Propecia - Side Effects

[23 years old]

Hi all, much like a lot of you, I am having a really difficult time coming to terms with my hair loss. I have fallen into a deep depression, where as if you knew me, you would be very saddened. I have always have a life of the party type attitude , and been decent with women. Lately, I have just been completely ignoring all of my friends (especially my female ones)...Its like I'd rather be a hermit than be seen in public because I am that embarassed. I tried Propecia for 9 months and it worked GREAT...My hair grew back and I stopped losing it altogether....But at the cost of 100% of my libido...Not a reduction / all of it GONE...I switched to Scalp Med and like every new user of it, was a raving fan...Then I realized it was all smoke and mirrors...I am now hanging on by a thread (I cant hide the fact that Im balding but I can get good coverage when I comb my hair exactly right and only when it is 100% dry)....Im thinking about going back to Propecia but I dont want to experience the sexual side effects, after a while I stopped even feeling like a male...Could someone please tell me how common the libido reduction in Propecia is...and what about Propecia / Viagra combo? Someone please help me...Right now, my 2 beautiful female friends are begging me to go out to a cookout with them, and a bunch of my male friends are trying to get me to go play basketball, but at this point, Im embarassed to show my face....

 

Can anyone help? Its an awful feeling being a 23 year old single male who feels his best days are behind him...But that is how I feel.

[23 years old]

Hi all, much like a lot of you, I am having a really difficult time coming to terms with my hair loss. I have fallen into a deep depression, where as if you knew me, you would be very saddened. I have always have a life of the party type attitude , and been decent with women. Lately, I have just been completely ignoring all of my friends (especially my female ones)...Its like I'd rather be a hermit than be seen in public because I am that embarassed. I tried Propecia for 9 months and it worked GREAT...My hair grew back and I stopped losing it altogether....But at the cost of 100% of my libido...Not a reduction / all of it GONE...I switched to Scalp Med and like every new user of it, was a raving fan...Then I realized it was all smoke and mirrors...I am now hanging on by a thread (I cant hide the fact that Im balding but I can get good coverage when I comb my hair exactly right and only when it is 100% dry)....Im thinking about going back to Propecia but I dont want to experience the sexual side effects, after a while I stopped even feeling like a male...Could someone please tell me how common the libido reduction in Propecia is...and what about Propecia / Viagra combo? Someone please help me...Right now, my 2 beautiful female friends are begging me to go out to a cookout with them, and a bunch of my male friends are trying to get me to go play basketball, but at this point, Im embarassed to show my face....

 

Can anyone help? Its an awful feeling being a 23 year old single male who feels his best days are behind him...But that is how I feel.

[Bill - Seemiller]

23 years old,

 

Hair loss can be rough. I can certainly empathize with you as I experienced very similar feelings as you. My "cover" so to speak, was that I wore a hat just about everywhere socially. With it, I felt attractive but without it, I didn't want to be seen, especially by pretty women.

 

It is important however, no matter how bothered you are about your hair, not to let it negatively affect your life. Most women love a man for much more than their hair, and some find the bald man very attractive!

 

Chances are if Propecia impacted your libido the first time, it will the second as well. You may consider speaking to a physician about taking half the dosage (.5mg a day), which may minimize or maybe even eliminate the side effects.

 

But while you are considering whether or not to go back on Propecia, my advice to you is...

 

GO to the barbeque and have a great time. Be yourself and turn on the charm as if you had a full head of hair. All women like different things - some like hair, some don't care. No matter what you do, you will never be attractive to ALL women, but I guarantee, thinning hair or not, some women will find you attractive.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[23 years old]

Bill, I appreciate the words...You are truly an inspiration and a great motivator...I wish I could still be flirty and charming but my confidence is shot...I will keep your words in mind in an attempt to build back some self esteem, but this is not easy...That being said, your words go a long way, and I appreciate them greatly.

[kman]

I heard that the icidence of diminished libido is less than 5% but if you're in that 5% it doesn't matter how low the risk is. I am on propecia too and even before going on that drug I was having some libido problems. Needless to say I was freaked about the effect propecia would have and might even have compounded the problem with worrying. The good news was viagra definately cured any perceived problems.

Talk to your doc, but from what i understand, there are a lot of guys in there 20's getting an extra "boost" from viagra.

All the best with the girls and just remember..."who's the man"..."you da man".

[23 years old]

KMAN, thank you so much for the kind words...Much like yourself, I was experiencing libido problems even before I went on Propecia...I believe my problems were mental , but I still could not shake them....I actually have no idea if thinking that the Propecia could cause decreased libido was the culprit or if I was actually experiencing side effects...In either case, I found myself in a couple of VERY embarassing situations...I have since semi-corrected the problem, as I can function ~90% of the time I come into a sexual encounter, but when I am kissing a girl, my functionality is ALWAYS in the front of my mind.

[23 years old]

As an added note, since I gave up the Propecia was when the problem corrected itself...and to be honest...I dont know if it was a mental thing or the actual Propecia that was causing me problems...

[Dewayne]

Another thing you might consider is having your doctor check your testosterone level. Although I'm older, once at 40 I thought this cholestorol drug my doc wanted me to take was affecting my libido. So I told him and he checked my testosterone level and it was lower than the accepted range. Now, I use this replacement therapy called Andro Gel and it will make you feel more like a man for sure.

 

So now, I use Rogaine, Lipitor, AndroGel, Proscar every morning. It's a pained but all part of living I suppose......

[venkat_1980]

I experienced libido problems too and it was very severe. infact it stayed on for months even after i stopped using propecia. i am not going back to it. not trying to scare you, but i was soo scared then and so wanted to share my experience.

[cp77]

Originally posted by Bill:

 

GO to the barbeque and have a great time. Be yourself and turn on the charm as if you had a full head of hair. All women like different things - some like hair, some don't care. No matter what you do, you will never be attractive to ALL women, but I guarantee, thinning hair or not, some women will find you attractive.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

 

I fully agree. As difficult as it seems, it's important to just get out there and enjoy yourself. Focus on the other people, and you'll worrying about how you think you look.

 

 

 

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