Stoped Propecia today

[camobear777]

Hey Guys, I just received the results of my blood work yesterday and my Doctor has taken me off Propecia. I had some side effects but due to my hormone levels I have to stop after 15 months of treatment. It has been really losing steam since this past July and my Doctor confirmed my beliefs that I was not responding well. I was hoping to continue but I need to look at other options now. I am going to start Miox as my Doctor has recommend. Is there anything else anyone would recommend. Again, its tough having to stop with Propeica but I must do what is best.

 

[techprof]

camo,
I am sad to hear that. I suggest minoxidil twice a day and prescription or regular proxiphen from Dr. Proctor.

 

[rkim]

Camo,
What was your DHT level? Mine was 18 and Doctor said to quit too. I'm deciding to cut back (again) to 0.25 a day. Did you try cutting back? I have a feeling I'll be joining you in a month. Was your hair responding?

 

[camobear777]

Thanks techprof, rkim, my levels were 22. I had a feeling something was going on but I am happy now that my levels will be back to normal soon. My hair has not been responding since last July. After some more tests with my Doctor he said unfortunately I was not responding well to Propecia any ways. I am not going to cut back and have stopped my Propecia treatment as of today. It's tough but not much I can do. I am more concerned about getting my levels back to normal now. I hope minoxidil will work well. Again, thanks for your responses.

 

[rkim]

Yea, the thing to feel good about is getting back to normal!!!! Not to mention you've never tried minoxidil. I have, for 5 years of so and it's not working anymore. finasteride sheds killed my hair and now I'm reluctant to give up because of all the hair I've lost. What a mess.
Good luck!!!!

 

[kosmo]

camobear,

what a coincidence, i stopped taking propecia today aswell. i had a dermatologist appointment this morning and decided that propecia was not working for me. taking propecia has really been a negative experience for me and im really looking forward to giving my body a rest from this drug.

 

[camobear777]

Hey Kosmo, I am glad as well getting off. Just want to get everything back to normal. It was running out of steam and glad I saw my Dermatologist. Good luck!

 

[hellohello]

Hey for the benefit of us self medicators, apart from noticing that your hair wasn't responding to propecia, what other side effects or things happened to you?

Thanks

 

[camobear777]

The largest problem I had with Propeica was two Prostate infections over 15 months. It caused blood in my semen known as hemaspermia. After seeing my Dermatologist and my Primary care Physician they took me off of Propecia as of yesterday. Having my hormone levels elevated it caused two minor Prostate infections. Other sides were mainly puffy chest and nipples. I am happy to now be off of Propecia and getting everything back to normal. Unfortunately I was not the best responder and had these side effects.

 

[hellohello]

Sorry to hear about those side effects - don't sound too pleasant I agree hope you recover well.

I hope it all goes well with your new chosen regimen, best of luck.

 

[camobear777]

Hey Guys, I was woundering how long will it take for Propeica to be fully out of my syesteam as I had to stop treatment this past Tuesday. Also how long will it be until I will lose the results I may have had while on the it. Thanks!

Kosmo, How's it going bud?

 

[nervx]

You guys mentioned dht levels and your doctor telling you to stop. What levels should the dht be at to show that the propecia is working and around what number would it indicate it losing it's effectiveness?

i just started month 12 and have enough proscar for 2 more months... just not sure if i should jump ship to avodart or not.

 

[camobear777]

Hey bro, I am not sure...I had to stop because of other side effects. After 10 months of treatment things went down hill for me and I was not the being best responder.

 

[rkim]

Those DHT levels have nothing to do with how you're responding to treatment (hair-wise). I don't think you can test for scalp DHT, just body DHT, which will affect your sexual functionality. Too many people mention loss of libido. I wish I had loss of libido. Then I wouldn't be in this hell: normal libido but no functionality. I want but can't have!!!!!!!! One thing this treatment has taught me: I'm far more vain than I would ever have liked to admit. Embarrassingly so...... I need to seriously reassess my "values"....

 

[Siberian]

Having my hormone levels elevated it caused two minor Prostate infections.

Wait... what was elevated? Testosterone itself? Do you know by how much?

I'm not sure I see the link between hormone levels and infections...? I thought the prostate mostly responded to DHT levels, not testosterone. Or at least manipulating DHT is how finasteride shrinks the prostate.

 

[Siberian]

Then I wouldn't be in this hell: normal libido but no functionality...

I'm exactly the opposite: my functionality is fine, but I have no interest in using it... unless the missus initiates things.

But I attribute it more to being half-dead at 41 and having an extremely f'd up sexuality morseo than drug side-effects.

 

[camobear777]

Hey Siberian, My levels were real high. I am not sure the exact hormone level count but my Doctor took me off of Propecia because of this and other side effects. Before I took Propecia I never had any problems at all. My Doctor can not say for sure that my two minor infections were directly related from Propecia but he had a strong feeling my body was not taking the medication well. This is my third day off now and my puffiness in my chest area has been declining and feeling much better.

You said you lost what you gained when you stopped a while ago? I am wondering how much I will lose since I had to stop. When you stopped was your loss fast or did it occur slowly over the course of many months?

Cheers

 

[Siberian]

Hey Siberian, My levels were real high.

I'm just curious because Propecia should only raise your testosterone by 10% or so, no more - or so says Merck. I'd hate to think some of our T levels are going much higher.

You said you lost what you gained when you stopped a while ago? I am wondering how much I will lose since I had to stop. When you stopped was your loss fast or did it occur slowly over the course of many months?

I lost my gains slowly over 9 months. I'm only going by memory here, but if I had to put a percentage on it, I'd say I lost 75% of my gains over those 9 months. But that's a purely subjective observation.

It's such a slow loss, you don't really notice it happening. I just kinda remembered one day, like 7 months in, that I never saw my scalp so easily in the "comb part" areas before.

 

[Jupiter1]

The largest problem I had with Propeica was two Prostate infections over 15 months. It caused blood in my semen known as hemaspermia. After seeing my Dermatologist and my Primary care Physician they took me off of Propecia as of yesterday. Having my hormone levels elevated it caused two minor Prostate infections. Other sides were mainly puffy chest and nipples..

These are all aggravated by elevated levels of oestrogens caused by your testosterone which has been converted by aromatase to Oestrogen due to the inhibitory action of Finasteride.

As an alternative have a look at this:

http://www.freewebs.com/immortalhair/

 

[camobear777]

Cheers Jupiter1, thanks for the link. Very interesting. I never had any prostate problems until I went on Propecia. It was certainly messing with my hormones and unfortunately I had these problems. Now after a week being off, I am feeling much better. My chest is less puffy and I feel that things are starting to get back to normal. I think it is going to take some time since I was on finasteride for 15 months.