At what point do you give up on Finasteride?

[curlsgoneswispy]

M(29) Been on finasteride 0.5 ED for just shy of 14 months now and am in a considerably worse place than when I started 'treatment'. I began shedding diffusely approx 2 months after commencing finasteride and this 'shed' is still ongoing, to the point that I'm now significantly below baseline in terms of overall density, my sides, hairline and nape have all taken the biggest hit, with my crown looking more or less exactly the same. At this point I really don't know what to do, I've been trying to persevere and 'trust the process', people say it can take up to 18/24 months to start seeing results, but it's so difficult to stay motivated when my hair is getting thinner and thinner with each passing month, and I'm wondering when I decide that this isn't a 'shed' at all and I'm just having a poor response to the drug. I started treatment with thick hair and some very minor thinning at my hairline and simply wished to maintain what I had, and now I'm literally watching my hair fall each day and I regret ever starting finasteride, but I'm terrified of stopping now in case I get stuck like this So I guess I'm just looking to hear from A) people who had excessively long sheds and came out the other side and B) people who tapped out when they felt that something wasn't right, and to those people: did you get back to baseline after quitting? Did you respond better to dutasteride?

Also I should add that I started on a half dose as I was wary of sides; I got some initial nipple pain which I pushed through and which thankfully dissipated, but then the shed started so I assumed that the drug was doing it's thing and I decided to remain at that dose since it seemed to be 'working'. Now however I'm wondering whether upping the dose may make a difference, so anyone who went from 0.5 to 1mg and saw an improvement please feel free to chime in also!

 

[losingbattle88]

M(29) Been on finasteride 0.5 ED for just shy of 14 months now and am in a considerably worse place than when I started 'treatment'. I began shedding diffusely approx 2 months after commencing finasteride and this 'shed' is still ongoing, to the point that I'm now significantly below baseline in terms of overall density, my sides, hairline and nape have all taken the biggest hit, with my crown looking more or less exactly the same. At this point I really don't know what to do, I've been trying to persevere and 'trust the process', people say it can take up to 18/24 months to start seeing results, but it's so difficult to stay motivated when my hair is getting thinner and thinner with each passing month, and I'm wondering when I decide that this isn't a 'shed' at all and I'm just having a poor response to the drug. I started treatment with thick hair and some very minor thinning at my hairline and simply wished to maintain what I had, and now I'm literally watching my hair fall each day and I regret ever starting finasteride, but I'm terrified of stopping now in case I get stuck like this So I guess I'm just looking to hear from A) people who had excessively long sheds and came out the other side and B) people who tapped out when they felt that something wasn't right, and to those people: did you get back to baseline after quitting? Did you respond better to dutasteride?

Also I should add that I started on a half dose as I was wary of sides; I got some initial nipple pain which I pushed through and which thankfully dissipated, but then the shed started so I assumed that the drug was doing it's thing and I decided to remain at that dose since it seemed to be 'working'. Now however I'm wondering whether upping the dose may make a difference, so anyone who went from 0.5 to 1mg and saw an improvement please feel free to chime in also!

Took a guy 30 months on reddit. I took duta for 15 months and hair was nuked. I did stop but also because of sides. Now im just on 1mg oral finasteride with 400mg DIM.

 

[curlsgoneswispy]

Took a guy 30 months on reddit. I took duta for 15 months and hair was nuked. I did stop but also because of sides. Now im just on 1mg oral finasteride with 400mg DIM.

Do you by any chance have a link to that Reddit post? Had a quick search but couldn't find anything

 

[losingbattle88]

Do you by any chance have a link to that Reddit post? Had a quick search but couldn't find anything

Read plenty say it gets worse before it gets better. I got screenshots I think. But you can google this. Finasteride worse before better reddit. You will get plenty of hits and comments.

 

[abovedagame]

First of all….youre not on the gold standard 1mg dose. Secondly, peak results show at roughly 2 years

 

[Jpw1999]

It doesn't work for everyone. It depends how aggressive your hair loss is, some maintain, some get regrowth and some still lose their hair. I lost hair on finasteride but it took me over 3 years to notice.

I switched to dutasteride a couple of months ago and I'm soon adding oral minoxidil. You need to be on more than just finasteride if you want good results long term. It's a myth that you can take finasteride at the first signs of hair loss and stop it dead in its tracks. Those people that claim to have maintained hair for over 20 years on just finasteride were probably never going to go bald anyway.

 

[Dashing_uk]

M(29) Been on finasteride 0.5 ED for just shy of 14 months now and am in a considerably worse place than when I started 'treatment'. I began shedding diffusely approx 2 months after commencing finasteride and this 'shed' is still ongoing, to the point that I'm now significantly below baseline in terms of overall density, my sides, hairline and nape have all taken the biggest hit, with my crown looking more or less exactly the same. At this point I really don't know what to do, I've been trying to persevere and 'trust the process', people say it can take up to 18/24 months to start seeing results, but it's so difficult to stay motivated when my hair is getting thinner and thinner with each passing month, and I'm wondering when I decide that this isn't a 'shed' at all and I'm just having a poor response to the drug. I started treatment with thick hair and some very minor thinning at my hairline and simply wished to maintain what I had, and now I'm literally watching my hair fall each day and I regret ever starting finasteride, but I'm terrified of stopping now in case I get stuck like this So I guess I'm just looking to hear from A) people who had excessively long sheds and came out the other side and B) people who tapped out when they felt that something wasn't right, and to those people: did you get back to baseline after quitting? Did you respond better to dutasteride?

Also I should add that I started on a half dose as I was wary of sides; I got some initial nipple pain which I pushed through and which thankfully dissipated, but then the shed started so I assumed that the drug was doing it's thing and I decided to remain at that dose since it seemed to be 'working'. Now however I'm wondering whether upping the dose may make a difference, so anyone who went from 0.5 to 1mg and saw an improvement please feel free to chime in also!

Hi are you uk based if you are you need to book in with Eva Proudman sorry if your not

 

[curlsgoneswispy]

It doesn't work for everyone. It depends how aggressive your hair loss is, some maintain, some get regrowth and some still lose their hair. I lost hair on finasteride but it took me over 3 years to notice.

I switched to dutasteride a couple of months ago and I'm soon adding oral minoxidil. You need to be on more than just finasteride if you want good results long term. It's a myth that you can take finasteride at the first signs of hair loss and stop it dead in its tracks. Those people that claim to have maintained hair for over 20 years on just finasteride were probably never going to go bald anyway.

Yeah I appreciate that, however it's not that finasteride hasn't 'worked' for me per se, it's more that I'm now losing hair in a way that I wasn't prior to starting the medication. I started treatment because I'd noticed thinning at my hairline, but I wasn't noticeably shedding hair; even on shampoo days there wouldn't be any hairs on my hands, whereas now just running my fingers through is guaranteed to produce around 2/5 seemingly healthy looking hairs each time. I'm certain that finasteride is responsible and that it isn't just my Androgenetic Alopecia coincidentally ramping up into overdrive as this started happening precisely within the timeframe that people usually begin to experience shedding on finasteride, so I'm not completely devoid of hope that things may yet turn around. But that being said, I'm also at a point now where I feel it necessary to take some kind of action, so I've upped my dosage this week from 0.5 to 1mg ED and will give that another six months to see if there's any improvement, after which if not I'll drop it and see what happens, if then I'm still worsening after another six months with no meds then I'll probably start dutasteride and potentially Min too. I'll update this thread whatever happens.

 

[Dashing_uk]

ive not read all these threads but i think you need a 2 pronged attack and to add minoxidil lotion to your routine.Ive been on this for over 35 years im now 57 with still a decent head of hair as below. Mix crushed Certizine tablets in it and take 2 certrizine orally a day as its just an antihistamine and stop the body attacking itself.I went to Dr Hugh Rushton of Harey St London a world renowned specialist.He suplies tablets and lotion not as expensive as you think.I laser cap twice a week and dermal roll twice a month and then apply lotion

 

[Dashing_uk]

Yeah I appreciate that, however it's not that finasteride hasn't 'worked' for me per se, it's more that I'm now losing hair in a way that I wasn't prior to starting the medication. I started treatment because I'd noticed thinning at my hairline, but I wasn't noticeably shedding hair; even on shampoo days there wouldn't be any hairs on my hands, whereas now just running my fingers through is guaranteed to produce around 2/5 seemingly healthy looking hairs each time. I'm certain that finasteride is responsible and that it isn't just my Androgenetic Alopecia coincidentally ramping up into overdrive as this started happening precisely within the timeframe that people usually begin to experience shedding on finasteride, so I'm not completely devoid of hope that things may yet turn around. But that being said, I'm also at a point now where I feel it necessary to take some kind of action, so I've upped my dosage this week from 0.5 to 1mg ED and will give that another six months to see if there's any improvement, after which if not I'll drop it and see what happens, if then I'm still worsening after another six months with no meds then I'll probably start dutasteride and potentially Min too. I'll update this thread whatever happens.

I have a 5mg tab and cut into 4 so a quarter of a tab per day ,theres others tablets available now Dutraside

 

[abovedagame]

ive not read all these threads but i think you need a 2 pronged attack and to add minoxidil lotion to your routine.Ive been on this for over 35 years im now 57 with still a decent head of hair as below. Mix crushed Certizine tablets in it and take 2 certrizine orally a day as its just an antihistamine and stop the body attacking itself.I went to Dr Hugh Rushton of Harey St London a world renowned specialist.He suplies tablets and lotion not as expensive as you think.I laser cap twice a week and dermal roll twice a month and then apply lotion

Do you take cetirizine tablets spaced apart or all at once? Also, what’s the reason behind not using dutasteride?

 

[losingbattle88]

ive not read all these threads but i think you need a 2 pronged attack and to add minoxidil lotion to your routine.Ive been on this for over 35 years im now 57 with still a decent head of hair as below. Mix crushed Certizine tablets in it and take 2 certrizine orally a day as its just an antihistamine and stop the body attacking itself.I went to Dr Hugh Rushton of Harey St London a world renowned specialist.He suplies tablets and lotion not as expensive as you think.I laser cap twice a week and dermal roll twice a month and then apply lotion

Nice fake hair piece rofl. Thats a NW0 gtfo.

 

[Mr. Slap Head]

Nice fake hair piece rofl. Thats a NW0 gtfo.

It looks like a bad transplant and/or spray-on hair fibers.

 

[curlsgoneswispy]

UPDATE: Today I had an appointment with a trichologist to rule out any underlying scalp issues, and now I'm more confused than ever. The Trich wasn't certain that I even have male pattern baldness (said she feels 50/50 about it) and advised me to stop finasteride and then check back with her in 9/12 months time, she examined my scalp with a trichoscope and said that my scalp is perfectly healthy and that there are minimal signs of miniaturisation, and also that I'm 'not shedding' which I really don't understand given that my hands are now covered in hairs every time I shower and I can't run my hands through it throughout the day without pulling out a few hairs each time, neither of which happened prior to starting finasteride. So I'm at a complete loss now, I'm gonna try and give the Med until November which will be a full 24 months, and then if I'm still shedding below baseline I think I'll throw in the towel

 

[Moz5x]

If you have miniaturization of only 10-15% then you don’t have to be on finasteride at all. Just have regular evaluations to see if it increases. Viewing under magnification is the most accurate way to see what is really happening.

 

[abovedagame]

UPDATE: Today I had an appointment with a trichologist to rule out any underlying scalp issues, and now I'm more confused than ever. The Trich wasn't certain that I even have male pattern baldness (said she feels 50/50 about it) and advised me to stop finasteride and then check back with her in 9/12 months time, she examined my scalp with a trichoscope and said that my scalp is perfectly healthy and that there are minimal signs of miniaturisation, and also that I'm 'not shedding' which I really don't understand given that my hands are now covered in hairs every time I shower and I can't run my hands through it throughout the day without pulling out a few hairs each time, neither of which happened prior to starting finasteride. So I'm at a complete loss now, I'm gonna try and give the Med until November which will be a full 24 months, and then if I'm still shedding below baseline I think I'll throw in the towel

Post pics

 

[Jpw1999]

I'm now significantly below baseline in terms of overall density, my sides, hairline and nape

I've got this type of hair loss too, in fact, the hair is worse on the sides and back compared to the top. I have no idea what caused it. The back and sides rapidly shed in 2018 and never grew back.

See the second pic from my post from 2019, my sides still look like that now, didn't get that much worse thankfully.

https://www.hairlosstalk.com/interact/threads/thin-patch-at-hairline-and-back-and-sides-of-hair-male-pattern-baldness-or-alopecia-areata.123738/