Hi guys, I am like you guys fighting the hairloss battle. But I want to clear up a few things in regards to efficacy of finasteride, dutasteride and minoxidils and some sides.
Im a medical student. No Im not a trichologist, but I have done extensive research and have access to many articles through my school that I read in FULL. I want to state a few things. Basically, I have more knowledge about physiology than YOU do ( or at least, 99%)
Finasterde/dutasteride - I read a lot of posts giving these SUCH a bad rep. Pathetic. "I can't get it up, I have boobs now, been on it for a year and nothing, this stuff is bunk DONT USE IT" etc. Let me shed some light. If you are trying to regrew a bald spot, again BALD spot, forget it. The damage has been done. If you are thinning but you are seeing a bald spot, you WILL get results. Use of minoxidil to stimulate growth via vasodilating and serving to oxide the androgen at the site (mechanism is not well understood) ALONG with finasteride/dutasteride, you WILL regrow all your existing hair and it will be thick as ever. That being said, not everyone will respond to 1mg of finasteride.. you MAY have to up the dose. Trust me here. Not everyone will respond. I did NOT respond to 1mg, but then said screw it and upped it to 2.5mg per day and alas, FULL hair regrowth and I am prone to male pattern baldness if I just let it go (eventually it will bald out). My hair did jack sh*t on 1mg for 6 months, then thickened up and regrew after 2 weeks on the 2.5mg. Yes, it works that fast. finasteride has a halflife thats less than a day, so this also means that there is a time where the amount of finasteride is cut in half, so you can bet that some DHT will get bound back to the follicle causing inflammation and its eventual death. You block the causitive agent, the DHT, you regrow your hair. Simple as that.
Apparently a study shows that 0.1mg is as effective as 1mg. Who funded this study? Propecia cost like 70 fricken dollars a month. This is fishy and I don't believe it one bit. Pharmacology is pretty straight forward. Either a drug will reduce a PERCENTAGE or a TOTAL AMOUNT of its substrate (the testosterone). You may be blocking some DHT, but not enough to cause a difference.
How come I am shedding but not improving? Your hormone levels are CHANGING. You have shocked your hair (tellogum Efflovium) and if the levels of finsteride are not consistent with causing enough inhibition to cause hairgrowth, you will continue to lose hair because your body is fluctuating in hormones based on pattern you are taking them even if everyday, the halflife goes up and down, even if finast inhibits up to 3 days, yes it still WORKS for 3 days, but doesnt inhibit the same amoutn in the 3 days. CONSISTENCY is key
Finasteride blocks DHT conversion from testosterone, thus creating more testosterone (a good thing) but some of that extra increase can get converted into estrogen ( bad thing in excess). So if you do get this puffy nipple, you have to use an aromatase inhibitor on hand. If you want to keep your hair, you have to pay to play.
Finasteride is giving me libido problems. Yes, it will cause a minor decrease in libido, but it WILL NOT cause ED. That is an entirely different mechanism. Do not give in to this misconception. Another reason people can't get it up is because they are stressed and depressed about HAIRLOSS. And the finasteride is NOT WORKING. Thats a double wammy, its like you an impending doom waiting to happen aka HAIRLOSS. You think your body with all that stress is going to get it up? HELL no.
But but there was a study that showed that finasteride can PERMANENTLY cause changed that cause ED, etc. Are you sh*tting me? The drug has been out for over 20 years and there was little to no concern about ED until recent. Why? So Dr. so and so can sell his magic topical potion to you suckas (anything beside minoxidil has not be effective) with the selling point that it can cause ED. So obviously, that being our lively hood, you don't want to mess with that! But No, it is not a transcriptase or other enzyme that reformulates the DNA. I dont even want to get into that, Im chuckling as I type.
spironolactone- In theory, this should work. Orally, you will see hairgrowth. But that is because it is an antiandrogen, LIKE FINASTERIDE! It just works different with the same end result. Oh except the oral spironolactone turns you into a woman. Hmm wont get into that
Minoxidil - I read that minoxidil is "aging" me. Well guess what, here is what you are doing and what you should NOT do. You are applying the minoxidil and you are going to BED with it on your head. Most gets absorbed but guess where a big portion ends up? YOUR PILLOW. You are putting your entire face on the pillow for hours if you sleep on your side. Guess what happens, vasodilation of your face! You now have these large pores, thsi crappy texture to the face, and you wake up some days wondering why I look like sh*t? I didnt get enough sleep, whats wrong, my hair is falling out, and thsi all compounds (been through it). I find it histerical that some claim that after discontinuing minoxidil, they look 10 years younger. Pathetic, please. You are just over hairloss and not up in the mirror day in and day out (im guilty too).
Put the minoxidil on your head, wait an hour, WASH it out well with a good shampoo. Go to bed. After time, your skin will get better and better. Those dark circles under your eyes are BOOD vessels that on the exterior give an appearance that its the skin but its enlarged vessels. Also, notice your eyes have been more read? again, same crap.
in conclusion,
if your hair is thinning and you still have growht, you are in luck and finasteride will work. You have to tweak the dose. You should see growth. Minoxidil is excellent as well, just dont sleep with it. After time some people feel like finasteride doesnt work, that means the hair loss is kicking up a notch. Its like hypertension, after a while, you have to increase the dose. Same sh*t.
My life was great until I realized i was losing hair. Like some of us, it really is like an impending doom. Hairloss is without question NOT an option for me, I just cant live knowing ill be bald, thats just ridiculous to me especially since im 25. Let me be bald, when IM OLD! Fortunately there are methods out there.
I hope I educated some.
One thing I can NOT stand are the amount of debby downers, OMG. You are just bashing everything because Youre going bald! If it is that big, get a f*cking loan, and get a transplant and STFU!
Thanks for reading
Im a medical student. No Im not a trichologist, but I have done extensive research and have access to many articles through my school that I read in FULL. I want to state a few things. Basically, I have more knowledge about physiology than YOU do ( or at least, 99%)
Finasterde/dutasteride - I read a lot of posts giving these SUCH a bad rep. Pathetic. "I can't get it up, I have boobs now, been on it for a year and nothing, this stuff is bunk DONT USE IT" etc. Let me shed some light. If you are trying to regrew a bald spot, again BALD spot, forget it. The damage has been done. If you are thinning but you are seeing a bald spot, you WILL get results. Use of minoxidil to stimulate growth via vasodilating and serving to oxide the androgen at the site (mechanism is not well understood) ALONG with finasteride/dutasteride, you WILL regrow all your existing hair and it will be thick as ever. That being said, not everyone will respond to 1mg of finasteride.. you MAY have to up the dose. Trust me here. Not everyone will respond. I did NOT respond to 1mg, but then said screw it and upped it to 2.5mg per day and alas, FULL hair regrowth and I am prone to male pattern baldness if I just let it go (eventually it will bald out). My hair did jack sh*t on 1mg for 6 months, then thickened up and regrew after 2 weeks on the 2.5mg. Yes, it works that fast. finasteride has a halflife thats less than a day, so this also means that there is a time where the amount of finasteride is cut in half, so you can bet that some DHT will get bound back to the follicle causing inflammation and its eventual death. You block the causitive agent, the DHT, you regrow your hair. Simple as that.
Apparently a study shows that 0.1mg is as effective as 1mg. Who funded this study? Propecia cost like 70 fricken dollars a month. This is fishy and I don't believe it one bit. Pharmacology is pretty straight forward. Either a drug will reduce a PERCENTAGE or a TOTAL AMOUNT of its substrate (the testosterone). You may be blocking some DHT, but not enough to cause a difference.
How come I am shedding but not improving? Your hormone levels are CHANGING. You have shocked your hair (tellogum Efflovium) and if the levels of finsteride are not consistent with causing enough inhibition to cause hairgrowth, you will continue to lose hair because your body is fluctuating in hormones based on pattern you are taking them even if everyday, the halflife goes up and down, even if finast inhibits up to 3 days, yes it still WORKS for 3 days, but doesnt inhibit the same amoutn in the 3 days. CONSISTENCY is key
Finasteride blocks DHT conversion from testosterone, thus creating more testosterone (a good thing) but some of that extra increase can get converted into estrogen ( bad thing in excess). So if you do get this puffy nipple, you have to use an aromatase inhibitor on hand. If you want to keep your hair, you have to pay to play.
Finasteride is giving me libido problems. Yes, it will cause a minor decrease in libido, but it WILL NOT cause ED. That is an entirely different mechanism. Do not give in to this misconception. Another reason people can't get it up is because they are stressed and depressed about HAIRLOSS. And the finasteride is NOT WORKING. Thats a double wammy, its like you an impending doom waiting to happen aka HAIRLOSS. You think your body with all that stress is going to get it up? HELL no.
But but there was a study that showed that finasteride can PERMANENTLY cause changed that cause ED, etc. Are you sh*tting me? The drug has been out for over 20 years and there was little to no concern about ED until recent. Why? So Dr. so and so can sell his magic topical potion to you suckas (anything beside minoxidil has not be effective) with the selling point that it can cause ED. So obviously, that being our lively hood, you don't want to mess with that! But No, it is not a transcriptase or other enzyme that reformulates the DNA. I dont even want to get into that, Im chuckling as I type.
spironolactone- In theory, this should work. Orally, you will see hairgrowth. But that is because it is an antiandrogen, LIKE FINASTERIDE! It just works different with the same end result. Oh except the oral spironolactone turns you into a woman. Hmm wont get into that
Minoxidil - I read that minoxidil is "aging" me. Well guess what, here is what you are doing and what you should NOT do. You are applying the minoxidil and you are going to BED with it on your head. Most gets absorbed but guess where a big portion ends up? YOUR PILLOW. You are putting your entire face on the pillow for hours if you sleep on your side. Guess what happens, vasodilation of your face! You now have these large pores, thsi crappy texture to the face, and you wake up some days wondering why I look like sh*t? I didnt get enough sleep, whats wrong, my hair is falling out, and thsi all compounds (been through it). I find it histerical that some claim that after discontinuing minoxidil, they look 10 years younger. Pathetic, please. You are just over hairloss and not up in the mirror day in and day out (im guilty too).
Put the minoxidil on your head, wait an hour, WASH it out well with a good shampoo. Go to bed. After time, your skin will get better and better. Those dark circles under your eyes are BOOD vessels that on the exterior give an appearance that its the skin but its enlarged vessels. Also, notice your eyes have been more read? again, same crap.
in conclusion,
if your hair is thinning and you still have growht, you are in luck and finasteride will work. You have to tweak the dose. You should see growth. Minoxidil is excellent as well, just dont sleep with it. After time some people feel like finasteride doesnt work, that means the hair loss is kicking up a notch. Its like hypertension, after a while, you have to increase the dose. Same sh*t.
My life was great until I realized i was losing hair. Like some of us, it really is like an impending doom. Hairloss is without question NOT an option for me, I just cant live knowing ill be bald, thats just ridiculous to me especially since im 25. Let me be bald, when IM OLD! Fortunately there are methods out there.
I hope I educated some.
One thing I can NOT stand are the amount of debby downers, OMG. You are just bashing everything because Youre going bald! If it is that big, get a f*cking loan, and get a transplant and STFU!
Thanks for reading
