Yes, same than me. Spiron oral soon gave me side effect but not topical . Did you use spironolactone 3 month as topical without stop as only treatment ( before you added the finasteride topical ) ? Did you think it was benefit for your hairloss on that 3 month ? did you noted any different ? like balding areas not increasing, etc ?
thanks
Just to give you a time line of my treatment.
I used topical spironolactone with estrodial (the weaker one) starting Sept '16,
Hair shed slowed down a lot within few weeks.
I added topical minoxidil 5% 1x a day close to Nov 16
By February '17 I had some decent regrowth. (I compared pics of September to February and decent enough difference)
Around end of May or June 17 I started shedding all little short hairs (I have very long hair past shoulders)
I had lost some of the ground I had gained by July (did pic comparison)
I talked to my Dr if any harm using topical finasteride in addition to the topical spironolactone I was using since I am not going to have kids--he said I can go for it.
I stopped shedding 2-4 weeks in after adding finasteride 0.5%.
I at the very least gained back the ground I had lost and I think some additional regrowth (going to take pics in September to compare).
So to answer your questions
yes I used spironolactone almost a year before adding finasteride, but I added minoxidil after 6 weeks of starting spironolactone which is when I had noticed the shed noticeably slowed down.
I think spironolactone had some benefit--still does but I think the combination of the two really has helped (I may not need the spironolactone but scared to stop it for now).
I am a woman so i don't have real bald spots--I have/had the christmas tree part--that part thickened up..it's far from perfect in front center--still noticeable if I part it center--but its greatly improved from baseline.
I have not had any DHT testing recently but I may next time I am at the Gynecologist just to see if the finasteride goes systemic.
Although I know a study is coming out in early 2018 about topical finasteride dosage vs systemic so hopefully it will have answers for the men here.
For me IF the finasteride is going systemic it is not causing any sides that I can tell so far.
Hope that helps.