propecia + romaine making it worse

**baldybald** · 08-09-2012, 08:06 PM

i want to know why you stopped taking fin and rogaine. i advise you to take propecia first maybe that what you just need.

**jb4585** · 08-09-2012, 09:17 PM

I stopped taking them because my hair was noticeably worse. Hair has been falling out every day since--6 hairs just fell out as I typed this.

**Tracy C** · 08-10-2012, 08:29 AM

Originally posted by jb4585

I stopped taking Rogaine. My hair appeared to be worse than before--much thinner, much more brittle, and visible bald spots.

You need to know that shedding is part of the process of treating hereditary hair loss. As long as you stick with the treatments, the hair that shed out usually grows back, and when it does grow back it will be thicker than it was before.

Stopping a treatment because of shedding is the worse thing you could possibly do. You have interrupted the recovery process. Those hairs that shed out may not be strong enough to come back.

It takes a full 12 months before you will know if Propecia (or generic Finasteride) will arrest your hair loss. It takes longer before you will know if Propecia will make it possible for any lost hair to grow back.

It takes four to six months before you will know if Rogaine (or generic Minoxidil) is working for you. It takes 12 to 18 months before you will know how well Rogaine is working for you.

Treating hereditary hair loss is a painfully slow process and there is nothing anyone or anything can do to speed it up. If you decide to treat it, you need to stick with treatment for the long haul. Stopping treatment because of shedding is a very big mistake.

**jb4585** · 08-10-2012, 04:15 PM

So you are suggesting that I am stuck to the products for life--without them, my condition will forever worsen. Is that what these products are doing for us? Binding us to to a total of $130 a month for the rest of our lives?

**jb4585** · 08-10-2012, 04:16 PM

Also, how much could I have damaged my hair given that I was on Propecia for a total of 29 days and Rogaine for a few weeks? Isn't it abnormal to have shed so much and for the entire texture of my hair to change dramatically?

**NotBelievingIt** · 08-10-2012, 04:30 PM

Putting lettuce on your head won't help. It'll cover up bald spots though

;p

**Tracy C** · 08-10-2012, 04:46 PM

Originally posted by jb4585

So you are suggesting that I am stuck to the products for life--without them, my condition will forever worsen.

If you want to prevent hereditary hair loss, yes. Hereditary hair loss does not stop. Once it starts it continues to progress for the rest of your life, or until you run out of hair, whichever comes first.

Originally posted by jb4585

Is that what these products are doing for us?

No. This is what hereditary hair loss is doing for you. The medications are not doing it, your genetic makeup is doing it. Don't blame the medications for what your genes are doing. Not long ago there was absolutely nothing men and women could about their hereditary hair loss.

You always have the option to not treat your hair loss and simply allow nature to take it's course.

Originally posted by jb4585

Isn't it abnormal to have shed so much and for the entire texture of my hair to change dramatically?

The shedding is normal but the rest is not. It is not possible for these medications to do that - and/or do that so quickly. Human hair cycles are simply not that fast. You are either doing something else that is wrong or something else is going wrong on your scalp. You need to see a doctor who specializes in treating hair loss. This would be good for you because you obviously do not understand the realities of hereditary hair loss.

**CND23** · 08-10-2012, 05:39 PM

jb thier is no cure, no matter how deep you dig. I woulden't suggest looking for one on the internet either since it's mostly competitors listing horrorifying side effects about each others products everywhere.. it can scare a person from ever doing anything about HL. Listen to tracy, I would of thought your dermatologist would have told you these things but sometimes they don't. Consider yourself lucky jb, you started treatment right from the gecko and now your doing the research. Alot of us research hereditary hair loss to death and then start treatment, or sometimes don't.

Every question you have can be answered at Americanhairloss.org, thier should be a link here in the corner of your screen. Also, the official propecia and rogaine websites. They explain very well what hairloss is and what they do to treat it, when you read the proccess of treatment i think you'll get a good understanding of your situation, and that it's not abnormal.

Don't forget they're FDA approved and that's why they were perscribed to you, take them as directed!!! don't start and stop heh . I pay the same brutal monthly fee for both also. I'd like to find somewhere online to buy it generic myselve but no one ever got back to me here.. ehm.. Anyway hope this helps.

**baldybald** · 08-10-2012, 05:47 PM

go and get propecia and rogaine, RIGHT NOW!!!!!!

**2020** · 08-10-2012, 05:48 PM

this is a joke

**jb4585** · 08-10-2012, 09:35 PM

You all have valid points, and I sincerely appreciate the time and effort required in responding to my worries.

The only flaw in your logic, however, is that hereditary hair loss is in fact a gradual process. In February, I had a full head of thick hair. A theory I have is that medication for acne might have been the culprit (an excess of vitamin A). My hair started to thin a bit in May, and when I started taking propecia and rogaine, that is when the rapid shedding occurred. I do not know how it is possible to go from having hair that can stand on its own to having brittle, dead, thinning hair with patchy bald spots on my scalp. That is the startling thing--how fast this process is occurring. I assumed hereditary hair loss would be over time in a more subtle and gradual manner.

I again assume that you are not medical professionals, though I do appreciate sincere advice. I've scheduled an appointment with a dermatologist.

**Tracy C** · 08-10-2012, 10:10 PM

Originally posted by jb4585

A theory I have is that medication for acne might have been the culprit (an excess of vitamin A).

You just found your problem.

Propecia and Rogaine are appropriate for hereditary hair loss. They may not be appropriate for hair loss that was induced by other medications.

Excess Vitamin A can cause damage to your hair similar to what you described.

Hereditary hair loss can be fast or slow depending on the persons genetics, but it is a gradual process. When you interrupt that process with medications to try to reverse it, you can (and usually do) induce a temporary acceleration of that process as it is being reversed. A doctor who specializes in treating hair loss can explain it to you in further detail. It is also evident that you need to go over your other medications with that doctor to make sure negative interactions such as what you have experienced can be reduced as much as possible.

**win200** · 08-15-2012, 09:51 AM

Originally posted by Tracy C

If you want to prevent hereditary hair loss, yes. Hereditary hair loss does not stop. Once it starts it continues to progress for the rest of your life, or until you run out of hair, whichever comes first.

Tracy, could you clarify that statement for me? My impression, based on reading forums and talking to doctors/surgeons, is that MPB isn't some leviathan that keeps hacking away at your hair until you're dead or bald. In some sufferers, doesn't the loss stabilize or largely arrest on its own--i.e., some people are "programmed" for a NW4 without progression up the Norwood scale. For instance, all of the doctors that have examined my hair and scalp have told me that I'm probably not going to advance much beyond a NW3.

Not try to be argumentative at all; you know more about hereditary hair loss than I do, but that just didn't seem to jive with what I've been told. Thanks!

**Tracy C** · 08-15-2012, 11:32 AM

Originally posted by win200

Not try to be argumentative at all...

Some people do stop. There is absolutely no way for anyone to know if they are going to be one of the lucky ones for whom it does stop. Therefore it is best to be prepared for the worse and hope for the best.

I don't think you truly understand what the doctors were probably saying to you. To give you an example; If a person is genetically programmed to be a Norwood 4 and they are currently maintaining a Norwood 2 with medications, once they stop those medications the process of progressing to Norwood 4 will resume. On the other hand, if a person is genetically programmed to be a Norwood 4 and they are already a Norwood 4, they are not going to get any worse - but how would they know that? There is no way for them to know that. They certainly won't get better without the medications, but they might get better with medications. If they do get better, they would need to keep taking the medications to prevent returning to a Norwood 4.

Did that make sense?

propecia + romaine making it worse

propecia + romaine making it worse

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