Hello all! In November, I found out that I had the first stage of androgenetic alopecia and without waiting for the condition to worsen, I immediately decided to take minoxidil and finasteride. Before starting to take finasteride, I tested for dehydrotestosterone and the mark was -1493. And now, after almost 4 months, I re-tested and saw a very strange situation. The level of dehydrotestosterone increased and amounted to 1715.
How is this possible and should I increase the dose?
I want to note that I took finasteride intended for the prostate gland. That is, I divided the 5mg tablet into 4 parts.
UPD 06.04.2022:
I recently finished taking finasteride 5mg a day (and have already switched back to taking 1mg a day). That's why I'm updating my thread. Two days ago I passed tests for dihydrotestosterone as promised. And to my surprise, I found that the tests improved. New analyzes showed - 884 pg / ml.
The figure is still high as for a person taking finasteride, but at the same time, in just a month, DHT has decreased by half. Maybe the tests are wrong? The results came very quickly, a little more than a day. Do you think this is cause for concern?
I live in Kyiv and unfortunately we are at war, so I can’t visit a trichologist at the moment. Can anyone tell me if this is real? (I mean that I got the tests so quickly). And what should I do now? Like I said I went back to 1mg a day. Do I need to increase the dose back to 5?
UPD 11.05.2022:
So, a little more than a month has passed since the end of taking finasteride 5 mg and my testing for dihydrotestosterone. As I already wrote, I switched back to taking 1 milligram per day (a little more, since I divide the pill into 4 parts).
Today I received new test results and they not only do not please me, but also confuse me. Now the result is 1312. I don't understand why this is happening. Does anyone have any thoughts?
I really don't know what to do. I could say finasteride doesn't work for me, but April's test results say otherwise.
UPD 21.06.2022:
Has handed over the next analyses. Let me briefly remind you of the situation: I took finasteride 1 mg for 3 months, DHT did not decrease, but even increased, I started taking 5 mg each - the result was 884, I returned 1 mg, again there is an increase.
And now I have been taking finasteride 5 mg for a month and a half, the results again showed a decrease in DHT levels - now the test result is 877. This is very strange, despite the fact that many on the forum say that is no difference between taking finasteride 1 mg or 5 mg, my example shows clearly the opposite.
But let's move away from the topic of hair. After all, elevated levels of DHT are obvious health and hormonal problems. What can cause this and how to deal with it? I also want to note that I have chronic prostatitis, and at first I thought that because of it I had increased DHT, but an ultrasound scan showed that everything was normal.
Apparently finasteride is clearly not enough for me. Yes, given that a result in the range of 250 - 990 is considered the norm, I'm still on the edge. In addition, I want to lower the DHT to 400 - 500.
I also want to note that this is clearly not some kind of mistake, there is a clear trend.
So what should I do? Are there any thoughts? For now, I will continue to take Finasteride 5mg for another 1.5 to 2 months before I have another test. But what should I do next? After all, even if I had no problems with hair, then as soon as I stop taking finasteride, the DHT level rises sharply to 1300+ and this is a warning sign for my health.
How is this possible and should I increase the dose?
I want to note that I took finasteride intended for the prostate gland. That is, I divided the 5mg tablet into 4 parts.
UPD 06.04.2022:
I recently finished taking finasteride 5mg a day (and have already switched back to taking 1mg a day). That's why I'm updating my thread. Two days ago I passed tests for dihydrotestosterone as promised. And to my surprise, I found that the tests improved. New analyzes showed - 884 pg / ml.
The figure is still high as for a person taking finasteride, but at the same time, in just a month, DHT has decreased by half. Maybe the tests are wrong? The results came very quickly, a little more than a day. Do you think this is cause for concern?
I live in Kyiv and unfortunately we are at war, so I can’t visit a trichologist at the moment. Can anyone tell me if this is real? (I mean that I got the tests so quickly). And what should I do now? Like I said I went back to 1mg a day. Do I need to increase the dose back to 5?
UPD 11.05.2022:
So, a little more than a month has passed since the end of taking finasteride 5 mg and my testing for dihydrotestosterone. As I already wrote, I switched back to taking 1 milligram per day (a little more, since I divide the pill into 4 parts).
Today I received new test results and they not only do not please me, but also confuse me. Now the result is 1312. I don't understand why this is happening. Does anyone have any thoughts?
I really don't know what to do. I could say finasteride doesn't work for me, but April's test results say otherwise.
UPD 21.06.2022:
Has handed over the next analyses. Let me briefly remind you of the situation: I took finasteride 1 mg for 3 months, DHT did not decrease, but even increased, I started taking 5 mg each - the result was 884, I returned 1 mg, again there is an increase.
And now I have been taking finasteride 5 mg for a month and a half, the results again showed a decrease in DHT levels - now the test result is 877. This is very strange, despite the fact that many on the forum say that is no difference between taking finasteride 1 mg or 5 mg, my example shows clearly the opposite.
But let's move away from the topic of hair. After all, elevated levels of DHT are obvious health and hormonal problems. What can cause this and how to deal with it? I also want to note that I have chronic prostatitis, and at first I thought that because of it I had increased DHT, but an ultrasound scan showed that everything was normal.
Apparently finasteride is clearly not enough for me. Yes, given that a result in the range of 250 - 990 is considered the norm, I'm still on the edge. In addition, I want to lower the DHT to 400 - 500.
I also want to note that this is clearly not some kind of mistake, there is a clear trend.
So what should I do? Are there any thoughts? For now, I will continue to take Finasteride 5mg for another 1.5 to 2 months before I have another test. But what should I do next? After all, even if I had no problems with hair, then as soon as I stop taking finasteride, the DHT level rises sharply to 1300+ and this is a warning sign for my health.
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