Time to give up on propecia?

[Zax]

I started taking it about 3 years ago at age 28. My hair loss was fairly gradual but I've definitely been paranoid about it. Every doctor I have talked to and everywhere I read online states that it works, and that without it I would be worse off, but it's honestly seen to do nothing but speed up my hair loss.

All with the same style haircut (same length), immediately after the hair cut (hair is dry).

March of 2008 (Right before I started propecia):

September of 2010

May of 2011

I guess it's time I start Rogaine. I have been sticking to only propecia and Nizoral and was hoping those would keep the hair at the point in 2008, and was avoiding Rogaine as I was paranoid about the hair becoming dependent upon that, but I guess I have little choice now.

 

[Hoppi]

well, minoxidil (Rogaine) isn't the ONLY option.

You could also try a combo of other topical drugs such as miconazole, spironolactone, ketoconazole (more often than you have been), treatments like Folligen, etc etc.

Also, I am hearing good things about CB-03-01 but it's experimental and expensive. Many people are talking about it atm.

I am also a great believer in the link of male pattern baldness to health, particularly digestive health and Candida / fatty liver, so if you do have any digestive health concerns I would focus on them more.


Hope all that helped!

Hoppi

 

[TheGrayMan2001]

Definitely hop on minoxidil. I'd stay on finasteride for now.

 

[Patrick54]

You can always come over to the dark side...... that's spelled Dutasteride. Seriously though Dutasteride's a stronger drug.

 

[slurms mackenzie]

Definitely hop on minoxidil. I'd stay on finasteride for now.

I agree, if you want it sorting out, I'd also add RU if you can afford it, you could mix it in with your minoxidil, it definitely looks like you need an additional help tackling the androgens.

How is the hair on the sides and back outside the horseshoe pattern?

Also what strength nizoral are you on?

 

[Zax]

Definitely hop on minoxidil. I'd stay on finasteride for now.

I agree, if you want it sorting out, I'd also add RU if you can afford it, you could mix it in with your minoxidil, it definitely looks like you need an additional help tackling the androgens.

How is the hair on the sides and back outside the horseshoe pattern?

Also what strength nizoral are you on?

2% nizoral (just the OTC stuff).
The hair on the sides is as weak as the top, but the back is fine. I guess I should be thankful that I had ridiculously thick hair growing up, or I probably would have been completely bald by now. (Up until about age 22, barbers had to constantly thin the hair to be able to cut it using clippers).

As far as RU, money isn't the issue, but I've basically been sticking to whatever the dermitologist recommends. Although I'm not really a big fan of them too much because when you mention hair loss, they're like "Here's a perscription for propecia. Next patient!" without ever doing anything else. The odds of getting a pescription for any of the other drugs mentioned here are probably next to non existant from most dermatolgists.

I will state though that about 2009, my hair did get thicker when I had a perscription for a topical steroid to help with my seborrhoeic dermatitis.

But I guess that I'll hop on minoxidil now.

 

[slurms mackenzie]

Definitely hop on minoxidil. I'd stay on finasteride for now.

I agree, if you want it sorting out, I'd also add RU if you can afford it, you could mix it in with your minoxidil, it definitely looks like you need an additional help tackling the androgens.

How is the hair on the sides and back outside the horseshoe pattern?

Also what strength nizoral are you on?

2% nizoral (just the OTC stuff).
The hair on the sides is as weak as the top, but the back is fine. I guess I should be thankful that I had ridiculously thick hair growing up, or I probably would have been completely bald by now. (Up until about age 22, barbers had to constantly thin the hair to be able to cut it using clippers).

As far as RU, money isn't the issue, but I've basically been sticking to whatever the dermitologist recommends. Although I'm not really a big fan of them too much because when you mention hair loss, they're like "Here's a perscription for propecia. Next patient!" without ever doing anything else. The odds of getting a pescription for any of the other drugs mentioned here are probably next to non existant from most dermatolgists.

I will state though that about 2009, my hair did get thicker when I had a perscription for a topical steroid to help with my seborrhoeic dermatitis.

But I guess that I'll hop on minoxidil now.

If the hair on the sides outside the horseshoe pattern is thinning, I'd be asking for a few more tests, iron levels, thyroid levels (I'm not even sure what that means tbh), but there's a chance that something else is at play.

You could be in that 10% that loses of propecia but i'd rule out other possibilities for thinning hair.

Another thing for consideration is for some people nizoral 2% can be very harsh and for me it actually thinned hair, if your scalp ever stings from it you could switch to 1% (Nizorelle in the UK).

The seb derm aspect is interesting to me, if your hair was responding to treatment then it might be the anti fungal aspect of treatment that helped, or the fact that cortosteroids can be used to treat hair loss in cases that aren't male pattern baldness.