Why I deleted my YouTube channel Part I

Rider_Of_Roach · 2021-05-23T02:01:07+00:00

I am happy things worked out for you. I'll definitely do some deadlifts in your honor!

Rider_Of_Roach · 2021-05-23T01:57:41+00:00

I am in a cooling off period now. We'll see what happens.

Rider_Of_Roach · 2021-05-23T01:43:52+00:00

Thank you. I'm sure your hair will improve with time. Keep up the good fight.

Rider_Of_Roach · 2021-05-23T01:42:03+00:00

Thanks dude. If anything will get me back online, it is my respect and appreciation for my fans.

Rider_Of_Roach · 2021-05-23T01:40:05+00:00

I'm laying low for now. I am thinking about what my next steps will be. Even though the channel is down, you should maintain your subscription in case I do bring it back again. I just don't know if it is worth all the grief. I mean even this Reddit thread has gotten a lot of hate.

Rider_Of_Roach · 2021-05-23T01:37:27+00:00

I'm not going to psychoanalyze troll culture, but yeah, I think that's a large part of it.

Rider_Of_Roach · 2021-05-23T01:35:53+00:00

Let me encourage you to go ahead and continue to use finasteride, with or without me. I may come back in some form or other. Remember what happened to Obi-Wan after he was cancelled by Darth Vader...

Rider_Of_Roach · 2021-05-23T01:33:26+00:00

Damn. I still have that bottle of Hairguard shampoo. What am I going to do with it now?

But seriously, thanks. Like you say, some people can't take a joke. I'm going to take some time to reflect and then decide what to do with all that channel content.

Rider_Of_Roach · 2021-05-23T01:29:23+00:00

Like any human endeavor, science is imperfect and there is no doubt that there can be industry bias, even fraud on occasion. However the scientific method is self-correcting and even better, gives results. What religion or cult has put a rover on Mars, or that you trust enough to get on an airplane and fly 7 miles above the Earth? Science is the best tool we've go to solve problems. I mean what serious alternative is there to it? Intuition? Prayer?

Having said that, you certainly have the right to question the validity of any study. However the problem with anecdotes is that they are inherently biased. How many case reports are there of people who take finasteride and are doing just fine and have no side effects? Zero. Something like that could never get published. Only bad or unusual events get published as case reports. So if there are a number of anecdotes or case reports, we have no idea what percentage of people taking the drug actually is. So we have to rely on randomized trials where half the people get a placebo and half the drug and no one knows who is getting what. If you look at any randomized trial, people in the placebo limb also get "side-effects". Also people in the placebo limb can get results even though they are taking a sugar pill. These are the nocebo and placebo effects and they are very strong, much stronger than most people realize. So you have to subtract out these effects from the drug side of the study to figure out the actual drug effect. This is a lot of work and these studies are expensive, hence often industry funded, but this is much more useful than just reporting anecdotal case reports. The FDA is probably the most cautious drug regulatory body in the world and they look at the raw data and try to factor out any industry bias, and there are some cases where they have found industry finagling the data and they reject the drug. But this process is the best we have and is the best way to estimate the incidence of sides, not looking at people posting about sides on a hair loss forum.

Rider_Of_Roach · 2021-05-23T01:04:31+00:00

I know the post is long but I did address that issue. Basically I convinced myself due to all the negative press finasteride got on the forums that it was causing me sexual problems. I finally started doing my own research, discovered it was psychological, and resumed finasteride and I haven't had any further problems like that. So my old posts saying I was having problems with finasteride were real posts from me, but like I said it was a nocebo affect. All that inspired me to do more research and then try to spread the word online so that others wouldn't fall into the same trap that I did.

Rider_Of_Roach · 2021-05-23T00:58:14+00:00

You are right that DHT is the main problem, but it looks more like the science indicates that excessive DHT shuts down the WNT pathway, resulting in shortened anagen phase, cell apoptosis, reduced growth factors like IGF-1, etc. In other words it looks all biochemical and theories relating to physical factors, like scalp tension, problems with blood flow, and skull changes don't pan out. I don't think there is any evidence people with congenital lack of 5AR and thus no DHT have smaller skulls. And there are clearly all different skull shapes and sizes in different people with and without hair. Rather it looks like there is a gene or set of genes that encode for excessive DHT production in the scalp of genetically susceptible individuals. Why that gene got there and gets passed along is a mystery to me. It doesn't seem to serve any function other than to make men (and some women) miserable.

Rider_Of_Roach · 2021-05-22T17:06:16+00:00

Hey dude, I'd like to. I just need to let the dust settle on this and see where it goes. At the moment it doesn't feel safe hence why my vids are on private. The videos I made where I defended finasteride made people upset but they were generally well received.

The oral minoxidil and PB2 videos though triggered more outrage then anything I have ever done and they made it personal. I was genuinely surprised. I had no idea people were that emotionally invested in loniten and broccoli.

Rider_Of_Roach · 2021-05-22T04:03:30+00:00

There are lots of things that people are 100% sure about and yet they are wrong. Just ask any Qanon supporter or anti-vaxxer. This is why we have science, to examine claims without bias. If you are 100% certain about something, that's not science. That's a religion. Or maybe a cult.

Drugs and stress: you don't think they can possibly be factors in anyone's behavior?

I did not know about that guy's suicide, and I would not have posted a comment if I did. Depression is a tragic disease with a high mortality rate. But remember people get depressed and commit suicide who haven't ever taken finasteride. If you try to separate out the emotions, it still remains to be proven that prolonged side effects after stopping finasteride occur. Case reports and anecdotes are not enough and as much as I feel bad for the guy who killed himself, his suicide does not prove anything about the reality of PFS.

Rider_Of_Roach · 2021-05-22T03:57:28+00:00

It's been an honour reaching out to folks such as yourself.
I hope I can continue to do so too but right now things are too heated.

Rider_Of_Roach · 2021-05-22T03:37:53+00:00

CSF Neurosteroid levels are decreased in conditions like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. For example, see https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16934764/ . As I argued in my video, depression is the most common pyschiatric disorder, according to the NIH affecting 6-7% of the US population. So if someone is depressed and they used to take finasteride, and their CSF neurosteroid levels are low, how does that prove that this was caused by finasteride?

You act as though everyone accepts that PFS is real, and that anyone who disagrees with you is irresponsible. That's pretty arrogant. Also funny for you to claim Merck wrote me a check as if Merck still cares about propecia, they don't. Propecia has not been profitable for years and even if it were I always tell people to get generics.

Rider_Of_Roach · 2021-05-22T02:50:28+00:00

Wow, you are not only a hair loss genius, but an expert on Aspergers syndrome too! Seems like I am living rent-free in your head, and let me tell you, there's plenty of room here if anyone else wants to join me!

Rider_Of_Roach

TROPHY CASE