Quitting Propoecia 1mg

[TommyEnglish]

Hi there,

I've been off propecia for 4 months now after been on it for 14 months and just had a few questions.

When does the hairloss begin again? I know everyone is different but in general is it 3-6 months?
When will I return to pre-treatment hair density. Ive heard this is about 9 months?

Now my main question is, do you return to pre-treament hair density or does your body play catch up i.e. you go to the hair thickness you would have had if you never took it?

thanks in advance.

Tom

 

[sjbuk]

Why did you come off finasteride Tom?

I personally think it's a myth and a pretty negative one too that our hair somehow catches up on any hair we kept while on finasteride to reject it after stopping. It doesn't make sense. finasteride inhibits DHT conversion for hair currently growing. After stopping finasteride the process simply resumes unimpeded by Finasteride.

 

[TommyEnglish]

Why did you come off finasteride Tom?

I personally think it's a myth and a pretty negative one too that our hair somehow catches up on any hair we kept while on finasteride to reject it after stopping. It doesn't make sense. finasteride inhibits DHT conversion for hair currently growing. After stopping finasteride the process simply resumes unimpeded by Finasteride.

I may have been paranoid but it was making my head cloudy and maybe slight loss in sexual drive. But i think the paranoia of thinking about the sides makes it worse so hard to say. Basically I didnt want to be 20 years down the line with mentally out of sync hormones and £1000's out of pocket so just thought best to quit now.

 

[sjbuk]

I've tapered off finasteride for the last 3 months as I had stack of side effects but I've been on it for years.

I think finasteride is an option for a period of time but not really as a lifetime option.

finasteride would almost certainly have lowered your sex drive and a good chance of 'brain fog'.

You won't be out of pocket of 1000's on finasteride but you would with an hair transplant. A year of Dr prescribed generic finasteride costs me £80 a year. I hadn't heard about permanent sides until I came on here but these happen to a v small amount. This said it seems these happen but I seem to be fortunate as I have noticed side effects reversing.

finasteride really depends on age stage of hair loss and how long it's intended to be taken I reckon. Hair loss is difficult to handle well.

 

[Wolf Pack]

Catch up hair loss begins from a few months to a year later after quitting finasteride. It tends to kick in much later than say coming off minoxidil.

You might not get any catch up hair loss. After all you were only on it for 14 months, maybe you were not going to lose much hair during that period anyway. I never took any meds and stayed with the same receding hair line for 5 years.

What is clear is your baldness will progress either way at some point off finasteride.

 

[TommyEnglish]

thanks for all the replies guys. I've heard that been on propecia will increase the number of DHT receptors so when you quit there is more receptors for the DHT hence a sudden hairloss phase then stabalisation once receptors get back to normal levels. Is this true in most cases or is a very small amount that get this increased shed?

 

[sjbuk]

I haven't heard about receptors but in theory it seems possible but the idea most espoused is that previous gains are lost as if somehow the hair glued in ny finasteride is targeted and unstuck which as before seems dubious.

It's plausible that with an initial increase of receptors that an initial hair loss surge happens but these hairs lost are random I suspect and not ones saved by finasteride.

 

[Folliman]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/hairlosspage/mean_change_crossover_data_chart.gif

This chart shows that after a year off propecia the group that took the drug for a year went back to the point where the placebo group was after a year on fake propecia. Which means that you go back to where you were when you took the first pill at least after a year.

The chart would've been more helpful if they had 2-3 years off instead of 1. Maybe it was inconvenient for them to show that quitting does not cause "catch up balding"?

I would try to wean off finasteride in 2 years decreasing the dose every 6 months to avoid the shock of upregulation.