month 3 of 4 maybe.

[VOVVIE]

Its still getting worse than it has ever been (myhair that is) i need ot vent... im getting upset.. im getting anxious.. im worried and baffled and pissed and sad.. true, hair isnt really worht getting all these things over.. but it is important to me in my youth.. and it wont stop shedding now.. since ive started to take finasteride its gotten very bad looking.. is this the big hump that ive been warned about?? is this the part i have to have faith and pull through.. ive already lost a lot more than i planned on losing.. and now it doesnt seem to have stopped.. im worried about generic brands which i take wont work.. though many times its been said to me that finasteride is finasteride.. im worried that i wont have the money for actuall propecia (being a broke college student).. im worried that my dim witted dermatologist isnt gonna do sh*t for me beause he dosnt know sh*t about male pattern baldness.. im afraid that im not gonna have enough confidence to talk to my doctor and ask him to reasign another dermy.. im afraid im gonna get lazy again and not have enough money to even see my doctor... i need reassurance.. but the concerns that are pouring out of me are making that impossible.. so i guess i just need to vent for now.. im sure things will be ok.. the shed gets a lot worse before the new hairs start to grow.. right? eh.. whatever..

 

[VOVVIE]

where has my hope gone? :'(

 

[too bald too furious]

4 months is too less to evaluate.

Dont lose faith.

You should give Finasteride MINIMUM of 12 months to work.

Are you taking regular photos with same lighting, camera angle each month to assess?

 

[Guest]

People ask the same question over and over again about generic brands. I for one would not touch them with a barge pole. If you are prepared to take a generic brand and then ask questions later about it's effectiveness, then you have answered your own question.

Many people on this and other sites are very concerned about their hair loss. Many just live day-to-day just thinking about their hair and how it will end up. It basically ruins their quality of life because that's all they worry about. So what do they do... they go and purchase a generic brand, which they hope is just as good as the real thing.

When you are taking internal medications it has to be the real deal. Topicals and such are a little more flexible because it's easier to make these.

You could just be going through a major shed and maybe just maybe it will grow back. Or, you could be taking what you think is finasteride but it does not contain the correct dose.

 

[2young]

I agree with traxdata. I'm not going to take anything but Merck propecia or proscar, unless maybe an FDA approved generic comes out some time. I don't trust shady foreign companies that thwart the US patent process at will. Maybe they do make legitimate products, but who knows? It's not a chance I'm willing to take.

And Vovvie, 4 months is really too early to judge. Some lucky people start to see improvement/maintenance as early as 3 months, but for most, it takes 6 months to see any changes, and often a year or more before improvement becomes apparent. Stick to it for at least a year, and take pictures every 3-4 months.

I can't overstress the importance of pictures. I was so sure I had got worse over my first three months on finasteride, but when I took new pics, and compared them to baseline, I've maintained at the very least. My point is that you should never rely on your mind's eye, it will decieve you every time.

 

[Baldie]

Somehow I don't think Cipla is a "shady foreign company that thwart the US patent process at will". Sure, they've bypassed the laws somehow.

But you surely don't believe that NO American company wouldn't do the same if it was the other way around? I.e. Indian company had the patent and some american company bypassed it and made generics? Would you then trust the american company?

Come' on! Believe it or not, but there are other countries in the world that do know how to create things as well as and in most cases better than the americans.

 

[misterium]

I like sticking with Propecia by Merck, it's a mental thing maybe but I like it

Baldie: What does the zinc do for your regimine ?

 

[Baldie]

Zinc is good for healthy skin and hair. I'm not really counting on zinc to promote hair growth, just to calm the skin and scalp. If you eat properly you should get enough zinc through your normal food, but it doesn't hurt to add a bit sometimes

An interesting article:

Baldness Diet
March 3, 00 --
Joe Labita: "By the time I was 25 I was bald I had hardly any hair and when I was 25 I looked 35, 35 i was looking 45, it's not fun."
Joe tired everything to make his hair grow back. Miracle fixes, tonics, even having grandmother rub olive oil on top of his head every night. One thing he didn't pay attention to was his diet, and neither do many people with hair loss.
Dr. Gary Hitzig: "Binge dieting or binge eating anything that's stressful either up or down in weight can accelerate thespeed at which a person will lose hair, it won't make them lose hair they wouldn't have lost anyway."
But if they're genetically programmed to go bald, a poor diet can make it happen faster.
Dr. Gary Hitzig: "It's amazing how many people will go an a crash diet and they'll lose 50 pounds and a couple of those pounds will be the hair on their head."
Joe Labita has a full head of hair again thanks to a hair transplant. But if he had to do it all over again, he says he would've paid more attention to the food he ate.
Joe Labita: "If there's things you can do with the diet or stuff like that, I would advise anybody really to start now. Because as you wait, you become too far gone."
You also need to be careful if you take Vitamins. Too much Vitamin-A is not safe and can increase your hair loss. Dr. Marks says the best advice is to eat a good diet, and only used the recommended doses of vitamins.

the rest can be found here:

http://www.althealth.co.uk/services/inf ... ness_1.php

Also....

Zinc Hair Loss Benefits
Whilst not a hair growth vitamin as such, the mineral zinc for hair loss deserves a special mention.

Studies show that zinc hair loss benefits may protect hair follicles from excess DHT, the main factor in male pattern hair loss. Zinc is often associated with hair regrowth and used to help prevent and treat hair loss.

Several studies have shown that certain formulations of topical zinc can reduce DHT levels in the skin.

Zinc has demonstrated itself to be a potent inhibitor of 5 alpha-reductase activity. At high concentrations, zinc could completely inhibit the enzyme activity. Vitamin B6 has been shown to potentiate these inhibitory zinc hair loss benefits.

Type 1 5 alpha-reductase catalyzes the reduction of testosterone into the very potent androgen DHT. Human type 1 5 alpha-reductase is expressed mainly in the skin.

In a significant study the results showed that type 1 5 alpha-reductase was strongly inhibited by copper and zinc.

The data showed that copper and zinc could specifically inhibit the activity and expression of type 1 alpha-reductase which is found in human skin.

The rest can be found here:
http://www.man-health-magazine-online.c ... amins.html

 

[VOVVIE]

idk.. ive heard a lot of good things about generics.. ive never really heard any administrator warn against companies like cipla or anything like that..