1year on propecia.. what now?

[elemenopee123]

Well i've taken 0.5mg a day for a year now....
I can honestly say i have noticed no effects on my hair since starting the drug. From a year ago i have lost a little more hair, but before taking propecia my hair loss was at the exact same rate.
The only side effect i got was more watery sperm.

I really feel like propecia has done nothing for me as it hasn't halted my natural hairloss speed or changed anything really.

So, anyone been through a similar experience? what have you done?

 

[IBM]

why not take 1 mg/day?

 

[elemenopee123]

Fear of side effects, cost and probably something to do with rumors that finasteride destroys hairlines (i only take finasteride for my hairline)

A thought came to mind... im on minoxidil and propecia.. as far as i know the only proven or FDA approved hair loss drugs... i have mild hairloss and neither do anything for me

My hairloss either does'nt respond very well or the drugs on the market are crap. Seeing as how many people are on these forums id say the latter has a fair amount of truth in it

Bit of a side topic but what's the next new drug coming out?

 

[ali777]

The next best drug is called self confidence. If you are bald, accept it and move on.

I have receding hair line and I use only minoxidil. I tried finasteride for a week but my body didn't take it well, so I stopped it.

Instead I decided to concentrate on other things that can improve my life standard. For example, many experts say that regular exercise and certain diet can slow down hair loss. Exercise and balanced diet are good for the whole body and soul.

I am not claiming exercise and healthy diet to be a treatment for hair loss, but sedentary life style is a real killer.

 

[dresden]

diet wont change your hairloss at all.

 

[elemenopee123]

Thanks for your reply ali, i think its very true about self confidence.

As for diet, you most definitely ARE what you eat... Every cell in your body (including hair follicles) depends on nutrients to function and survive... and these nutrients come from the food we eat so i can definitely see where your coming from.

 

[el_duterino]

time to upgrade to dutasteride :woot:

dutasteride is more dose-dependant than finasteride, and reduces more DHT in a constant, stable manner over the day.

finasteride cannot even-out the spikes of DHT during the day, dutasteride is more suited to stop aggressive hairloss when finasteride was not strong enough. That includes hairline.

Start with 1 cap a day and see how you do after 2 months.

The side effects are over-rated.
The cost is about USD 2 a day for real Avodart..is that too much ?
You can forget about using diet to control hairloss..it just won't work. Been there too.

Unless your diet consists of Dutasteride Cookies, Flutamide Soup etc...

 

[dresden]

el duterino, you are right about the diet, it really has no affect at all.
But you are giving the same advice to everybody, to get into dutasteride, and maybe you shouldnt. I personally am on finasteride (and minoxidil) for almost a year now and im stilll losing ground very quickly at my hairline because my male pattern baldness is so aggressive in my entire family, but still i am afraid of going into dutasteride being only 21 years old. And a lot of people probably are in the same situation. Inhibiting but types at almost 100% can bring serious consequences, especially at young age, and i believe dht is not the only cause for baldness, or everyone taking dutasteride would have their problem solved. A lot of people even say they loose more hair while on dutasteride.
So unfortunatly dutasteride is not the answer for everybody.

 

[el_duterino]

Inhibiting but types at almost 100% can bring serious consequences, especially at young age, and i believe dht is not the only cause for baldness, or everyone taking dutasteride would have their problem solved. A lot of people even say they loose more hair while on dutasteride.
So unfortunatly dutasteride is not the answer for everybody.

Hey Dresden, what serious consequences would that be ? can you pls. explain ? I took dutasteride for 4 years..,maybe I missed something :woot:

And what are the other causes for baldness apart from DHT ?

Whatever side effects you might get on dutasteride (mostly lower libido, if any), those will go away if you reduce the drug amount. And 90% of people do not get any sides.

Side effects are easy to reverse.
Hairloss is very hard to reverse.

Once you loose the follilcules it is very difficult to get it back..using current drugs. Maybe some follica/ICX type of treatements will do wonder but this is still a question mark.

Therefore, given the current options available, there is no argument against at least trying dutasteride.

 

[dresden]

I am really glad you havent had any side effects during those 4 years but not always is like that. You can read stories about dutasteride side effects all over this forum.
The sides that scare me are libido or even erectile function problems which affect well more than 10% of the people using it for sure, gyno, and lowering of sperm count. The entire role of dutasteride in our sexual funcions is not very clear.
I'm not saying i will not try dutasteride sometime because its really the only thing left for me as im on the big 3, but some of these sides (and other ones we even might not know about them yet) are not things people can just ignore and jump into dutasteride without thinking about it for a while.

 

[elemenopee123]

Thinking that diet has nothing to do with your hair is a pretty limited point of view.

Hairs dont grow out of finasteride or dutasteride pills, they grow out of hair follicles.. which are 100% dependent on nutrients from the food we eat and oxygen from the air we breathe.

Now obviously that doesn't mean we should breathe and eat our ways out of hair loss doom. But over say a 10year period, id bet a person with a consistently good diet will have a better head of hair than a person with a poor diet (obviously not taking into account differences in peoples genetic predisposition to male pattern baldness). Same goes for all of their body; the person with the healthier diet would have better functioning organs, glands, vascular system etc etc

I think it's like people who think weight lifting is what makes their muscle cells grow. Nutrients from the food we eat causes the muscle cells to grow. Weight lifting (i.e. stressing the cell) merely tells your body that the cell needs to grow in response to the stressor. Any body builder will tell you diet is as important if not more than the weight training itself.

Anyway having said all that, in no way do i think that drugs should be replaced by 'diet'. I just believe it plays a bigger role than some of you may think.

 

[el_duterino]

We bald because we are designed to bald by our genes.

Balding is not a "bad thing" resulting from"bad food". Balding is a normal, healthy process.

Think about it, if we were eating the wrong food and doing so hurting our follicules/cells, why are we not balding from the sides/back of the head ? are those follicules over there not in need of nutrients ? what is the difference between follicules at the top and on the side of the head ? you can eat only cheesburgers everyday for 10 years and still have "good" hair on the side of your head.

Society and especially women do not see bald/thinning men as attractive as non-balding men. That's the only reason why have a problem.

Androgenic alopecia is not a health problem. Not like being overweight.

Androgenic alopecia "plan" can be modifyied using drugs that affect the androgens, or the androgen receptors. If the nutrients help/prevent the drugs to be effective, then yes there is a link between food & balding.

 

[elemenopee123]

You seem to think i was saying... bad food = kill follicles.
And in no way am i claiming male pattern baldness is a disease
That's not at all where i was coming from..

I am totally aware androgens attack (predisposed) hair follicles (not bad food).
I was merely stating that the follicles on your head are healthier when supplied with all the vitamins and nutrients needed through a good diet. Being healthier, they are in a better position to survive (albeit longer) against the onslaught of DHT and testosterone. It would seem obvious a hair follicle not receiving enough nutrients would find it harder to survive when the androgens come knocking.

If you disagree with the above statement your point of view contradicts the use of minoxidil. Minoxidil acts to increase blood supply to the male pattern baldness affected areas, the role of blood is to carry oxygen and nutrients to cells.. thus minixodil is aiming to increase nutrients and oxygen supply to hair follicles in order to promote life of the cell. Essentially trying to counteract the negative affects androgens are having. ...My point of view exactly. That proper vitamin and nutrient supply promotes healthy follicles which helps (however much is unknown) counteract the deleterious effects of androgens.

 

[jambri]

elemenopee123, don't worry I'm with you What you say is common sense.

 

[el_duterino]

Ok Agreed !, nutrients play a role in slowing down hair loss..
BUT..
Nutrients slow down the pace of androgenic alopecia so little that you wouldn’t even notice the difference.

This is what I am trying to say here. Nutrients have too little of an impact to even worry about it, UNLESS your diet has major deficiencies in proteins etc..


On the other hand, my powerful drug-based regimen directly attacks the real underlying causes of androgenic alopecia, completely halting it.
Therefore I can have Beer and Cheeseburgers all day if I wish, and still not loose a single hair.

On minoxidil, check out this very interesting conclusion by Bryan:

http://www.regrowth.com/hairloss-forums ... =5&t=20988

Regarding junk food and hair loss, this is what Doctor Rassman says:

“Malnutrition can produce a deficiency of many minerals and vitamins needed for hair growth. If you are like most people who eat regular food or even junk food, I doubt that you have any malnutrition problems, so I would not assume that a supplement-like formulae discussed here will be beneficial to you, that is, enough to produce more hair.â€￾

“I doubt junk food or bad water are the sources of your hair loss. You may have genetic male pattern hair loss.â€￾