Is Finasteride shed a real thing or just made up?

[RoyD]

Well I began with 1mg Finasteride daily and eventually increased my dosage to 5mg daily over a month's time. I have some testicular pain and a bit of watery semen but nothing too severe or unbearable. My hair though, has began falling a lot faster I believe over this time.

Firstly I'd like to confirm the fact that is male pattern baldness hair falling out of your scalp or hair thinning. I've read that hair falling out is not really hair loss because whatever hair falls out eventually grows back. Instead male pattern baldness is hair follicles becoming smaller and hair thinning until the point where the follicle cannot grow hair. If this is true then why does hair fall out faster during male pattern baldness?

Secondly is Finasteride shed a real thing or just made up because of the fact that most people shed hair when they've started Minoxidil. I feel that people have come up with this theory of shedding hair on Finasteride just because Minoxidil sheds are a real thing.

Can someone shed some light on these matters?

 

[bilboswaggins]

Finasteride shed is a real mystery. it was never mentioned in clinical trials yet somehow shedding has become known as normal from taking finasteride. Scientifically there is no reason why you should shed more on finasteride as it dosent affect your telogen, anagen cycles like minoxidil does. My experience with finasteride was terrible, i did not shed before finasteride and started shedding all over. not even sure what is going on, my hair is not even miniaturising, just thick hairs falling out and not growing back.

 

[Wolf Pack]

I've been on finasteride and no change to my shedding, just like the trials. It was always low to moderate shedding and changed through out the year. Yet my hair has improved, not massively, but enough to suggest that as suspected it's the hair on your head you watch, not the ones you shed.

 

[RoyD]

For me it's been a lot of thick hairs falling out. Before it was usually the thin ones and a few thick ones. It's impossible to say if those are growing back or not but my crown has taken a bad hit. It's difficult to cover up with a comb over now.

 

[Agustin Araujo]

I myself personally don't think Finasteride can cause a shed. Like Wolf Pack stated, he's been on the medication and no change in his shedding, just like the trials. I'm on Dutasteride and I didn't get any shed from it.

I think this 'shed' that some say about the 5-AR inhibitors can cause is probably their hair follicles getting rid of the poor quality hair caused by DHT, and then healing themselves for new healthy hair.

 

[bilboswaggins]

I myself personally don't think Finasteride can cause a shed. Like Wolf Pack stated, he's been on the medication and no change in his shedding, just like the trials. I'm on Dutasteride and I didn't get any shed from it.

I think this 'shed' that some say about the 5-AR inhibitors can cause is probably their hair follicles getting rid of the poor quality hair caused by DHT, and then healing themselves for new healthy hair.

nope i started shedding in areas where i was not even balding

 

[dfg]

why are you taking 5mg daily?

 

[RoyD]

why are you taking 5mg daily?

Haha don't worry. I used to take Dutasteride daily and it didn't do ****. Not just for my hair but my DHT levels were completely normal. I suspected the meds were crap so I changed my brand and started with finasteride again but it's not doing **** for my hair either. I'm going to do a blood test soon to see if it's lowered my DHT at least. If not then either all the anti DHT drugs they sell on the Indian market are fakes or my body is just super resistant to anti androgen drugs.

 

[Wolf Pack]

I took 5 mg daily finasteride for a bit to speed up the process. Currently back on 1 mg. I am still regrowing hair in places where there was none at the hairline and beyond it, 8 months on finasteride. Had a group of terminal hairs pop up today but need plenty more. They all begin as peach fuzz and there is a lot of that in my Norwood 2 area since being on finasteride.

I have also used Propecia but Indian generics too Roy. I doubt the meds are fake when sourced from an actual pharmacy. I had ball ache when I first went on it so it was legit.

 

[Baldguy9684588]

H

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[RoyD]

@Wolf Pack I had testicular pain for 2 days too when I switched to Finpecia from Cipla. I thought it was working but my hair has been falling out at an ever faster rate now. That's why I started this thread to see if there is such a thing as Finasteride shed. Anyways I just gave my blood again today to test for DHT levels. It's been almost two months that I've stopped Dr. Reddy's Dutas and began on Finpecia. Let's see what the results hold.

P.S. Just a few days back it was in the news that drugs with a production date of 2016 were already noticed in the market. Which means that a lot of drugs on the Indian market are expired without us knowing.

 

[Misanthrope]

Within 1 year after quitting, I lost a TON (and I mean, a TON) of hair. It was insane. Never noticed a shed while on it though.

 

[Folliman]

As I see it it's any of these things:
A) There's an undocumented shedding that for some reason escaped the researchers and test subjects during the clinical trials.
B) The "finasteride shedding" is actually the natural male pattern baldness progression before finasteride has any chance to start showing significant cosmetic results.
C) It's reflex androgenicity and you will lose the rest of your hair faster on finasteride.
D) It's psychological. Just because you've read about the shed, you will think you're shedding and pay more attention to your hair.

It's sad but no one knows, the best we can do is ask people for their experience and hope they are not too biased. It sucks. I wish there was an extensive study focused on shedding during finasteride with trichoscans and all. Only then we would know for sure. But it won't happen since no one would benefit ($$$) from it.

 

[testingit]

Well I began with 1mg Finasteride daily and eventually increased my dosage to 5mg daily over a month's time. I have some testicular pain and a bit of watery semen but nothing too severe or unbearable. My hair though, has began falling a lot faster I believe over this time.

Firstly I'd like to confirm the fact that is male pattern baldness hair falling out of your scalp or hair thinning. I've read that hair falling out is not really hair loss because whatever hair falls out eventually grows back. Instead male pattern baldness is hair follicles becoming smaller and hair thinning until the point where the follicle cannot grow hair. If this is true then why does hair fall out faster during male pattern baldness?

Secondly is Finasteride shed a real thing or just made up because of the fact that most people shed hair when they've started Minoxidil. I feel that people have come up with this theory of shedding hair on Finasteride just because Minoxidil sheds are a real thing.

Can someone shed some light on these matters?

I've been on propecia for almost 6 years. I don't remember any heavy shedding, or at least not enough at the time to significantly notice. Then again I had a "full head" of hair which was then thinning mostly in the crown area. I don't think everyone experiences significant shedding but based on the experiences I've read it seems to happen for some so I wouldn't discount it as not real at all.

 

[Sam227]

Haha don't worry. I used to take Dutasteride daily and it didn't do ****. Not just for my hair but my DHT levels were completely normal. I suspected the meds were crap so I changed my brand and started with finasteride again but it's not doing **** for my hair either. I'm going to do a blood test soon to see if it's lowered my DHT at least. If not then either all the anti DHT drugs they sell on the Indian market are fakes or my body is just super resistant to anti androgen drugs.

Try dr reddy's finasteride