I am 23 years old and have been taking propecia for 1.5 months. Prior to taking the medication I was at about a norwood 2.5 and was beginning to see a bit of thinning in the crown area that was hardly noticeable. I have tried saw pallmeto amoung other things such as shampoo but none of them did anything so I decided to resort to propecia. After all it is the only proven treatment for hair loss other than a hair transplant.
During my first month I experienced a lot of shedding (up to 60 hairs in the shower) which was rather alarming and I was tempted to quit because but things got better and now I see maybe one or two hairs and my crown is already thickening up along with my hair line. Side effects have been a decrease in semen and now brain fog. I can ejaculate up to four times a day with no problems but since the semen has decreased they are not quite as enjoyable. Even though it is an issue the brain fog is more of a problem for me. It usually occurs within one to two hours of taking the drug and than lessens as the day goes on. I feel dizzy and/or slightly drunk. As a musician who performs weekly, I cannot afford this kind of thing and it really started to scare me. Often times I will blank out and just hit a wrong chord or even completely forget what I am doing. This doesn’t help when I’m writing new stuff either.
I am fearful of permanent damage so I am deciding to stop the medication. I come from a family where no one has a history of hair loss until at least the their late 40’s and my only two brothers have great thick heads of hair which I can’t help feel jealous of. This whole hair loss thing has just made me realize how unfair life is. Those who never experience this will never no the emotional impact it has especially to those at such a young age. I am at the prime of my life and shouldn’t have to deal with this shit. I don’t want to fuck up what I do have though so no more propecia for me.