I Don't Know If Finasteride Is Affecting My Memeory?

[buckthorn]

No bro, my density changed for the worse :\ I've lost so much density this past months ... Not a day goes by where I don't think I should've stopped on my 6 month.. Density was never an issue for me... Now ... damn!
But since I'm almost at month 10, I will go a full year or so just so I can say I gave it a good shot... I will only stop before that if I have to buzz my hair due to the thinning.

Telogen Effluvium.

 

[Athlete1987]

I'm a second year university student and have an exam tomorrow, even though I've revised I'm finding it harder to recall information. I'm not sure if that's down to second year being harder, maybe I'm imagining it.

It’s one of the sides I mentioned in this thread along with solutions which would work well and without sides.

https://www.hairlosstalk.com/intera...to-deal-with-finasteride-side-effects.110821/

Apart from the MBC/Sel mentioned there which both show a lot of neuroprotective potential, I guess you could also, for a short time, try some Provigil. That’s gonna get you through studying and provided you don’t use all the time, you aren’t gonna encounter any issue except better grades!

 

[BaldingGuy]

@fixthis I don't know how someone can get post finasteride syndrome but it happens... I can't say it was finasteride but I can say that my hair loss got wayy worse after starting fina and minoxidil. And I don't believe in the "Oh it was a coincidence. Your male pattern baldness just got more aggressive at the same time as the treatments.." But we'll see what happens in the next 3-4 months...

 

[BaldingGuy]

@buckthorn But how can I stop it? It's going on for like 9 months now... I already suspected Telogen Effluvium because my sides also thinned out a bit but i thought it was a rare thing to happen and I see more shedding from the frontal part which I think shouldn't occur with Telogen Effluvium. Or am I wrong?

I also got a wicked dermatitis out of freaking nowhere on my third month and in retrospect I should've treated it right away but didn't.. Maybe that's making lose more hair on top of male pattern baldness due to inflammation?..... But I was already shedding before the third month so i don't know what to think anymore... It makes no sense..

Maybe i should just quit all medication and with the money I'm wasting on it buy lots of whisky and vodka to ride it out lol

 

[buckthorn]

@buckthorn But how can I stop it? It's going on for like 9 months now... I already suspected Telogen Effluvium because my sides also thinned out a bit but i thought it was a rare thing to happen and I see more shedding from the frontal part which I think shouldn't occur with Telogen Effluvium. Or am I wrong?

I also got a wicked dermatitis out of freaking nowhere on my third month and in retrospect I should've treated it right away but didn't.. Maybe that's making lose more hair on top of male pattern baldness due to inflammation?..... But I was already shedding before the third month so i don't know what to think anymore... It makes no sense..

Maybe i should just quit all medication and with the money I'm wasting on it buy lots of whisky and vodka to ride it out lol

with Telogen Effluvium you lose hair everywhere. Actually, all over the body. People with male pattern baldness notice it more on the top because those follicles are the weakest. Every time I've had Telogen Effluvium (3 times) I literally lost 50% of my hair within a few months. It's fucked up, I know. There is literally not a thing you can do to stop it. It goes away on it's own. I don't know for sure if that's what's going on with you. The only way to know is to get a scalp biopsy. I am sorry man, there are literally NO real answers to this kind of thing. Keep taking it til the 12 or 14 month and see what happens. If your hair is way below baseline, quit.

 

[BaldingGuy]

Thanks @buckthorn ! I thought about doing a scalp biopsy but I don't know if it's worth the money But did your hair grow back after Telogen Effluvium? Or was it gone for good?

Yeah that's definitely what I will do.. At least I can say i tried and it didn't work..

But if it does turn out to be Telogen Effluvium, it will only stop when I remove the trigger correct??

I think being in this not knowing and helplessness state is the worst part... I would kill to slowly recede over the course of 10-15 years!! But in a year ..... Man it's brutal...

 

[buckthorn]

Thanks @buckthorn ! I thought about doing a scalp biopsy but I don't know if it's worth the money But did your hair grow back after Telogen Effluvium? Or was it gone for good?

Yeah that's definitely what I will do.. At least I can say i tried and it didn't work..

But if it does turn out to be Telogen Effluvium, it will only stop when I remove the trigger correct??

I think being in this not knowing and helplessness state is the worst part... I would kill to slowly recede over the course of 10-15 years!! But in a year ..... Man it's brutal...

I feel you man. The good news is, if you had good density and thick hair fibers before you got Telogen Effluvium, chances are it will grow back within 3-5 months after removing the trigger (in this case possibly finasteride). The first time I got it, most of it grew back. the second time, less. the third time (on finasteride) well... people around here all know about the termite eaten birds nest I now have for hair.

 

[BaldingGuy]

Thats what i was going to ask you, if your hair grew back... Do you have an idea of what caused your Telogen Effluvium??

I'm sorry man!! 3 Telogen Effluvium's most have been rough!! How is your shedding now?? Did you have itching and crawling feelings on your head??

 

[abcdefg]

What is brain fog exactly? Like can someone describe what brain fog means? I know they never will, but it would be nice if they reformulated finasteride as a topical or reformulated the drug itself to target just the 5 ar 2 instead of it killing off the 5 ar 3 too by accident. Maybe try to stop it from getting into the brain. It shouldnt really be changing neurosteroids at all in an ideal world. That isnt a good thing.
Some of this is why I never really messed around with the finasteride. Some of these negatives just dont sound worth it to me.

 

[BaldingGuy]

@abcdefg Oh man it's having short term memory problems, trouble concentrating or thinking clearly. Had days where I felt that I was on auto-pilot and just trying to think was hard as hell.. Would forget where I parked my car or things I had to do at work... Would space out a few times during the day... My brain just felt strange! That's the best I can describe it.... It's really messed up.. But it's mostly gone now..

Well, there are some pharmacies that manipulate minoxidil to incorporate finasteride and other stuff... The last time I went to the derm she asked if i wanted her to recommend me some pharmacies that do that manipulation... If it works as good as oral, I don't know ...

 

[fixthis]

Just to update this thread I received my exam results a few days ago and averaged a first this semester so it's the best I've done in exams. I'm nearly 8 months in and I'm still shedding. I just want to combat the sexual sides for now which are basically weak erections, the only reason I'm putting up with this is because if better treatments like shesido are released within a year I'd want to maintain what I have now. All of this is very depressing to me.

 

[BaldingGuy]

@fixthis I was 10 months on finasteride and never stopped shedding so I'm currently on 1mg duta ED and 150mg spironolactone ED... My personal opinion is that if you don't see ANY signs of improvement 8 months in (like less shedding, less itching etc) you could wait 4 more months to see but definitely start planning for the worse case scenario... If I knew what i know now I would do a lot of things different... If your hair is worse than when you started and gets worse in the next couple of months I would seriously think of adding something or switching something in your regimen... Just my 2 cents though ...

 

[fixthis]

@fixthis I was 10 months on finasteride and never stopped shedding so I'm currently on 1mg duta ED and 150mg spironolactone ED... My personal opinion is that if you don't see ANY signs of improvement 8 months in (like less shedding, less itching etc) you could wait 4 more months to see but definitely start planning for the worse case scenario... If I knew what i know now I would do a lot of things different... If your hair is worse than when you started and gets worse in the next couple of months I would seriously think of adding something or switching something in your regimen... Just my 2 cents though ...

Yeah that's an option, I mean currently I'm on 0.5mg finasteride which I can just about tolerate, I still have sides but they're bearable for now. Won't you get sides from spironlocatone, that stuffs a lot heavier than finasteride. But I think I might try RU next to see if that has any effect.

 

[BaldingGuy]

If you got sides from fina then duta and spironolactone are probably out of the question but what I meant was that sometimes our wishful thinking blinds us from reality.. Not saying that fina won't work for you, I've seen some guys that only stopped shedding after 1 year or 1.5 years... Or you can be maintaining even though your're shedding.. But if at 10 or 11 months you're clearly worse than baseline have a backup plan bro, because new treatments may not come next year or anytime soon...

spironolactone can have sides.. Low libido, ED and gyno are probably the most frequent but I haven't experienced any of them yet... So all I can say is that my itch is a little better and so is my back acne.. I'm also on minoxidil a little over 11 months and I'm really starting to suspect it's a major contributor to my inflammation and dermatitis... So I'll give it the 12 - 13 months and if I still feel the same i'll just rip it like i did fina....

For the future i'm thinking about trying to get seti

 

[fixthis]

If you got sides from fina then duta and spironolactone are probably out of the question but what I meant was that sometimes our wishful thinking blinds us from reality.. Not saying that fina won't work for you, I've seen some guys that only stopped shedding after 1 year or 1.5 years... Or you can be maintaining even though your're shedding.. But if at 10 or 11 months you're clearly worse than baseline have a backup plan bro, because new treatments may not come next year or anytime soon...

spironolactone can have sides.. Low libido, ED and gyno are probably the most frequent but I haven't experienced any of them yet... So all I can say is that my itch is a little better and so is my back acne.. I'm also on minoxidil a little over 11 months and I'm really starting to suspect it's a major contributor to my inflammation and dermatitis... So I'll give it the 12 - 13 months and if I still feel the same i'll just rip it like i did fina....

For the future i'm thinking about trying to get seti

Sides are pretty real, I know I'm not imagining the watery semen but like I said I'm still sticking with finasteride at this dose. Even now I checked my hair in the mirror and it's depressing, I've been shedding a lot more for 2 months. Also I don't think seti has been that effective, well that's what a lot of people on here say. How come you've not tired RU yet? I think that's what some people on here do, if finasteride doesn't work or they can't tolerate it they switch to RU.

 

[BaldingGuy]

But most people aren't doing the 2gr daily.. If it's effectiveness isn't flat like fina it can explain the lack of results for most people.. And of course, it may not be too effective by itself.. But RU is also a hit or miss situation in my opinion, i don't see a lot of people maintaining just on Ru alone... But it may be a good addition to a regimen, sure!

I won't try it anytime soon for three reasons: First I hate doing topicals, i think the vehicles irritate my scalp and give me contact dermatitis or something like that... Second is the fact that I will not know if every batch is the same quality or if it even gets through customs (i tried to order spironolactone and end up wasting 100€ because it got ceased and destroyed)..
That's why i didn't try seti either.. Maybe in some months if this doesn't work i'll try to find some reliable sources for both!
Third I have a prescription for both duta and spironolactone so I can get 60 duta pills from a real pharmacy for like 25€ and 60 pills of spironolactone 100mg for under 10€ so I know it's the real stuff and it's cheap..

I feel your pain, i saw my hair getting worse every month... Almost like every week i had less and less hair... it really sucks! My density was never an issue... That's why i felt i couldn't wait any longer... But I really hope things turn around for you!

 

[Jjnz]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=finasteride+memory
Frankly I'd happily take an itchy scalp for a full head of hair, hell I'd probably lose a leg for it.
But fatty liver, neurological effects, diabetes.
If you've got the wrong set of genes you might be a lot more vulnerable.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=post+finasteride+syndrome
No - Call me chicken but I know very well that we know too little about the endocrine system.
Go with growth stimulants until hair transplant tech allows you to genetically clone your own follicles.

 

[Jjnz]

What is brain fog exactly? Like can someone describe what brain fog means? I know they never will, but it would be nice if they reformulated finasteride as a topical or reformulated the drug itself to target just the 5 ar 2 instead of it killing off the 5 ar 3 too by accident. Maybe try to stop it from getting into the brain. It shouldnt really be changing neurosteroids at all in an ideal world. That isnt a good thing.
Some of this is why I never really messed around with the finasteride. Some of these negatives just dont sound worth it to me.

brain fog is usually caused by inflammation , commonly seen in autoimmune and inflammatory disease and in those with migraine syndromes. We don't know exactly what it is but the access and setting of memories is often impaired, many patients suffer from cognitive decline as a result of these episodes. There is some discussion about it being a symptom of a faulty blood brain barrier that allows inflammatory agents across the barrier. It's not a good sign that's for sure.

 

[Endmymisery]

There was a guy here who posted his 8(or 10, can't recall) years results on finasteride, he said his hair had maintained all those years but he never stopped shedding hair.. So I don't think shedding should always be seen as a bad sign unless you are losing density

 

[BaldingGuy]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=finasteride+memory
Frankly I'd happily take an itchy scalp for a full head of hair, hell I'd probably lose a leg for it.
But fatty liver, neurological effects, diabetes.
If you've got the wrong set of genes you might be a lot more vulnerable.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=post+finasteride+syndrome
No - Call me chicken but I know very well that we know too little about the endocrine system.
Go with growth stimulants until hair transplant tech allows you to genetically clone your own follicles.

One thing is an itchy scalp, another thing is a burning, hurting, tingling scalp with layers of sebum and not even maintaining because sever SD by itself causes hair loss that only stops when it's cause is removed... That happened to me

I'm not saying that anyone should take the meds I'm taking. I know brain fog is real and so are the other sides you mentioned. But to be honest a lot of foods, alcohol etc cause fatty liver, diabetes etc.. Almost anything nowadays is trash for your body.. I've always been healthy so I don't think a year of duta or whatever will do all that, but if it does then I'll accept the consequences of my actions... My doctor is guiding me and I'm doing blood tests every three months to see if everything is ok.

Growth stimulants work if your male pattern baldness is a slow gradual one.. If it's aggressive no amount of growth stimulants will stop it... And if anyone is in their mid 20's like me and waiting for the cloning tech to "cure" them, then they'll probably turn 40 and still waiting.. Even if tsuji delivers in 2020 which i honestly doubt, there will be all sorts of limitations in the first decade like price, long waiting lists, it wont be widely available outside of japan and a few other countries maybe... Like when the first hair transplant came, the plugs were awful.. Or like every 1st gen tech, it needs time to get perfected ...

But i respect your point of view.. Everyone has to do what they feel that is best for them!