Erectile problems. Not sure what to do.

[Tragedy86]

I'm truly sorry this is very long. I don't have anyone to speak to about my hairloss and maybe everything just spilled out. The important paragraphs are from 3 onwards. I hope I can get some answers here, because I'm very scared of what might happen either way and not sure what to do about it.

 

Hi there, I've been having a problem and I'm not sure where to turn. I hope I can get some advice here. Hairloss has been very hard on me, since I started losing my hair my life has totally changed. Even since I started posting here which was in 08 I think, I wouldn't in my wildest imagination guess that I would be where I am today because of it. That being said, I'm able to handle the psychological aspect of it and have been cleared of depression.

 

I come here because maybe more than a year and a half ago I started taking avodart, I've been on Propecia since 08 and I felt that it has not been as effective anymore. I know that it's still working but I was losing hair very fast. Having not had any side effects from Propecia at all, I decided to try it. I'm a bit foggy on the details, but I think I started to notice some problems or maybe it wasn't really working so I switched to 2.5mg of Proscar. Actually I think all this might have took place over two years ago, I can't remember the exact details sorry. But, when I was on 2.5mg I felt the parts that were shedding, grew back. It was really looking good and I was happy. Proscar is cheaper and everything seems to be in order.

 

However, about a year ago I started to notice some problems with my ejaculation and erections. This year at one point, I wasn't ejaculating at all and wasn't even able to get hard. I quickly, went down to 1.25mg and within a week, I started to ejaculate and all but it wasn't as strong as before. Thinking that cutting Proscar into 4 pieces, still messes up the dosage (you're not going to get 1.25 in 4 pieces), I decided to go back to Propecia.

 

When I went back to 1.25mg of Proscar, it wasn't as severe anymore but I noticed 3 things that I stayed. First, my erections aren't as hard not like those years when I was on Propecia anyway. Semen is less and my orgasms aren't as enjoyable. A month and half since I went back to Propecia and I'm still experiencing these problems. I used to masterbate once every day but lately I've been taking breaks a few days just to test out if my erections and semen just needs a break.

 

The reason I'm here is because when all this started, and I saw the effects of Propecia, I knew I was still losing my hair and I figured that eventually when it's effectiveness runs out, I'll get used to my hair and will be able to resume my life. I realized not long ago, that the psychological damage that I've suffered from hairloss is so severe for someone who is only probably an NW2 or NW3. Honestly, there's tons of ways I could style my hair to hide it and yet I'm sporting a cap most of the time. People just look at me in shock when I'm not wearing a cap and probably wonder why I always wear a cap. That being said, I realize that I'll need Propecia because I'll never be able to overcome hairloss. I'm sort of keeping my head just above the water and if I let go of it, I'll drown. I know it sounds drastic but even I never expected to be so attached to it and I won't go into explaining why either as this thread is already way too long.

 

So I'm here asking, what can I do? What do you think this is related to? I lead a very sedentary lifestyle, should I exercise more? Are these problems I'm having reversible? Should I cut down my dosage to 1mg every two days? I'm very scared and I'm not sure what to do. I'm 29 years old if it matters.

[Tragedy86]

I was thinking of cutting down the Propecia dosage and starting Minoxidil. I tried Minoxidil years ago but I just figured it was too difficult to use and I was happy with the results of Propecia. I was wondering does Minoxidil have any affect on sexual problems like Finasteride?

[TakingThePlunge]

Tragedy86,

 

You've got a very complex case. You've been taking hair loss meds for at least 7 years and seem to have switched drugs and doses a number of times. Though it's well known that these drugs can result in the symptoms you've described, there are certainly many potential causes.

 

The best advice I can give you is consult with your GP or prescribing physician.

 

When I was taking 1/4 generic Proscar, I also had similar side effects. I found that cutting the dose down to a 1/4 MWF reduced but did not fully eliminate the sides. However, they were mild enough that I could live with them.

 

Despite what you may hear to the contrary, there are no sexual sided effects rlated to the use of minoxidil as it is not a DHT inhibitor.

 

Though I strongly recommend consulting with your doctor, I would agree that reducing your finasteride dose and adding minoxidil to your regmen are probably good ideas.

[DISpHAIR]

Tragedy,

 

I certainly understand what youre going through. I think people, including doctors, over complicate what actually occurs when you take any derivative of finaseride. The difference in my opinion is that you didn't become aware of the effects until you reduced your Dht levels so drastically that erections could not occur.

 

I think of it this way. Everyone has a bank of free testosterone. Through time and other factors such as drugs, ie- finasteride, each individual's bank becomes depleted. There is no question in my mind that everyone has a side effect profile from finasteride. It just varies in degree because of characteristics like; how much free testosterone you naturally have, your overall health, your BP, and probably most importantly the conversion rate of free testosterone to DHT. These are just some of the contributing factors that impact why some can go days without side effects and some can go years. Think about it from a different perspective. Some people get drunk off one drink, some off two, some it takes a pint of liquor. Ethanol is still the administrating drug. It just has a different conversion rate from person to person. In this analogy, you can think of beer, wine, gin, rum, whiskey. They are all fermented differently, but they all have the same or similar chemical composition, that being ethanol. Further, it can greatly differ in amounts of time before one becomes aware they are buzzed, then intoxicated, then blacked out.

 

I need to say that I am not a medical doctor and these are just my opinions from experience and a bachelors degree in business law and post education in the medical field. We are all humans and are physiologically very similar. With that said, the degrees of variance should only depend on the slight differences I mentioned above.

 

If I were you, I would make a decision as to what is more important to you. That choice being, your sexual and possibly overall health or your hair. There is no great option currently. It's most important to think rationally, not emotionally. Think about the future and its possibilities. In the interim of that, consider the treatments that are available currently. If I were losing my hair badly, I would weigh every option out and make a decision. I wanted to respond to you because I noticed the composition of my hair changing over the last 10 years or so. Luckily I haven't lost much at all. I did try propecia and proscar in two different periods and had the exact same sexual side effects you did. I quit. I now have a family and more important things to consider, than just dwelling on my hair. If I ever lost it, I'd probably buy a great touppee or get good smp.

 

I want to conclude by emphasizing that I am in no way a medical doctor and these are just my opinions and it is possible my thought process could be completely flawed. I just think if your body is telling you something, you should listen as it is most likely important. I also edited this because I wanted to add something that I anticipate will not be very popular but important. This is thinking about the reasons why hair is so important to you. Is it acceptance you seek? Is it loneliness you have? Do you wish to have a relationship and potentially children? You have to be honest, and carefully self reflect. If for example, your goal is to get a girlfriend and not be lonely. I can promise you that while it may or may not be more challenging attaining a relationship. If you can't get an erection, you have close to 0 % chance of that relationship being sustainable. There are two reasons: first, a partner wants sex. It's very important to almost every girl I have ever met. Secondly, let's assume you found someone where sex wasn't important. The fact that she would never be able to make you aroused, would make her think you weren't attracted to her and she would be gone before she felt rejected.

 

I also want to point out that although there have been many "successful" hair transplants, this is usually a long term commitment that appears to occupy your mind. I think accepting reality is so much more valuable than not accepting you're balding and unnaturally transfer hair. Acceptance is a huge part of life that is not exclusive to hair. It applies to your childhood, your financial success, personal success, relationships, and the list goes on. I'm speaking a bit ignorantly because I have never had a HT, but I feel that most who have can't accept what is reality. So then comes the question, are they ever really going to be fulfilled without having acceptance? I don't know that answer. I think you should think about what you're trying to accomplish by having hair.

Edited September 15, 2015 by DISpHAIR

[Tragedy86]

Tragedy86,

 

You've got a very complex case. You've been taking hair loss meds for at least 7 years and seem to have switched drugs and doses a number of times. Though it's well known that these drugs can result in the symptoms you've described, there are certainly many potential causes.

 

The best advice I can give you is consult with your GP or prescribing physician.

 

When I was taking 1/4 generic Proscar, I also had similar side effects. I found that cutting the dose down to a 1/4 MWF reduced but did not fully eliminate the sides. However, they were mild enough that I could live with them.

 

Despite what you may hear to the contrary, there are no sexual sided effects rlated to the use of minoxidil as it is not a DHT inhibitor.

 

Though I strongly recommend consulting with your doctor, I would agree that reducing your finasteride dose and adding minoxidil to your regmen are probably good ideas.

In my country we don't need a prescription so I never went to a doctor for it. My GP isn't very good either misdiagnosed me with a few things, I was living with vertigo from just slight movements for two months because she said I'd have to live with it. I've already started cutting down, and will try it out and see. Thank you for the information, it really helps a lot, you have no idea. I had a bad day yesterday and I didn't want to come here and deal with this that's why I'm late with the reply.

[Tragedy86]

Tragedy,

 

I certainly understand what youre going through. I think people, including doctors, over complicate what actually occurs when you take any derivative of finaseride. The difference in my opinion is that you didn't become aware of the effects until you reduced your Dht levels so drastically that erections could not occur.

 

I think of it this way. Everyone has a bank of free testosterone. Through time and other factors such as drugs, ie- finasteride, each individual's bank becomes depleted. There is no question in my mind that everyone has a side effect profile from finasteride. It just varies in degree because of characteristics like; how much free testosterone you naturally have, your overall health, your BP, and probably most importantly the conversion rate of free testosterone to DHT. These are just some of the contributing factors that impact why some can go days without side effects and some can go years. Think about it from a different perspective. Some people get drunk off one drink, some off two, some it takes a pint of liquor. Ethanol is still the administrating drug. It just has a different conversion rate from person to person. In this analogy, you can think of beer, wine, gin, rum, whiskey. They are all fermented differently, but they all have the same or similar chemical composition, that being ethanol. Further, it can greatly differ in amounts of time before one becomes aware they are buzzed, then intoxicated, then blacked out.

 

I need to say that I am not a medical doctor and these are just my opinions from experience and a bachelors degree in business law and post education in the medical field. We are all humans and are physiologically very similar. With that said, the degrees of variance should only depend on the slight differences I mentioned above.

 

If I were you, I would make a decision as to what is more important to you. That choice being, your sexual and possibly overall health or your hair. There is no great option currently. It's most important to think rationally, not emotionally. Think about the future and its possibilities. In the interim of that, consider the treatments that are available currently. If I were losing my hair badly, I would weigh every option out and make a decision. I wanted to respond to you because I noticed the composition of my hair changing over the last 10 years or so. Luckily I haven't lost much at all. I did try propecia and proscar in two different periods and had the exact same sexual side effects you did. I quit. I now have a family and more important things to consider, than just dwelling on my hair. If I ever lost it, I'd probably buy a great touppee or get good smp.

 

I want to conclude by emphasizing that I am in no way a medical doctor and these are just my opinions and it is possible my thought process could be completely flawed. I just think if your body is telling you something, you should listen as it is most likely important. I also edited this because I wanted to add something that I anticipate will not be very popular but important. This is thinking about the reasons why hair is so important to you. Is it acceptance you seek? Is it loneliness you have? Do you wish to have a relationship and potentially children? You have to be honest, and carefully self reflect. If for example, your goal is to get a girlfriend and not be lonely. I can promise you that while it may or may not be more challenging attaining a relationship. If you can't get an erection, you have close to 0 % chance of that relationship being sustainable. There are two reasons: first, a partner wants sex. It's very important to almost every girl I have ever met. Secondly, let's assume you found someone where sex wasn't important. The fact that she would never be able to make you aroused, would make her think you weren't attracted to her and she would be gone before she felt rejected.

 

I also want to point out that although there have been many "successful" hair transplants, this is usually a long term commitment that appears to occupy your mind. I think accepting reality is so much more valuable than not accepting you're balding and unnaturally transfer hair. Acceptance is a huge part of life that is not exclusive to hair. It applies to your childhood, your financial success, personal success, relationships, and the list goes on. I'm speaking a bit ignorantly because I have never had a HT, but I feel that most who have can't accept what is reality. So then comes the question, are they ever really going to be fulfilled without having acceptance? I don't know that answer. I think you should think about what you're trying to accomplish by having hair.

Very well written thank you. I hope you are a regular here and giving this kind of advice to people seeking counsel. I'm not sure what I'm looking for to be honest other than to just protect myself from a psychological breakdown. I have taken advantage of the gifts of Propecia and lived my life that reflects it, but rather just to have some peace of mind. I feel it's rooted somewhere deep because it's not external like looking for a partner or being accepted, it's something internal.

 

You make a good point on the HT. When it started out, I was told to wait till 25, I thought ok I'll do it then. Then when I was 25 I though, I'll wait till 30 since my hair isn't so bad and the older you are it's better. Now, I think about it and it doesn't make sense anymore. When I'm in my 40s it may not matter to have perfect hair but I'd have to maintain it because once you get the HT there's no turning back and ignoring it will make you look weird. This will probably be the same when I'm in my mid-30s in relation to Propecia but for now, it's just as important as it was when I started years ago. I don't know how to get past that, only time can do that. I will try a lower dosage and see how it goes for awhile, if it doesn't change, I'm sure the fear will take precedence and will make me stop.

 

Thank you again for taking your time to write this. The site may have saved my life when I started and didn't know what to do about my hairloss. It helped me tackle it fairly early and I'm truly grateful. Keep helping others out there, your knowledge and information means more than you know.

[conan]

Dear All,

I am taking the time to put down few words here as I think I am in the same boat as the thread opener.

I have been using propecia for the last 10 years and never really suffered about side effects , well not until the last 2 years where I started to have premature ejaculation .

As my wife and I just had twins back in 2011 I thought this was due to the fact we were not making love so often and I thought things will get back to normal as time goes on.

Also , the chemist switched from propecia to generic finasteride 18 months ago , and I might be wrong but it seems things got a lot worse since then ...

 

I already have a long history with hair grafting , I was a diffuse thinner in the early 2000's and already had 4 HTs , the last one in 2005 with Dr Seager in Toronto after the first 3 ones in Paris gave me absolutely absolutely horrible results .

 

I want to stop taking propecia but I am also afraid the rest of my natural hair will fall of and I will then have a super weird looking style ....

 

To be honest I am kind of desperate right now and I dont know who I can talk to .

 

The PE can be due to finasteride , after 7/8 years it will be kind of weird that the side effecs suddenly start .... but being almost 41 years old I also understand PE can have multiple other causes ..................

 

thanks

K

Edited January 2, 2016 by conan
orthograph

[salr]

There is definitely no sexual side effects related to minoxidil. About 2 years ago a doctor who visited my family told my cousin who was shedding hairs that this drug cannot cause long term effects. Maybe your situation is psychological.

 

Make a wise decision as to what you want to do.

[Britanium]

Hey OP any updates ?

[matt1164]

why don't you try topical fin. I had side effects with oral fin but I didn't have any with topical fin for some reason.

[Rashid36]

I wonder if people with low libido etc should take fin even if they respond well to it ?

[Thisisnotatest333]

How is your libido now? Did you do the bloodwork before taking fin? You do realize if your hormones are too high or too low fin can cause these effects. Go get your hormones checked, you can fix it