Sides from propecia and spironolactone cream, what now?

[spss]

Hello, I was on finasteride for 3 years, great results but had to discontinue due to ED sides. Switched to spironolactone, couple of years, then sides again and had to drop it. I'm also using minoxidil but as we all know it doesn't really stop hair from falling out, and i'm losing ground fast. Also using nizoral of course. I don't get why it takes me so long to start getting side effects (and yes i'm 99% sure they are from these meds). What can I try now? Getting a bit discouraged. Cheers everyone

 

[The Far Side]

What sides did you get from topical spironolactone? You could try RU and that CB03 stuff I guess, expensive though...

 

[spss]

What sides did you get from topical spironolactone? You could try RU and that CB03 stuff I guess, expensive though...

very weak erections and low libido.. I tried messing around with diet, supplements, exercise and stopped taking sleeping drugs.. but unfortunately it was only discontinuing spironolactone that brought my erections and libido back in a couple of days. I also have to add that I was putting a cra*load of it on my head, so that may have made an impact.

Looked that up.. too expensive for my pockets, thanks for the advice though

I'll try using crinagen for a couple of weeks, and see if it does anything at all.
If that doesn't work I think I'll cycle on and off Propecia and spironolactone under medical supervision, and see if still get sides cycling between them.

 

[The Far Side]

You could also look at dermarolling, you would need to be careful not to increase your chances of minoxidil sides though. I believe the study people got excited about had the participants not using minoxidil for 24 hours following dermarolling.

Its funny you mentioned those sides with spironolactone. I'm using topical spironolactone without having tried finasteride because I was concerned about side effects of that nature (well the possibility of them not going away rather than the effects themselves). The only sides that I was on the lookout for with spironolactone was gyno, which I haven't noticed. I was under the impression that would be the primary side effect, but you didn't experience that? Perhaps I should just give finasteride a go at some point...

 

[spss]

You could also look at dermarolling, you would need to be careful not to increase your chances of minoxidil sides though. I believe the study people got excited about had the participants not using minoxidil for 24 hours following dermarolling.

Its funny you mentioned those sides with spironolactone. I'm using topical spironolactone without having tried finasteride because I was concerned about side effects of that nature (well the possibility of them not going away rather than the effects themselves). The only sides that I was on the lookout for with spironolactone was gyno, which I haven't noticed. I was under the impression that would be the primary side effect, but you didn't experience that? Perhaps I should just give finasteride a go at some point...

I'll look that dermarolling thing up!

I think I am part of the minority who get sides from everything.. No gyno though.. And finasteride worked wonders for me, halted hairloss completely, but if I were you I'd stick with the the spironolactone cream as long as it keeps working!

 

[The Far Side]

There are some massive threads on this forum (and others) about dermarolling, though results are a bit sparse. Some people are certainly fanatical about it though. I wouldn't venture past the first few pages of the 400+ page thread about it on this forum because its an absolute train wreck with less decent content as the thread goes on. There is a results specific thread that is a bit better.

In some cases sides might be an encouraging thing. Some people are caking their head in minoxidil and getting no sides and limited growth. Personally the difference between applying half a cap of minoxidil and 2/3rds of a cap can be huge in terms of sides, but I get quite dramatic results in terms of growth from it. Sounds like finasteride had a similar effect with you, almost too effective. I'm curious, did you ever try taking finasteride as little as once a week? I've seen some charts which suggest it takes 6+ days for DHT levels to come back up and I've heard anecdotes of people maintaining for years with a single finasteride dose every 7 days.

 

[spss]

In some cases sides might be an encouraging thing. Some people are caking their head in minoxidil and getting no sides and limited growth. Personally the difference between applying half a cap of minoxidil and 2/3rds of a cap can be huge in terms of sides, but I get quite dramatic results in terms of growth from it. Sounds like finasteride had a similar effect with you, almost too effective. I'm curious, did you ever try taking finasteride as little as once a week? I've seen some charts which suggest it takes 6+ days for DHT levels to come back up and I've heard anecdotes of people maintaining for years with a single finasteride dose every 7 days.

Luckily I never had sides from minoxidil and it regrew me a lot of hair!
I've tried taking a 0.5 dose for a few weeks, but i was both shedding (at least I think so) and still getting sides, so it was useless.
But that is a very interesting suggestion.. That is definitevly going to be the route I will be taking if crinagen turns out to be snake oil. If I still get sides at low doses or while cycling it with spironolactone, then there's no hope for me
Thanks for the advice, it really helped. Now that I have something resembling a plan I feel a bit relieved. As long as there's hope for the future lol :jump:

 

[saintsfan92344]

There are some massive threads on this forum (and others) about dermarolling, though results are a bit sparse. Some people are certainly fanatical about it though. I wouldn't venture past the first few pages of the 400+ page thread about it on this forum because its an absolute train wreck with less decent content as the thread goes on. There is a results specific thread that is a bit better.

In some cases sides might be an encouraging thing. Some people are caking their head in minoxidil and getting no sides and limited growth. Personally the difference between applying half a cap of minoxidil and 2/3rds of a cap can be huge in terms of sides, but I get quite dramatic results in terms of growth from it. Sounds like finasteride had a similar effect with you, almost too effective. I'm curious, did you ever try taking finasteride as little as once a week? I've seen some charts which suggest it takes 6+ days for DHT levels to come back up and I've heard anecdotes of people maintaining for years with a single finasteride dose every 7 days.

The mods are doing a good job on the main DR thread now, it is much more like it was early on before the cult like atmosphere took over, hopefully newcomers there can ask questions and get positive responses once again.