HAIR TRANSPLANT FORUM

Hi All,

i'm a new poster on here and wanted to pick your brains...
I have a receding hairline, which has just started to thin towards the dreaded island (not there yet!), and is starting to thin at the back (again not bald there yet... just thining right now).
I'm in a quandry really. Obviously i'd like more than anything to retain my hair, but i'm struggling for options...
I went on propecia for a few years a couple of years ago, and the balding slowed to a standstill, so no doubting it worked. However, the esexual side effects were too much, and though i could get an erection, it was never hard enough to have penetrative sex! and i'd always end up loosing it in the psychological nightmare this brought... a nightmare in a relationship! I saw my doctor and simply she said to me, the only options you have is to quit the drugs and the erection difficulties should subside, or go on viagra! At the time i was 28 and thought, christ i'm a healthy young man, this is a disaster, so i quit the drugs thinking rather be able to have sex and be bald than loose relationships because i cant perform (with hair!)....
Interestingly Propecia also made me develop ackney lumps full of water sporadically which was highly embarsassing.
I came off the medication and the hair started to bald quicker, and the erection problems continued, probably for a year or so, even without taking the medication. Finally things started to pick up in that end (but my libido is still shot-my g/f and i have gone about a year or so without penetrative sex, and even then it was with viagra), but the hair balding issue was really getting to me, so i went back to my doc and went back onto Propecia. However, after another 6 months of erection nightmares, and ackney spots i thought enoughs enough.
I came off the medication about 6 months ago, and the hair has really started to go... now i'm 30 i'm less worried about it, or so i tell myself!
I've read great reports on rogaine and propecia combination so was comtemplating going onto this (i know it sounds like i'm a junkie, knowing what propecia will do to me, but addicted to the insecurity i hold against going bald- sure im not alone there), but not sure i can go through the ackney and erection issues again (note. even being off the drugs for 6 months or so, the ackney sporadically continues - so i do wonder whether i'm just unlucky there and it's not down to the drugs?). I'm also gutted about having to spend my life taking viagra to have sex! wheres the impulsiveness in that-it just means my sex life now needs to be talked about a lot more, and the rules clearly defined.! that's what really annoys me, but perhaps that is the connundrum?

Does anyone else suffer from these issues, and is viagra commonly used by Propecia drug takers to compensate?

Where i am now is wondering whether anyone has any other solutions they could advise... i feel i need to act now or it's goodbye hair looking at the rate of loss at moment.

Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings!!!

Hi robbieboy, your question needs a doctor reply, i will try to Dr. Cole to answer your question..stay tuned.

appreciate it, many thanks!

Robbieboy, sorry for the late reply... the doctor is very busy these days. before he answers i would like to ask you if your doctor ever gave you blood test to evaluate thyroid, hormone problems or diabetes? did you ever checked testosterone levels?

hi we never went that far. When i told her about the erection difficulties, and these beginning after taking propecia for a while, she said it would be the drugs, and their were two choices. Stop the drugs or take viagra or equivalent. We never discussed the ackney issues...

well, if i were you i would go to my family doctor and request all these blood tests just to make sure it's not one of these problems. you can add cholesterol and vitamins to the list just in case. The side effects from propecia will disappear after you stop the medication...that's why your case is rare and need an attention. i suspect that there is something else that causing your problems. make the blood test and let us know of the results.

will do!