Interesting convo with friends at a bar

General Discussion
#1

Hey guys.

This post isn’t likely to be all that useful, I just wanted to share this story. I was at a bar with some friends this weekend and someone made a comment about how much they love my hairstyle. I made some comment about “Well, thanks, but my hairline isn’t where it used to be.” My friend said that he didn’t notice that at all, but said “You could always take propecia.” I laughed and said “Umm… I actually did and I’ve spent the last two years and counting recovering from it.” (I was a few beers deep for that comment to come out). He asked what symptoms occurred. I told him he just doesn’t want to know. He thanked me for telling him that as he was considering taking it. At that point, another friend walked over and said “Are you guys talking about Propecia.” (Btw, YES, I was feeling incredibly nervous and uncomfortable at this point). The guy who came over said that he took it for four months and stopped because while he was on it, his sexual drive and function disappeared. I confided in him that I still have symptoms to this day. He asked if I was ever suicidal. I told him that in the past I had been, certainly, but that I am not now. He said “That’s good to hear. My cousin was taking propecia and I think when he came off of it is when he committed suicide.”

I didn’t ask anymore, I just ended the conversation. Crazy, eh?

#2

Also, the reason I wanted to post this was because it was actually a really good conversation to have. I truly have conquered my thoughts of suicide, and have felt an improvement in symptoms over the last six months. I am nowhere near cured. But I am better. I am back to work and slowly getting my life back. It felt good to be a “normal” person, having drinks with friends, having a conversation about the dangers of the drug. To those who haven’t made it through their first year to year and a half - it will get better. And you will be very grateful you stuck out the worst of it.

#3

Why don’t you or your friend contact the PFS and notify them about his cousins suicide?

They are doing research about this now.

I was having a conversation with my father tonight about suicide and how I bet the numbers are higher, because one, most people wont want to tell people they are taking a pill because they are losing they’re hair, and secondly, nobody wants to say they took they’re own life because they’re dick got shrunk or didn’t work.

I’ve told my family that should suicide be the way i go, I want all donations at my funeral to go straight to the PFS foundation

#4

I reported my attempt and will probably reach out to him in a few days and ask him to report his cousins as well.

#5

Good man

Thank you :slight_smile:

#6

I can’t stop thinking it was my fault to take this poison. Ok, i believed the doctor, i believed Merck’s claims about side effects, i believed FDA had tested it, i believed testimonials from other guys who said they had no side effects, and when i took it, i did not find any negative news about it.

BUT…

How wise is it to take a new drug? I knew it was not the best thing to do.
How wise is it to take a drug every day? I rarely had to take medications before
How wise is it to risk your fantastic life for some hair?
How wise is it to risk having side effects when you can have an implant in the future?

I can’t stop beating myself for this ridiculous mistake. It is so hard to accept i will have to live 50 more years like this.

#7

You consider a drug that started being used to treat male-pattern baldness in 1997 a new drug? I mean - that was 16 years ago. It’s hardly new. It’s not your fault. It is Merck and the FDA’s fault. You will get better, with time, I promise. Stay strong and stay positive.

#8

Disturbing story, but I certainly believe that suppressing androgens and causing impotence could cause suicide. I’m nearly certain that at some point they will remove the drug for cosmetic purposes

#9

Actually, the Propecia nightmare originated in 1998.

You are correct though, when you say it’s the FDA’s fault. Many people took this drug, self included, because it was FDA approved. Damn them.

Yes, time heals all wounds. This is not a wound. We’ve been altered, permanently shifted into another state of being, like a caterpillar to a butterfly. We are different from what we were, and unfortunately for some, maybe most, there’s no going back.

At least not without some yet undiscovered universal cure that looms ethereally in the oblique distance.

#10

Propecia became available in 1997. Proscar, the 5mg version of finasteride for treatment of BPH, became available in 1992.

I agree that the situation can feel helpless at times or the outlook bleak, but we also have to remember that less than two years ago, we had no leg to stand on. We were just a tiny group of guys complaining together on an Internet forum. Now, we have a foundation with two huge research studies being done. I, for one, do believe a cure will actually be discovered rather quickly. But time will tell.

In the meantime - a positive truth is that lifestyle adjustments as well as the passage of time do make symptoms easier for most.

#11

The reason I claim it’s 1998, is because I was there, I lived it. I went to the Doctor in 1997 and was told about Propecia.

The Doctor told me, a great new drug was going to be available soon, to combat baldness. He said to come back at the beginning of next year (1998) when it goes on the market and he would give me a prescription for three months.

My evidence is empirical. That said, 1997, 1998, either or, Propecia never should have been approved. It’s figuratively and literally, a death trap.

Btw. The first five years, I was extremely positive, absolutely optimistic. I didn’t think I was going to recover, I knew I was going to recover. How could I not, time heals all wounds. That’s what I told myself, that’s the false truth I disseminated upon a wishful thinker.

Lastly, if for some odd reason you still have an inclination to quibble about the year with someone who was there, you can find, in many articles, it was 1998.

1998 the beginning of the end.

http://www.hairloss-research.org/UpdatePropeciaProsandCons1-11.html

#12

Propecia was approved late 1997. It hit the stream of commerce shortly after.