effects of quitting finasteride during the initial shed phase

[benbob172]

Hi guys,

Just a quick question about quitting finasteride during the shedding phase. Basically I stopped finasteride a little over three months ago due to some bad side. I would say in the three months I was on finasteride I probably shed 30% of my hair from all over, so very diffused by the time I had stopped. I thought this was largely due to the finasteride. My hope was that most of this hair should return once my body rebalanced (all be it temporary).

That hasn't happened so far! I heard that when you stop your hair returns to the point when you started taking finasteride. Well I would have much more hair than I do now if that was the case.

My question is, has anyone heard of finasteride actually being detrimental to hair density, especially when treatment is stopped early on, during the initial shed period. My fear is that the finasteride allowed my hair to start to repair. While this hair was in the resting phase the treatment was stopped. Now the hair is more sensitive than before due to its time devoid of DHT. The hair in the resting phase now cannot regrow and has actually been impeded due to the finasteride. It sounds logical to me, but I don't know really. I just know what I had before I took it and what I have now. Anyway thanks for any advise.

 

[mr.patches]

I'm no doctor but first off, you unbalanced your hormone level with finasteride and then instead of letting your body readjust to it you suddenly stopped taking treatment.

Tbh, what you did was pretty dumb and you should've continued taking finasteride. In regards to the sides, you should've waited between 6 months to a year to evaluate how your body responds to the drug and then, if at that point the sides persisted or worsen the correct way to stop the treatment is to slowly decrease the dose in a period of at least 3 months.

Edit: and yes, the shedding is perfectly normal when starting treatment or even before/after the peak of effectiveness.

 

[benbob172]

Yeah I understand what you are saying but the side were very bad. I had very bad pain in my penis that was daily and quite honestly scared me alot. I did reduce to dosage slowly but it was over a period of only about a six weeks.

Anyway I'm sure im not the only one who has had sides like these and quit due to fear of more serious long term damage. Just was wondering if anyone on here had done this and if so what there experience has been.

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Also, given my history, does anyone think that restarting the treatment on say .25 daily could help me get back to where I was.

 

[mr.patches]

I never had pains in the penis per se, but I had extreme ball pains, the worst one put me to my knees and it alarmed me. I decided to lower the dosage (1 mg eod) and in a period of a week or so the sides subsided completely, thankfully. You should experiment a bit before taking these decisions.

 

[benbob172]

Well when I reduced the dosage the pain persisted. Also I would say my sex drive has taken until the three month mark to return to normal. U are correct I shoud have been more rational than I was. The fear factor just set in I guess. Im thinking that any growth following the shed from the time I was on finasteride would take anywhere for 3-6 months. So now I will wait and see what happens. Like you say, the body has to re adjust so rather than getting more freaked I will see where I am in another three months and probably start the treatment again on 0.25 ed.

 

[Parsia]

I'm no doctor but first off, you unbalanced your hormone level with finasteride and then instead of letting your body readjust to it you suddenly stopped taking treatment.

Tbh, what you did was pretty dumb and you should've continued taking finasteride. In regards to the sides, you should've waited between 6 months to a year to evaluate how your body responds to the drug and then, if at that point the sides persisted or worsen the correct way to stop the treatment is to slowly decrease the dose in a period of at least 3 months.

Edit: and yes, the shedding is perfectly normal when starting treatment or even before/after the peak of effectiveness.

Thanks for your post, I have used finasteride and stop it 3 times in the last 13 years , I always stop it after a month ( use different brand) and I was worry because of very low libido and also lose my sexual power , I have never think about that like that because I was 20 and doesn't have enough info and patient , Even now I have started it after 10 years and with 0.5 mg dose I still feel some problem in eraction , But thanks for your very good post. I have never think about that like this and never hear that from any doctor to go to detail like that, So with your very good information what do you think about RU ?

 

[benbob172]

I really just wanted to know if anyone else had a similar experience as me and what the long term result was. Any help please?