I have been taking Propecia since i was 22 i am now 36. There is no doubt in my mind that this drug has slowed down my receding hairline. I have lost ground over the years but i am 36 now and a norwood 2, wich makes me very happy. i was a norwood 1 or more when i started. I don"t really remember any shedding or loss of libido or real side effects when i started, i just took the drug because i was desperate and hair loss was ruining my confidence. I have always had a strong sex drive and no loss of hard erections. The only thing i wish i had have done when i first started propecia was to get a blood test to see how high my DHT was in my system and test it annually, also wish i had have used Nizoral. The last 6 months i have noticed my temples getting a little thinner, i have not changed anything in my life i am a avid weight lifter have been since i was 22. I have had the same hair stylist for the last 8 yrs and he said he cant tell its getting thinner but i can. I am thinking i have built up a tolerance to propecia, so i have stopped it since Dec 15, 2010 a little over a month so far, i want to see if i can jump start the process over again. I am gonna make a doctor appointment for blood test to see my dht levels and restart propecia, i may wait a couple more weeks before starting again. I dunno if i am doing the right thing stopping propecia but its not gonna hurt to try. I have noticed since i have stopped taking propecia i have a bit more energy and a little sharper mentally and a little more aggressive. I will update on this forum as soon as i see my doctor and get her input and tests. Well thats my story feel free to ask any questions.
Propecia tolerance-Taking a break-my story
- Thread starter dam
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Oh yeah, I did that. I halved the dose for three months, then basically quit it for about 6 months total.
Long story short: I started shedding.
Not much, and I still used nizoral, but I could tell the quality and thickness of my hair was somewhat poorer. Hairline remained stable, but the vertex suffered a little.
Started again last january, full dose, and about now my hair is back to where it was before my experiment. Considerably less shedding, thickening, better quality, vertex regrowth, and back to where it was (thank God). One and a half year before things returned to normal.
Serously, do it if you feel the need to quit, but believe me; you will shed. In a way it's like re- experiencing the moment when you first started to loose hair, all over again.
Not fun
Long story short: I started shedding.
Not much, and I still used nizoral, but I could tell the quality and thickness of my hair was somewhat poorer. Hairline remained stable, but the vertex suffered a little.
Started again last january, full dose, and about now my hair is back to where it was before my experiment. Considerably less shedding, thickening, better quality, vertex regrowth, and back to where it was (thank God). One and a half year before things returned to normal.
Serously, do it if you feel the need to quit, but believe me; you will shed. In a way it's like re- experiencing the moment when you first started to loose hair, all over again.
Not fun
TheGrayMan2001
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I don't think people build a tolerance to finasteride. Instead, your hair follicles are becoming even more increasingly sensitive to DHT.
It is a genetic thing and I believe it means you would have to further reduce DHT in order to save your hair.
It is a genetic thing and I believe it means you would have to further reduce DHT in order to save your hair.
What is being said is correct. finasteride has a flat dose response, meaning you take enough of the medication to do what you need it to do (reduce DHT) or you take too little for it to really do much of anything.
Increasing dosage may show a very slight benefit for some people, but generally speaking it won't do much. Some people here claim to have posivite results with higher doses, but the same results would have probably been acheived if they just took the regular 1mg dose.
And yes again; your body can not build up a tolerance to finasteride. You still have the same lowered rate of DHT in your bloodstream as you did a year after taking the stuff. The reason your hair is thinning is as you age, your hair becomes way more sensitive to DHT and is affected by the small amount in your bloodstream. I think finasteride reduces DHT by 60-80%, but the remaining amount can still cause balding. That's why it doesn't work nearly as well for people in an advanced stage of balding, or have aggressive male pattern baldness.
Stay on the stuff. At least until something better comes along, or you are a NW5+ and theres no real reason to hang onto what little you have left. Remember, if you stop, in a year you will be where you would have been if you never took the drug.
Increasing dosage may show a very slight benefit for some people, but generally speaking it won't do much. Some people here claim to have posivite results with higher doses, but the same results would have probably been acheived if they just took the regular 1mg dose.
And yes again; your body can not build up a tolerance to finasteride. You still have the same lowered rate of DHT in your bloodstream as you did a year after taking the stuff. The reason your hair is thinning is as you age, your hair becomes way more sensitive to DHT and is affected by the small amount in your bloodstream. I think finasteride reduces DHT by 60-80%, but the remaining amount can still cause balding. That's why it doesn't work nearly as well for people in an advanced stage of balding, or have aggressive male pattern baldness.
Stay on the stuff. At least until something better comes along, or you are a NW5+ and theres no real reason to hang onto what little you have left. Remember, if you stop, in a year you will be where you would have been if you never took the drug.
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In general I agree with most of the replies in this thread, but with some extra stipulations:
1) Finasteride doesn't have a PERFECTLY flat dose-response curve, it has a FAIRLY flat dose-response curve. Larger doses will do a bit better than smaller doses at suppressing DHT, but not a whole lot. It's a more significant effect when you're talking about really tiny doses, like some people use. For example, doubling the daily dose from 0.1 mg to 0.2 mg would be much more significant than doubling the daily dose from 1 mg to 2 mg.
2) I've never seen any real medical evidence that we ever develop a "tolerance" to finasteride. As many years as finasteride has been used now, I'm sure we would have heard about it by now, if that were true.
3) I think men can do less-well hair-wise over a long period of time NOT because of any "tolerance" to finasteride, but because of other things like a greater sensitivity to androgens by our hair follicles as we age. That's a separate issue.
1) Finasteride doesn't have a PERFECTLY flat dose-response curve, it has a FAIRLY flat dose-response curve. Larger doses will do a bit better than smaller doses at suppressing DHT, but not a whole lot. It's a more significant effect when you're talking about really tiny doses, like some people use. For example, doubling the daily dose from 0.1 mg to 0.2 mg would be much more significant than doubling the daily dose from 1 mg to 2 mg.
2) I've never seen any real medical evidence that we ever develop a "tolerance" to finasteride. As many years as finasteride has been used now, I'm sure we would have heard about it by now, if that were true.
3) I think men can do less-well hair-wise over a long period of time NOT because of any "tolerance" to finasteride, but because of other things like a greater sensitivity to androgens by our hair follicles as we age. That's a separate issue.
Primo
Experienced Member
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I've noticed quite a lot of guys on this forum in their mid-late 30s who've been having problems with thinning temples after being on finasteride for 10+ years.
As said above, I think it's definitely more a problem of androgen sensitivity at that age. I mean Rogaine and Propecia state explicitly that their drugs won't work effectively on your temples... and by that they probably mean in the long term when in late30s/early40s men's hair becomes more sensitive, especially around the temples, where male pattern baldness is very aggressive.
You could switch from finasteride to dutasteride, but I don't think it would make a significant difference.
If you were desperate to stop your temples from thinning, then I guess you could use Minoxidil in the meantime. This would definitely work to thicken up and regrow some temple hair.
I don't think you should worry about you hair progressing past a NW2/3 though. A lot of men at your age who have no male pattern baldness whatsoever also start receding slightly around the temples, it's just a natural sign of ageing.
As said above, I think it's definitely more a problem of androgen sensitivity at that age. I mean Rogaine and Propecia state explicitly that their drugs won't work effectively on your temples... and by that they probably mean in the long term when in late30s/early40s men's hair becomes more sensitive, especially around the temples, where male pattern baldness is very aggressive.
You could switch from finasteride to dutasteride, but I don't think it would make a significant difference.
If you were desperate to stop your temples from thinning, then I guess you could use Minoxidil in the meantime. This would definitely work to thicken up and regrow some temple hair.
I don't think you should worry about you hair progressing past a NW2/3 though. A lot of men at your age who have no male pattern baldness whatsoever also start receding slightly around the temples, it's just a natural sign of ageing.
Bobbers2011
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Hi all, great site, just registered today.
Was just reading this post and its very similar to my situation.
I'm 30 years old and have been taking Finpecia generally for about 10 years along with Nizoral. I've mixed it up with propecia & proscar instead during that time too and have varied the dosage a bit from 1mg a day to 0.5mg a day to only 0.5mg every other day.
I quit finpecia at the start of January due to having had enough of the side effects once & for all! But just started back on it again last week as I have noticed my hair getting thinner at the receding points in the space of only a month or so. I've always had a pretty high hairline anyway but taking this stuff for the past 10 years has pretty much kept it intact and I look virtually the same now as I did back before I started taking it. So it works no question about that.
However the side effects have been a right pain in the a$$! Which is why I've had to manage the dose and come off it every now & again to regain some wood! Loss of libido, definitely, difficult getting erections, definitely, soft erections all of that. Reduced semen, and more watery. Loss of interest in sex and my GF too. I'm also convinced it effects your mood after being on it for a long time, I've read some stuff about links to depression and I reckon there's something in that and having been off it for over a month I felt like a completely different person! Energetic, more bubbly, buzzing off life more, started dreaming again which was amazing!! I hadn't remembered any dreams for years! Nuts, and when I googled it I see others have experienced the same. Morning wood again, brilliant! I think it can make you lose a bit of your ambition for life!!
Madness how I'm actually starting taking it again after the side effects and how good it was being off it but there is nothing out there that is as effective or as simple to take without being a right hassle. But now i'm in my thirties I'm not so worried about losing my hair and I shave it all of anyway so I'm going to see how it goes this time, but ideally I'd like to keep it a bit longer!
And the side effects are manageable really I just wish there weren't any and it would be the perfect solution. I'm only taking 0.5mg at the minute as I reckon the smaller dose the better to reduce the side effects but thats just my personal experience & I note all the science about flat response but I need to be abl
I've tried lots of other rubbish out there including all the herbal stuff and I think everything else is a complete con, don't waste your money on anything not proven by FDA etc.
Its great to know there's guys out there experiencing similar so happy to discuss more if you've any questions let me know!
Was just reading this post and its very similar to my situation.
I'm 30 years old and have been taking Finpecia generally for about 10 years along with Nizoral. I've mixed it up with propecia & proscar instead during that time too and have varied the dosage a bit from 1mg a day to 0.5mg a day to only 0.5mg every other day.
I quit finpecia at the start of January due to having had enough of the side effects once & for all! But just started back on it again last week as I have noticed my hair getting thinner at the receding points in the space of only a month or so. I've always had a pretty high hairline anyway but taking this stuff for the past 10 years has pretty much kept it intact and I look virtually the same now as I did back before I started taking it. So it works no question about that.
However the side effects have been a right pain in the a$$! Which is why I've had to manage the dose and come off it every now & again to regain some wood! Loss of libido, definitely, difficult getting erections, definitely, soft erections all of that. Reduced semen, and more watery. Loss of interest in sex and my GF too. I'm also convinced it effects your mood after being on it for a long time, I've read some stuff about links to depression and I reckon there's something in that and having been off it for over a month I felt like a completely different person! Energetic, more bubbly, buzzing off life more, started dreaming again which was amazing!! I hadn't remembered any dreams for years! Nuts, and when I googled it I see others have experienced the same. Morning wood again, brilliant! I think it can make you lose a bit of your ambition for life!!
Madness how I'm actually starting taking it again after the side effects and how good it was being off it but there is nothing out there that is as effective or as simple to take without being a right hassle. But now i'm in my thirties I'm not so worried about losing my hair and I shave it all of anyway so I'm going to see how it goes this time, but ideally I'd like to keep it a bit longer!
And the side effects are manageable really I just wish there weren't any and it would be the perfect solution. I'm only taking 0.5mg at the minute as I reckon the smaller dose the better to reduce the side effects but thats just my personal experience & I note all the science about flat response but I need to be abl
I've tried lots of other rubbish out there including all the herbal stuff and I think everything else is a complete con, don't waste your money on anything not proven by FDA etc.
Its great to know there's guys out there experiencing similar so happy to discuss more if you've any questions let me know!
dam said:
If your not on Rogaine Foam I would add that in covering your crown to hairline before I would up the dose of finasteride, try Avodart or stop finasteride entirely even for a brief period.
It's strange that you were a Norwood 1 and started taking propecia because " hair loss was ruining your confidence", were you a diffuse thinner of something ?
Bobbers2011
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Thanks Finfighter, great post on that link, interesting stuff
Topicals are a bit of a hassle though but willing to give a go if one works, not sure about the greasy effect I've heard about though, I've got a shaved head so would be v. noticeable
I'll take a look, gotta get off this finasteride crap! Stories I've read on that propeciahelp are horrendous!
Topicals are a bit of a hassle though but willing to give a go if one works, not sure about the greasy effect I've heard about though, I've got a shaved head so would be v. noticeable
I'll take a look, gotta get off this finasteride crap! Stories I've read on that propeciahelp are horrendous!
I hope that I'll be able to follow your path mate. I mean you have maintained for what? 14 years? you are now mid thirties. If you start on minoxidil you might be able to keep great hair (your talking receding temples) for a minimum of five years. Thats 20 years you bought with the big three alone & worst case scenario there are alot more treatments out there atm that can help maintain even longer. Thats without looking at hair transplant's at all.
Also a question, isnt it true that as you age you produce less DHT? So doesn't the sensitivity to/amount of DHT kinda balance out?
Also a question, isnt it true that as you age you produce less DHT? So doesn't the sensitivity to/amount of DHT kinda balance out?
Bobbers2011
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beraldy said:Bobbers2011 said:I'll take a look, gotta get off this finasteride crap! Stories I've read on that propeciahelp are horrendous!
Why? You've had no side effects in 14 years of use.
Think you're getting me mixed up with the OP, read my post
Sex life slowly degrades over time on that finasteride for me, loss of feeling, loss of desire, it becomes hard work! Also I think it effects your mind big time..... it just creeps up on you over time