Dutasteride headaches

[xapato]

I've been on dutasteride for around a week and a half, at 1.5mg / day. Tomorrow I'll drop the dose down to 0.5mg / day.

I have been experiencing moderate headaches. I've decided to drink more water, and I'm hoping that will help. At first I thought the headaches were caused by modafinil, but I stopped taking modafinil and the headaches kept coming.

Does dutasteride cause headaches or affect the amount of fluid in the brain?

 

[Hairloss23]

I've been on dutasteride for around a week and a half, at 1.5mg / day. Tomorrow I'll drop the dose down to 0.5mg / day.

I have been experiencing moderate headaches. I've decided to drink more water, and I'm hoping that will help. At first I thought the headaches were caused by modafinil, but I stopped taking modafinil and the headaches kept coming.

Does dutasteride cause headaches or affect the amount of fluid in the brain?

Why are you doing so much a day? Seriously 0.5mg is sufficient to stop hair loss in 99% of male pattern baldness sufferers.

 

[Wolf Pack]

Pound that DHT, go hard or go bald! Seriously though, I agree about 0.5 mg being enough of dutasteride for most people. Even finasteride. I don't think your headaches are caused by dutasteride.

 

[xapato]

Hey actually I just took 1.5mg for ten days to load up my blood with dutasteride. It takes at least ten days at 1.5mg / day to bring your dutasteride blood level to what it would eventually reach at 0.5mg / day, due to the long half life. Now I'm going back to 0.5mg / day to maintain the same blood level.

My headaches might just be from dehydration or residual effects from too much caffeine / modafinil.

 

[Hairloss23]

Hey actually I just took 1.5mg for ten days to load up my blood with dutasteride. It takes at least ten days at 1.5mg / day to bring your dutasteride blood level to what it would eventually reach at 0.5mg / day, due to the long half life. Now I'm going back to 0.5mg / day to maintain the same blood level.

My headaches might just be from dehydration or residual effects from too much caffeine / modafinil.

Potentially but I really think you shouldn't have done that, studies were done and optimal dosages were created for a reason. The label says 0.5mg a day, you shouldn't do more than that just to get you to the peak of Dutasteride DHT inhibition faster. It has the potential to easily increase the risk of sexual side effects. I would not advise what you have done to anyone else thinking of starting either dutasteride or finasteride.

 

[violetfluff]

Since the 5aR enzymes are replenished only slowly you do not need to maintain a constant blood level of a 5aR inhibiting drug. Attempting to get your blood levels to 'equilibrium' faster will have negligible effect on you DHT levels i.e. no benefit and most of that dutasteride will just circulate in your system before your body metabolizes it and expels it from your system. Most of it will have inhibited nothing, just wasted dutasteride.

What's the rush anyway? matters of hair growth are slow and require patience.

 

[Illu2ion]

OP is right, first 10 days 1,5mg dutasteride and then 0,5mg/day dutasteride gets high lvls of dutasteride in your blood way quicker.

Source (I posted this graph a couple of days ago as well) :

Edit: OP, I just read you were taking modafinil, were you drinking enough water? I get headaches on modafinil sometimes as well, but that's when I havent had enough water for a while (moda is a diuretic).

 

[Agustin Araujo]

I've been taking 0.5 mg of Dutasteride daily for almost a year now, no headaches, no negative side effects, just a healthier scalp and better hair.

xapato, your headaches are not being caused by Dutasteride, it's from something else. Also no need to take 1.5 mg daily, taking 0.5 mg once a day is quite sufficient.

 

[xapato]

As Illu2ion illustrated, I took 1.5 mg / day for 10 days to bring my blood levels up to steady state. I'll wait and see whether my headaches go away.

Illu2ion, I probably haven't been drinking enough water. I'm far from being dehydrated, but I haven't tried drinking water liberally throughout the day. When I take modafinil, I typically take 50-100mg in the morning. I prefer armodafinil, but it's a bit more trouble to obtain for me.

 

[Illu2ion]

Try drinking more water then, it might work. I believe it's recommended to drink 3-4L of water a day when you're on modafinil, though I can't remember the source and if it was a reputable source.

If that doesn't work you could always go to your GP.

 

[Johannes]

I've been taking 0.5 mg of Dutasteride daily for almost a year now, no headaches, no negative side effects, just a healthier scalp and better hair.

xapato, your headaches are not being caused by Dutasteride, it's from something else. Also no need to take 1.5 mg daily, taking 0.5 mg once a day is quite sufficient.

You are a moderator, and your quotes is simply embarrassing.

 

[Agustin Araujo]

xapato, any updates with the headaches? How's it going with the Dutateride and Modafinil?

 

[xapato]

Hey, quick update. I stopped taking modafinil a few days before making the original post. A few days ago I started drinking more water. My headaches have decreased in frequency and degree. I basically stopped getting headaches. But I still have a case of tinnitus and feel like I have a slight headache. I'll need to wait and see.

 

[cosmic]

DHT is in the brain but I don't think headache is listed as side on dutasteride.

 

[Hairloss23]

I take dutasteride since 3 years, I started to take it 0,5mg daily and through last 1,5 year I took it 1mg daily.
Through 3 months I took dutasteride 0,5mg/ED and 5mg/ED of finasteride together and I never had any side effects. Side effects I've got from using of cyproterone acetate.
Sorry for my english, but I come from Poland.

Are you a transitioning M to F?

 

[Hersweet]

Hi all, sorry to update an old thread.

I've been taking 0.5 dutasteride daily for over 15 years. Sometimes I would drop to every other day. I have maintained a Norwood 3 vertex (crown only thinning) since my twenties. My father had significant loss at my current age of 44.

However 8 months ago I started to get strange symptoms. I'm not saying it's dutasteride, but am putting it out there to see if anyone else has had anything similar:

- Headaches that come on in the morning (possibly after taking pill) and last till early evening
- Nausea feeling without being sick
- "Spacey" feeling
- Occasional mild dizziness
- Pressure between the eyes in the brain when leaning forward or crossing legs at knee
- Headaches that come from inside both eyes

I've had every test under the sun. CT scans, etc. Ruled out sinusitis, TMJ, migraines... I've tried every treatment; chiropractor, laser muscle heat, painkillers, zofran for nausea, meditation, ice packs, menthol muscle rubs, massage... But it keeps coming back.

I'm physically very fit, and work out regularly at the gym.

The symptoms mimic tension headaches, but I lead a stress free blessed life. (I'm writing this from my hot tub looking at the mountains.)

I read with interest the posts above about dutasteride affecting brain fluid. Interestingly enough, I have described some symptoms as brain fullness or pressure, especially if I lean forward.

How long would I need to come off dutasteride to test if it is the cause, due to its long half life? I don't want to risk hair loss returning.

I know finasteride is an option to fall back on.

Thank you all.