Anyone see results with spironolactone?

[hairrific]

Interesting post, thanks.

Can some one who is on oral spironolactone. please chime in and tell us what effects you are experiencing with it.

One way to find out would be to try some for myself, but before I went to all that trouble surely someone who is doing spironolactone. can offer up some info.

 

[vipergts]

Been on it on and off. Complete waste zero results....using Lee's cream 5 percent. Have 2 others friends who used it and quit due to no results. No impact on shedding , regrowth etc, loss continued...complete junk POS product imho...

 

[Jm0311]

anyone have any positive results? im on month 8 or so. zero results

 

[Petchsky]

anyone have any positive results? im on month 8 or so. zero results

By that do you mean no regrowth, or that you have carried on losing hair?

 

[casperz]

Well, you're certainly right about THAT, Casperz. In fact, those sites said nothing AT ALL about the effect of spironolactone on T levels. I'm baffled as to why you went to the trouble of posting those first three links in the first place.

Are your serious? Did you read the three links? All of them talked
about testosterone.

How about this from the first link:

interference with the production of testosterone or its conversion to the potent metabolite 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) can be exercised by drugs like spironolactone (AldactoneR) 100-200 mg/day

Or this from the second link:

Besides providing estrogen, a hormone regimen should also reduce testosterone to normal female levels. This usually requires adding an anti-androgen.

In persons who have not had an orchiectomy, reducing testosterone levels is also a concern. Although the desired reduction in testosterone can theoretically be accomplished with estrogen alone, the dosage required is usually in excess of what is needed for feminization. Adding an anti-androgen allows lower dosages of estrogen to be used; this is usually highly desirable. Typical dosages of anti-androgens are as follows:

Oral anti-androgens:

spironolactone (e.g., Aldactone®), 100-300 mg daily in divided doses; OR

cyproterone acetate (e.g., Androcur®), 100-150 mg daily.

Sometimes 100 mg of spironolactone may be sufficient, but 200?300 mg is a more typical dose.

Or this from the third which is clearly discussing ramping up spironolactone from 100mg to 200mg ONLY if testostorone is a problem.

# Month 2: Given continued health, add anti-androgens: 100mg/day spironolactone plus fractional tablet (0.05-0.5mg)/day finasteride.
# Month 5: If androgens are still a problem (continued scalp hair recession, frequent spontaneous erections, etc.), given continued health, increase antiandrogens to the following: 200mg/day spironolactone plus larger fractional tablet (0.1-1mg)/day finasteride.

LOL! I don't believe that, at all. There was probably a major problem with the blood test. (BTW, faulty blood tests are by no means a rare event.) And what other drug(s) was he taking at the same time?

Bryan... that is not the ONLY post that said that, that
was just ONE post... I've seen many reports like that, are you
going to discount every single one of them as bad blood tests?

But whatever...

I have no doubt that the reason transsexuals take spironolactone is to
reduce their testosterone and I have no doubt that transsexuals
report small doses can affect and lower testosterone. But that belief
is based on first hand reports I've read, not studies.

So believe what you want about spironolactone, for me it's a no go.

Can I assume you take spironolactone Bryan?

 

[Jm0311]

anyone have any positive results? im on month 8 or so. zero results

By that do you mean no regrowth, or that you have carried on losing hair?

I have carried on losing hair : (

 

[Bryan]

Well, you're certainly right about THAT, Casperz. In fact, those sites said nothing AT ALL about the effect of spironolactone on T levels. I'm baffled as to why you went to the trouble of posting those first three links in the first place.

Are your serious? Did you read the three links? All of them talked
about testosterone.

How about this from the first link:

[quote:1edoa3pv]interference with the production of testosterone or its conversion to the potent metabolite 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) can be exercised by drugs like spironolactone (AldactoneR) 100-200 mg/day

[/quote:1edoa3pv]

I made it clear in a previous post that what I'm specifically talking about is your claim that relatively low doses of spironolactone can reduce T levels to normal female levels. While it's not out of the question that 100-200 mg/day _may_ lower T levels a little, I'm still waiting for legitimate medical evidence stating that it lowers it to female levels (not to mention even lower doses like only ~50 mg/day).

Or this from the second link:

Besides providing estrogen, a hormone regimen should also reduce testosterone to normal female levels. This usually requires adding an anti-androgen.

In persons who have not had an orchiectomy, reducing testosterone levels is also a concern. Although the desired reduction in testosterone can theoretically be accomplished with estrogen alone, the dosage required is usually in excess of what is needed for feminization. Adding an anti-androgen allows lower dosages of estrogen to be used; this is usually highly desirable. Typical dosages of anti-androgens are as follows:

Oral anti-androgens:

spironolactone (e.g., Aldactone®), 100-300 mg daily in divided doses; OR

cyproterone acetate (e.g., Androcur®), 100-150 mg daily.

Sometimes 100 mg of spironolactone may be sufficient, but 200?300 mg is a more typical dose.

Again, let's focus on the effect of spironolactone ALONE, without using other drugs like estrogen along with it. BTW, I consider that second site to be generally unprofessional and unreliable, because of that glaring error they made about how reducing testosterone levels "usually requires an anti-androgen". They have it BACKWARDS, of course: the normal response of the male body to antiandrogens is to INCREASE testosterone production, not lower it, in response to "pure" antiandrogens. The fact that they would make such a gross error makes me question everything else they say.

Or this from the third which is clearly discussing ramping up spironolactone from 100mg to 200mg ONLY if testostorone is a problem.

# Month 2: Given continued health, add anti-androgens: 100mg/day spironolactone plus fractional tablet (0.05-0.5mg)/day finasteride.
# Month 5: If androgens are still a problem (continued scalp hair recession, frequent spontaneous erections, etc.), given continued health, increase antiandrogens to the following: 200mg/day spironolactone plus larger fractional tablet (0.1-1mg)/day finasteride.

Yes, and notice what it is they consider to be a "problem": scalp hair recession, spontaneous erections, etc. Once again, they're not talking specifically about reducing testosterone to female levels.

LOL! I don't believe that, at all. There was probably a major problem with the blood test. (BTW, faulty blood tests are by no means a rare event.) And what other drug(s) was he taking at the same time?

Bryan... that is not the ONLY post that said that, that
was just ONE post... I've seen many reports like that, are you
going to discount every single one of them as bad blood tests?

It's the only one I've seen which _may_ purport to back-up your claim, and I'm not even ENTIRELY sure about that one, because of the issue having to do with other drugs he may have been taking.

I have no doubt that the reason transsexuals take spironolactone is to reduce their testosterone and I have no doubt that transsexuals report small doses can affect and lower testosterone.

A clear reason that they take spironolactone is, as the previous paragraph clearly shows, TO PREVENT ANDROGENIC EFFECTS like scalp hair recession, erections, etc. spironolactone does that by functioning as an ANTIANDROGEN, not (necessarily) by reducing testosterone levels, as you claim.

But that belief is based on first hand reports I've read, not studies.

Even those anecdotes are flawed and inconclusive, for the reasons I've already explained.

Can I assume you take spironolactone Bryan?

Oral spironolactone? No I don't.

 

[casperz]

It's amusing how two people can read the same information and
come to two totally different conclusions and both completely
believe they are correct.

I'm not into going on and on about a topic I could care less about.
I'm not taking spironolactone and never will but I think at the very least
someone should check their testosterone before and after starting spironolactone to be safe.

And if anyone does report your findings.

 

[Bryan]

Here's that report from the Greek doctors who tested spironolactone at 200 mg/day for male pattern baldness. I've reproduced the entire letter, except for the references at the end and the table showing the data (the blank spaces in the table don't show up properly when posted on the World Wide Web, so it messes up the formatting). They monitered their patients very carefully, and notice how they say "there were no marked changes in endocrine parameters".

"Letters to the Editors" column in: Clinical Endocrinology (1997) 47, 759-761.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Beneficial effect of spironolactone on androgenic alopecia

Sirs, Spironolactone, an established anti-hypertensive agent, has a marked anti-androgenic activity, which has been exploited for the treatment of hirsutism and acne. These are the commonest skin manifestations of mild to moderate androgen excess in women of reproductive age. Androgenic alopecia, the loss of scalp hair occurring in genetically predisposed subjects, is also related to raised androgen bioactivity. Drugs with anti-androgen action have been extensively employed for the treatment of hirsutism and acne with fairly good results although the evaluation procedures usually employed have been recently criticized. On the other hand, the usefulness of these agents in treating androgenic alopecia has never been properly assessed. We have recently had the chance to evaluate the effects of spironolactone (100 mg twice daily for six months) on the rate of scalp hair loss and the distribution of hair root phases in 4 young patients, 18-23 years of age (2 women, cases a,b and 2 men, cases c,d) with partial androgenic alopecia.

Measurement of androgens and sex hormone binding globulin, were performed in all patients and ovarian ultrasound assessment was performed in the female patients. Furthermore, measurements of hair loss after daily washing for 10 days and hair phase evaluation with trichograms were carried out before, after 6 months on spironolactone and 3-4 months after its withdrawal. Unit area trichogram provides a proportional assessment of the 4 phases of scalp hair (anagen, catagen, telogen and dysmorphic).

No marked changes in the endocrine parameters were observed as a result of treatment, with serum testosterone being slightly elevated in one of the female patients both of whom had polycystic ovary syndrome. A marked reduction in the rate of daily hair loss and an improvement in the trichogram score were noted during treatment, in all 4 cases, but with a partial relapse following its cessation (Table 1).

This improvement was shown by a 50.0 to 62.9% decline in hair loss in the 4 patients, compared to their pre-treatment assessments. In terms of trichogram score changes, an increase in anagen phase was noted during treatment (from 22.0 to 84.5% over basal evaluation percentage) whereas the proportion of dysmorphic hairs during treatment was markedly lower than pre-treatment values in all 4 cases. Post-treatment evaluation showed a considerable degree of relapse in anagen hair (from 17.0 to 43.8% over treatment values), although a fair part of the improvement was retained. No adverse effects, particularly on the menstrual cycle, sperm count or sexual activity were noted. However, it should be pointed out that spironolactone may cause erectile inadequacy in other patients. A fall in blood pressure was noted in all patients, who were normotensive, and no change in renal or liver function was recorded. The beneficial effect of spironolactone on scalp hair was probably mediated through its anti-androgenic action mainly at the level of pilosebaceous unit. Recently such an effect has been also demonstrated for the 5alpha-reductase inhibitor finasteride.

It is concluded that, in view of the beneficial effects noted in these cases, spironolactone may be a useful agent for restraining scalp hair loss in androgenic alopecia. However, a properly designed clinical trial would be necessary to prove this conclusively.

D.A. Adamopoulos, M. Karamertzanis, S. Nicopoulou and A. Gregoriou Endocrine Department, Elena Venizelou Hospital, Athens 115 21, Greece