lucky Horseshoe
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Hello, I am here for two reasons. First to offer some feedback to the forum and second to ask for your advice.
I am 37 years old around Norwood 3 I guess. After 15 years on 2% Minoxidil I decided with the help of this forum to use finasteride. Search on my username and you will see details of this.
I started on Proscar cut into 8 so 6.25mg on 7th Jan 2006. Apart from a slight side effect a couple of days into using it I continued without any problems for 6 months. I was amazed that I saw definite regrowth even on the frontal hairline and a slow down of hair being lost (never saw any visible growth with minoxidil). Dont get me wrong, it was not a major turnaround but my hair was certainly thicker, lots of little hairs coming up amongst my own hair and I was happy. I could not really believe I actually seemed to be reversing what I had assumed for many years was an unwinnable situation.
However ! In July 2006 I started to get a big problem with my feet swelling up - badly swollen both feet - I should point out that I have never had this problem in my life. This coincided with very hot weather so I thought that may be the cause.
My feet stayed swollen for around a month even when it got cooler. I stopped finasteride for a week and my feet started to get better. I decided to go back onto finasteride but on a even lower dose. I started to cut Proscar into 16ths so now I was on approx 3.12mg.
The results on my hair seemed to slow down but it was still enough to keep me happy. At the very least I was maintaining. However my feet continued to be swollen. It was getting very bad and I went to see a doctor I did not mention I was on finasteride. He had no idea what it was and suggested circulation problems. I then told him I was on finasteride and he immediately suggested I stopped it for 2 months and took some additional pills that helped improve circulation. I decided not to take his advice convinced my feet would improve anyway.
My feet did not improve, they stayed permenantly swollen for months and started to get even worseIt was obvious I had to do something.
5 and a half weeks ago I stopped taking finasteride. After around a week my feet began to improve and although they are still swollen as I type this they are much better than before. I should mention in this period I have continued to use 2% minoxidil, twice a day. As I mentioned at the start I have used it for 15years and have never had any side effects - (but not seen any regrowth either)
In the 5/6 week period since I stopped taking finasteride I should also mention some other points. I don't want to scare anyone but I feel I should mention them - Firstly around 3 weeks after stopping finasteride I started to get some very strange chest pains and I remember one evening very well when for a short period while in my car I suddenly had trouble breathing....just for a few minutes but it was a very weird experience. I should point out I had my heart checked around 2 years ago - no problems and I am relitivly fit. I should not have heart problems.
2nd thing I should mention is that I went for a routine medical in November. For the first time in my life the doctor had to retake my blood pressure. At the second reading it was ok. I have never had blood pressure problems in my life.Now 5/6 weeks later the chest pains have now gone as have any breathing problems.
I want to stress as well that these symptoms were things really out of character in my life so far, nothing else has changed except for taking finasteride. It is possible they are totally unrelated to the finasteride but my gut feeling is that there is a connection in some way.
Ok so what about my hair since cutting finasteride ? First the bad news. What I gained is slowly being lost. I suspected from other posts I have seen that this would start around 5 to 6 weeks and this is about right....almost 6 weeks and I am starting to notice it getting thinner. I suspect that loss is going to continue as I stay off finasteride.
Ok so that is the feedback I have to offer. Now for the question I have for the forum - What can I do now ?
I am continuing on 2%minoxidil but its obvious that this will not be enough, I was losing the battle on it before and this was the reason I went onto finasteride in the first place.
It was also apparent that I seem to be a reasonable responder to finasteride. It worked ! I was growing hair but due to the aforementioned problems you can understand my reluctance to go back on it....I guess I don't need to explain what it feels like to have the carrot of hair growth dangled in front of me only to now have it snatched away again.
So what can I do ? A Couple of things occurred to me - I could try an even lower dosage of finasteride or I could try 5% minoxidil. I don't think minoxidil is going to make a difference and I think even a lower dosage of finasteride could cause me problems.
Suggestions ? Advice ? Anyone had similar experiences ? Over to you guys and thanks in advance.
I am 37 years old around Norwood 3 I guess. After 15 years on 2% Minoxidil I decided with the help of this forum to use finasteride. Search on my username and you will see details of this.
I started on Proscar cut into 8 so 6.25mg on 7th Jan 2006. Apart from a slight side effect a couple of days into using it I continued without any problems for 6 months. I was amazed that I saw definite regrowth even on the frontal hairline and a slow down of hair being lost (never saw any visible growth with minoxidil). Dont get me wrong, it was not a major turnaround but my hair was certainly thicker, lots of little hairs coming up amongst my own hair and I was happy. I could not really believe I actually seemed to be reversing what I had assumed for many years was an unwinnable situation.
However ! In July 2006 I started to get a big problem with my feet swelling up - badly swollen both feet - I should point out that I have never had this problem in my life. This coincided with very hot weather so I thought that may be the cause.
My feet stayed swollen for around a month even when it got cooler. I stopped finasteride for a week and my feet started to get better. I decided to go back onto finasteride but on a even lower dose. I started to cut Proscar into 16ths so now I was on approx 3.12mg.
The results on my hair seemed to slow down but it was still enough to keep me happy. At the very least I was maintaining. However my feet continued to be swollen. It was getting very bad and I went to see a doctor I did not mention I was on finasteride. He had no idea what it was and suggested circulation problems. I then told him I was on finasteride and he immediately suggested I stopped it for 2 months and took some additional pills that helped improve circulation. I decided not to take his advice convinced my feet would improve anyway.
My feet did not improve, they stayed permenantly swollen for months and started to get even worseIt was obvious I had to do something.
5 and a half weeks ago I stopped taking finasteride. After around a week my feet began to improve and although they are still swollen as I type this they are much better than before. I should mention in this period I have continued to use 2% minoxidil, twice a day. As I mentioned at the start I have used it for 15years and have never had any side effects - (but not seen any regrowth either)
In the 5/6 week period since I stopped taking finasteride I should also mention some other points. I don't want to scare anyone but I feel I should mention them - Firstly around 3 weeks after stopping finasteride I started to get some very strange chest pains and I remember one evening very well when for a short period while in my car I suddenly had trouble breathing....just for a few minutes but it was a very weird experience. I should point out I had my heart checked around 2 years ago - no problems and I am relitivly fit. I should not have heart problems.
2nd thing I should mention is that I went for a routine medical in November. For the first time in my life the doctor had to retake my blood pressure. At the second reading it was ok. I have never had blood pressure problems in my life.Now 5/6 weeks later the chest pains have now gone as have any breathing problems.
I want to stress as well that these symptoms were things really out of character in my life so far, nothing else has changed except for taking finasteride. It is possible they are totally unrelated to the finasteride but my gut feeling is that there is a connection in some way.
Ok so what about my hair since cutting finasteride ? First the bad news. What I gained is slowly being lost. I suspected from other posts I have seen that this would start around 5 to 6 weeks and this is about right....almost 6 weeks and I am starting to notice it getting thinner. I suspect that loss is going to continue as I stay off finasteride.
Ok so that is the feedback I have to offer. Now for the question I have for the forum - What can I do now ?
I am continuing on 2%minoxidil but its obvious that this will not be enough, I was losing the battle on it before and this was the reason I went onto finasteride in the first place.
It was also apparent that I seem to be a reasonable responder to finasteride. It worked ! I was growing hair but due to the aforementioned problems you can understand my reluctance to go back on it....I guess I don't need to explain what it feels like to have the carrot of hair growth dangled in front of me only to now have it snatched away again.
So what can I do ? A Couple of things occurred to me - I could try an even lower dosage of finasteride or I could try 5% minoxidil. I don't think minoxidil is going to make a difference and I think even a lower dosage of finasteride could cause me problems.
Suggestions ? Advice ? Anyone had similar experiences ? Over to you guys and thanks in advance.
