Body adjusting to Dutasteride/Finasteride?

[Jon_e]

Hey guys, I've been on Dutasteride (real Avodart .5mg X 1/ day) and Minoxidil 5% for 1 year and have been able to maintain my hair. I started Dutasteride last December after I had a terrible shed and noticed frontal diffuse loss. (I had been loosing hair on the back of my head for about 3 years prior, and had used Rogaine off and on... I never worried about my hair until I started getting frontal loss.. which scared me into starting dutasteride and rogaine religiously.)

I've heard of guys being able to maintain their hair for 5 or so years on Propecia, then suddenly starting to lose it again at the rate of loss they had before. I don't want to have the same thing happen to me 5 years from now, so I figure maybe I sould try a lower dose than .5mg X 1/day so that in the future, I can up the dose if I have to. Any ideas?

What dose do you guys use for Avodart?

Anyone have any stories or links about using Avodart succesfully for 5 or so years only to have the positive results reverse?

Thanks

 

[Aplunk1]

The Great 3

Good regime. I wouldn't be stressing out about Avodart not working in the future. Other drugs are being developed... I take .5/mg every day. Avodart is only produced in this amount, so you cannot take a lower dosage. You would have to change the frequency of intake, such as every other day, or every third day.

I would stick to the once-a-day program that you're using, but that's just my opinion. When did you get the shedding after starting Avodart?

 

[Jon_e]

I was shedding before taking Avodart.... in November of last year... I lost alot of hair that month, which helped me make up my mind and start taking hair meds. After taking Avodart, I experinced what I would call a lite shed after 3 months or so.. followed by what appeared to be more hair. Another shed occured in late June, and a recent one about one month ago.. I think these sheds have more to do with seasonal changes (summer and winter temperatures) as opposed to the medication.... I regret not taking before and after pictrues to chart my progress, but I did see improvement, and I recieved comments from my cowworkers on how good my hair was doing. The back is almost filling in, and the loss on the front has stopped. I've thought about taking Avodart every other day, the reason being I could up my dose in the future if I had to, and additionally, Avodart has such a long 1/2 life in your system.. I still can't find those guys on Hairsite who talk about hair loss after 2.5 years of good results on avodart.

 

[Aplunk1]

Avodart was only released in 2002, so it's kind of difficult to find many people who were interested in taking the drug so long ago. I'm glad that the treatment is working for you, and I'm excited to see what kind of effect the drug will have on me. Thanks for your input, very appreciated!

Andy

 

[Slartibartfast]

I would assume that if Dutasteride does begin to lose its effectiveness for you, some 4 or 5 years down the line, this would be due to a natural progression of your male pattern baldness, whether that's an increase in DHT levels, heightened follicle sensitivity to that androgen, or some other factor. If these changes are already imbedded in our genetic make-up, and not in someway being altered by taking a drug as powerful as dutasteride, then it seems reasonable to say that 0.5mg per day will lower your DHT levels to the same extent in 5 years time, irrespective of the dose you take in the interim.

Also, when I switched from Finasteride, I took dutasteride every other day for 20 months and the results were little better than from finasteride, which in my case meant continued, but even more gradual frontal loss. Doesn't mean it wouldn't work for you, but it's quite a risk to take considering the long timeframe needed to judge a treatment's efficacy.

Slarti