Propecia losing effectiveness after 5 years?

[Unitas80]

Just wondering if anyone else who has been on Propecia for 4+ years and has noticed a decrease in effectiveness. Over the past 6 months my hair has been shedding and thining pretty badly, especially at the front. Prior to this I had maintained pretty well with just Propecia for 5 years.

I really don't plan on switching to dutasteride due to the side effects. Has anyone experienced something similar, and if they started on topicals which they found to help. I haven't used topicals before, so I am not sure what to expect, is there shedding invovled?

Thanks!

 

[Kube8]

Hey Unitas...

I've posted questions and responses to this before because the same thing is happening to me.... tho after 10 years. I too have maintained my hair for quite a long time on propecia with a recent downturn in the front/temples mostly.

I'm not an expert, but this is what my dermatologist said to me when I asked him why, after all these years, I'm losing hair again. As he said.... EVERYONE'S PHYSIOLOGY IS DIFFERENT. Many people will maintain their hair for several years on propecia, while others might not. Also, there is no reason to think that it could (in theory) last a lifetime for some people.

Basically, you can't know why it's happening..... from what I know (and please correct me if I'm wrong people)..... it's not the propecia that's losing it's power... there's no reason to think your DHT levels aren't as they were, but you and your follicles are possibly becoming more susceptible to the DHT. It's a big unknown I guess.

I have a friend who also did the propecia thing.... it lasted a number of years but he then began drastically losing his hair so he stopped.... unfortunately this just happens so you and I are potentially screwed.

It's been a few months for me losing hair in the front and thinning in general. I'm hoping it stops or it's just a shed, but I'm not optimistic at this point. Also, I'm not willing to do the dutasteride thing. It just seems like too much. I won't do something not approved by the FDA and regardless, I've heard such horror stories about it and sketchy results at best so f*** it. I'm just going to keep doing the propecia thing and hope for the best.

Good luck to you buddy.

 

[ripple-effect]

There was a former hairlosstalk admin who used propecia + nizoral for 2 years before it lost its effectiveness, then he switched to revivogen + spironolactone for hair line and was able to successfully maintain. I think he retired from these forums though.

 

[el_duterino]

The dutasteride side effects are over-rated. If you did fine on finasteride all these years you wont have much sides on dutasteride either. Look at how many people complain about side effects on finasteride !!
I mean if finasteride was working for you it means that DHT is the main cause in your case, therfore there is a very high probability that you do very well on dutasteride. At least you could try for a month or 2 and see for yourself. Too bad to give-up now because once the hair are gone no drug will help..now you still have a good chance.

I can get erections fine these days..I have a new gilfriend..very hot and I dont need any v**** anymore and can have sex several times a day (I am 40). So the libido thing must be a side effect of that girlfiend..

Me too I was a scared of dutasteride reading those forums..with all the negative comments.. but since finasteride was not working anymore I had no choice. Glad I made the switch !

I have been taking dutasteride for 3 & half years now, 0.5 mg a day of real Avodart. No topicals.

My guess is that 90% of the people are quite happy with dutasteride results including sides but the 10% that are not are making all the noise around here.
Good luck
El Duternio

 

[Unitas80]

So do most people on dutasteride experience decreased libido and other such problems? I saw the %'s shown on Avodart's website, but just wondering what the general forum consesus is?

 

[Kube8]

My guess is that 90% of the people are quite happy with dutasteride results including sides but the 10% that are not are making all the noise around here.
Good luck
El Duternio

You do bring up an excellent point. I do find it often true that the vocal irritated minority is usually louder than a satisfied majority. On the flip side, I will say..... after reading oooodles of posts..... you seem to be one of the only people on here who recommends the drug and claims it's worked.

What happened to you when you switched? what was your situation if you dont mind me asking?

 

[el_duterino]

"What happened to you when you switched? what was your situation if you dont mind me asking?"

i had 6 good years on finasteride age 30 to 36. no more hairloss and thickening of existing hair.
then at year 6 suddenly over a 2 to 3 months period ,started thinning again a fast rate. I was taking 1.25 of brand proscar everyday. no other meds/topicals.
at age 36 I Switched to dutasteride, best decision I made.
Hair thickened again and a bit even more than on finasteride. I am taking 0.5 mg a day of brand Avodart. Now 40, hairline is the same as it was when i was age 30 and a bit thicker.
Never had a shed.
dutasteride blocks much more DHT than finasteride and is more stable (less variations over the day) because of the long half life. I dont see how people can claim that it does not work.
At worst it should slow down the rate of hairloss, but that does not mean that it does not work. Hard to judge unless you have a twin brother.

People that complain about dutasteride maybe had high expectations of regrowth. Maybe they would have had a much more rapid hairloss if not on the drug and only have one side of the story. The twin brother study did cleary show that dutasteride works.
Any way, sides and results depend on the person, but I dont see why no one would at least give it a try for 2-3 months. I dont see any explanations why it would "destroy" any hair.
If DHT is your main cause, after a month on dutasteride you should feel the hair being thicker at the base of it, even if it does not translate into visible results right away.

If you had no results on finasteride then yes, maybe DHT is not the main cause and dutasteride will not help I guess, unless it is a dosage issue.

When dutasteride will stop working in the future for me, meaning that becasue of my age the hair are so sensitive to DHT that even a little amount is enough to cause hairloss, I will increase the dosage to 2 mg. Hopefully something else like ASC-J9 becomes available before.

El Duterino

 

[ps1freak]

kube have you tried some topicals? i know you aren't attacking the root of the problem, but it can still buy you time and regrow some hair.

 

[Kube8]

kube have you tried some topicals? i know you aren't attacking the root of the problem, but it can still buy you time and regrow some hair.

Honestly.... from what I know.... explained by someone on here in fact...... many of these topicals might created an optimal environment for medications like propecia and rogaine to work instead of actually growing hair on their own. I dont' know.... I'm skeptical quite frankly. I did purchase Revita at one point. I used it twice, but read such horror stories that I just chucked it.

I really don't know what do to about the topical situation. I keep reading conflicting information about them. For example... the ones that claim to block DHT..... they don't remain on your scalp long enough to legitimately be effective and things like that. OR you have to put on smelly gross sh*t on your head all nite long.... etc. I'm very big on our FDA and prefer to stick with what's proven to be both effective and safe. I'm supposed to do what? Use topicals or alternative treatments that some claim to be effective, some tell tales of horror.... some that may cause shedding I may or may not recover from? It's just too much that's unknown or unproven and I can't just take people on "their word" with my own body.

Basically... yes, my hair is thinning.... it may or may not have stopped, but the fact is... I still look fine. I'm just going to wait for HM or something else that might be proven and supported by the FDA. SHRUG :/

 

[Kube8]

"What happened to you when you switched? what was your situation if you dont mind me asking?"

i had 6 good years on finasteride age 30 to 36. no more hairloss and thickening of existing hair.
then at year 6 suddenly over a 2 to 3 months period ,started thinning again a fast rate. I was taking 1.25 of brand proscar everyday. no other meds/topicals.
at age 36 I Switched to dutasteride, best decision I made.
Hair thickened again and a bit even more than on finasteride. I am taking 0.5 mg a day of brand Avodart. Now 40, hairline is the same as it was when i was age 30 and a bit thicker.
Never had a shed.
dutasteride blocks much more DHT than finasteride and is more stable (less variations over the day) because of the long half life. I dont see how people can claim that it does not work.
At worst it should slow down the rate of hairloss, but that does not mean that it does not work. Hard to judge unless you have a twin brother.

People that complain about dutasteride maybe had high expectations of regrowth. Maybe they would have had a much more rapid hairloss if not on the drug and only have one side of the story. The twin brother study did cleary show that dutasteride works.
Any way, sides and results depend on the person, but I dont see why no one would at least give it a try for 2-3 months. I dont see any explanations why it would "destroy" any hair.
If DHT is your main cause, after a month on dutasteride you should feel the hair being thicker at the base of it, even if it does not translate into visible results right away.

If you had no results on finasteride then yes, maybe DHT is not the main cause and dutasteride will not help I guess, unless it is a dosage issue.

When dutasteride will stop working in the future for me, meaning that becasue of my age the hair are so sensitive to DHT that even a little amount is enough to cause hairloss, I will increase the dosage to 2 mg. Hopefully something else like ASC-J9 becomes available before.

El Duterino

Well you seem to be one of the lucky ones. If the FDA approves it or some variation of it for hair loss I will consider it I suppose, but as I said. You might be the only success story I've seen on here.

Best wishes

 

[el_duterino]

quote : "Well you seem to be one of the lucky ones. If the FDA approves it or some variation of it for hair loss I will consider it I suppose, but as I said. You might be the only success story I've seen on here."

I am not the only success story here, you should read some more posts over at the dutasteride forum. Find out who are the same posters who complain over and over about the same issues and ignore them.
.Since finasteride is approved for hairloss the number of success stories is much higher in number, but finasteride was not approved for hairloss for about 8 years I believe.

You can wait until dutasteride is FDA approved but by the time it is (if ever) it will be too late. dutasteride does not regrow, it is a maintenance drug.

"It is a very risky business to treat young, healthy men"...

Thats probably why GSK is not taking the risk to release dutasteride for hairloss. We are not sick, hairloss is normal and GSK does not want to risk court actions of people claiming all sort of illnesses and issues on the drug..like many of those silly posts in this forum.

El Duterino