17 months collectively on DHT inhibitors - excessive shedding whole time, what now?

[RapidRetreat]

I started several posts on this forum, some help was attained - reassurances etc I like to come on here from time to time to see I am not alone and we are all at different levels of confusion but are confused or uncertain nonetheless. I am at the cross road stage - well just passed it I guess. Like the title suggests I was 17months on DHT inhibitors and saw nothing but excess oily skin, constant itchy scalp, elevated libido and much much more than usual shedding. I shed everyday all over wayyyyy more hairs than should be normal and I went through that whole stage just thinking it was a normal shed but it made my hair sooo much worse and I was not being paranoid I would check every 3 months or so and be devastated with what I would see and how much worse I was appearing to make it! I came to the decision after some testing etc and a LOT of study that I was one of the unlucky ones experiencing reflex hyperando I made the decision just over 3 months or so to taper down from the drugs and get 'clean' . The shedding stopped almost immediately and I was stoked! then came just over the 3 month mark and I started getting the dreaded scalp itch again and started to shed at around the same rate or maybe a bit less as before. I noticed a few things that since I have been off of the drug for a while I am thinking much clearer and just feel Happier in general but I should also add that I am taking an anti depressant called Paroxetine but have only been taking it for 2 months at a very low dose for PE could this contribute? I realize it is a very rare side effect but I think that is too early to tell. I am shedding again and back to the point where I really need to do something to try and combat this but cannot take propecia or dutasteride because of the damage it caused, I lost well over half the hair on my head on that stuff easily! I am thinking for my new regimen I use revivogen religiously which is the only topical DHT which seems to have any science behind it and couple that with topical spironolactone cream and nizoral as much as my scalp can handle. If anyone has a story like mine or could lend me any advice I would be GREATLY appreciative as there is stuff all information out there for the poor people who get worse on propecia/dutasteride I am not crazy or stupid or blahhh some people get very upset when they hear the wonder drugs don't work or in fact make situations worse but both my doctors and derm told me to get off of it as I was losing hair EVERYWHERE you name it if it was growing it was rapidly shedding also lol. Sorry about the long post my comp program does not seem to let me add spaces either so I do apologize! Please if anyone has some wise words I would love to hear from you!!

 

[RapidRetreat]

Anyone?
Bump

- - - Updated - - -

Anyone?
Bump

 

[HairGuru22]

You are right man, it seems I am in a terrible shedding phase right now. I have lost all of my gains plus extra this past months, I am now 17 months or so on finasteride. The first few months on finasteride, i had similar shed but regrew it in 7th month or so which made me believe in finasteride. What infuriates me is that I am losing hair especially on the front but the hair behind the hairline is normal thick and now its very difficult to hide my temples without being exposed. Hopefully, after this shedding I can get some regrowth but things are looking bleak yoo, I need to add something to my regimen as well. I cant get rid of finasteride because it has helped me in the past but now my back is against the wall. Have you considered minoxidil/rogain or or even RU? Ru is a quite of hassle and expensive but it has worked for some posters on other forums. Perhaps you could try dermaroller together with minoxidil? This approach has also science behind it, I am also considering to adopt this to my regimen. I believe the only to combat this disease is with a multifaceted approach.

 

[RapidRetreat]

I never got any gains whatsoever the whole time I was on propecia only a ****load of loss and have no idea where to go from here, I am trying revivogen everyday now to see if that helps. It is supposed to help against DHT attacking the hair follicles but I don't know. I have been using it for nearly two weeks every night and I THINK my itchy scalp has lessened but my hair looks the worse it ever has! I am hoping it will get better and it was just a temporary Telogen Effluvium reaction from taking propecia and dutasteride. anyone else have any comments pleaseee?!?!?!

 

[talmoode]

hope things get better soon!

 

[piacere]

Question RapidRetreat, why did you start taking finasteride? Were you shedding/thinning hairs before you began finasteride? Was your hairloss before finasteride aggressive, or was it a slow receding hairline loss?

 

[RapidRetreat]

Thanks Talmoode!! me too. Hi Piacere - My hairloss before I took finasteride was negligible, (looking at it now) SLIGHT thinning of hairline if ANY and a little blond patch at the back of my head which was tiny and I am sure was just sunbleached. I was sure I was losing some hair and my grandfathers are norwood 7 so I decided to act on it early at 24 and like the drug says at 3 months you get a shed but it literally did not lessen for the whole 17 months if anything it gradually got worse until I stopped. I am still shedding but not as bad after being off the crap for 4 months now. Have no idea where to go......

 

[piacere]

Wish I could provide some answers to you man, but unfortunately I'm in almost the exact same position as you. Been on finasteride for 20 months and minoxidil for a year. I went off each for a month at separate times, but other than that I've been relatively consistent with the application. And similar to you, I have not stopped shedding since I began, my hairline and crown has receded tremendously, and my hair has gone from extremely thick to disgustingly thin. I guess we just are the unlucky ones.

 

[RapidRetreat]

So sorry to hear that Piacere I know how you feel and I feel for you also! I guess we are I am off it now and Im not very positive anything will come back but my scalp itch and hair 'pain' seems to have lessened but I am soo thin now I had a lions main less than 18 months ago! and now I cant hide anything! I am using revivogen hoping that its anti dht properties help and will get a blood test next month. I seem to be shedding less but still shedding more than before I started that crap drug. I have been reading the post about Accutane and helping your hairloss in low doses because it slows/stops sebum production, I have been on Accutane a few times when I was a teen for bad acne and I think I may try a low dose and see how that goes as I still have very oily skin and acne on my back and face sometimes and propecia made my sebum production go into overdrive so I think there could be SOME credibility to the claim. Any one with any other ideas are extremely welcome to comment!

 

[effyouprostate]

Hey guys, I am a 24 year old and i've been experiencing some very scary and very real side effects to finasteride that I have been consciously been observing daily within the past 8 months as evidence that this drug is actually doing more harm to me than good. Ive been tapering off this drug aswell from 1mg to .5mg daily but now I am considering dropping my dosage to .5mg every other day because I am WAY worse off than I started but can at least maintain a hairstyle.. When I began taking this drug, I noticed my hair loss wasn't a major issue but I wanted to be proactive to make sure it didn't accelerate. Since starting this drug, the symptoms I noticed have made my hair loss worse as I believe i went from an Norwood 1 to Norwood 2 over the course of 6 months and I think this is a result of an imbalanced hormone profile. I have a healthy diet, non-smoker and exercise so theres no other reason that the rate should have increased.:thumbdown2:

The symptoms I have noticed:

- Recession of hairline and temples
- increased sebum production on scalp
- Increased body hair
- Hair feels much weaker
- Less volume
- Increased libido
- Wet dreams increased. I had 2 wet dreams twice a week for TWO WEEKS NOW
- Buzzing/pulsating/humming feeling near groin
- dripping sensation in groin region often triggered when aroused
- Burning sensation in frontal hairline with excess heat around temples
- Excessive arm pit sweat especially on my right armpit (EVEN FOR NO REASON SOMETIMES :doh
- Musky body odor when aroused
- Weird bowel movements


Any of these symptoms relate to any of your guys situation? It would be very informative to correlate whether or not these are symptoms of rejection or are universal to us men that react poorly to the drug because of our body chemistry and if the drug is indeed causing damage to our hair. I believe these symptoms are problematic and are signs that we MIGHT be making things worse being on finasteride.

 

[RapidRetreat]

Hey Everyone I have not logged into this site for a fair while now, I used to log on here almost every day and night just to try and find some kind of cure!
as you may have read above I was no having any luck with, propecia or dutasteride and infact they were making my hair worse due to hyperandrogenetic like symptoms at the start of april I was feeling completely helpless and started reading up about a "wonder" topical anti androgen called RU58841 so I though it couldn't hurt to try and I ordered a premade solution of 5 percent.

From the first two week I noticed that the dreaded male pattern baldness itch was almost completely gone and that my scalp was much less oilier! I have used 2ml of this solution all over the top of my scalp since the 9th of april this year and have not missed a night! so it has been around 21 weeks since I have started this treatment and I have to say that I believe this stuff really works! I am shedding much less hairs and my hair feels much better and the weird scalp feeling is almost non existent when using RU, no side effects to speak of as yet and I don't believe I have lost any ground in my hair loss battle.

I just thought I would come back ad give a bit of an update.
cheers!