Hair Update

[bob_1987]

Well I thought Id give an update for my hair. Ive pretty much been on finpecia (generic finasteride) for over a year now. Have been taking since january 2007. I had started taking 0.5mg doses everyday but had to drop it for a few weeks because of sides. I then switched to .25mg everyday instead which was great for a couple of months but the sides kicked in again. Just couldnt feel my penis or maintain a decent erection.

So im now on .25mg every other day and may go to every three days if problems occur. I only just started taking minoxidil about 1 month ago. Would of started sooner but originally I was happy to just maintain my hair, now I wouldn't mind some regrowth so I am applying this to my hairline only as this is the area that is affected. Hopefully I can regrow the hair on the sides of my head as everywhere else is still thick. I think I caught this early so am in a good situation to maintain and hopefully regrow!! Heres my original threads

http://www.hairlosstalk.com/interact/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=32569

http://www.hairlosstalk.com/interact/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=32806

Heres my progress

left side of head:
jan 07

august 07

feb 08 - latest

right side of head:
jan 07

august 07

feb 08 - latest

front of head:
august 07

feb08

So it looks like I havent gained anything but at the same time it looks like ive maintained which is what I sought out to do. Have started minoxidil about a month ago so hopefully with time I'll be able to fill in those bare patches and have proper temples again. Also I stopped and started finasteride quite a few times through out the year due to sides, so would I have lost some serious progress? say if I stopped for a month then started again? Also will 0.25mg of finasteride every other day be effective at maintaining and possible regrowth? some articles I read said yes due to its flatline response or something? Im only 20 and first spotted this when I was 19 so hopefully I'll progress well.

 

[Jack82]

0.25EOD could be better than nothing. There are theories that the optimal dose varies for everybody and many people claiming that .25 is enough for them. You can't tell unless you try and be consistent for a while.

From the pics it looks that you maintained, rogaine could give you regrowth combined with finasteride it may have better results.

Keep updating and good luck!

 

[bob_1987]

This is a quick update to say that I am still on Finasteride which I split in to 4, that gives me a dose of 1.25mg. I have been taking this for the last three years. I have maintained my hairline and in my eyes it looks to be the same as before. I stopped the minoxidil after a few months as I found it a big inconvenience applying it to my hair. But maintenance is what I value most.

I found that the 0.25mg dose that I mentioned before was not enough to maintain and I decided to up the dose. I have no noticeable side effects and my sex life is fine, which seems to be the main worry of most.

Thought I would post this just to encourage others to stick with the meds in those early days. There are probably others like myself who haven't been here for years and have carried on with their lives as the meds have been a success. I will post some photos soon when I have time.

 

[rtc84]

Thank for the update. It looks like you did more than maintain, since it looks thicker. My hairloss is nearly identical to yours, and I started finasteride nearly 7 months ago, and i'm seeing progress. So that's encouraging. Did you have any hairloss in the crown when you started finasteride?

That's interesting you had sides before, then lowered the dose, then increased it again and had no sides. 

You should also post this info to the success stories.

Are you only on finasteride now? Do you take any daily vitamins?

 

[Chris87]

Hey brotha I appreciate the update. I am in a similar situation myself. I'm 25..tried taking finasteride over a year ago at .5mg every day...had sides...switched to .25mg..had sides...and quit taking it after about a month. I'm about to start finasteride again and plan to take .25mg every other day to start. I'm hoping that if i get sides I will ride them out and they will go away. Is this what you did? If so how long did it take for your sides to go away? Did you up your dose gradually or how did you do it?

I'd like some advice from someone who successfully did what I'd like to do

thanks

 

[bob_1987]

Thank for the update. It looks like you did more than maintain, since it looks thicker. My hairloss is nearly identical to yours, and I started finasteride nearly 7 months ago, and i'm seeing progress. So that's encouraging. Did you have any hairloss in the crown when you started finasteride?

That's interesting you had sides before, then lowered the dose, then increased it again and had no sides. 

You should also post this info to the success stories.

Are you only on finasteride now? Do you take any daily vitamins?

Hi mate, all the photos above are years old and I dont have any recent pics up yet. Although I will soon. Yeah I am only on finasteride, which means I have maintained but not grown any new hair, but as mentioned above maintenance was all I wanted. Also I have no thinning of the crown and only frontal hair loss.

With the finasteride I was originally on 1.25 to start with, but it wrecked havoc with my sex life. In the first fortnight I was extremely horny and would literally master-bate six times a day. Then all of a sudden I found heavy sexual side effects, such as a numb penis and lack of erections, also ridiculously watery semen. I also found that I would have no morning erections at all which was extremely odd for myself. I stayed like this for 4 months. This was about 5 years ago. After thinking it through I realised that no sex life would be far worse than hair loss and came off the meds.

Things returned to normal after 2 months but my hair was thinning again and I panicked. After reading about the forums, some had mentioned tapering the drug so that the body would adjust to it. So this time I went on 0.25 mg of finasteride and I noticed less side effects. The only sides I noticed was the fact my sex drive had decreased ever so slightly but not enough to worry about. Also I found that I could last longer in bed but I took this as a bonus :hump: .

I then gradually increased the dosage to 0.5mg, 0.75mg, then a whole Finpecia tablet of 1mg. Then finally I went back to the original dose of 1.25, a quarter of a fincar tablet. All of the dosage changes happend month by month until I reached the goal of 1.25mg. With this gradual increase I never had the side effects that I experienced first time around. I have been on a dose of 1.25mg for over 4 years I think, and the side effects are minimal.

Finasteride is clearly a potent drug to some, and the only way to get my body to accept it was by tapering it gradually so that it was not a shock to my body. I seem to be fine now and have been for years on 1.25mg, but if it was to ever affect me again, then I would taper off it gradually as not to do any permanent or long lasting damage.

 

[bob_1987]

Hey brotha I appreciate the update. I am in a similar situation myself. I'm 25..tried taking finasteride over a year ago at .5mg every day...had sides...switched to .25mg..had sides...and quit taking it after about a month. I'm about to start finasteride again and plan to take .25mg every other day to start. I'm hoping that if i get sides I will ride them out and they will go away. Is this what you did? If so how long did it take for your sides to go away? Did you up your dose gradually or how did you do it?

I'd like some advice from someone who successfully did what I'd like to do

thanks

Yeah definitely start on a low dose and up it gradually. You may adjust to it like myself.

I hope this helps others. I remember reading these forums loads in about 2007, but just forgot about them as time went by. I only remembered this forum when I read about a hair loss article in Yahoo news. I thought it would be nice to post an update for all after these few years.