Should I stop taking Propecia -Very Depressed :-(

[vipergts]

Hi Folks,

In the last 5 months since I have started taking Propecia my hair density in the crown and hairline has decreased by at least 40%. I have been shedding like crazy 5 months straight. Each time I touch my "extremely sensitive" hair I end up getting 2-3 hairs stuck to my hand. In short I am miserable - I can see right through my hairline and my crown is almost transparent. I am almost certain that this is being caused by Propecia. I have been on Xandrox and spironolactone for nearly 3 years with excellent results. The only reason for starting propecia was for thickening my temples and sides.

But now I am ruined and 10 times worse than baseline. I swear I am not exaggerating folks. This is ruining my life and even at work I find it hard to concentrate. Sometimes I just want to shave my head and get the F'ing torture over with. I am too afraid to quit finasteride because I fear that the shedding may get even worse. I am totally confused and very depressed. Please help me out guys. Should I stop or continue using finasteride?

 

[Andyuk2007]

if you read around on the forums you will see that your not the only one shedding but as you shed you must remember that new hairs are growing to push those shedding hairs out

 

[vipergts]

if you read around on the forums you will see that your not the only one shedding but as you shed you must remember that new hairs are growing to push those shedding hairs out

This seems to be a contradiction. I know a lot of people who say that excessive shedding competely stops when finasteride "kicks in". But *when* does it kick in dammit! I doubt it should take more than a couple of months max and I am on month 5.

 

[Andyuk2007]

then perhaps you should also try the foam and nizoral shampoo

 

[pinkfloyd7]

im kinda feelin the same way andy been on propecia for 4 months so far. had a shed at 2 month period for bout 2 weeks. it was really bad and then it gradually showed. i think the rogaine foam im taking is given me a shed too but idk all of a sudden my hairs at the hairline seem to be growing back thinner and thinner leading me to doubt that anything has actually kicked in at all yet

 

[pologuy514]

I've been on propecia now for 10 months. My hair has started to thicken up quite a bit which is fantastic. You got to stick on it for the long haul or else it's not worth even starting.

 

[hairwegoagain]

Well, if you stop taking it it's pretty much guaranteed that you'll continue to bald.

If you stick with it and ride things out, you have a pretty good chance of stabilizing or slowing to your original pre-treatment position and perhaps gaining..particularly if you add minoxidil as someone stated above.

I wouldn't criticize someone for not using finasteride because he didn't like the idea of using an hormone-altering medication for vanity...but if that's not a concern my money's on the the latter option.

 

[vipergts]

Thanks for replying fellas!

I have been using Minoxidil AND spironolactone for 3 years and continue to use it along side finasteride. Already tried Foam and Spectral, but ended up reverting back to Xandrox since it works best for me. I have also been using nizoral and T-Gel for 5 years. So basically all my basis are covered.

My major question is that are people *supposed* to shed on Propecia and is this a good or bad sign? Like I said I have seen all sorts of reports and am totally confused. Some people don't shed on finasteride while others shed for months. If I get back to even baseline right now (which was right before propecia destroyed my hairline) I would be delighted!

Wondering if dutasteride is my last resort at this point?

 

[Nick4441]

I am exactly the same as you apart from mines receding and losing density all over the top, crown is o.k.. I am way way behind baseline and now on it for 6 months. hell it is depressing...

So tempted to buzz it but that's a last resort, somehow we have to holdoff and keep short cut.

I am so tempted to book my hair transplant as need to look forward to some improvement. My hairline needed sorting even when I started finasteride but I did have lots of density behind which I now don't have. But if I get the front done in 6 months who knows where the rest would be so its not really a good idea.

I keep thinking of stopping too as I think its causing the loss, if I could see new growth replacing then would keep on but more time that goes by with continual loss the more I come to conclusion its not coming back. Lots of guys say stick it out it will turnaround and there are many coming up to a year and no improvement..well another 6 months for me and i'll have gone from NW2 at baseline to NW4 by then. Its a difficult decision...

 

[evildude]

if you read around on the forums you will see that your not the only one shedding but as you shed you must remember that new hairs are growing to push those shedding hairs out

what kind of bogus theory is that? new hairs don't 'push out' the old ones. i think it was bryan who said the shed can be caused by the follicles expanding, but he also noted there was no reason as to why the hairs had to shed. they, as the follicles, could expand and grow thicker continuously...

 

[Guest]

vipergts, all I can say is be patient and ride it out. I too thought that finasteride was only making my situation worse. Luckily I got my twin brother (who's not taking anything to stop his hairloss) as a measure stick and he's at least as bald as I atm. So if I haven't gained anything with propecia, it certainly hasn't sped up my balding process either. I stopped propecia for about a month thinking that I'll just give up. Now I'm back on it and also started minoxidil and I'm up for one last fight to save my hair. My hair has stayed the same for about half a year now, so I think I'm at least maintaining. Hopefully minoxidil helps me regrow some. I'd be happy with a 25% regrowth, back to where I was last summer.

 

[djthomas85]

hey guys, im aboard this boat aswell!
6months no improvement and hair is def thinner. i just want all the hair to thicken up.

when u guys said regrowth, do u mean regrown lost hair? or thicken existing hair?

 

[vipergts]

vipergts, all I can say is be patient and ride it out. I too thought that finasteride was only making my situation worse. Luckily I got my twin brother (who's not taking anything to stop his hairloss) as a measure stick and he's at least as bald as I atm. So if I haven't gained anything with propecia, it certainly hasn't sped up my balding process either. I stopped propecia for about a month thinking that I'll just give up. Now I'm back on it and also started minoxidil and I'm up for one last fight to save my hair. My hair has stayed the same for about half a year now, so I think I'm at least maintaining. Hopefully minoxidil helps me regrow some. I'd be happy with a 25% regrowth, back to where I was last summer.

Thanks for the encouragement GrowHair - I plan to ride it out for a couple more months. I hope minoxidil does the trick for you in terms of new growth.

What frustrates me even more than the hairloss is the fact that I am being SO PROACTIVE and my hairloss rate is only accelerating. I mean I am using finasteride, minoxidil twice a day, spironolactone 5%, Folligen, Niz2%, T-GEL, Spectral on the temples and EMU Oil and still the only thing that is obvious is that I am balding even faster than before. Going bald and not caring is one thing, but going bald and spending 1000s of dollars and spending 100s of hours over the years applying all this SHI* to your head is another.

Anyways I guess hope is all I have left....

 

[williamnewyork]

im in the same boat also,
only im at almost 17 months on finasteride and its just still shedding and diffuse thnning. all of which i had NO signs of when i started.

i only started finasteride to be proactive with hairloss, because my younger brother started seeing his hair fall out at 21, im 25, im in a better spot then he is still, but im still NOWHERE near my baseline, which drives me crazy.

anyone heard it taking this long to start to calm down?