Started Dutasteride 11/5/18 - Pictures & Updates

[melky1]

Well you are using Duta, so if u didn't see any improvement with minoxidil I wouldn't get back on it. Duta should prevent the miniaturitation of the hair lost due to minoxidil, so afterall they should grow back and, fingers crossed, you shuold mantain your situation. Best of luck!

Thanks for this - I'm leaning towards taking your advice and trying to get through this shed without any further adjustment to my regimen.

Here's a hard question to answer -- how long should I expect this to last? How long should I let an intense shed go on before I take action and get back on minoxidil, et al?

 

[Slotback67]

Ofcoarse stay on dutasteride. Y
Please take pictures of your current hair and post them along with your baseline from before any treatment. I am on dutasteride and I am shedding as well but my hair looks and feels better than it did before, even though I’m shedding

 

[melky1]

Ofcoarse stay on dutasteride. Y
Please take pictures of your current hair and post them along with your baseline from before any treatment. I am on dutasteride and I am shedding as well but my hair looks and feels better than it did before, even though I’m shedding

Definitely staying on dutas. The question is whether to hop back on minoxidil. Right now leaning no

 

[JFLAtMtBalding]

Here's a hard question to answer -- how long should I expect this to last? How long should I let an intense shed go on before I take action and get back on minoxidil, et al?

No idea about the time that will take, you will notice. I think it's better to wait the end of the shed, otherwise you will cause another shed bc you are syncronizing the hair under minoxidil. If you have a Doctor specialized in hair I suggest to talk to him. If you get back on minoxidil, maybe you can take it with some antiandrogens.

 

[justbeconfident]

i also lose 200-300 hairs a shower, tried finasteride, but it didnt work and gave me sides, thinking to get on kirkland minoxidil rn
can u give any updates on ur situation and mb u have any advice on how u apply minoxidil and if it gave u any sides?

 

[Michael1986]

Maybe you could consider a low dose of oral minoxidil

 

[melky1]

No idea about the time that will take, you will notice. I think it's better to wait the end of the shed, otherwise you will cause another shed bc you are syncronizing the hair under minoxidil. If you have a Doctor specialized in hair I suggest to talk to him. If you get back on minoxidil, maybe you can take it with some antiandrogens.

Antiandrogens in addition to dutasteride?

I've decided that as bad as this shed has been I'm not going to get back on minoxidil for at least a couple of months. If the shed subsides and dutasteride helps the hairs regrow as strong as they were before, I will be very happy.

@justbeconfident if you read through this thread you'll find out about my experience with minoxidil. No sides but when I first started there were moments of elevated heart rate after application. I started with generic foam but switched to liquid because my hair is a few inches long and liquid is easier to get to the scalp. Was using only 1x daily before bed, would just fill the applicator and dab the tip on the scalp where I was concerned about loss (for me mostly in the front/along the hairline).

@Michael1986 never considered oral minoxidi, don't want to deal with another Rx. Have you used it with any success?

 

[Michael1986]

@Michael1986 never considered oral minoxidi, don't want to deal with another Rx. Have you used it with any success?

I used it for a while but noticed that it was making my eyes very puffy. Several people started commenting on my puffy eyes, including my dentist who thought I'd had an allergic reaction to something. I stopped oral minoxidil after six weeks of using it, and the puffy eye problem went away after I stopped using it. I can't say how much regrowth it would have given me because I didn't use it for long enough.
If you are thinking of using oral minoxidil, I would recommend a very low dose such as 2.5mg a day, which is the dose that I used. Oral minoxidil is a powerful and risky thing to be putting in your body, so it is best to stick with very low doses.

 

[JFLAtMtBalding]

Antiandrogens in addition to dutasteride?

No, Antiandrogens in addition to minoxidil: you take a lotion with minoxidil and some anti androgens. But you said you won't get back on minoxidil.

 

[melky1]

No, Antiandrogens in addition to minoxidil: you take a lotion with minoxidil and some anti androgens. But you said you won't get back on minoxidil.

Ah, yes I understand what you mean. My hope is that this minoxidil shed will stop and that I will regrow much of the hair that is lost. If I can do that without getting back on minoxidil, I will be happy - but I won't rule it out for the future.

Just being patient for now.. hard when I'm losing so many hairs per day.

 

[phalanx6013]

Hey melky, figured I'd comment on the Minoxidil situation you're in. When I switched from Finasteride to Dutasteride in early March of this year, I also started using Minoxidil 5% very regularly, day and night, I did this almost everyday for 2 months and saw solid results. I attributed this to the Dutasteride. Prior to my religious use of Minoxidil, I'd always have been iffy with its use, often skipping 2-3 days at times and single applications. Moving forward, I stopped using it altogether in mid May as I assumed that the Dutasteride I started taking was the main contributor to my results. So from mid May to mid August I was only on Dutasteride. I've lost density since then (I'm a diffuse thinner) and my hairline seems to have taken a hit for the first time in awhile. I don't know if this is because I dropped Minoxidil or because I started Dutasteride, maybe both? it's not conclusive unfortunately but I've read people had hairline issues when starting on Dutasteride. It's now almost a month later (3 wks) that I've started applying topical 5% Minoxidil again and I had a bad initial shed, all small hairs and a small percentage of healthy hairs. I think the shed is slowly slowing down. I just ordered 15% Minoxidil for evening applications so we'll see where I end up in another 3-6 months.

 

[justbeconfident]

Hey melky, figured I'd comment on the Minoxidil situation you're in. When I switched from Finasteride to Dutasteride in early March of this year, I also started using Minoxidil 5% very regularly, day and night, I did this almost everyday for 2 months and saw solid results. I attributed this to the Dutasteride. Prior to my religious use of Minoxidil, I'd always have been iffy with its use, often skipping 2-3 days at times and single applications. Moving forward, I stopped using it altogether in mid May as I assumed that the Dutasteride I started taking was the main contributor to my results. So from mid May to mid August I was only on Dutasteride. I've lost density since then (I'm a diffuse thinner) and my hairline seems to have taken a hit for the first time in awhile. I don't know if this is because I dropped Minoxidil or because I started Dutasteride, maybe both? it's not conclusive unfortunately but I've read people had hairline issues when starting on Dutasteride. It's now almost a month later (3 wks) that I've started applying topical 5% Minoxidil again and I had a bad initial shed, all small hairs and a small percentage of healthy hairs. I think the shed is slowly slowing down. I just ordered 15% Minoxidil for evening applications so we'll see where I end up in another 3-6 months.

holy f***, mate, you registed on 2012 and only have 5 posts, uve been slowly balding for 7 years at this point?

also did you get any sides from minoxidil like acne, dark circles under eyes, chest pain and sh*t like that? what brand of minoxidil did you use?

ive tried finasteride, it gave me harsh sides, contemplating giving minoxidil a try, since its my last chance basically

 

[melky1]

Hey melky, figured I'd comment on the Minoxidil situation you're in. When I switched from Finasteride to Dutasteride in early March of this year, I also started using Minoxidil 5% very regularly, day and night, I did this almost everyday for 2 months and saw solid results. I attributed this to the Dutasteride. Prior to my religious use of Minoxidil, I'd always have been iffy with its use, often skipping 2-3 days at times and single applications. Moving forward, I stopped using it altogether in mid May as I assumed that the Dutasteride I started taking was the main contributor to my results. So from mid May to mid August I was only on Dutasteride. I've lost density since then (I'm a diffuse thinner) and my hairline seems to have taken a hit for the first time in awhile. I don't know if this is because I dropped Minoxidil or because I started Dutasteride, maybe both? it's not conclusive unfortunately but I've read people had hairline issues when starting on Dutasteride. It's now almost a month later (3 wks) that I've started applying topical 5% Minoxidil again and I had a bad initial shed, all small hairs and a small percentage of healthy hairs. I think the shed is slowly slowing down. I just ordered 15% Minoxidil for evening applications so we'll see where I end up in another 3-6 months.

Hey @phalanx6013 thanks for the input. Hope everything gets back to normal for you. I'm staying off minoxidil and will wait to see if the shed stops and I recover hair that I've lost, but I'm pretty depressed about it.

I'd been on minoxidil for 10 months when I started dutasteride and saw no results, just continued shedding... which is why I started dutasteride in the first place. The two overlapped for 7 months after that. Now it's been 3 months since I quit minoxidil and the shed has been extremely intense and persistent for about 6 weeks, maybe more.

 

[phalanx6013]

holy f***, mate, you registed on 2012 and only have 5 posts, uve been slowly balding for 7 years at this point?

also did you get any sides from minoxidil like acne, dark circles under eyes, chest pain and sh*t like that? what brand of minoxidil did you use?

ive tried finasteride, it gave me harsh sides, contemplating giving minoxidil a try, since its my last chance basically

Yep, pretty much man. I've managed to keep my hair looking decent, it's just now getting to a point where I need to be more militant with my regime. No sides from minoxidil whatsoever, I reacted pretty nicely to it when I first started. I first used Rogaine foam, Kirkland foam, and finally Amazon liquid basic stuff. It's all the same IMO, 5%

Hey @phalanx6013 thanks for the input. Hope everything gets back to normal for you. I'm staying off minoxidil and will wait to see if the shed stops and I recover hair that I've lost, but I'm pretty depressed about it.

I'd been on minoxidil for 10 months when I started dutasteride and saw no results, just continued shedding... which is why I started dutasteride in the first place. The two overlapped for 7 months after that. Now it's been 3 months since I quit minoxidil and the shed has been extremely intense and persistent for about 6 weeks, maybe more.

Thanks for the bid of confidence, much appreciated. Perhaps you aren't reacting well to Minoxidil, I remember reading something in the forum that certain people won't react to it because they're low on a certain protein in the scalp, can't recall the name however. I'm sure if you run a search you'll find it pretty quickly. You could get tested for this specific protein and that'll tell you whether its worth getting back on. Have you considered dermarolling? I bought a .5mm 192 blade roller yesterday, planning on using it once a week.

 

[melky1]

Thanks for the bid of confidence, much appreciated. Perhaps you aren't reacting well to Minoxidil, I remember reading something in the forum that certain people won't react to it because they're low on a certain protein in the scalp, can't recall the name however. I'm sure if you run a search you'll find it pretty quickly. You could get tested for this specific protein and that'll tell you whether its worth getting back on. Have you considered dermarolling? I bought a .5mm 192 blade roller yesterday, planning on using it once a week.

Yeah, a member called @BananaBlunt mentioned that protein in my other thread, though strangely it looks as if all his posts have disappeared.. a bummer, because they were informative and helpful. Where'd you go, @BananaBlunt ??

I don't think minoxidil was the answer for me and am regretting ever having gotten on it, though I think giving it a 1.5 year trial was a good effort.

At one point I considered dermarolling but I think it's just not for me, certainly if I'm not staying on minoxidil, which I am not. I am going to wait at least a couple more months and see where I'm at. Man, I really need the shed to stop. Seriously considering buzzing so I can just put it out of my mind.

Here are some pics from today, post shower. I don't know how helpful these will be and I never style my hair like this - it's always down, as in the last shot, and I can never get it how I want to anymore. It has no body and looks like a rat's nest. And yeah, I probably have dysmorphia, but for anyone who thinks this is all in my head, check out what greets me in the sink after I (gently) comb my hair. Every day. And that says nothing of the dozens and dozens that go in the shower, and the dozens and dozens and dozens throughout the day. Every day!

 

[maxou]

Hey melky1, give it a least a full year, even 2 full years. Stop looking at hairs in the sink that doesn't mean anything. Some people are maintaining or even gaining while losing lots of hair. Others lose hair while not seeing any hair in the sink or in the shower. It doesn't mean anything. All that counts is where will you be in 5 years from now.

Btw your hair looks great. And yes everyone on this forum probably has some form of dysmorphia.

 

[Manochoice]

In the pics you've posted your hair still looks crazy good. Half of this forum would kill for that mane. But yes, things can degenerate pretty fast. Minoxidil is really something you only do if you are willing to be committed, not just a few times here and there. Also, I believe is the fina/duta that synchronize your hairs and not minoxidil. If you are not willing to go with Minoxidil, just forget it. No reason to stress about it for no use. Also, I am not sure but if I remember well I've read that dermarolling can have some positive results on it's own, even without the minoxidil as ut helps a bit with vascularization and blood flow so, in theory, you could make use of dermarolling even on dry. If your hair now really makes you obsess over it, maybe it better to shave it ir buzz it for a while. This way us out of your mind and you can go on with treatment and life and assess later. If 16-18 months down the road u don't see improvement (which means keeping most of your hair) then it's kinda useless to continue...

 

[melky1]

@BananaBlunt @maxou @Manochoice -- thank you for your replies, both for the kind words and the advice.

I've been on and off this forum for over a decade and I know just what you mean - sometimes it sets me straight, but most of the time it's a tool that stokes my feelings of desperation and I know that's not healthy.. for my spirit or my scalp!

I'm keeping on with dutasteride, not using minoxidil anymore, and will just give it time. Hopefully I'll be back with good news before logging off for good.

@maxou , I still take finasteride every day.. too paranoid to stop. You take both duta and finasteride every day??

 

[washed_up]

Beyond the shape of your hairline, the rest of your hair looks pretty healthy and strong. No diffuse thinning or crown loss.

 

[maxou]

@maxou , I still take finasteride every day.. too paranoid to stop. You take both duta and finasteride every day??

Yep I’ve been on both for 5 years now. Too scared to stop finasteride because my dutasteride was from Inhouse.

I finally got a valid prescription for real dutasteride and just started taking it a few days ago. So I might quit finasteride, but scared so not sure when.

Plus finasteride is so cheap with insurance like 10 bucks for 4 months. I’ve been maintaining at best but it is some sort of success for me, i thought i’s be bald by age 30 and i am pushing 34 now