early 20s, finasteride not working?

[unk]

All is well, man. I ordered 5 mg Fincar from inhouse and will doing low dose (cutting) intermittently to get my body used to it, and very gradually tapering up. How are you?

And, yes, I frequently land on this board browsing the web - I suppose that's how I first decided to join and participate in discussions.

Hope all is well with you and that OP reports on his current situation.

Ah, congrats on taking a new step! Now that ache side-effect has gone I think I can pretty much take the 1mg (finpecia) any time without change, though I tend to take it every 2-3 days. Though now I say it, contrary to spencers advice, I might pop one or two of my old propecia tablets, since my decline and no ache has been mainly notable since I switched to this finpecia 3-4 months ago.

I'm well, been getting back into weight training, I had a separated shoulder from playing rugby last year and pretty much couldn't do sport for a year which sucked. Moved cities to pursue a new career, though it's in the building block stages haha.

Hope all is well with you too, nice to see a familiar name. I am a little doubtful as to whether he will, but maybe some chat will be stimulated anyhow!

[BigThinker]

Good to hear. I'm also working out every day - rotating cardio with weight training. I'm certain it has positive mental effects, and it may possibly have positive physical effects (in respect to shedding/sides on fin).

Other than that, I'm finishing my Master's and I have an internship downtown in my city. So, I will start fin, cross my fingers for efficacy, and continue to accelerate through life regardless.

[unk]

hehe nice man. The cardio is obviously great, though you got to be careful that building mass from caloric surplus is somewhat counteracted by the negative deficit cardio creates, though all altered with diet no problem! Oh yeah, for me it's not a means to an end, but an end in itself. As much of a staple as a morning shower, exercise brings me balance.

Hey, i'm finishing my masters and looking for an internship You're a step ahead of the game! You got it man, i'm sure it will work out for you.

It would seem i'm a small minority, but who even knows at what point I would be without any medication 18 months ago, I think I bought myself some time none the less. Still holding on for future hopes!

[capitan]

bump

Found this on Google, had to bump it.

Hopefully anyone from the first page of the thread including the OP can come back to update us on their hair situation.

As for me it's been over 3 months on Fin and hair looks good, but the front of the hairline seems to be thinning, can't be sure. Can't rely on pictures either because of lighting, length, style, camera and angle differences.

I for one will make sure to come back in a year to update everyone, and keep updating after that.

Good news is that I've never seen someone post (never mind with pictures) that they've gone on Finasteride with a full-ish head of hear and ended up visibly bald, ever. I feel that if that actually DID happen to someone, they'd want to vent about it. Any thoughts on that?

[unk]

Glad to hear it's working out for you capitan. You've empowered yourself with taking that step, and I think you'll see the benefits.

In answer to your question, It's been quite some time since I had my head in the research about it, but I think there is a nonresponder minority, about 10-14% something like that according to Merck, but I wouldn't quote me. I believe that this is due to finasteride inhibiting one form of DHT, whereas dutasteride presumably has a very small nonresponse rate as it inhibits all 3 forms I believe.

[Dan26]

Glad to hear it's working out for you capitan. You've empowered yourself with taking that step, and I think you'll see the benefits.

In answer to your question, It's been quite some time since I had my head in the research about it, but I think there is a nonresponder minority, about 10-14% something like that according to Merck, but I wouldn't quote me. I believe that this is due to finasteride inhibiting one form of DHT, whereas dutasteride presumably has a very small nonresponse rate as it inhibits all 3 forms I believe.

If you scim this study and especially look at the two tables comparing finasteride and dutasterides inhibiting ability in all the known genotypes, you see how much more effective dutasteride is. You can even see 1 genotype that does not respond at all to fin (actually seems to worsen things) and a few other that only have a moderate response. Whereas with dut you don't have to worry about being one of those unlucky genotypes (although there is one genotype that responds better to fin but not by much)

http://jme.endocrinology-journals.org/content/34/3/617.long

[35YrsAfter]

I understand your feelings on this, however dutasteride is more effective at treating MPB than finasteride for many men, purely because it suppresses more DHT. This is why some men can't maintain on fin, but maintain for years on dut.

The best stand-alone PRP result I have ever seen was on a patient who had been taking Avodart (dutasteride) for 8 years. Avodart is a high-powered solution. Most men I have spoken with take small doses of this medication.

35YrsAfter also posts as CITNews and works at Dr. Cole's office
forhair.com
Cole Hair Transplant
1070 Powers Place
Alpharetta, Georgia 30009
Phone 678-566-1011
email 35YrsAfter at chuck@forhair.com
The contents of my posts are my opinions and not medical advice
Please feel free to call or email me with any questions. Ask for Chuck

[unk]

Interesting. Do you take dutasteride now Dan?

I am quite sure my hair is going down hill, but dutasteride wouldn't take me back to anything good. I rely on dermmatch to fool most people into thinking I'm not balding, but without it there would be no doubt with this diffusion to a single person. An FUE consult revealed my follicles are just about too close to transplant hairs without transection, though that seems strange to me because I seem about 25% as dense as a full head of hair, but we all see it worse than it is perhaps. I have made backpacking plans this summer with several friends, not really sure how i'll manage the dermmatch/minoxidil thing effortlessly. Unless you take an hour to apply it, and are hidden from direct sunlight, it will be pretty obvious.

[Dan26]

Ya I take dut although I didn't give fin long enough to see if it works

Hmmm maybe you could give the shaved head a try while your backpacking?

[decarjos]

"For what it's worth, I've been on fin nearly 2 years, and at various times thought my hair was looking worse. I worried fin was not working for me. But I stick with it and in the long term my hair looks better now than it has in years."

Came on here just now for this reason. Been about a year on fin and minox, been worried lately that my hair is looking worse. But, this gives me motivation to stick with it and soldier on, that hopefully over time the trend will be upward. Thanks for the input.

[aston1738]

Hey everyone!

I decided to create an account and reply here because I, as apparently a number of others have, found this thread in a list of Google search results and this seems to be one of the first hair loss forum threads that I've found to be civil and actually full of some intelligent, measured conversation.

I just wanted to note that I, too, have been taking finasteride for around a year (a bit closer to 3/4 of a year), am in my early twenties (I'm 21), and have not had any fantastic results. I've experienced hair loss pretty damn early (I sort of started noticing it right before turning 20) and decided to do something about it almost exactly a year ago by starting rogaine twice a day until around March of this year when I started taking .5 MG finasteride (by cutting 1 MG pills) a day and gradually tapered onto 1MG a day about 1-2 months later. I've also been using prescription strength keta (forgot the whole name) shampoo about once a week in addition to my regular "Pert Plus" thickening shampoo.

The thing that has sort of bothered me and that I've also seen mentioned almost nowhere on any of these forums is that there is accompanying itching on my scalp where I have experienced shedding essentially throughout the time I have been on finasteride (lately it's sort of been at its worst with with at least 10-20 hairs being in my hands when I look at them after the initial rinse of my hair during my showers). It isn't like a violent itching, it's more like a little, single itch here and there at various spots on the top of my head where my hair is thinning. My theory has roughly been that every time I've had an itch, an accompanying hair has fallen out. I've read that when you have an itchy scalp and hair loss, you could have some sort of infection/fungal issue on your head but I've dismissed that as those issues apparently result in itching and hair loss all over your head (diffuse hair loss) and where my itching and hair thinning is is almost exclusively on the top of my head where hair typically thins on men with MPB.

I'm just wondering why I haven't noticed itching really being mentioned on any forums I've seen and if any of you experience the same thing.

Also I'm studying abroad in Sweden for my next semester of college so I hope that it won't be an issue getting my medications over there.

I apologize for any disorganized thoughts and misspellings as I am writing this on my phone and I'm going on very little sleep at the moment haha.

Good luck to you all and I hope to hear back from any of you who see this!

[aston1738]

Speaking of depression, I'd like to mention how truly unfortunate it is that balding and hair loss has such a negative social and sexual stigma in society with very few exceptions. It's the one thing with men that can really hurt your level of attractiveness if you let it. It's not like weight where you can more or less control it because hair loss, at least at the moment, doesn't have any cure or universally successful treatment. For women one of the biggest factors with attractiveness is weight so even if there is a social stigma towards overweight women, at least they COULD more or less do something about it.

This is also not to say that bald/balding men cannot be attractive as that has been proven to be incorrect by many men. It's just that it is inarguably more difficult to pull it off.

The one thing I've sort of taken solace in is the fact that you truly are only as attractive as you see yourself and as you allow yourself to be. Sure being bald or balding may take some objective appearance points away from you, but if you don't let it bother yourself too much, it won't bother others either - hell, people may not even notice.

Also, if it's any consolation for any of you who find this, my dermatologist and general physician have both made unsolicited comments about how lucky guys around my age are because there are so many treatments and potential cures in the works right now. My physical specifically said that he thinks stem cell treatments for hair loss will be widespread in the next 5-10 years. He of course cannot tell the future and I wouldn't put any money on anything happening but it has certainly helped me stay positive and has kept me looking on the bright side throughout this even with how depressing it may seem sometimes.

There's more to life than just what's on your head. Your attitude largely determines how you'll experience and enjoy life. If you learn to let stuff go and instead focus on the good in the world, you'll be an ultimately happier person.

I hope some of this will help any of you guys who may need it. I know I definitely need to remind myself of these things sometimes.

Good luck, everyone!

[justsomeguy]

Sorry for the necro bump. OP, how are things now? Are you still taking finasteride?

[Parker317]

Bump

I've been on Fin for almost a year, and my hair has never looked worse.
Is there hope? Should I continue to stay on it?

I hate the pills/creams/cover-up, I even went through with an Artas surgery two months ago, they put way more grafts in the front so my crown is still thinning.

Any updates?