Is there the slightest possibility...

[jeffsss]

that propecia could cause hair loss..

my stupid theory:
propecia blocks one type of enzyme that turns testosterone into DHT

since there is slightly more free floating testosterone in your body while taking propecia. Is it possible that this free floating testosterone could turn into DHT by the other enzyme?

just dosnt seem right that i've been on propecia for 5 months and i'm still shedding like a dog.

 

[Private Ryan]

looking at your picture from the other thread. i think you are over react. hell. in the first place you don't even look like you need propeica at all.

 

[jeffsss]

looking at your picture from the other thread. i think you are over react. hell. in the first place you don't even look like you need propeica at all.

that's really nice of you to say. however. I am losing my hair. it's gotten really thin. and very noticable along the hair line especially.

my hair was much thicker when i first started using propecia.. but i was losing handfulls back then too..

 

[jeffsss]

dry hair, normal lighting. thin :cry:

 

[Freestyle]

You are correct, Jeffsss -- your theory IS stupid.

Propecia doesn't cause hair loss. You may just maintain current hair (highly likely), you may get lucky and regrow lost hair (strongly probable) or your hair loss may just continue with no effect from Propecia whatsoever (unlikely).

It won't make healthy hair fall out. That is ridiculous. How may times do we have to tell you this?

And constantly posting pictures of your imagined hair loss isn't winning you any friends with the Norwood 2+ crowds.

 

[-cj-]

* Finasteride (Propecia / Proscar)

There have been multiple reports of excessive shedding several months after finasteride therapy. Typically, there is a good response to finasteride to prevent or reverse male pattern baldness. Then, around the 11th to 16th week, there can be sudden shedding, sometimes on a massive scale. The entire phenomenon fits the description of a telogen effluvium. It is a common observation that post-partum women often suffer the same temporary hair loss. In the case of finasteride use, the telogen effluvium appears to be a reaction to the sudden change in the systemic levels of the sex hormone, DHT. Often the cause of a telogen effluvium are obscure, but has been related to high fevers, stress, trauma, medications, etc.

The shedding is generally diffuse (global) and can affect areas of the scalp not usually affected by male pattern baldness. So, it would be common to note shedding from the sides and back of the head in addition to the crown, vertex and frontal areas. The shedding tends to be fairly symmetrical, but will be more noticeable in the areas affected by male pattern baldness, because there is a higher ratio of hairs in the telogen phase than in the other areas of the scalp.

The duration of a telogen effluvium is variable, but rarely lasts more than a few months and there is invariably complete restitution unless another pathologic process also occurs.

As a rule, treatment is not necessary because the hair will grow back. For most patients, there is no evidence of residual loss of hair within a year. However, there have been cases of patients taking finasteride and reporting repeated bouts of excessive shedding. In this situation, it would be advisable to discontinue use of finasteride in favor of alternative anti-androgens.

 

[Britannia]

Jeffsss you worry uneccesarily. Your only 5 months into treatment. You need to give finasteride 12 months before deciding whether or not it is working for you. You are not even half way there yet! Nobody who has had excellent results using finasteride didnt have sheds when they first started taking it. Have some patience!

 

[Britannia]

Jeffsss you worry uneccesarily. Your only 5 months into treatment. You need to give finasteride 12 months before deciding whether or not it is working for you. You are not even half way there yet! Nobody who has had excellent results using finasteride didnt have sheds when they first started taking it. Have some patience!

 

[jeffsss]

And constantly posting pictures of your imagined hair loss isn't winning you any friends with the Norwood 2+ crowds.

well let me remind you that i realize that i still have some hair. but take a real close look at that pic. you see that hairline? do i really have to argue that i'm losing hair. it really troubles be because it's very very thin all over the top.. pics dont do justice.

 

[kosmo]

so if its possible that in some people propecia can cause excessive shedding, when should you stop using it? im in month 11 now and have lost a rediculous amount of hair and it doesnt seem to be stopping.

after seeing my results i think there is a definite possibility that propecia could cause some people to go bald. that is, rapidly increase the amount of hair one is losing and cause them to go bald faster than they would without it.

 

[Freestyle]

so if its possible that in some people propecia can cause excessive shedding, when should you stop using it? im in month 11 now and have lost a rediculous amount of hair and it doesnt seem to be stopping.

after seeing my results i think there is a definite possibility that propecia could cause some people to go bald. that is, rapidly increase the amount of hair one is losing and cause them to go bald faster than they would without it.

Well, you are wrong. There's no other way to say it. Wrong.

Propecia simply cannot cause people to go bald. Period. Full stop. No corrospondence entered into.

If you research the drug itself, and the very nature of the way it works and what it does, you will also discover for yourself that it cannot cause hair loss, or make the hair loss faster or worse.

At the absolute worst, Propecia will have no effect whatsoever, and your baldness will continue at the rate it would have without Propecia.

If you get a shed on Propecia, all it is doing is forcing hairs out that were close to falling out naturally anyway. Then when/if those hairs come back, and they are thinner and less pigmented, that is not Propecia's fault -- that's how it was going to happen on the next cycle anyway, whether you were using Propecia or not using it.

The problem is that everyone taking Propecia is expecting a miracle pill. Just start taking it, and you'll have hair forever. But the misinformation that is being spread -- especially crap like this about Propecia causing or accelerating hair loss -- comes from people who either haven't given it due time to work, or are a just one of the unlucky ones for whom Propecia has little to no effect.

But, as I said, even in that case where it has little to no effect, you are still only losing hair at the rate you would have anyway.

 

[kosmo]

so if its possible that in some people propecia can cause excessive shedding, when should you stop using it? im in month 11 now and have lost a rediculous amount of hair and it doesnt seem to be stopping.

after seeing my results i think there is a definite possibility that propecia could cause some people to go bald. that is, rapidly increase the amount of hair one is losing and cause them to go bald faster than they would without it.

Well, you are wrong. There's no other way to say it. Wrong.

Propecia simply cannot cause people to go bald. Period. Full stop. No corrospondence entered into.

If you research the drug itself, and the very nature of the way it works and what it does, you will also discover for yourself that it cannot cause hair loss, or make the hair loss faster or worse.

At the absolute worst, Propecia will have no effect whatsoever, and your baldness will continue at the rate it would have without Propecia.

If you get a shed on Propecia, all it is doing is forcing hairs out that were close to falling out naturally anyway. Then when/if those hairs come back, and they are thinner and less pigmented, that is not Propecia's fault -- that's how it was going to happen on the next cycle anyway, whether you were using Propecia or not using it.

The problem is that everyone taking Propecia is expecting a miracle pill. Just start taking it, and you'll have hair forever. But the misinformation that is being spread -- especially crap like this about Propecia causing or accelerating hair loss -- comes from people who either haven't given it due time to work, or are a just one of the unlucky ones for whom Propecia has little to no effect.

But, as I said, even in that case where it has little to no effect, you are still only losing hair at the rate you would have anyway.

i was referreing to cj's post stating that in some cases people experience excessive shedding and should discontinue treatment.

im not spreading misinformation, im simply describing my experience. i dont know if propecia could increase the rate that somone goes bald, but you dont know that it cant.

 

[Freestyle]

so if its possible that in some people propecia can cause excessive shedding, when should you stop using it? im in month 11 now and have lost a rediculous amount of hair and it doesnt seem to be stopping.

after seeing my results i think there is a definite possibility that propecia could cause some people to go bald. that is, rapidly increase the amount of hair one is losing and cause them to go bald faster than they would without it.

Well, you are wrong. There's no other way to say it. Wrong.

Propecia simply cannot cause people to go bald. Period. Full stop. No corrospondence entered into.

If you research the drug itself, and the very nature of the way it works and what it does, you will also discover for yourself that it cannot cause hair loss, or make the hair loss faster or worse.

At the absolute worst, Propecia will have no effect whatsoever, and your baldness will continue at the rate it would have without Propecia.

If you get a shed on Propecia, all it is doing is forcing hairs out that were close to falling out naturally anyway. Then when/if those hairs come back, and they are thinner and less pigmented, that is not Propecia's fault -- that's how it was going to happen on the next cycle anyway, whether you were using Propecia or not using it.

The problem is that everyone taking Propecia is expecting a miracle pill. Just start taking it, and you'll have hair forever. But the misinformation that is being spread -- especially crap like this about Propecia causing or accelerating hair loss -- comes from people who either haven't given it due time to work, or are a just one of the unlucky ones for whom Propecia has little to no effect.

But, as I said, even in that case where it has little to no effect, you are still only losing hair at the rate you would have anyway.

i was referreing to cj's post stating that in some cases people experience excessive shedding and should discontinue treatment.

im not spreading misinformation, im simply describing my experience. i dont know if propecia could increase the rate that somone goes bald, but you dont know that it cant.

Yes. Yes, I do. The studies, the trials! The FDA would not approve a drug for hair loss if it actually made people lose hair. And even in the remote, extreme, rare case that they found it had that effect on someone who took the drug, the FDA, hard asses that they are, would force Merck to list it as a possible side effect.

And believe me; companies in the public health arena are VERY cautious. If there is even a 1 in a Trillion chance that something could happen, they will warn about it, if only to cover their asses in a possible lawsuit.

Propecia does not cause or accelerate hair loss. The drug doesn't work that way. It can't work that way.

 

[kosmo]

ok but i never had shedding before starting on propecia. as with the rest of my family i was losing my hair at a fairly slow but constant rate. but in 11 months of taking propecia i know have lost more hair than my brother who is 6 years older than me.

some people never experience shedding on propecia. and some people experience alot of it. so why is it wrong to consider that in some people the shedding may never stop and they may not experience maintenance or regrowth?

 

[nohairnodandruff]

Thats a pretty ignorant statement to say, who knows for a fact that propecia doesn't cause increase male pattern baldness in some people. You have testimony in this forum of people saying male pattern baldness has increased after 1.5 years on propecia. Merck is trying to push their product on the floor, so they want to discard these people as "Propecia had no effect".

Your head just does not consist of 5AR II receptors, it consists of both but Merck wants you to believe 5ARII is the culprit. If you look at avodart, avodart reduces DHT by 90%. Why isn't this the cure for male pattern baldness? Obviously, we are all ignorant to whats going on here, so assuming Propecia has no adverse affect is pretty ignorant in itself.

 

[Freestyle]

ok but i never had shedding before starting on propecia. as with the rest of my family i was losing my hair at a fairly slow but constant rate. but in 11 months of taking propecia i know have lost more hair than my brother who is 6 years older than me.

some people never experience shedding on propecia. and some people experience alot of it. so why is it wrong to consider that in some people the shedding may never stop and they may not experience maintenance or regrowth?

If Propecia gave you a shed, it is only shedding weak hairs at the end of their cycles. Those hairs would have fallen out within a few days or weeks anyway.

It only seems a drastic problem during the shed because your shedding is all happening at once, rather than over the course of a few weeks/months.

The hairs that you lose during shedding may come back in the next cycle, or they may not. This also has nothing to do with Propecia.

Let's say you have a huge shed. Let's say 30% of those hairs were thin, weak hairs at the end of their life; having been eaten away at by male pattern baldness. Let's say that 50% were thin hairs still being affected by male pattern baldness. Let's say the last 20% were just normal terminal hairs at the end of their cycle.

In this situation, you will definitely get back 70% of the hair you lost during the shed. The 50% may come back looking exactly the same as it had before, or it may come back weaker and thinner; still being affected by male pattern baldness.

The 30% that die off completely in this cycle may or may not return in further cycles; depending on how well Propecia works for you in the long run.

In this scenario, you're getting most of your hair back after the shed, but it SEEMS worse because some of that hair is growing back in weaker, thinner and less pigmented.

If Propecia works for you, then over the first two years you should see these hairs get gradually better, and maybe grow back some of the dead ones.

If Propecia doesn't work for you, then you will continue to lose hair. But this isn't Propecia's fault. The only thing a shed is doing is forcing out hairs all at once, rather than over an extended period of time. It is in now way affecting the health of the hair or its lifespan.

 

[Freestyle]

Thats a pretty ignorant statement to say, who knows for a fact that propecia doesn't cause increase male pattern baldness in some people. You have testimony in this forum of people saying male pattern baldness has increased after 1.5 years on propecia. Merck is trying to push their product on the floor, so they want to discard these people as "Propecia had no effect".

Your head just does not consist of 5AR II receptors, it consists of both but Merck wants you to believe 5ARII is the culprit. If you look at avodart, avodart reduces DHT by 90%. Why isn't this the cure for male pattern baldness? Obviously, we are all ignorant to whats going on here, so assuming Propecia has no adverse affect is pretty ignorant in itself.

Well, if Merck wanted to prove to us that 5AR II plays a large part in hair loss, then they did a pretty freaking good job of that by manufacturing and trialling a drug that has been proven to be effective in more men than not.

The way Propecia works, it cann't cause hair loss. It's not just Merck who says this; but qualified Doctors, hair loss specialists etc.

There's nothing ignorant about it.

 

[-cj-]

i was referreing to cj's post stating that in some cases people experience excessive shedding and should discontinue treatment.

im not spreading misinformation, im simply describing my experience. i dont know if propecia could increase the rate that somone goes bald, but you dont know that it cant.

I believe that was in a sticky in the Shedding forum.

 

[kosmo]

i was referreing to cj's post stating that in some cases people experience excessive shedding and should discontinue treatment.

im not spreading misinformation, im simply describing my experience. i dont know if propecia could increase the rate that somone goes bald, but you dont know that it cant.

I believe that was in a sticky in the Shedding forum.

you're right it is in the sticky. but when they say people who have excessive shedding sould discontinue use, how long would you wait before you decide that your shedding is excessive?

and if shedding is part of how propecia works, then how can you decide if it is working? does shedding stop once propecia starts to work? or would you still shed every 3 months and start have more hair that grows back?

 

[socks]

Finasteride can cause reflex hyperandrogenicity

reflex hyperandrogenicity

When the effects of androgens in the body are lessened, e.g. through lowering DHT or by systemic hormone receptor blockade, the body seeks equilibrium through a process called upregulation. This can take the form of increased hormone production and/or increased tissue sensitivity to the remaining hormones. The reason side effects usually gradually disappear with finasteride is probably due to such upregulation. In a small percentage of individuals, it may be that this process overshoots the mark, resulting in significant hyperandrogenicity. This is marked by such signs as greatly increased facial oil, increased pimples, and greatly elevated libido. It's possible that in certain cases such hyperandrogenicity overcomes the hair-protective effect of, say, finasteride, though this does not appear to be the case for the vast majority of people

As far as Telogen Effluvium and Finasteride, Dr. Lee has said in some cases Finasteride may cause a bout of Telogen Effluvium. Are these reported as potential side-effects? No. Do they exist? Some doctors say yes. The FDA is hardly perfect and if a side-effect is "missed" after a drug passes through the 3 trials phases the FDA is generally very slow to respond to reports of new side-effects.