Started on propecia

[person_123]

Ok, heres the story. I started on propecia 5 days ago. Been on minoxidil before propecia about 3 to 4 months now.

Before i started propecia, i noticed "less" hair falling out whilst showering. Now i'm noticing alot more.

Is this a bad sign? Is it a good sign? Is it too early for propecia to make me shed already?

I've read some posts in this forum about people becoming alot worse since starting propecia. Can this happen? How do you tell? I'm thinking of stopping minoxidil in 2 to 4 months as well. Hopefully I wont regret it, but I just hate having to apply it twice every day. It's messy and annoying.

So is my shedding at the moment normal? I've still kept going with minoxidil, and propecia has only been taken for 5 days. What's going on?

 

[RP]

I'm thinking of stopping minoxidil in 2 to 4 months as well.

I wouldn`t recommend stopping minoxidil. I had some very bad results from switching to use just Propecia.

 

[Guest]

Hello person,

I don´t know whether it is a good sign that you are losing more hair than before. I can only tell you that I reacted exactly the same way.

At first when taking finasteride there a lot more hairs falling down, but after a few weeks it got slowly better. Now, that I am two months into treatment my shedding has stopped almost completly. I am losing like 15-20 hairs day. That´s my estimation though, since I don´t notice any hairs falling down at all. So, my proposal is to go on taking finasteride.

 

[person_123]

well, right now, i'm noticing about 10 to 20 hairs each time i shower. (on good days, 5 or so?)

and stopping minoxidil can't be "that" bad if i'm a good responder to finasteride. can it? if i respond well to finasteride, there's no reason that stopping minoxidil would mean anything, as i'm not getting great results from minoxidil at the moment anyway.

 

[Guest]

well, right now, i'm noticing about 10 to 20 hairs each time i shower. (on good days, 5 or so?)

and stopping minoxidil can't be "that" bad if i'm a good responder to finasteride. can it? if i respond well to finasteride, there's no reason that stopping minoxidil would mean anything, as i'm not getting great results from minoxidil at the moment anyway.

Beware, you might be maintaining a lot of hair by minoxidil and stopping it might mean the death for these hairs. At the moment you are in the situation I wanted to avoid and hence did not start minoxidil. You don´t know whether minoxidil is actually needed or finasteride alone is enough. That´s a risky game you would be playing by stopping minoxidil. :?

 

[person_123]

wouldn't finasteride sustain these hairs? because minoxidil alone at the moment (even though it doesn't seem to have done much) has still done something.

so if i stop minoxidil, wont finasteride maintain all those minoxidil hairs? or will i "definately 100% lose all of them"?

 

[Guest]

No, hair that was kept or regrown by minoxidil becomes "addicted" to minoxidil and will fall out once you stop the treatment. That is why minoxidil is a decision for life!

 

[person_123]

does this mean i would have been better off starting with finasteride? or if i started with finasteride, would i be at the same place now? (say i didn't use minoxidil at all, and started finasteride exactly when i did now).

i'm in no worse a place am i?

 

[Guest]

does this mean i would have been better off starting with finasteride?

Some people will tell you to do as much as you can as soon as you start your treatment. I am not one of them. I usually recommend finasteride+Ket-Shampoo(Nizoral) to see if the results with this easy to use combination are enough.

or if i started with finasteride, would i be at the same place now?

Well, hair maintained or even regrown by finasteride can be maintained by minoxidil and/or spironolactone. It doesn´t work like that with "minoxidil hair".

 

[person_123]

so is it best if i stop minoxidil now? or is it the same if i stop later? since i'm using both now anyway.

 

[RP]

so is it best if i stop minoxidil now? or is it the same if i stop later? since i'm using both now anyway.

I was only on minoxidil for three years. In May I dropped minoxidil and started to use just finasteride. Lost maybe 20% of all my hair during the first two months when I wasn`t using minoxidil.

Maybe you will react differently, but who knows.

 

[person_123]

i've only been on minoxidil for 4 months. when you lost 20% of all your hair, do you mean hair gained through minoxidil, or do you mean ALL your hair?

and has it picked up again since starting finasteride? or has it stayed at that 20% lost or worse?

 

[RP]

i've only been on minoxidil for 4 months. when you lost 20% of all your hair, do you mean hair gained through minoxidil, or do you mean ALL your hair?

and has it picked up again since starting finasteride? or has it stayed at that 20% lost or worse?

Don´t know if that hair was gained through minoxidil, or is it just a finasterid shed or what. Anyway I just posted some pictures that show quite well the situation at the worst point. I think that I lost hair all over my head. But the most noticable it is in the hairline and on the back of my head.

I think that the worst part of this experience is over. And that it has maybe at least stabilized. There could be some regrowth, but I`m far from my baseline.

 

[person_123]

hmm... maybe you were just a bad reactor to finasteride. i hope so (no offence meant, i hope you get the best possible results from finasteride now that you've stabalised). i just hope that i don't get really bad results for stopping minoxidil. but that being said, hair hasn't changed that much since starting minoxidil. so it shouldn't change that much after stopping.

fingers crossed.

 

[RP]

Since you have used minoxidil for only four months i`m quite sure that you`ll be allright. My massive shed was possibly a combination of stopping minoxidil and a shock from starting finasteride, but I had used minoxidil way longer than you.

Just wanted to warn you though.

 

[person_123]

i hope so. good thing i didn't stay on minoxidil for too long then. lucky i found these forums. thanks for the advice everybody.