I have a confession to make..........

[stephcurry30]

I was first in denial when i started to bald. My dad at the age of 60 years old had a hairline of a 18 year old. My uncle at the age of 40 was a norwood 2. So I thought I would never be balding. 

When I looked at my old facebook photos and then in the mirror one day when I was 22 I started to cry because i finally realized I was balding. I was past a norwood 2 headed to a norwood 3. I was devastated. 

My first year on propecia I was popping 1 mg pills in the morning and before bed. After a year I saw no growth but also no further loss. I wanted more regrowth and order dutastiride from an indian website. It was confirmed from other people that it is legit. 

Since that day I've been popping 0.5 mg dutas, 1 mg finastiride pills every single day (sometimes 2 a day). I've been obsessed about my hair loss and want to stop it and I have. 

I guess my confession is that I have turned a blind eye to some of the side effects that I have been dealing with which are brain fog and lost libido and I don't care. I'm still able to have sex but not as often as other people my age. And I'm okay with it. 

Is that weird? That I am willing to forgo and live with some minor side effects from finastiride and dutas to maintain my current hair? These minor side effects haven't effected my life at all and I just wanted to get some opinions from others. 

 

[makehairgreatagain]

It's your life and you can choose how to live it.

I would recommend talking to your doctor about your medication routine as it sounds like you've become your own pharmacist.

I'd also encourage to get finasteride or dutasteride from reputable suppliers and not the bargain company online who could be sending out dummy pills for all you know.

[stephcurry30]

8 minutes ago, makehairgreatagain said:

It's your life and you can choose how to live it.

I would recommend talking to your doctor about your medication routine as it sounds like you've become your own pharmacist.

I'd also encourage to get finasteride or dutasteride from reputable suppliers and not the bargain company online who could be sending out dummy pills for all you know.

I appreciate your concern but dutastiride is not FDA approved in the states. I've tried to get a prescription from every doctor in the states and none of them would do it. 

[makehairgreatagain]

It's not FDA approved for hairloss like Finasteride is. What types of doctors were you going to?

[stephcurry30]

6 minutes ago, makehairgreatagain said:

It's not FDA approved for hairloss like Finasteride is. What types of doctors were you going to?

I went to dermatologists, family practitioners, and hair transplant surgeons trying to get a prescription for dutastiride. 

[Curious25]

Only you can answer that question, because it is you who is living with ‘you’ each day. 

For some people those side effects would be severe enough to stop, for others not, 

It’s all subjective. Some people aren’t affected by hair loss - we all clearly are, albeit at different levels on the scale of concern, in which you seem to be at the higher end judging by your double dosing self prescription. 

Just be aware of the potential side affects and think long and hard about whether you would be comfortable living with those long term. (They may or may not occur). 

[Melvin- Admin]

People weigh pros and cons differently, for me, I would rather go bald 10x over than deal with sexual dysfunction.

[pkipling]

I don't think it's weird at all... And it's why I always tell guys who are on the fence about taking Finasteride that it's ultimately up to them. They have to consider for themselves what's important. I experienced mild sides myself, and for me, I chose my libido and stopped taking Fin - regardless of how mild the sides are. I know it puts me at much greater risk of losing more hair in the future, but I'm fine with that and will address it accordingly should I need to cross that bridge down the raod. There's no right or wrong answer here. So as long as you're at peace with it, that's all that matters. 

[aaron1234]

Don't men lose libido with age anyways, regardless of fin?  How can fin users be so sure that fin is the cause behind it?

Edited August 23, 2020 by aaron1234

[giegnosiganoe]

4 hours ago, stephcurry30 said:

I appreciate your concern but dutastiride is not FDA approved in the states. I've tried to get a prescription from every doctor in the states and none of them would do it. 

That's unfortunate.. I simply asked my doctor if he could prescribe it to me, telling him that it has been shown to work better than finasteride with similar rates of side effects. He looked it up, agreed with me based on the literature, and prescribed it to me. I understand the doctor gets the last word but that's pretty ignorant of them to deny you.. tons of medications are used off-label.

 

Regarding the sides, I don't think that's weird at all. I don't have any sides, but heck, I'd gladly take a slight drop in libido to get even better results from the meds. There are ways to work around that. Never experienced brain fog though and not quite sure what it's like, so I can't speak to that.

Now, if I had a simple balding pattern (say NW3) and a thick donor, would I continue taking finasteride even if I had sides? Probably not. I could just get a couple of hair transplants and be set for life. But given that I'm diffuse thinning all over my scalp, it would be pretty much impossible for me to get an acceptable result without finasteride. So I think it heavily depends on the patient and comes down to whether the benefits outweigh the costs for your own situation.

I will say however that taking multiple pills a day is a bit odd. I don't think there's any proven benefit to doing so, especially if you're taking dutasteride which has a very long half life. Once a day is simple enough to adhere to and has been shown to work well. Also, the fact that you're already taking dutasteride makes finasteride pretty pointless.

[Al - Moderator]

You can try cutting the fin dose in half. It shouldnt make a difference in the effect on your hair, but it may lessen any other side effects. If you feel better taking it twice a day then take half a pill two times daily rather than 1 pill two times daily.

 

[Mycroft]

Yeah, stop with the inconsistent drug dosing. "Sometimes I take one a day and sometimes two" is a big fluctuation in dosing that is likely causing extra unnecessary hormonal fluctuation. Pick a dose and stick to it.

Additionally, there are online services that will prescribe Dutasteride for hair loss. They're not as common as sites offering Finasteride but they do exist if you want to remove that X factor of not knowing if your stuff is legit.

[pkipling]

On 8/22/2020 at 5:00 PM, aaron1234 said:

Don't men lose libido with age anyways, regardless of fin?  How can fin users be so sure that fin is the cause behind it?

I suppose there's never a way to know with absolute certainty, especially considering that the fear/anxiety of experiencing side effects can often cause us to experience them (or at least convince ourselves that we are...) - especially when those side effects are sexual in nature. When faced with the potential of a side effect, it's easy for our minds to be extra vigilant and start placing more attention on things that are otherwise normal, yet we heighten them to think that they're not...

So aside from extreme cases where it's very obvious, it really comes down to each individual being present and in tune with their bodies to know if there's been a somewhat sudden change in bodily functions after taking Fin. For myself, I had a suspicion that things down south weren't working like they normally did before Fin, but I remained open to the possibility that it was all in my mind. Eventually, I stopped taking the drug to see if things returned to normal - and it appeared that they did. So I gave it one more go with the medication, and those same sides returned. I'm fortunate enough in regards to my MPB that I felt comfortable stopping taking Fin altogether - but that's an individual choice for each of us based on what risks we're willing to take and what our priorities are. 

[Melvin- Admin]

17 minutes ago, pkipling said:

I suppose there's never a way to know with absolute certainty, especially considering that the fear/anxiety of experiencing side effects can often cause us to experience them (or at least convince ourselves that we are...) - especially when those side effects are sexual in nature. When faced with the potential of a side effect, it's easy for our minds to be extra vigilant and start placing more attention on things that are otherwise normal, yet we heighten them to think that they're not...

So aside from extreme cases where it's very obvious, it really comes down to each individual being present and in tune with their bodies to know if there's been a somewhat sudden change in bodily functions after taking Fin. For myself, I had a suspicion that things down south weren't working like they normally did before Fin, but I remained open to the possibility that it was all in my mind. Eventually, I stopped taking the drug to see if things returned to normal - and it appeared that they did. So I gave it one more go with the medication, and those same sides returned. I'm fortunate enough in regards to my MPB that I felt comfortable stopping taking Fin altogether - but that's an individual choice for each of us based on what risks we're willing to take and what our priorities are. 

Should update us with how your hair looks now, it’s been what 6 years since your procedure?

[pkipling]

1 minute ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

Should update us with how your hair looks now, it’s been what 6 years since your procedure?

Yep! Can't believe it's been that long... I've been extremely fortunate that things have stabilized. I'll get some new official photos at Mohebi's office soon and make a new post. 

[Gabreille Nelson Mukhia]

You can use topical Finasteride and see how it fares for you. Maybe it could be helpful for you.

[ihategonigbald]

Since that day I've been popping 0.5 mg dutas, 1 mg finastiride pills every single day (sometimes 2 a day). I've been obsessed about my hair loss and want to stop it and I have. 

 

That is not safe nor good. That's overkill. More doesn't mean better. This like the idiots that take steroids....more= better until they keel over.

 

surely 0.5MG of Dutasteride is more than enough? I am surprised no Dr. has come on here to tell you to stop.

[ihategonigbald]

So what is the view on topical Finasteride? Even topical Dutasteride? If you an get simiiar from topical I'd much rather go down that road.

 

Quote

You can use topical Finasteride and see how it fares for you. Maybe it could be helpful for you.

 

[ihategonigbald]

But you aren't are you? The balding doe snot stop.....That's the point. you can cover it up buy some time but it's still going on..

 

Quote

Now, if I had a simple balding pattern (say NW3) and a thick donor, would I continue taking finasteride even if I had sides? Probably not. I could just get a couple of hair transplants and be set for life. But given that I'm diffuse thinning all over my scalp

 

[Mycroft]

3 hours ago, ihategonigbald said:

So what is the view on topical Finasteride? Even topical Dutasteride? If you an get simiiar from topical I'd much rather go down that road.

 

 

I've seen some good topical Finasteride results. I've actually seen a couple of doctors argue that it may be MORE effective than the pill form assuming application that yields an equivalent dose.