So basically I'm an Norwood-4 or so and thinning, been on Rogaine for 7 years, and it's probably not effective anymore from what I can tell and from what a couple doctors have said. I'm willing to try just about anything to keep from going completely bald (I'm also now on nizoral, Revivogen, and a couple supplements, I'm looking into laser). But I don't want to take finasteride, because I tried it 10 years ago, near the start of my hair loss. I felt fatigued and out of it, to the extent I could barely drive and do my schoolwork, so I stopped. Still, it seems to be the only truly effective treatment available according to many, so I figure I'll suck it up and try one more time. however, if the side effects are as bad as they were previously, I won't be able to continue, therefore the issue is whether it would somehow be worse to start then stop in a month or two as opposed to never trying finasteride.
Is starting then stopping finasteride worse than never starting?
- Thread starter Scrappy
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I had fatigue when I went on finasteride and it took 5 weeks to finally go away. I am still on finasteride. If you are NW4 you should try it again and stay on it for 5 weeks, just take naps if you get tired. Eventually your body should adjust to it and you won't feel tired.
I think minoxidil works as long as you stay on it, if you stop now you will probably have a large shed of hairs. minoxidil does not stop male pattern baldness as you now know.
I think minoxidil works as long as you stay on it, if you stop now you will probably have a large shed of hairs. minoxidil does not stop male pattern baldness as you now know.
Hi,
Im not an expert but I assume that as long as you gain results out of the usage of finasteride, then quitting it will reverse those results.
If you don't get any results, quitting it won't worsen your hair's state.
Plus - in case you DO get results, then the "damage" of quitting finasteride will probably have a direct relation to the time you've been on finasteride (the longer time you used it, the worse your hair will get when you quit it).
Again, this is my opinion based on some experiences of other users, and based on how this whole hair cycle works..
Im not an expert but I assume that as long as you gain results out of the usage of finasteride, then quitting it will reverse those results.
If you don't get any results, quitting it won't worsen your hair's state.
Plus - in case you DO get results, then the "damage" of quitting finasteride will probably have a direct relation to the time you've been on finasteride (the longer time you used it, the worse your hair will get when you quit it).
Again, this is my opinion based on some experiences of other users, and based on how this whole hair cycle works..
Pretty simple answer really - no one knows. We can all sit here and guess but the fact is there is no way to really know that and it varies by person. Heck no one understands why hair is even sensitive to androgens in the first place yet alone say what propecia does to that if anything. Do androgen receptors change in response to propecia? Who knows but its possible and maybe they dont go back to normal after stopping propecia. There is no evidence that happens but doesnt mean it cant. Again its all guessing when your talking a disease as complex as male pattern baldness, but overall lowering androgens should help
nate30
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Be careful starting and stopping Finasteride. I initially took it for 1.5-2 years and quit due to sides. They seemed to resolve after several months and I foolishly decided to start back up a year later at a lower dose (which actually doesn't matter as finasteride at a quarter dose is almost as effective as the full 1 mg). Sides came on more quickly than before and I quit again. It's several years later and I believe I've somewhat recovered, but I'm still not the man I used to be. It's possible some of that may be due to aging, but most men seem to say they haven't noticed any natural sexual decline in their early 30s.