Depressing propecia results , need advice

[vloertegel500]

Firstly I want to apologize for the long story here, but I find that it’s important to give as much information as possible..

Family history
Father: Lost most of his hair (Norwood 5) just like most of his brothers
Mother: Thick hair just like her father who still had a full head of hair (Norwood 1-2) when he was 80 years old. Her brother also had a full head of thick hair.
Cousins: have both been balding, their situation was worse than me, much thinner hair
Sister: thin hair, just like her father

My situation
I am 24 years old and have always have a full head of thick curly hair just like my mother. People always complimented me and said as I was lucky compared to my nephews and my father’s side of the family. However I noticed that I was losing year and that my hairline was receeding at the age of 19. I started to use Minoxydil 5% for then and the situation more or less was kept stable (I think). However at the end of last summer I noticed that my hair was thinning a bit and started using propecia 1m a day. My dermatologist said that I could stop with Minoxydil as she believed propecia alone would be enough.

My regime and results
I’ve been on properica since last September and stopped the Minoxydil as adviced by my dermatologist. I did not really experience side effects from propecia. I had a pretty big shed in the beginning but I think that stopped after 4 weeks. I’ve been on it now for 5-6 months and have not really noticed any improvements. My hairline however seems to have receded (especially my temples, and my frontal hairline seems to have thinned a bit) and it’s been itching ever since I’ve been on propecia. I wonder if this is normal or just a stupid side effect? The itch is the strongest at my temples and around my frontal hairline. Could it be that propecia is having the opposite affect? (I have read of people who noticed that their hairloss increased after starting propecia?)
The amount of hairs that I have in my hands when I shower or when I comb my hair are about the same as the situation before I started Propecia. Should I be worried or is this “normal†in the process and should I give it more time? Ive started using Mindoxydil again now as some people pointed me out it could help regrow the hair.

Thanks for reading this, I’ve gotten to the point that I don’t go out anymore, I can’t talk to anyone about it and am getting seriously depressed..
Hope you guys can help as this kinda is my ‘last resort’ :$

 

[diablodh]

Your dermatologist is an idiot find a better one!
Go and check your hormonal levels Testosterone; free testosterone; DHT; SHBG; estrogen; androstenedione;

Free T - 1.5-2.5% of total T
Testosterone - 270-1100 average 685
DHT = androstenedione
Testosterone / Estrogen = 20-50
Testosterone > SHBG
Estrogen 7-64

 

[TD500]

For most people last resort would be dutasteride or any of those experimental treatments. Your big shed at the start might have been from the minoxidil stoppage. Maybe it was the propecia shed. I say wait till you hit 12 months, no stablization or you have further loss switch to dutasteride.

 

[vloertegel500]

Thanks alot already for the replies! I have a few more questions

What about the itching feeling around my hairline? Is this a sign that Finasteride is making it worse? I did not have this itch before starting to take Propecia and it only itches around the places where I think my hair is thinning (for example not at the top of my head)
Lets say the hair that I lost the past 5 months is from the initial propecia shed. Is it possible that this would regrow after the a while if Propecia would prove to be effective?
Or in the case the hair loss was caused by the minoxidil stoppage, would it be able to regrow those hairs by using minoxidil again? Or is it too late for that?

Thanks for your time guys

 

[vloertegel500]

Sorry for the bump but I desperately need some advice about the itching feeling

 

[eenrak]

No one can answer your question regarding itching since it's an individual thing. However, the reason your hair is getting worse is because you quit minoxidil. Just keep on applying and take finasteride as you are doing and you should hopefully get some results in say six months.

- - - Updated - - -

And yes, it's possible to regrow hair that is lost after quitting minoxidil. Just don't quit it again. It is keeping your hair alive.

 

[massa]

Don't mean to scare you but an itch where your hair is falling is not a good sign and most likely the treatment is not working. Use a ketoconazole shampoo or if it doesn't subside think about dutasteride.

 

[vloertegel500]

Cheers for the replies guys appreciate it!

@ Massa

The weird thing is that the itch started after getting on propecia. Could the itch be a consequence of the so called "propecia shed" or could it just be that propecia is destroying my hair? I got back on Minoxydil btw, so lets hope I get some regrowth from that

And about taking dutasteride.. I've been thinking about this too but everywhere I read they say that you should at least give Propecia 1 year before considering switching to Dutasteride. What's your opinion on this?

 

[maxou]

I noticed that the more aggressive your hairloss is the more dutasteride is needed

The ones that get good results with finasteride are those with a slow male pattern baldness process that's been going on for years. For those with aggressive hairloss that suddenly started and has gotten very bad in a short period of time dutasteride will be needed.

My hairloss was very aggressive (losing about 300 hairs before treatment), finasteride has slowed my hairloss (losing about 150 a day) but hasn't stopped it, adding dutasteride EOD seems to be slowing the hairloss even more (about 50 a day)

 

[steveo1218]

You've lost your minoxidil hair .. Hair grown from minoxidil can only be maintained through minoxidil . Get back on it and use nizoroal shampoo for the itchy scalp .