Quote: (01-20-2014 11:46 AM)RioNomad Wrote:
The difference is you can go from shit to fit with some training and diet. What can you do about losing your hair? You cant grow a full head of hair once you start balding.
I agree. It only makes sense if you still have your hair, and catch the hair loss very early. I did, more or less. Or if you're willing to shell out for hair restoration surgery.
Quote: (01-20-2014 12:42 PM)CPG Wrote:
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I take propecia, and have been for two or three years. When I'm sleeping and eating well, my libido is very high, as it's long been. It fluctuates for reasons beyond me, but generally it's higher than just about anyone I know. I'm in my 20s. You have to remember that many more of the guys who aren't experiencing negative effects from finasteride aren't hanging out around hair loss forums because they're just living life.
I believe it, that's part of why hair loss is so frustrating to research...many people who get great results from a treatment stop thinking about hair, don't talk about it and just go on with their lives as you say. You end up with forums filled with the hapless guys who didn't respond to treatment, and it's hard to sift out the exceptions from the norm.
It's good propecia works for you and many others, just unfortunate the side effects are as bad as they are for those affected.
IMO, practicing doctors are better authorities because they see hundreds of cases, while men complaining on the internet only know their own situation. These doctors probably don't have much financial conflict of interest, i.e. getting paid to say something is good when it isn't, because a finasteride prescription is dirt cheap. Branded propecia is not, but most doctors would prescribe you the generic 5 mg if you asked, I'm sure.
I have to say, it is rather odd that there is so much criticism of finasteride on the one hand, while the doctor I linked, based on both presumably his personal experience with his patients and published studies, that it's almost a non-issue. That's a pretty huge chasm. Maybe the doc is only looking for erectile dysfunction and the real symptoms are different. Or patients who experience negative side effects never inform their doctors? Possible, but sounds unlikely, especially considering how vocal they are on internet forums.
Even for those for whom finasteride works, it's only a delay. I'm aware of that. Still, an extra five or ten years with a full head of hair is nice, and also gives you more time to get jacked like RioNomad suggested to compensate. I'm sure when I do shave it all off, I'll make the extra effort to have everything else on point - style, body, skin, etc.
Also, the average guy has a shitty diet and lifestyle that leads to low testosterone, high body fat, and sub-maximal libido. Could a man get adverse side effects from finasteride because he has a shitty diet, but not if he has a great diet? It's plausible. Could a man prevent or reduce the bad side effects of finasteride if his health was otherwise optimized? Also plausible.