Questions for those on finasteride for more than 5 years

[starscream]

I know there are many on this forum who have been taking finasteride for a long time. A few questions to those users who have been taking finasteride for 5 years or more :

 

1. How has it helped your hair loss situation?

2. What side effects have you experienced and when did you notice them?

3. What's your dosage ?

4. Have you noticed any shedding while on finasteride and when did this happen?

[Al - Moderator]

I took it for about 11 years from when it first came out until around 2009 or 2010. I stopped taking it for several reasons including the increased side effects of loss of erections and the fact that it seemed to stop working over time and my hair was falling out again.

 

1. It definitely slowed it down in some areas and helped regrow some hair slightly in some other areas during the first few years.

 

2. Tougher to get and keep erections. For 5 of the years I was on it I was in a long distance relationship, so I only saw her once every few months. That made it easy to work around the issue because I would stop using it for a few days before I was going to see her. The side effects slowly got worse over time and I started getting very concerned about long term effects. I've never been on any other type of medication for more than a few days.

 

3. Generally from 1.25mg per day at first (5mg proscar cut in quarters) except for when I would skip a few days when I knew I would be having sex and then down to every other day near the end to try to lessen the effects.

 

4. No shedding that I can remember, but I had multiple hair transplants already and did not have much hair left to shed.

[MAGNUMpi]

Hey starscream,

I've been taking it for 15+ years. On and off for the first few years then steadily for the last 10 or so years. It has definitely slowed my hairloss. I'm pretty sure I would be somewhere around a NW5, and I'm still a NW3. It really has helped in the hair department.

I'm not sure if I got any sexual side effects. I might have, or were there other factors (age, situation, etc.) in play?

I am still 100% able to have sex with a naked girl (ha) but have become more selective and my sex drive has dropped off in the last 2-3 years. This doesnt seem to be linked to finasteride use because I was taking it for so many years before, but who knows?

I take 1 pill almost every night of the week. Sometimes I skip a day but usually not.

About shedding, I might have had some in the very beginning but it was so worth it in the long run.

[Spanker]

1. Stopped my hairloss for the past 6 years.

2. No sides that I could blame fin for. My sex drive dropped 4 Years in to taking fin after a major jobrands change. Just much busier and older. I don't blame fin and it isn't an obstacle.

3. 1.25mg

4. I do shed. I've always shed. It did not slow my shedding cycle, but my hair grows back. Wish I could slow the shedding because I believe hair basically has a predetermined amount of cycles before it starts degrading. If you have weak hair, plan on a shed, but it's temporary.

[Ernie]

1. Halted hair loss since age 24 (41 yo now) - have only missed a few days

2. No sides attributed to the medication.

3. 1mg daily

4. I never noticed a shed - maybe when I started? But can't remember as it was ages ago.

 

Fin is the best "hair transplant" you'll ever get :-)

[echoes]

I know there are many on this forum who have been taking finasteride for a long time. A few questions to those users who have been taking finasteride for 5 years or more :

 

1. How has it helped your hair loss situation?

2. What side effects have you experienced and when did you notice them?

3. What's your dosage ?

4. Have you noticed any shedding while on finasteride and when did this happen?

 

I have been using it almost continuously for about 10 years: started around 21, 22, and am turning 32 in a few months.

 

1. A great deal, especially in the vertex.

2. I get less morning wood than I used to.

3. 1.25 mg/day. For awhile I experimented with lower dosages. At one point I was taking 0.2 mg once every three days. I got this low dose by crushing Proscar in vodka. I was doing that for about a year and I think that dose was too low, and I started losing a bit of hair. I'm now back up to 1.25 mg/day as I just had my FUE three weeks ago and the doctor felt strongly that finasteride is critical during the 12-15 months after FUE, so I decided to go back to the full dose.

 

In the long run I will again experiment with lowering my dose (though less than before).

 

In the very long run I will hope for something better than finasteride. Even though I've been lucky with side effects, I'd rather take something safer.

 

Since I discussed above tapering the dose, some advice for anyone looking to taper their finasteride dose:

Based on research I had read online you want to taper very very gradually so as not to shock your system, in order to reduce the risk of side effects.

 

4. I don't remember if I might have experienced this at the very beginning.

[Guest ThemanJus]

I have been on 1.25mg of Fin for 8 years now. I am lucky in the fact that I don't experience too many sides (a bit of acne and a bit of mudbrain - erections are fine). I shed lots at the start but also had the positive of a bit of hair regrowth (NWIII). Since I use it with 5% minoxidil and a hair loss shampoo and have been able to maintain pretty well.

[chrisdav]

9 years:

 

1.25 (quarter of Proscar)

No side effects.

Never regrew any hair as my loss was infront but has kept my hair strong so far.

[Bill - Seemiller]

I know there are many on this forum who have been taking finasteride for a long time. A few questions to those users who have been taking finasteride for 5 years or more :

 

1. How has it helped your hair loss situation?

2. What side effects have you experienced and when did you notice them?

3. What's your dosage ?

4. Have you noticed any shedding while on finasteride and when did this happen?

 

I'm not on finasteride anymore but that's not because it wasn't working for me nor was it because I was experiencing side effects. I only stopped because I didn't like the idea of the possibility of long term side effects if I continued taking the medication for life. This was a personal choice and not because I experienced any problems with it. That said, I thought I'd participate in the poll since I did use finasteride for about 8 years.

 

1. How has it helped your hair loss situation?

 

For the longest time, I was convinced that it was helping to keep the existing hair I had below the crown immediately above the occipital ridge. But now that I haven't used Propecia / finasteride in 2 years or more and I still haven't lost that hair, I'm not convinced it was doing anything for me.

 

2. What side effects have you experienced and when did you notice them?

 

None

 

3. What's your dosage ?

 

For about 4 years I was taking 1mg every day and then I swiched to Proscar and started taking 1.25mg every other day. The results were the same. When I stopped taking finasteride at all, the results were also the same. So I'm not sure if it was ever working for me or not

 

4. Have you noticed any shedding while on finasteride and when did this happen?

 

I started taking finasteride at the same time I underwent my first hair transplant procedure. I experienced a lot of shock loss from the procedure so I don't know if I ever experienced shedding form Propecia.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[TommyLucchese]

1. Dramatically

2. None that I'm aware of. Still crave the ladies and can 'perform'

3. Was 1mg a day but now I cut up Proscar so possibly 1.25

4. None

 

Been on Propecia since March 2010

[drakeznathan]

I know there are many on this forum who have been taking finasteride for a long time. A few questions to those users who have been taking finasteride for 5 years or more :

 

1. How has it helped your hair loss situation?

2. What side effects have you experienced and when did you notice them?

3. What's your dosage ?

4. Have you noticed any shedding while on finasteride and when did this happen?

 

Hey bro, can you answer my questions on my thread please ? Looking for an answer from fellow Indian.