losing ground on dht blockers anyone?

[konfusion]

when I started finasteride in 2006 at the age of 23 I was NW1. In fact I had no signs of miniaturazation. I thought I had thin hair, now looking back I realize that I never had dense and thick hair, even when I was 8. From 2006 to late 2011 my hair very slowly kept going worse, I was on finasteride all the while. late 2011 my hair took a big hit. very noticable thinning all around. then in 2012 my scalp started to itch. I doubled finasteride no help. in the 2012 summer I switched to dutasteride. no change in itching. doubled my dosage to 1 mg, no change. in fact hair line getting even worse. there is a big difference between 2006 to today. now, every study shows participants remained above the baseline. so why I am losing ground, almost an NW2 now. and why it all happened on dht blockers? my maternal grand father died at 83 with a full head of hair, a NW1.5 hairline who looked liked an identical twin to me. I never wanted to believe I am cursed with male pattern baldness but can dht blockers make you lose hair? and what would happen if I was to give up dht blockers? I am scared to find out but at the same time my hair is still going worse day by day.
what do you think is the longest period I can give up dutasteride to see if itching goes away or not without losing considerable amount of hair?

 

[Rawtashk]

Question: Why did you go on finasteride if you had NW1?

But, if your answer is "because I started to lose hair, and I jumped on it early"...then do you not consider 7 years of very slow loss a success? I've been on finasteride for 6 years, and I'm still losing hair, but it's NOTHING compared to what it was. I'd be slick bald by now if I hadn't started finasteride when I did.

 

[Jrthomas85]

I don't really consider "almost being a NW2" a definite sign that you are losing hair or have anything other than a mature hairline. There are tons of guys who develop that kind of hairline in adulthood but do not necessarily go bald. Very few men keep a NW1 hairline past adolescence.

Hair density can also change as you get older. But, if you are definitely losing hair all over, have you ruled out other causes (thyroid, vitamin deficiency, etc?). Also, without pictures for comparison, it is really hard for you to get any decent opinions.

I don't take dutasteride, and there are certainly more qualified people who can answer that question, but from what I understand, dutasteride has a very long half-life in the body. You could probably go upwards of 3-6 months and still have some effect of the drug after discontinuation. But again, others here are more qualified to answer that.