Starting Dutasteride Today- Wish Me Luck.

[InvaderZim]

Have you been on Finasteride before?

Never been on finasteride, mate.

I gave it a thought, though, but I chose dutasteride as my girlfriend, lol.

 

[Jude79]

Just thought I'd add to this thread for what it's worth as I seem to be in a similar boat. 39 years old and I've been on Finasteride for 8 years and kept a reasonable head of hair. The last number of years I started to lose at a steady rate and itch like a mofo. I made the change to dutasteride 8-9 months ago. I started with 1 a week for a month and then upped to 3 a week with Finasteride on the off days. Now for the last number of 6-7 months I'm taking dutasteride every day. I also use rogaine and nizoral. My hairline and behind has taken a big hit and lately I've started to shed. My hair is definitely below baseline. It's my last throw of the dice. I'll give give it another 5-6 months and see how it plays out otherwise I'm getting the clippers out! I'll keep y'all posted in the coming months.

 

[InvaderZim]

Just thought I'd add to this thread for what it's worth as I seem to be in a similar boat. 39 years old and I've been on Finasteride for 8 years and kept a reasonable head of hair. The last number of years I started to loose at a steady rate and itch like a mofo. I made the change to dutasteride 8-9 months ago. I started with 1 a week for a month and then upped to 3 a week with Finasteride on the off days. Now for the last number of 6-7 months I'm taking dutasteride every day. I also use rogaine and nizoral. My hairline and behind has taken a big hit and lately I've started to shed. My hair is definitely below baseline. It's my last throw of the dice. I'll give give it another 5-6 months and see how it plays out otherwise I'm getting the clippers out! I'll keep y'all posted in the coming months.

How many mg dutas do you take ED?

Do you take Avodart?

 

[Jude79]

Yup I take genuine avodart .5mg each day.

 

[Michael1986]

I notice the myth getting thrown around a lot that Dutasteride can "destroy your hairline". It is biologically impossible for Dutasteride to actually damage or destroy your hair. It can only ever be good for your hair. It is true that it can cause an initial shed, but this shows that it is working. The shed is temporary, and the new hair that grows after the shed will be thicker, healthier hair that is able to grow normally as your DHT has been removed.

The belief that you will lose lots of hair when switching from finasteride to dutasteride due to dutasteride taking many months to start inhibiting DHT is also a myth. Although the absolute maximum amount of DHT suppression from Dutasteride takes several weeks to build up in your system, Dutasteride is able to suppress close to the maximum amount quite quickly. After only a few days of starting dutasteride, the amount of DHT suppression will overtake the amount that was previously inhibited by finasteride.

Anyway, as for me, I have been using dutasteride (0.5mg a day) for over four years, and it has worked very successfully for me. I've had absolutely no further hair loss since I started using it. I've had significant thickening in all the areas that I was thinning, and I've gained half a Norwood I would say.

Just remember, it is important to give dutasteride (or finasteride) time and patience. It won't grow your hair overnight. It takes several months or even up to a year for visible results to show. Patience and perseverance are important.

 

[Sjj]

I notice the myth getting thrown around a lot that Dutasteride can "destroy your hairline". It is biologically impossible for Dutasteride to actually damage or destroy your hair. It can only ever be good for your hair. It is true that it can cause an initial shed, but this shows that it is working. The shed is temporary, and the new hair that grows after the shed will be thicker, healthier hair that is able to grow normally as your DHT has been removed.

The belief that you will lose lots of hair when switching from finasteride to dutasteride due to dutasteride taking many months to start inhibiting DHT is also a myth. Although the absolute maximum amount of DHT suppression from Dutasteride takes several weeks to build up in your system, Dutasteride is able to suppress close to the maximum amount quite quickly. After only a few days of starting dutasteride, the amount of DHT suppression will overtake the amount that was previously inhibited by finasteride.

Anyway, as for me, I have been using dutasteride (0.5mg a day) for over four years, and it has worked very successfully for me. I've had absolutely no further hair loss since I started using it. I've had significant thickening in all the areas that I was thinning, and I've gained half a Norwood I would say.

Just remember, it is important to give dutasteride (or finasteride) time and patience. It won't grow your hair overnight. It takes several months or even up to a year for visible results to show. Patience and perseverance are important.

Michael1986, that’s good news. I just started dutasteride after 20 years on finasteride. The finasteride obviously maintained my hair but really didn’t regrow any. So on August 1st, 23 days ago I started dutasteride. About 2 weeks in I noticed shedding. It could be the dutasteride or it could be that I usually seem to shed twice a year anyway & maybe it would have happened had I stayed on finasteride. Did you shed when you started over 4 years ago? How long did it last? I know what happened to you most likely will be different for me since we all react differently to these treatments.

 

[real kombo]

I notice the myth getting thrown around a lot that Dutasteride can "destroy your hairline". It is biologically impossible for Dutasteride to actually damage or destroy your hair. It can only ever be good for your hair. It is true that it can cause an initial shed, but this shows that it is working. The shed is temporary, and the new hair that grows after the shed will be thicker, healthier hair that is able to grow normally as your DHT has been removed.

The belief that you will lose lots of hair when switching from finasteride to dutasteride due to dutasteride taking many months to start inhibiting DHT is also a myth. Although the absolute maximum amount of DHT suppression from Dutasteride takes several weeks to build up in your system, Dutasteride is able to suppress close to the maximum amount quite quickly. After only a few days of starting dutasteride, the amount of DHT suppression will overtake the amount that was previously inhibited by finasteride.

Anyway, as for me, I have been using dutasteride (0.5mg a day) for over four years, and it has worked very successfully for me. I've had absolutely no further hair loss since I started using it. I've had significant thickening in all the areas that I was thinning, and I've gained half a Norwood I would say.

Just remember, it is important to give dutasteride (or finasteride) time and patience. It won't grow your hair overnight. It takes several months or even up to a year for visible results to show. Patience and perseverance are important.

Just out of curiosity, Are you familiar with something called reflex hyperandrogenecity?

 

[Michael1986]

Michael1986, that’s good news. I just started dutasteride after 20 years on finasteride. The finasteride obviously maintained my hair but really didn’t regrow any. So on August 1st, 23 days ago I started dutasteride. About 2 weeks in I noticed shedding. It could be the dutasteride or it could be that I usually seem to shed twice a year anyway & maybe it would have happened had I stayed on finasteride. Did you shed when you started over 4 years ago? How long did it last? I know what happened to you most likely will be different for me since we all react differently to these treatments.

Although you didn't get regrowth, I'd say it is impressive that finasteride was able to maintain your hair for the full 20 years that you used it. I'm sure this will help other finasteride users reading this thread to feel positive about the long-term future outcome of the treatment in their case. I'm not sure if it is to be expected that you'd have large amounts of shedding after switching from finasteride to dutasteride in the case that the finasteride itself was working for you by maintaining your hair. Shedding would be expected in the case that your hair changes from being in a state where it is affected by DHT to being in a state where it is protected from DHT, such as when starting a 5-ar inhibitor from scratch or when switching from finasteride to dutasteride in the scenario that the finasteride wasn't inhibiting enough DHT to protect your hair but the dutasteride is inhibiting enough. Perhaps in your case, as you say, it is just normal shedding that you would have had anyway if you'd stayed on finasteride. I can't really remember whether or not I had an increase in shedding after starting dutasteride. I wasn't aware at the time that it can actually cause a shed, so I was not paying attention to it. I don't think I had a big increase in shedding because I would have noticed it if I had.

Just out of curiosity, Are you familiar with something called reflex hyperandrogenecity?

I have read about reflex hyperandrogenicity on these forums. I personally doubt that it is even possible for a person to start losing hair on finasteride or dutasteride due to "reflex hyperandrogenicity". It appears to be a theory that users of these forums have put together, but I'm not aware of any scientific studies or research that has investigated it. The idea that such a thing is possible is purely speculation.

 

[Sjj]

Although you didn't get regrowth, I'd say it is impressive that finasteride was able to maintain your hair for the full 20 years that you used it. I'm sure this will help other finasteride users reading this thread to feel positive about the long-term future outcome of the treatment in their case. I'm not sure if it is to be expected that you'd have large amounts of shedding after switching from finasteride to dutasteride in the case that the finasteride itself was working for you by maintaining your hair. Shedding would be expected in the case that your hair changes from being in a state where it is affected by DHT to being in a state where it is protected from DHT, such as when starting a 5-ar inhibitor from scratch or when switching from finasteride to dutasteride in the scenario that the finasteride wasn't inhibiting enough DHT to protect your hair but the dutasteride is inhibiting enough. Perhaps in your case, as you say, it is just normal shedding that you would have had anyway if you'd stayed on finasteride. I can't really remember whether or not I had an increase in shedding after starting dutasteride. I wasn't aware at the time that it can actually cause a shed, so I was not paying attention to it. I don't think I had a big increase in shedding because I would have noticed it if I had.


I have read about reflex hyperandrogenicity on these forums. I personally doubt that it is even possible for a person to start losing hair on finasteride or dutasteride due to "reflex hyperandrogenicity". It appears to be a theory that users of these forums have put together, but I'm not aware of any scientific studies or research that has investigated it. The idea that such a thing is possible is purely speculation.

Michael1986, maybe I shouldn’t say I didn’t get regrowth from finasteride. I think I did but that was 20 years ago when I started it so it’s difficult to remember. For sure it maintained what I had, which is great & is great news for people considering finasteride, in fact I’d highly recommend it as long as you start at the 1st sign of thinning. The last few years I started seeing more scalp when my hair was wet so it seemed finasteride was maintaining but I was loosing a little ground, that’s the reason for my switch to dutasteride. The shedding I experienced on dutasteride wasn’t really bad & already seems to have slowed down yesterday & today, I’m keeping my fingers crossed it doesn’t start again. I’ve seen a lot of posts where guys are still taking finasteride & take one or two duts a week & they say they’ve had great results. West’s you opinion on that?

 

[Michael1986]

Michael1986, maybe I shouldn’t say I didn’t get regrowth from finasteride. I think I did but that was 20 years ago when I started it so it’s difficult to remember. For sure it maintained what I had, which is great & is great news for people considering finasteride, in fact I’d highly recommend it as long as you start at the 1st sign of thinning. The last few years I started seeing more scalp when my hair was wet so it seemed finasteride was maintaining but I was loosing a little ground, that’s the reason for my switch to dutasteride. The shedding I experienced on dutasteride wasn’t really bad & already seems to have slowed down yesterday & today, I’m keeping my fingers crossed it doesn’t start again. I’ve seen a lot of posts where guys are still taking finasteride & take one or two duts a week & they say they’ve had great results. West’s you opinion on that?

Yes, it is indeed important to start treatment at the very first signs of loss. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Taking one dutasteride tablet a week won't give you any additional gains if you are already taking finasteride, because the amount of DHT inhibited by finasteride taken daily is greater than the amount inhibited by dutasteride taken once a week. The two drugs do not work in a synergistic manner if taken alongside each other. Rather, whichever of the two is stronger (i.e. the one that will result in the greater DHT inhibition) will cancel out the effect of the weaker one. Taking dutasteride twice a week will inhibit slightly more DHT than finasteride taken daily will be able to. Therefore, there is no point taking finasteride if you are taking dutasteride twice a week. Note that dutasteride has a half-life of five weeks, so it makes essentially no difference whether you take two tablets on the same day of the week or spaced several days apart during the week, as long as the total amount you take over a weekly period is the same.
If you are going to use dutasteride, I personally would recommend just taking it once a day as I do, instead of trying out various lower dosing schemes.

 

[Sjj]

Update. Six weeks on Dutasteride. The shedding has slowed down (it wasn’t really bad at its worst) and I’m seeing less scalp after I wash my hair. After taking it, 2 or 3 hours later I was feeling kind of out of it (brain fog) for a few hours, so I switched to taking it a bedtime. That has helped.
I have a full head of hair but not as thick as it was. Because of that I started Finasteride 20 years ago. The Finasteride helped maintain. But I was using toppik to make it look fuller. After 6 weeks on Dutasteride I’m using much less toppik. I think the people that have problems on finasteride or dutasteride post here out of fear & are looking for reassurance. The ones who have success stop posting because the fear is gone. I know for myself when things started getting better I didn’t think about this forum much. The last few days I’ve been thinking to post but it didn’t seem like a priority because it’s better. I know I’m sounding redundant, I’m only trying to explain why I feel we don’t see a lot of success stories. Once someone has succeeded, it’s easy to forget.

 

[iamgotham]

Update. Six weeks on Dutasteride. The shedding has slowed down (it wasn’t really bad at its worst) and I’m seeing less scalp after I wash my hair. After taking it, 2 or 3 hours later I was feeling kind of out of it (brain fog) for a few hours, so I switched to taking it a bedtime. That has helped.
I have a full head of hair but not as thick as it was. Because of that I started Finasteride 20 years ago. The Finasteride helped maintain. But I was using toppik to make it look fuller. After 6 weeks on Dutasteride I’m using much less toppik. I think the people that have problems on finasteride or dutasteride post here out of fear & are looking for reassurance. The ones who have success stop posting because the fear is gone. I know for myself when things started getting better I didn’t think about this forum much. The last few days I’ve been thinking to post but it didn’t seem like a priority because it’s better. I know I’m sounding redundant, I’m only trying to explain why I feel we don’t see a lot of success stories. Once someone has succeeded, it’s easy to forget.

Hey @Sjj, glad you're seeing some results!

At the moment, you're just using Dutasteride alone? I had excellent results on Finasteride, but 2 years ago I notice that the drug was not working in the same way anymore. I'm starting Dutasteride next month. Wish me luck!

 

[real kombo]

Oh no worries, I will be here unless I get killed by #brotzuGang because I'm using finasteride or I get banned somehow .

Hey man, any updates? What's the current status?

 

[itsjustsimon]

Density dropped a little bit, especially on the hairline. My left temple has taken the hit. I'm depressed as f*** over this.

I don't know. I don't believe it will change anything it the coming months.

My next experiment is CB or RU + Minoxidil and dermarolling. I will stay on dutasteride 0.5mg/day. Maybe I should go back on finasteride, at least my hairline was much better. I really have no idea what to do.

Hope you guys have more luck with duta.

 

[real kombo]

Density dropped a little bit, especially on the hairline. My left temple has taken the hit. I'm depressed as f*** over this.

I don't know. I don't believe it will change anything it the coming months.

My next experiment is CB or RU + Minoxidil and dermarolling. I will stay on dutasteride 0.5mg/day. Maybe I should go back on finasteride, at least my hairline was much better. I really have no idea what to do.

Hope you guys have more luck with duta.

What's the current rate of hairloss? Last post you said there was a decrease in the rate it was falling out.

You dropped finasteride? When and why?


Is there any chance you could let me see pics of the current state of your hair? If you feel uncomfortable posting here, I could give you my email. I won't judge, I promise.

 

[InvaderZim]

9 months chiming in.

Hair is getting thicker and thicker. My hair is so thick, it needs a diet. Lol, kidding aside, I'm doing great. The vellus hairs around my hairline are slowly turning into terminal hairs.

 

[real kombo]

9 months chiming in.

Hair is getting thicker and thicker. My hair is so thick, it needs a diet. Lol, kidding aside, I'm doing great. The vellus hairs around my hairline are slowly turning into terminal hairs.

You're on dutasteride and oral spironolactone 200 mg?

 

[Yajuu Senpai]

Me,too. I have taken finasteride 1.25mg/day for about 9 months. But recently my hair loss is accelerating. I don't know why. I decided to take finasteride 1.25mg/day and dutasteride 0.5mg/week for about 6 months.

 

[iamgotham]

Started Dutasteride 2 weeks ago (3x week) combined with Finasteride.

Shedding decreased. Now I'm thinking of upping the game to ED.

I don't know why, but I'm not optimistic. Before I started taking Duta my hairline got really bad, I hope I can regrow some of the hair that I lost in this two months... But I don't believe in Dutasteride ability to regrow hair.

 

[real kombo]

Started Dutasteride 2 weeks ago (3x week) combined with Finasteride.

Shedding decreased. Now I'm thinking of upping the game to ED.

I don't know why, but I'm not optimistic. Before I started taking Duta my hairline got really bad, I hope I can regrow some of the hair that I lost in this two months... But I don't believe in Dutasteride ability to regrow hair.

You're sure the shedding decreased? As in, while you may not be where you want to be, dutasteride is doing more good than harm?