Balding Blog

Looking for a genuine answer since I’m just on the fence about taking and so just won’t to fully understand it before I put it in my body. Want to make sure that the alterations it will make to my bodies chemistry won’t be harmful and if it potentially is I’d like to know also obviously so yah basically my main questions are in the title. Also if anyone could speak on the people who claim it can fry your endocrine system and also diminish the neurosteroids in your brain causing brain damage.

If anyone could offer any kind of responses that would be amazing, thank you so much I’m advance.

Men with genetic hair loss are impacted by DHT which triggers ‘apoptosis’ which is essentially killing selective hairs in a pattern of hair loss that you inherited according to an internal clock in each hair follicle stem cell. Since it is the DHT that triggers the hair loss, drugs like finasteride blocks the site where the DHT attacks the hair follicle stem cells. This block is not 100%, but rather about 70% for finasteride. In the original Merck study, the side effects were low (sexual side effects under 3%, even less when compared to the placebo) and it is clear from their 5 year study that those taking finasteride maintained a much higher hair count than those who did not take it (see here: https://baldingblog.com/finasteride-will-i-keep-more-hair-staying-on-it/ ).

DHT is a powerful male hormone and impacts every organ system in the human body but the recommended dose of 1mg was so low, that Merck believed that it was safe even for other organ systems. Since the drug came out (about 20 years ago), millions of men have taken it (the original study was much smaller) so it is not surprising to see reports of other side effects that were not seen 20 years ago.

I started fin 13 months ago 1mg /daily. At first I had sides, loss of sex drive, runny ejac, and shitty boners. I’m a vain man, I work in sales and I figured this was all worth keeping my head of hair. Fast forward 3 months and they went away. I was hesitant to celebrate but it’s been 9 months and they haven’t come back. Fin not only stopped my balding dead in its tracks, also got some regrowth. I’m 31 so hair loss is pretty normal at this age but I still get the “you lucky bastard” comments from the less hairy lol. This might sound dramatic but good looks are an insane advantage in our society and finasteride saved my life lol.

This is a positive story, something about side effects one doesn’t hear often

I have seen the sexual side effects appear after a man has been on the drug for months or years. The incidence reported of 2-4% was reported over a 5-year period of time, but I agree with you, that it may be more than the reported numbers. Most people, when they get off the drug, will find that the sexual side effects disappear in a month or two.

11 months of finasteride use, but side effects are becoming increasingly real from tressless

Basically, my question is if you experience side effects right away on Finasteride, what percentage of people have them go away, and is there an increased chance of prolonged ED? Thanks for your help!

Some people see the side effects within the first week of taking Finasteride, and some men see the side effects subside over a few months. I do believe that the long-term sexual side effects may be real, but it is difficult to filter between those people who see profit from filing a legal action against the drug company by making up complains and real complaints by ordinary men not interested in lawsuits. In some countries where there is no significant risk of class action lawsuits against the drug company, the reports of permanent sexual side effects are not present. If they are real, they are very rare, I suspect significantly less than 1%.

How long after stopping finasteride did it take to recover from sides?

Everyone seems to take a different amount of time to reverse finasteride side effects when stopping the drug. The range in my experience relates to how long you have been on the drug. The range is between 2 – 16 weeks.

If you are getting any of these side effects discussed in this article, you should sit down with your doctor and determine if taking the drug is worth the negative value discussed in this article.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4064044/

My hairline has receded at what I’d call an accelerated rate since I began finasteride. Would that be a bad sign or considered natural?

It should stop shortly, but that is assuming that the shed is the result of the medication and not your balding process itself.

I started using a higher dose of topical finasteride about a month ago and ever since then I have been noticing more hairloss. I do know the so-called “finasteride shed” (initial period where hairloss temporarily increases) but I am surprised that it started literally the day after my first application (I thought it should take some time to start working). I have been monitoring the amount of my hairloss (after washing my hair) for months and nowadays I see about twice as much hair in the bathtub than before. I know that this is probably happening due to finasteride and that it should be a good sign but a part of me still worries that it might be just my hairloss getting more aggressive.

Could you please advise me on how long the increased shedding period should approximately last

Hey Doc- I had a quick question. Have you seen any patients have hair loss worsened by Fin? I took fin from roman for maybe a week and had such extreme shedding immediately that I stopped. Shedding continued for 8 weeks or so and stopped but I went from a NW2 to a NW4 in that time. Do you think this will grow back? I tried Min, but the sides were bad for me and made it extremely uncomfortable. Thanks!

I have heard about shedding, but I haven’t seen it myself in my patient population so it must be rare. I gather that those who have it should stay on the medication as their is a delayed response but the response usually does happen in a couple of months.

A 10 months Finasteride shed is unlikely. It is more likely an acceleration of your primary genetic hair loss.

Absolutely huge finasteride shed 10 months in has anyone recovered from this? from tressless