but I honestly havn't had any of those servere side effects you describe .

I have had the following , watery seman , less hair growth on my back and the back of my hands , my girl and I also feel that since I have been taking Finasteride I have become more of a calmer , thoughtful guy , even seemingly having more concentration , this could just be coincidence but it's something we have noticed since I started on the meds .

Wanting to start a family , and being aware of the fertility concerns around using finasteride , I went and had everything checked , testosterone , thyriod , sperm count and sperm mobility , I even had the acrosome enzymes checked , this is what the sperm uses to break into the womans egg , I had my prostate chacked at the same time by my local GP who knows I take finasteride and has even priced it up for me to buy from her practice .

So after taking Propecia and the finasteride for 6 years branded and generic , bought from three different legitimate suppliers .....

Testosterone was at normal levels .
Sperm count was 140 million (20-200 million is normal)
Thyriod was normal , they checked this twice with two seperate blood tests .
Sperm mobility was good .
Sperm volume was above average .
Prostrate gland size was normal .
Acrosome Enzyme came back within tolerance .

We havn't been caught pregnant as yet , my girl has been fully checked also , but she has also taken two different types of contraceptive pill over 10 years and this may be to blame , again it changes your hormones , and until we are caught pregnant I do have a small nagging doubt at the back of my mind , but I can do anymore than I have done to educate myself , and be honest with myself over using meds .

I have tried to be as honest with you as I can be and I will admit I tried in recent years not promoted the drug , but only tell people my experiences with using it .

I said this before and I will say it again , it can only come done to personal choice ,people can take or not but make sure your desision is based on your own extensive research .

Most meds have side effects , not everyone will be effected by everyone of these side effect , women have taken the controseptive pill for decades , could this be why more and more women are now seeking IVF fertility treatment ? , I don't know , will there be a major problem with finasteride in decades to come , again I don't know .

Alot of this can be laid at the door of genetics , basically "the way the cooky crumbles" , look at Brad Pitt , mint hair , not one sign of male pattern baldness , I envy him for that and that alone , but it's only down to genetics , the same thing that sees some guys unfortinally suffer from side effects of finasteride and some don't .

I can't make you believe me and I won't try , and I'm genuinly truely , truely sorry you have had these side effects .

richie

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2100 crown grafts
Dr Feller
nov 2007

damn man i see where your getting, its good tht you quit, i have been taken it for 2 weeks, and praying to not get the major side effect tht u got. all i got is watery semen, my diet is uneven, but i work out 3-5 times a weeks, and do cardio daily, i hope it wouldnt effect me, i am 18 and just giving this a shot, i purchased 5 month supply, the moment i see something, i am tossing it through the drain, right now i am trying to chage my diet, to get more energy from my workouts, its actually going pretty good

As a lot of people report here, not everybody has worrying side-effects. The best signal is your own body. It is most probable that over 2-3 years my type of side-effects start appearing(headache). It is important to listen to your body signals.

Workout is great for preseving hair. My father is a Norwood/Hamilton 4, has been an athlete all his life (track and field), and compared to his brothers he is much more hairy, they are all Norwood 7, heck even their father.