More than a year later

[proscary]

I am new here guys and would really appreciate some guidance.

I have been on finasteride for about a year and a half. I was on Propecia for the first year, and then I switched to quartered Proscar. Both are from either Costco or Walmart. I’m in month 4 of Proscar, and I am aggressively losing hair all over. The scalp showing is now MUCH more noticable. Before these last few months I could tell I was still losing, but it was slowed and not too worrisome and I wasn’t too preoccupied with it.

I’m wondering if anyone has encountered this when switching from Propecia to Proscar, and what this means after a year-plus on finasteride: Give up, assume finasteride is not working and get a dutasteride script pronto? Get back on Propecia? This is just a shed to push through? I also have noticed a few sides, only since starting the Proscar these last few months...is dutasteride a different animal or is it just stronger finasteride??

Thanks for any help/suggestions. This is really frustrating!!

 

[MPBWarrior]

i doubt proscar wouldve done anything different o your body than what propecia was doing. even if you're now taking 1.25mg instead of 1mg. with dutasteride it's different, as it is a different drug. you'll block almost all type II and 50% of type I which propecia doesn't block, but which isn't found in hair follicles... the problem is that it's speculated to be found in the brain, and who knows what blocking it could do in the future! although having said that, some people now could be on dutasteride for 5-10 years and seem to be ok. your choice but i guess it has to be better for your hair. unfortunately, at the moment, if finasteride (and/or dutasteride) doesn't work for us, there aren't many things we can do to keep our hair. you could do a speculative search and see if you can find some peculiar things like the scalp exercises below which could help, but all these things could or could not work for you. but i wouldn't go off finasteride. only if the sides are really bothering you. but if u go off, u will lose hair at a faster pace. on a better note, don't worry too much. it's not the only thing that matters in life!

 

[charlieparker]

I don't want to make you too optimistic but my history with the medication is almost identical to yours. After a year and a half (and 4 months on proscar) I started shedding a lot more so I just decided to shave my head and almost out of desperation I kept taking the proscar (if it wasn't so cheap I probably would have just quit altogether.) After another two months I finally let my hair grow back in and I noticed the shedding had stopped (never saw hairs, in the shower, on my pillow, no where) and my hair quality definitely seemed better. So, it's been 2 1/2 years now, I'm still on the proscar, and I can say that I have definitely maintained since getting on finasteride. Stick it out!!! I'd say give it until the 2 year mark before you stop.

 

[proscary]

Thanks, cp. I am very glad to hear someone with such an extremely similar experience, especially one that turned out OK!!! Optimism is a good thing for me right now...

I was leaning toward adding a small portion of dutasteride to the attack, maybe one 0.5mg dose per week in addition to the Proscar...

Did you change anything at this particular low point?? I was contemplating also adding a new shampoo to the cycle as well, something with a good anti-shed reputation (Alpecin?) to rotate with nizoral...

Let me know if such changes are advisable and suggestions in those arenas. Thank you!

 

[charlieparker]

From what I've read dutasteride should be your last resort, meaning after 2 years of absolutely no signs of results. Even still, I don't know if I would mess with it. Read more on it if you ever get to that point. I actually stopped using Nizoral because it was irritating me more than it was helping and switched to just using a simple shampoo everyday, I think Suave. These days itch hasn't been to bad, but when it bothers me I use apple cider vinegar. No joke, it realllly helped me, more than anything. If the itch comes back after a few days, I use it again. It has been great, and it leaves my hair feeling nice (unlike Nizoral). I think you should definitely try it out.. Good luck! Let me know how it goes.

 

[bababa]

It would seem for alot of people on the finasteride that it's a shed, regrowth, shed, regrowth... etc for the first year or 2. I was constantly in and out for 10months, but since then (I've been 15 months now) it's stabilized considerably. Just ride it out, everyones chemistry is different. As long as your on it you should be fine.

Peace...