kirk
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Dr. Reddy's Generic Finasteride Led to Shedding
- Thread starter cman7
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Well guys I have been on propecia for 6 months now..Just came from the urologist a few weeks back...Basicly this...Is my hair as thick as it was before I took the generic wal mart finasteride beginning in March 2014? No..Is the spot around the crown less visiable now? Yep... So I have found after losing alot of hair to begin with on the generic and then quiting the generic after 10 weeks of use...Then your hair will improve for awhile..Then after about 3 to 4 months there will be a massive shed after stopping the generic...Then after starting propecia in December 2014 till now my hair has improved but it constantly sheds..I didn't notice a massive shed as when starting the generic after about 6weeks..But it just seems to shed all the time now more consistently while getting thicker....This has been my expericence with the medications.. Also I don't believe this to be catch up hair loss you hear about..How much hair would you lose in 10 weeks? But if you take it long enough to get the shed at the start and then stop like I did you will lose a **** load of hair all over in a bout 4months or so later....Did I get the side effects? Not really...The only thing I noticed for sure is more hair shedding and also an increase in abdominal fat around the bottom or below and around the belly button area..It started both times at around the 4th week of taking the medication..So unless you are retarded you are gonna notice abnormalities with your body..Such as the appearance of your stomach and excess hair shedding..Now the urologist told me he would not take a higher dosage because he said it will make you impotent..And he said all the old people he prescribes the prostate version to are fat anyway and wouldn't notice the difference but after reasearching its seems pretty common people noticing the belly fat appearing to change or increase...My family dr basicly said he didn't know anybody who had gotten much benefit from Propecia and the main thing that I would probably notice was the hit it would put on my wallet..Which brings me to this..I only take it 2 to 3 times a week now..I notice no difference it seems to work just as effectively as taking every day and my stomach stays puffy..Good way to tell its still in your system because after stopping the med the first time my stomach went back to normal after several weeks...So now my crown appears fuller and so is my stomach..I would also like to say in closing that one other thing is while the hair is better around the crown I find in the front my hair is thinner than before starting the meds..I had a woad of hair and its seems you sorta thin out all over during this process but the crown improves..
Well here is latest...I went to the Dr..Got cbc done..And estrogen test...She said it was all normal...Ok..About 2 weeks ago I stopped taking Propecia..Heres what happened...My stomach is already decreasing...The swelling is slowly leaving..But I noticed other things..I feel way better..Guys any of you who are having the symptoms like I did of weight gain or water retention, feeling tired and un-motivated, lethargic..Stop the meds..Even for a few weeks and just see if you notice the difference..I did realise all this until you stop because it slowly happens to you. You will also notice your appetite decreases.The main thing I noticed was the odd thick feeling and appearing skin on lower abdomen..There is a good thread about this here http://www.medschat.com/Discuss/weight-gain-from-finasteride-189459.htm You can read from several others who noticed the Exact same symptoms as myself so I am sure they are lying to, right? So alot of folks experiece this..My bloods are in the mail so I will have the exact numbers from the test soon but was beginning to think I was going crazy until I stopped taking it...This has just been my experience with it..I wished had never taken that first pill last March and experienced all that hair shedding and loss plus the stress and anxiety of all this..The lady dermaologist that I went to in the begiinning just seemed very dumb about confounded about hair loss and the meds..
Ok guys my blood work came back everything looks great except my WBC is slightly low..3.8 And my BUN Is high 26mg..Total estrogen was 92pg...Also now I weighed 161.4 this morning after my usual run..Knew the abdomen was decreasing because thats the lowest I have been in probably 4 to 5 Months and only stopped the pills a couple weeks back.Nothing else has changed.S I can look back in my food journal to make sure I keep a daily food and weight log..And activity log..So i see the calories..So I don't know how else you could document this any better..So weight is going back down..Less tired and achy feeling..Also the lower left pelvic area where I had the surgery is not hurting as much now..Also has before after stopping your hair begins to feel thicker or more coarse..Then in about 3 to 4 monthsi a big shed its and it falls back out lol...
Yeah thats because the active ingredient is all that matters. I have a hard time believing the generic equivalent doesnt work and brand name does because its the same stuff. I dont use propecia anyways.
I can tell you that I used Dr. Reddy's for at least 6 months. After shedding noticeably I switched back to Propecia, Merck branded. I don't know why and I doubt it is psychological, but the difference was very noticeable. Unfortunately Merck branded Propecia just skyrocketed - I have no idea why. From $220 for a 90 day supply to at least $285 - 340 in the US. Crazy. Not sure what to use as the generic is now $220 and there is no Walmart near me (not even sure what type of Finasteride they sell.) Either way, I don't want to use Dr. Reddy's. Don't trust it. Supposedly a study was done somewhere and I thought I read about some of the vials containing less amount of the active ingredient than stated - although it may be a general investigation done into these generic drugs. Take it FWIW though, my experience showed a noticeable difference.
From what I read this is not true. The other ingredients help deliver the drug and play a role. I too had a noticeable shedding with Dr. Reddy's. I can't tell you why but it was there. Going back to merck branded Propecia made a noticeable difference. Unfortunately it appears they raised prices to some ridiculous amounts and now I'm left to wondering whether to experiment with another generic. But I'm staying away from Dr. Reddy's. I dont' care if it's an unscientific approach - I'm just telling you what I saw.
If I have one regret in life..It would be starting this drug in march 2014..my hair up till then looked good..thick with mild thin spot in front of crown..After 10 weeks on the wal mart hetero brand lost a great deal of hair and density all over..Not to mention all the other **** that happened..now u know my story went back on propecia brand in December and had to stop in july..My stomach looked like a cows tit bag hanging down..now after stopping that it's going down..plus u are Hornier but don't notice till you stop the drug..now waking up with hard ons..just as before after stopping in a few months your hair improves..mine has thickened some and regret some..In another month or so I gey a massive shed and half your hair falls out..mine did it the first time on the grneric..not catch up loss but something about the hormone levels being altered trigger a massive shed..I lost so much hair first time I couldn't belirve..have recover some now but taking this was a mistake..I looked and felt better before ever even taking the first pill I had more hair than I do now anyway...I wouldn't touch this **** agsin for a million bucks..I didn't even know what shedding was before starting this crap...
badluckdude
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Just to add my 2 cents to this.. I never thought about this but reading that there is a number of topics like this. And I know pretty often I hear about people at least in the thyroid communities saying generic levothryroxine is not as good as synthroid or whatever it is blah blah....
Anyway thinking about it, around maybe a year and a half or so ago they did switch my propecia to these generics and the different brand names have switched between the dr. reddys, camper(camber?)whatever it is etc... Ive never thought about it much, but certainly the past year or so I have had a lot more shedding. BUT in my situation I can also say I also get chronic Telogen Effluvium a lot, and have had many bad periods in my life, points where ive lost most my hair period. But ive been dealing with shedding issues for over a year now now. But again I have been really sick this past year or so in and out of the hospital. So its hard to say if not just bad luck period/coincidence or not. But I suppose it is a fact that since ive switched i have lost more hair. But again maybe just bad coincidence. Never really thought about it till I read these threads.
Whats more also I do take a men optimn multi vitamin and that was reformulated about a year or so ago as well. Shrug
I will say though brand name or generic or not, I have had my DHT levels checked and they are more or less the same though, so if that makes anyone feel safer. The only thing I can say is, isnt there like 3 different types of DHT? Maybe if there is a actual difference between brand and generic in this circumstance the generic is blocking one of the versions that is not important? Not really sure how it works exactly so just my thoughts. Also I beleive that generics are allowed to be up to 30% different than brand, but anymore than that and its not allowed...
Anywho TLDR, I have lost more hair since using generic, BUT my health has also been really bad again for over a year now and ive been in and out of the hospital a lot again , cortisol has been high, been anemic again all year blah blah so take that for what its worth....
Anyway thinking about it, around maybe a year and a half or so ago they did switch my propecia to these generics and the different brand names have switched between the dr. reddys, camper(camber?)whatever it is etc... Ive never thought about it much, but certainly the past year or so I have had a lot more shedding. BUT in my situation I can also say I also get chronic Telogen Effluvium a lot, and have had many bad periods in my life, points where ive lost most my hair period. But ive been dealing with shedding issues for over a year now now. But again I have been really sick this past year or so in and out of the hospital. So its hard to say if not just bad luck period/coincidence or not. But I suppose it is a fact that since ive switched i have lost more hair. But again maybe just bad coincidence. Never really thought about it till I read these threads.
Whats more also I do take a men optimn multi vitamin and that was reformulated about a year or so ago as well. Shrug
I will say though brand name or generic or not, I have had my DHT levels checked and they are more or less the same though, so if that makes anyone feel safer. The only thing I can say is, isnt there like 3 different types of DHT? Maybe if there is a actual difference between brand and generic in this circumstance the generic is blocking one of the versions that is not important? Not really sure how it works exactly so just my thoughts. Also I beleive that generics are allowed to be up to 30% different than brand, but anymore than that and its not allowed...
Anywho TLDR, I have lost more hair since using generic, BUT my health has also been really bad again for over a year now and ive been in and out of the hospital a lot again , cortisol has been high, been anemic again all year blah blah so take that for what its worth....
Well back..long story short...Hair about the same but had the crash I guess most talk about after stopping this drug..I feel like ****..depressed and even like killing myself at times..Worst part is my stomach has gotten way worse..Swollen up now with just water weight..I have went up about 10 lbs of fluid like retention. Around the middle...Anybody thinking about this **** don't do it..**** has ruined my life to a degree mentally and physically..