Looking for advice, thinning after 2.5 years on finasteride

[23goingon80]

Hi guys,
I first noticed my thinning in college, when I was around 21 years old. I've always had good hair, just a thin spot behind my bangs that I've been able to cover up easily by spiking my hair. I jumped on finasteride so I could keep what I had for the most amount of time.

After 2 years, I've noticed my hair in that spot truly thinning now, to the point where if I spike my bangs up, they're see through. At the beginning of October, I got a haircut, then wore a hat to work for about two weeks straight (work early in the morning, not always time to style my hair). I took my hat off one day and noticed the spot was larger. Obviously, this worries me. I had been using Nizoral casually but laid off for a while, and have re-introduced that into my regime 2-3 times a week, starting about 2 weeks ago.

Up to this point, I've maintained, with some slight re-growth. I also haven't really experienced any side effects, except some nipple tenderness, but that subsided after the first few days.

I guess my question is, is there any hope for me now? I've heard that some dudes go through a 'shedding' phase later in the finasteride process, but I don't want to give myself false hope.

Thanks for any input

- - - Updated - - -

Any information would be helpful, guys. I understand the only way to know for sure if it will thicken up is to wait a few months, but I just want to give myself some realistic expectations here. Should I be preparing for the worst? I'm freaked out for real now, I have baldness in my family, but nobody this young

 

[Sailing123]

I have been on 1mg finasteride since October of 2010. I've maintained by there have been what I could call mini sheds every now and again, obviously they culminate with crisis of faith in the drug. Over the last couple of months the hair has deteriorated. Interestingly my deterioration has not really been visible in how the hair looks cosmetically (dry, wet no so much). So I am currently in a shed right now and have been in one since September. My genetics overriding the medication? Complications from switching from Propecia to generics? Lifestyle changes? Really is a mystery but I have switched back to name brand propecia for peace of mind. The medication seemed to work the best when I would take it, forget it and get busy with other interests. During these "mini sheds" I would become freaked out and start counting hairs again and that naturally snow balls.

I think its safe to say your better off having taken the medication than not. Might want to research increasing dosage, anecdotal evidence suggests that that might improve things but studies say otherwise. Increasing the dosage a bit would also relax your mind a bit. Having rogaine as a fallback option if your regressing continues provides at least some reassurance. I too have upped the usage of Nizoral in the hopes of holding back the tide.

 

[Wolf Pack]

Are you on Minoxidil? Might be another approach to add to finasteride. Some people respond well to minoxidil and it keeps working for them.

 

[zzzzz]

Finasteride and/or minoxidil tends to synchronize a lot of the hairs' life cycles. This means that every now and then a lot of hairs may shed at once... but this doesn't necessarily mean they are miniaturizing. They should grow back after some months. Miniaturization here is still possible though. If this is the case, there wouldn't be much you could do anyway, besides switching to dutasteride. I would say doing that now though would be jumping the gun. Just stay on finasteride.