Avodart 0.5mg everyday for past 4 months not working

[EdwardEdward]

This is my 1st post because i was totally lost as to what to do next, I am 22 and have been thinning for about over 1 year. It started to get noticable in August '03 so i got desperate and started taking Avodart 0.5mg everyday for the past 4 months, which is one expensive drug.

My hair thinng seems to be getting worse, its thinning on the front and on the top only. There doesn't seem to be excess sheding, just my hair has stopped growing and is falling easier.

Could it be avodart making my situation worse because i've had no side effects?

Does anyone else know what else I could try, or should i go and see the doctor as i'm sure it must be male pattern baldness but was expecting Avodart to help and it hasn't. :x

 

[Guest]

This is my 1st post because i was totally lost as to what to do next, I am 22 and have been thinning for about over 1 year. It started to get noticable in August '03 so i got desperate and started taking Avodart 0.5mg everyday for the past 4 months, which is one expensive drug.

My hair thinng seems to be getting worse, its thinning on the front and on the top only. There doesn't seem to be excess sheding, just my hair has stopped growing and is falling easier.

Could it be avodart making my situation worse because i've had no side effects?

Does anyone else know what else I could try, or should i go and see the doctor as i'm sure it must be male pattern baldness but was expecting Avodart to help and it hasn't. :x

Have you tried the basic big three? Propecia, Nizoral, and Minoxidil? If not , go for it!!

 

[VoRteX]

First of all, avodart is a very potent and long lasting DHT inhibitor that has not been approved for treating hairloss. Theoretically, it should be more effective than finasteride - and preliminary studies showed avodart users had better hair counts - however, IMHO it was only marginally more effective than finasteride.

Additonally, any DHT inhibitor is going to take at least a year to show full benefit so you cant tell anything after 4 months.

If you still have a supply of avodart, I would finish it and then start on 1mg/day of finasteride. It will take quite awhile for the avodart to get out of your system as it is a very powerful drug. Finasteride is much safer and has been studied specifically for hairloss.

Add minoxidil 5% 2x/day and Nizoral 3x/week

 

[Karch]

Did you try Rogaine or Propecia before you tried Avodart? Propecia and Rogaine are the only clinically proven FDA approved treatments to treat male pattern baldness. If so, I think you should stop that Avodart and give Propecia and/or Rogaine a try.

 

[Slartibartfast]

This is my 1st post because i was totally lost as to what to do next, I am 22 and have been thinning for about over 1 year. It started to get noticable in August '03 so i got desperate and started taking Avodart 0.5mg everyday for the past 4 months, which is one expensive drug.

My hair thinng seems to be getting worse, its thinning on the front and on the top only. There doesn't seem to be excess sheding, just my hair has stopped growing and is falling easier.

Avodart is way too strong a drug to use as a first option.

I switched to it only after using finasteride and minoxidil for 20 months, so I could assess my hairs reaction to these approved meds, and then I started taking it every other day.

As you're 4 months in I don't know whether you should carry on with Avodart or switch to finasteride (now that dutasteride has caused this bad shed your DHT affected hair follicles should be able to regenerate themselves) but at least cut the Avodart back to one capsule every two days.

Also look into using minoxidil, and don't forget that it can take quite a while (think I read 10 months) for a new hair to cycle through its growth phases before it's full length/thickness/darkness is achieved.

 

[youngguy_uk]

ive never quite understood the whole concept of propecia/minoxidil kicking in after almost a year. say, for example, it starts working after 10months..does this mean, after a bit of loss, ur hair after 10months will b preserved and u may c regrowth from that point on? or does it mean ur hair at the time from when u start treatment will continue loss then rise to as good as or better than the starting point post-10months?

 

[Slartibartfast]

ive never quite understood the whole concept of propecia/minoxidil kicking in after almost a year. say, for example, it starts working after 10months..does this mean, after a bit of loss, ur hair after 10months will b preserved and u may c regrowth from that point on? or does it mean ur hair at the time from when u start treatment will continue loss then rise to as good as or better than the starting point post-10months?

The drugs start working straight away, its just that the first effect of a DHT inhibitor would be the loss of the DHT affected hairs whose follicles are slowly being killed off giving you thinner hair shafts.

After that new, healthy, hair follicles can form and grow a succession of hairs that gradually increase in length/thickness etc.

This should give you hair at least as good as when you started treatment, though it may take 2 years to achieve this and, of course, results vary from person to person.

 

[Ams99]

Avodart is way too strong a drug to use as a first option.

I switched to it only after using finasteride and minoxidil for 20 months, so I could assess my hairs reaction to these approved meds, and then I started taking it every other day.

As you're 4 months in I don't know whether you should carry on with Avodart or switch to finasteride (now that dutasteride has caused this bad shed your DHT affected hair follicles should be able to regenerate themselves) but at least cut the Avodart back to one capsule every two days.

Also look into using minoxidil, and don't forget that it can take quite a while (think I read 10 months) for a new hair to cycle through its growth phases before it's full length/thickness/darkness is achieved.

Hey,Slart, few questions. Did you get results with finasteride/minoxidil when you used them? Did avodart improve the situation? Also, what type of hairloss do you have and how aggressive is it? I'm over a year on finasteride/minoxidil with no results, and might be going up to avodart.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Hi Ams, I'm a diffuse thinner, with the frontal area having the worst of it, and before I started treatment my hair was coming out at a terrifying speed.

IMO the finasteride pretty much stopped the thinning except at the front, where it just slowed its rate, and the minoxidil (which I still use) thickened up my remaining hairs. I'm certain of the minoxidil working as for 8 months I only put it on the front and crown and saw a real diff. in those areas.

The only problem area I've got is the first inch in from my hairline, behind that my hair is much improved since I switched to dutasteride (7 months ago) with the no. of hairs I lose when washing/brushing it down to pre male pattern baldness days.

Lastly, when you say you've had no results from finasteride/minoxidil in over a year have they not even slowed your loss, I know thats subjective but any diff. in loss when you wash your hair/brush it etc?

Slarti

 

[powersam]

i was under the impression that dutasteride was meant to be equally or slightly more effective than finasteride at a far lower dose. So , if the side effects such as impotence are not related to the dht lowering function of the drug , it would be a far better option. this is all supposition based upon faint memories of things read about this drug , and comments on this forum. i love disclaimers

 

[Administrator]

This is why the only thing you should listen to is clinical data from controlled studies.

 

[cyberprimate]

This is why the only thing you should listen to is clinical data from controlled studies.

Controlled studies being available only recently in the history of human knowledges, lots of medical discoveries based on empirical experiments would have been missed. Traditional medicines, herbology, even pre-scientific medicine (from Hyppocrate and others...) wouldn't exist.

Do listen to everything and use your brain to select what's more likely to work. And do try stuff at your own risk... Rigourous studies should have the last word on everything but not everything has been under their scrutiny. That shouldn't stop us to experiment, possibly waste money and... die!

 

[Shave my poodle]

EdwardEdward are you still on Avodart?

 

[EdwardEdward]

Hi,

Yeah I'm still using Advodart but added 5%minoxidil as recomended by users on the site. I originall started Advodat in about Aug/Sept 03 and added 5% minoxidil from about early April 04. As of yet maybe getting fine hair grwoth on from temples but i would say that's about it really. The hair loss rate wasn't really the problem as i had never really shed loads of hair, just it was diffuse thining and becoming noticibe, and maybe the hair lost never grew back which gives the thin hair look.

I think I'm actually gona go to see the Dr. as i have also now go some thin hair patches on the sides of my head slightly above my top ear which is kinda wierd as i thought M.P.H. only really generally affected the top scalp.

Thank you everyone for all your replies and posts though, they have been helpful.

Edward.

 

[Kevin fretwell]

I wouldn't recommend starting my regime because its a new frontier of sorts and I'm playing the guinea pig but would say that finasteride is a completely different drug than dutasteride and so you might have a little better results but after all 4 months is still a little short to make a good accessment due to dht follicle fall out . So if you had alot of dht effected hairs there is going to be a big shed due to duts powerfull effect . A little less shed can be exspected from finasteride because its not as powerfull .

 

[Kevin fretwell]

Any of these products taken solely by thier self will not create nearly as good results as a regime also dutasteride is a completely different chemical than finasteride so you might get better results but really you should make that decision at a later date .Its to soon to tell much of anything

 

[Kevin fretwell]

You could try my regime .Of course I resume no responsability for duts misuse by other members .I love disclaimers as well .

 

[TortoiseAndHair]

You could try my regime .Of course I resume no responsability for duts misuse by other members .I love disclaimers as well .

The word is "regimen"

Sorry, just one of my pet peeves.
Thanks...

 

[foo2]

tortoise, i think both words can be used they both mean the same, but regimen is more applicable to what we're all talking about here, that's true

 

[TortoiseAndHair]

tortoise, i think both words can be used they both mean the same, but regimen is more applicable to what we're all talking about here, that's true

Well what do you know.... I'm the a**h**.

re·gime also ré·gime ( P ) Pronunciation Key (r-zhm, r-)
n.

A form of government: a fascist regime.
A government in power; administration: suffered under the new regime.
A prevailing social system or pattern.
The period during which a particular administration or system prevails.
A regulated system, as of diet and exercise; a regimen.

Sorry to hijack this thread.... carry on