Building muscle while on finasteride? Whey protein and DHT levels? Experts please

[kckckc]

Hello all - a little background before I get to the main question. I'm 26, Asian, and have always had a deeper voice / more body hair and facial hair than most of my Asian friends. I assumed it was because I have higher levels of testosterone.

I noticing hair thinning a few weeks ago, although my girlfriend's mother pointed it out to me months ago but I just thought it was because of my double whorls. My derm confirmed last week that I am in the early stages of male pattern baldness.

This is probably a series of stupid questions but I hope you guys can answer seriously:

1. Did getting on finasteride make it harder for you to build muscle?

2. Did you gained or lose weight despite no change in daily activity and eating?

3. Does whey protein cause DHT levels to spike up? making finasteride less effective?

Thanks.

 

[Pequod]

1. Finasteride increases the testosterone level so it makes it easier to build muscle. Since less is converted to DHT you end up with more.
2. You will gain weight on finasteride if you are not careful
3. I am not sure why whey protein would spike DHT, I have used it and preferred to eat protein from other sources. I assume you are using it and think it is causing the hair loss, I doubt there is any connection.

 

[Swoop]

DHT doesn't play a big role in muscle hypertrophy. It works primarily in a autocrine/paracrine way. Only 5ar3 is active in muscle tissue as far as I know (5ar1 and 5ar2 virtually not).

However the most important thing is the abundance of enzyme 3a-HSD in muscle tissue which metabolizes DHT to an inactive androgen. If only we had abundance of that enzyme in our scalp ...

A possible E2 spike because of finasteride might be a bit worrisome.

I wouldn't worry at all though. Just start training hard, eat well and rest.

Also don't worry about anything making finasteride less effective in terms of diet or activity. Whey protein causing DHT spikes is a joke. Only (certain) steroids might pose a problem.

Also creatine has been shown to increase DHT levels in one study. But that's one study, while creatine is a highly studied compound. Anecdotal evidence does show that it's bad sometimes. So draw your own conclusion.

 

[markluca74]

I have male pattern boldness due to my DHT levels, used this wicked shampoo for a few months that has natural DHT blockers..

https://watermansgrowme.com/growme-ingredients/ I stopped using finasteride as its no good for Mr Wi%%y lol..

 

[kckckc]

Thank you all.

1. Finasteride increases the testosterone level so it makes it easier to build muscle. Since less is converted to DHT you end up with more.
2. You will gain weight on finasteride if you are not careful
3. I am not sure why whey protein would spike DHT, I have used it and preferred to eat protein from other sources. I assume you are using it and think it is causing the hair loss, I doubt there is any connection.

Regarding your answer to #2, why would I gain weight on finasteride?

- - - Updated - - -

DHT doesn't play a big role in muscle hypertrophy. It works primarily in a autocrine/paracrine way. Only 5ar3 is active in muscle tissue as far as I know (5ar1 and 5ar2 virtually not).

However the most important thing is the abundance of enzyme 3a-HSD in muscle tissue which metabolizes DHT to an inactive androgen. If only we had abundance of that enzyme in our scalp ...

A possible E2 spike because of finasteride might be a bit worrisome.

I wouldn't worry at all though. Just start training hard, eat well and rest.

Also don't worry about anything making finasteride less effective in terms of diet or activity. Whey protein causing DHT spikes is a joke. Only (certain) steroids might pose a problem.

Also creatine has been shown to increase DHT levels in one study. But that's one study, while creatine is a highly studied compound. Anecdotal evidence does show that it's bad sometimes. So draw your own conclusion.

Thanks - I'll just keep training.

I do believe when I was taking creatine at some point I was losing much more hair, so I threw it out.