Naturally Low Dht = Dht Probably Not The Cause?

[spooon]

Hi All,

My dermatologist did some bloods before deciding whether and what dose to put me on finasteride.

My DHT came back 0.83 with a laboratory normal range of 1.13 - 4.13.

He said this means DHT is unlikely to be a major factor in causing my hair loss and therefore limits the chances of finasteride working. I have particularly severe ball ache on a previous attempt with finasteride. He is going to write to Merck to see if he can get an explanation for the ache but he said it might be because my DHT is already on the low side such that i get the severe ache.

This dermatologist is well known in London and specialises in hair loss. He also gives some of his patients a topical lotion that consists off 6% minoxidil, 0.2% melatonin, and 0.2% finastride and apparently gets decent results with that in his patient population.

He wants me to tread very carefully due to low DHT.

Thoughts?

 

[g.i joey]

Is your hairloss aggressive? It never was the amount of dht in you that makes you susceptible to male pattern baldness, it was more the sensitivity your follicles have to the existing dht.

 

[spooon]

I have lost a LOT but it's taken 20 years since i first started losing so no it is not aggressive.

I guess DHT is still the cause or rather my sensitivity to it, but with DHT levels so low to begin with, finasteride becomes a blunt, and somewhat dangerous, instrument

 

[bluecyclone]

Did they give you any ideas on how to manage sensitivity at the follicles? Very similar situation DHT on the lowest edge of normal and concerned Finasteride will yield sides. Considering RU. I’ve heard about the topical melatonin.

 

[reyl]

Hi All,

My dermatologist did some bloods before deciding whether and what dose to put me on finasteride.

My DHT came back 0.83 with a laboratory normal range of 1.13 - 4.13.

He said this means DHT is unlikely to be a major factor in causing my hair loss and therefore limits the chances of finasteride working. I have particularly severe ball ache on a previous attempt with finasteride. He is going to write to Merck to see if he can get an explanation for the ache but he said it might be because my DHT is already on the low side such that i get the severe ache.

This dermatologist is well known in London and specialises in hair loss. He also gives some of his patients a topical lotion that consists off 6% minoxidil, 0.2% melatonin, and 0.2% finastride and apparently gets decent results with that in his patient population.

He wants me to tread very carefully due to low DHT.

Thoughts?

Did they give you any ideas on how to manage sensitivity at the follicles? Very similar situation DHT on the lowest edge of normal and concerned Finasteride will yield sides. Considering RU. I’ve heard about the topical melatonin.

I wouldn't mess with stuff that is poorly studied and has given some people major heart problems (RU), I don't mean to fearmonger but RU is a research chemical that was never further developed or branded. That doesn't mean it won't work but Finasteride is FAR more proven, tested, and safer.

To the guys above, consider microdosing finasteride which won't decimate your DHT, see the study here: http://www.jaad.org/article/S0190-9622(99)80051-6/abstract
Scalp DHT levels were lowered by 61.6% with just a 0.05mg dose. However everyone responds a bit differently. Try 0.025mg daily and then work your way up, if you don't experience any sides, move up to 0.05mg and so on and so forth. Search "how to microdose finasteride" on google and there's a bunch of threads explaining this but just to make it simple, if you were to take a crushed up 5mg Proscar tablet and dilute in 50 mL of a 70% (140 proof) drinkable alcohol(let it dissolve for a few hours then mix it), you are just dividing 5 by 50, which makes it 0.1mg per mL, or 0.05mg per half mL.

and the Japanese study where 0.2 mg (not a microdose fyi), was just as effective as 1mg at hair density:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15319158

 

[spooon]

I'm going to wait for Merck's reply re the ball ache. I know many have reported an ache and it's gone eventually, but my ache is excruciating.

The other BIG take away having spoken to the doctor is that sides REALLY are uncommon. When he says i should stop the drug immediately if i suffer a loss of libido he says it in the knowledge that almost none of his patients get the sides.

 

[spooon]

Did they give you any ideas on how to manage sensitivity at the follicles? Very similar situation DHT on the lowest edge of normal and concerned Finasteride will yield sides. Considering RU. I’ve heard about the topical melatonin.

not really. we discussed the topical. it has to be taken twice daily so that's a downside. he confirms it does go systemic and also speculated that one might need less of the finasteride since it was going straight into the scalp but by his own admission his guess was as good as mine.

 

[bridgeburn]

what about testosterone

 

[spooon]

what about testosterone

13.9 which is 400 in the units most of you understand. i'm in my 40s