How Well (or Not) Has Finasteride/Propecia Worked for You?

Hey mostly guys,

I started generic Finasteride three weeks ago. I’ve been on some sort of TRT since I was 28, I’ll be 32 tomorrow. Both sides of my family have hair loss but by some miracle I’ve made it this far with 90% of my hair. Maybe its from being hypogonadal at a young age but I’ve been pretty lucky in that regard. However about a year ago I did notice some temple recession and a lot more hair fall. After doing research I decided to hop on generic Finasteride, starting the usual dose of 1mg a day. I’m not concerned with the side effects, if I’ve learned one thing about my therapy its what percentage makes me feel “optimal”. If you are one of those who have had very severe side effects from the drug I genuinely feel for you and hope it gets resolved if it hasn’t already. But I dont want to turn this thread into Finasteride hate group. If you had a bad experience, just leave it at that. Please do not shame or fear monger those who are on it.

I’m more curious about those who are on testosterone treatment along with Finasteride for hair loss. Have you seen any improvement or at least a slow down in hair fall? Or do you feel that while on therapy its effectiveness is not very good? I’m not stressed out about losing my hair, its something I’ve been warned about and prepared for my entire life since I have a very high chance its in my genes. I’m just curious if I should expect to see any difference. I’m thinking it should because it is supposed to reduce DHT by 70% and so that should put my DHT levels well below what they were even before TRT.

Interested to hear your experiences!

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After 3 days my balls ached so bad I could barely sit. Dr. said it was all in my head. That it was impossible for me to fall into the 1% of individuals that experience that side effect.

Gave it 2 more days and happily gave the 90 dollar script to my dad who asked why I didn’t want to take it. I told him it made my balls hurt. It is still sitting in his medicine cabinet.

This was 13 years ago.

F that shit. Do your own reading on the sides that people experience with finasteride. There were dozens of sites when I looked up my symptoms over a decade ago, I’m pretty sure there are even more now.

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You’re taking a drug that might kill your dick to prevent hair loss. You must be terrified of losing your hair on a level that I can’t even fathom.

If you have good hygene, present well and are a halfway decent person then you will not notice a difference in your life if the top of your head is missing hair.

Besides having to put a hat on for cold and very sunny days (which you should anyway)

I think there’s way too much fear-mongering around the side effects. It works for most people, especially when combined with minoxidil. Saw palmetto may be effective as well if you’re looking to go the natural route.

“It works for most people” is a piss-poor reason to take something. The bad side effects may not happen very often, but weighing the risk vs reward here is a no-brainer. Just suck it up and go bald like every other person, I don’t understand how men can be so vain about something that happens to everyone.

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Are you losing your hair?

I’m 29. Hair is thinned out in front and already a bald patch in the middle.

It’s like that in my family, I’ll be bald before I’m 40. Are you implying that me telling people to suck it up is because I don’t understand the trauma of something as silly as losing hair?

And even if I wasn’t losing hair, I would still laugh at people taking a drug that has killed nearly 16 thousand dicks around the world because oh me oh my, I won’t be a man without my hair!

Definitely not. Just curious on your perspective since you seem to have very strong feelings about it.

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I’m just flabbergasted, man. This isn’t some tiny side effect, and it’s not something that happened to one person. It’s EVERYWHERE. We get people on here presenting with symptoms all the time. I’m also outraged at the doctors that suggest and prescribe it. But yes, I’m totally coming at you too strong for your benign comment, so apologies, I just know when people make up their mind to take something, 20 people can be screaming “don’t do it” and they’ll listen to the one guy who’s like “it’s not that bad”.

There are definitely people who’ve had negative side effects, no doubt. Based on what I’ve seen from research on the drug, about 2-3% of people experience side effects. I think that those affected are very over-represented in the online forums.

2-3% is fucking crazy, dude. Do you know how incredibly high of a percentage that is for serious side effects?

It’s definitely notable. Although, I wonder how many of that 2-3% are experiencing a placebo effect. I’d guess that many users have high anxiety and have probably read up on the potential side effects. They may be expecting them, and therefore experience it. Just a hypothesis.

That’s possible. I have no way of knowing that, and it could be much rarer than I think. Totally willing to admit that. It’s the impotence part. That is one hell of a fucking “side effect”. We’re not talking about diarrhea or hives or dizziness, we’re literally talking chemical castration for some people. The 2-3 percent, assuming that’s ballpark accurate, I know includes minor side effects and isn’t completely made up of impotent people.

I also know you’re right about the forum fearmongering - nobody’s gonna go on an obscure forum and make an account to be like, “finasteride worked, I have more hair”. But realistically, what would you say is an acceptable risk percentage for being impotent, if the only benefit is gaining back some hair, temporarily?

If you want to have kids and there is any risk at all, it’s not worth it. I haven’t seen anything about it causing impotence. Just symptoms like ED and decreased libido. If you have a source that mentions irreversible impotence I’d be interested to read about that.

Well really didnt want to turn this into one of “those” kind of finasteride threads but I guess you just cant now-a-days.

I’ve done my research on the sides. In fact there is a great study on the effect of finasteride and its work in conjunction with testosterone treatment. However it does not really into detail of hair loss while on trt, so that’s why I was looking for anecdotal evidence from people here. I encourage any finasteride fear monger to read this entire study… Effect of Testosterone Supplementation With and Without a Dual 5α-Reductase Inhibitor on Fat-Free Mass in Men With Suppressed Testosterone Production A Randomized Controlled Trial - PMC

" Consistent with this model, men with benign prostatic hyperplasia who were receiving dutasteride and who had low testosterone concentrations were more likely to report sexual dysfunction than those with normal testosterone concentrations.38 Although young men in our trial and in a previous trial42 who received dutasteride reported satisfactory sexual intercourse, older men with low testosterone concentrations (the likely recipients of these drugs) may be at risk for developing erectile dysfunction when treated with 5 α -reductase inhibitors."

AND

“Thus, the inhibition of testosterone’s conversion to DHT by dutasteride had no significant effect on the ability of testosterone to exert its effects on muscle mass and strength, sexual function, erythropoiesis, plasma lipid levels, prostate volume, and sebum production. Instead, over the range of testosterone concentrations that were achieved (and which spanned the entire physiological male range and extended well into the subphysiological and supraphysiological range for men), testosterone was able to subserve all androgen-dependent functions that were studied herein”

In other words, with testosterone supplemented, the lowered DHT levels have no effect on labido or erectial function. Those who are prone to the side effects of finasteride were likely those who we’re relying on the DHT to support their tow testosterone. Once the DHT was removed they experiences the sides.

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I wonder how much of this has to do with dosing. One of my buddies takes it, also on TRT. He does not have great hair to begin with, so I don’t know why he even bothers. I told him to be careful with it. He told me that his doctor (a TRT doc) told him that he was going to be put on about 1/4 the standard dose, and that the doc thought that the typical dose was too much, and caused sides, but also that 1/4 dose should be almost as effective as the full dose.

I wonder how many would have sides if they took much less, I wonder how effective the drug would be. I think the same thing about AIs. I think many docs years ago were prescribing 1-2 mg of adex a week. Now many are prescribing 0.25-.5 mg of adex (for TRT).

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Yeah, I’m gonna back out of here - I’ve hijacked the thread in a direction the OP didn’t want and my objection was stated, so I’m just gonna be beating a dead horse. Statistically the OP will likely be fine and it won’t be a big deal.

I can appreciate the effort in warning, especially if its coming from someone who has had personal experience. But for the purpose of this thread lets just pretend there arent any side effects, I’m more interested in its effectiveness for hair loss WHILE on TRT.