Hair or Sex? Plz answer

[Alex123]

I am an attractive looking male but have lost lot of hair. I want to go for HT.

I am considering to go to India to Dr.Madhu or Dr.Path. Based on the posts on this forum, it appears to me that Finasteride and Minoxidil are given post HT to every patient.

 

I personally know two cases who are suffering from Erectile dysfunction because of Finasteride and Minoxidil. It is well documented that Finasteride and Minoxidil can cause loss of libido and even permanent erectile dysfunction.

 

 

QUESTION: Can I be given something other than Finasteride and Minoxidil?

Please answer. I would rather choose to look horribly ugly than having erectile dysfunction.

[Sean]

I'd rather have better hair and ways to conserve it, it's something that can't grow back if it's completely gone and without transplantation. You can still conserve your hairs that are bound to be gone through meds. However, ED can grow back. ED can be regulated with Levitra or Viagra instead of surgery.

 

Honestly, there isn't any other proven effective treatments other then finisteride, minox, or hair transplantation. The other thing that could possibly be used to reduce factors that may accelerate hairloss could be nizoral to reduce inflammation, something like nioxin to give you a thicker hair look, and toppik or couvre or something to conceal your hairs to buy you time.

Edited November 7, 2010 by Sean
extra info

[Sparky]

I've decided to go for both, didnt realise I HAD to give up one of them?

[j1j9j85]

personaly in my opinion unless you have a partner then being a slap head will effect you pulling power any way so!

 

i would try finest minox HT and sex all at the same time ahahahah:D

[monkey]

personaly in my opinion unless you have a partner then being a slap head will effect you pulling power any way so!

 

i would try finest minox HT and sex all at the same time ahahahah:D

I used to think like that .... until I tried fin.

 

Believe me, no matter how bad you feel single - you feel a million times worse unable to even think erotic thoughts about a girl....

 

In the end, I've decided to play the life wheel of fortune, in that I hope that by the time my current hair falls out either:

 

1) They will have found a cure, or

2) I'll be married (of course, it will still suck to lose hair, but at least I won't then also be worrying about "will I find a partner")

[Sparky]

Fin didnt affect me so, lucky me I guess.

[Danielkiwi]

Fin can affect anytime. Just because it does not affect initially, that does not mean it might not affect you after 5 years or maybe 10 years. I am not sure if FDA has researched the long term implications of reducing DHT in ones body. I have experienced the sides and they are not good..and meds like levitra etc will give you temporary benefits and not cure ED.

[hairtop]

I thought I would add my 2 cents..... I tried propecia for 4 months and I noticed that I was not having morning erections. It was a tough decision and I stopped using it and things came back to normal.

[Sparky]

i've been on it for 11 years

[mahhong]

Hi Alex,

 

I appreciate your concern! Finasteride is generally a very safe drug and it would seem the majority of men who use it experience few or no side effects. Some experience more severe side effects that also seem longer lasting and some have reported permanent (or long term) side effects they would consider quite alarming.

 

My feeling on finasteride is that, whilst generally safe and very usable, its effect on patients will be individual. Each of us has endocrine systems of varying health and stability and so find finasteride affects us in different ways. For some it would seem it has a mostly negative effect on libido, with our symptoms like "brain fog" and depression noted. It is worth bearing in mind, though, these symptoms are comparatively rare.

 

There are very few proven alternatives, unfortunately. There are some herbs and natural medicines that some claim have improved their hair, but there are no scientific studies on these treatments. In the same way that finasteride causes severe side effects in very few men, a particular type of herb of alternative remedy may cause positive hair growth in others. It always frustrates me when people harp on about the negative effects of finasteride and then have a list of about 40 different "natural" herbs and remedies they take which they claim does wonders for their hair. Without scientific proof over a large number of subjects, no remedy can be "proven" to work for everybody, and if a treatment only works for <1% of the population then it's largely useless! In addition these "natural" remedies have not been studied for safety. Just because it says "natural" and you can buy it in a health store doesn't mean taking it is safe or healthy. Don't be fooled: taking any sort of drug or remedy carries a risk, but finasteride at least has a calculated risk.

 

Unfortunately you must make your own decision on finasteride, but there is nothing better out there. That's the fairly harsh reality we face as hair loss sufferers. I can understand somebody not wanting to take finasteride, but don't be fooled by websites telling you to take 'this' or 'that' for guaranteed hair recovery. If anything worked better than finasteride, it would be more popular than finasteride, ESPECIALLY if it was 'symptom' free.

 

You're more likely to be totally fine or suffer only mild, temporary side effects on finasteride, but it is possible your reaction will be more severe. My guess is that Merck's suggestion that that finasteride causes problems in around 2% of people is true, even if others would believe differently. If you say conservatively there are 3 million finasteride users in the world, then 2% of them would be 60,000 people. If you can find even 30,000 or 15,000 individual cases of people complaining about finasteride on the net, I would be impressed!

 

I'm not on finasteride yet, out of the same concerns you share. I know my chances of being healthy on it are very high, and yet I know there is that slim potential for some severe reaction to it. It's a case of working out whether you are comfortable with the risk.

 

Minoxidil, however, is not associated with ED. There have been some reports linking the two but where as finasteride does have a direct involvement in your hormonal system (and therefore it's at least plausible it can cause damage there), minoxidil does not affect your body in the same way. My suggestion would be at very least to get on Rogaine/generic minoxidil 2% (ideally 5%). About the worst you can expect from minoxidil is an itchy scalp, and that's not usually that bad. Minoxidil is not as effective as finasteride, but it's more effective than nothing and it might "buy" you a bit more time whilst you make a decision over finasteride.

[waveskier]

The short answer VIAGRA!

[Sparky]

No one is gonna do scientific studies on any herbal or natural remedies because they cant patent them, so no money in it for them. I'll probably give Saw Palmetto a go when I run out of fin, as I know of quite a few people who have had the same success with it that i've had with fin.

[Danielkiwi]

No one is gonna do scientific studies on any herbal or natural remedies because they cant patent them, so no money in it for them. I'll probably give Saw Palmetto a go when I run out of fin, as I know of quite a few people who have had the same success with it that i've had with fin.

 

What do you mean when i trun out of Fin? Does that mean if you run out of current supply or does that mean if and when you get sides with Fin.

[monkey]

The short answer VIAGRA!

Which won't help your libido at all....

 

It's a tough call really, as you read sites that say things will get worse before they get better - which is what made me keep going with it, but after a while I realised that wasnt' going to work.

 

I'd say try it for a month, but if it's starting to give you negatives, then that is the time to stop.

[Sean]

No one is gonna do scientific studies on any herbal or natural remedies because they cant patent them, so no money in it for them. I'll probably give Saw Palmetto a go when I run out of fin, as I know of quite a few people who have had the same success with it that i've had with fin.

 

 

Sparky, I too am thinking about whether to use saw palmetto. It is for a healthy prostate and finisteride does help the prostate as well. The whole patent issue is what I always thought, but then some people said saw palmetto doesn't work as good as finisteride from personal experience, although scientific studies have not been done for those claims. I am thinking of also giving saw palmetto a shot, maybe using it together with meds may help? Anyone else here have good results using saw palmetto? Is there a certain dosage that is preferred? Saw palmetto comes in different mg, or standardized, or extracts, etc. What would be the best one to take? Any ideas?

[Sparky]

What do you mean when i trun out of Fin? Does that mean if you run out of current supply or does that mean if and when you get sides with Fin.

 

When I run out of my current supply. I dont get sides with fin.

[mahhong]

A couple of things to mention about Saw Palmetto:

 

It has in some instances been linked to the same problems that fin can potentially cause; depression, loss of libido etc. It seems that the instances of these problems are a lot less, but that my be for reasons mentioned below.

 

Secondly, some people have reported SP have caused them to have ulcers and bleeding in the stomach. This is of course a very rare report and hasn't been scientifically verified.

 

Lastly, tests on Saw Palmetto are inconclusive both in terms of efficacy and safety. There have been some trials which have thrown up mixed results, but nothing as large in scale as the fin trial. In addition, proper research on dosage hasn't been conducted. Some people are taking 10 times more SP than others. This may be the reason less sides are generally reported (because some people aren't taking a high enough dose). I suspect the other reason is pscyhosomatic (people believing SP must be healthy and risk free because it's natural and so do not pick up on small symptoms as much).

 

Anyway, I am not wanting to put anybody off; SP certainly cannot be more potent than fin and people have reported good results on it. But it does work slightly differently to fin and all I would suggest is don't be fooled into assuming it's safe and natural and lovely. It still blocks DHT and it can still have an effect on your endocrine system. I would argue that effect could in theory be as small or as large as the effects of fin.

 

One more thing, fin blocks one type of DHT (we have two types). SP seems to inhibit both types, including a type found in the brain. There has been no conclusive research into whether this is a problem or can cause any further issues, but it's something to be aware of.

 

Ultimately it would seem fin and SP are pretty safe for most people. They're certainly not "poison", but fin is still the most thoroughly tested and documented hair loss drug out there (that works). I think taking SP is fine as long as nobody does it out of assumption it's automatically safer or better because it comes under the label "natural".

[Alex123]

Thank you guys for all your thoughts. Based on all the inputs, I can conclude that Finasteride is a "DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK" thing and I have decided not to go for HT at this point. To me it is quite ironical that many folks here are ready to squander $4000+ to attract the opposite sex and go for HT but they won't be successful in going past first date if at all they become victims of ED or low libido etc.

At the moment I am considering to buy Hairmax Laser comb and even though the reviews of this product is not that great, I just wanna take a chance because so far there are no side effects.

I would really appreciate if someone can shed more light on their experiences with laser comb from hairmax (no other company plz).

Thank you once again

~A

[mahhong]

Hi Alex,

 

Yep, you're absolutely right, fin is very much "use at own risk"! I would estimate the risk of side effects is fairly small, probably a bit higher than the <2% Merck quote but maybe not much higher. The reported "permanent" or long term side effects are much less common; I would estimate in reality far less than even 0.1% (although it's difficult to quote statistics without doing a lot of research). In other words, risks are pretty small. The potential impact of those risks is high though, which is the downside. If you're one of those guys to get badly affected it would seem fin can be pretty difficult to deal with. But that's not the scientific opinion, only the opinion of a minority.

 

If you're worried about taking fin but interested my advice would be go see a doctor and maybe get your endocrine system checked over (blood tests etc), at least in terms of the basics (which other people on here can help you analyse). It offers no guarantees but it's quite surprising how finasteride is given to patients to treat a symptom of a larger cause. You wouldn't give thyroid tablets out just because someone felt tired all the time; you'd try and pin down what was wrong first. If your endocrine system looks fit and healthy and everything is reading in normal ranges that means you reduce the risks of fin even further. You can't eliminate them, but you can do your homework before you try it.

 

As for laser comb, the jury is still out on it. There are a few websites (you'll have to research them as I can't post links) that tell you how to make your own, supposedly much more effective laser combs. You'd have to really research that because you don't want to mess with lasers, but they're relatively safe as the sorts of strength we're talking about. I don't use a laser comb, but the consensus from some people would seem to be that commercially available laser combs are not really designed well enough to do much good to your hair. Some of the DIY laser combs have reported more success, but that's unverified. Might be cheaper and worth checking out though?

 

Ultimately laser combs are FDA approved safe but not FDA approved useful. Like everything, there are some people who claim they're superb and others that claim they're a waste of money. You have to do the research and decide whether you think it's worth a go or not.

 

I would also suggest minoxidil if you're not on that already. Not as effective as propecia but much less chance of getting serious side effects and not as "intrusive" in terms of how it works with your body. Can cause some side effects but they're usually mild (sensitivity, irritation etc.). Minoxidil effectively works as what's called a "potassium channel opener". In short it would seem to open blood vessels and make them work more efficiently, which in turn causes hair follicles to be enriched and healthier. That;s why propecia and minoxidil work well as a team; they both do very different things, so they have a better chance of "helping each other out".

[hairloon]

I had a HT 13 days ago and I have not been prescibed these medication or any medication for hair growth.

[YouOnlyLiveOnce]

No side effects for me. I'm only on FIN though.

 

I wake up every with the wood and have no issues keeping it up during matress mambo

[Tom60]

wow...TMI, "YouOnlyLiveOnce".

 

I can't really see how this would affect the libido. Wouldn't it seem that all surgery would be included in this? Not just ht?