Need to order more drugs soon. Thinking of adjusting regimen. Thoughts?

[Aames]

Current:
0.5 mg Dutas (will always remain as my staple since I have verified my response)
1 mg Finpecia
1 ml minox twice per day
Nizoral MF

Anyway, I am thinking of just dropping fin and adding another half mg of duta. Since I respond to duta, fin isn't really doing anything for me. Adding another 0.5 mg of duta would suppress more DHT, especially on the scalp level. I remember reading that the difference in scalp DHT suppression between 0.5 mg and 2.5 mg is around 25% or so (0.5 mg suppressed about 50% and 2.5 mg suppressed about 75%). Thus, I am guessing that 1 mg would give me somewhere around 5 to 10% additional suppression of scalp DHT.

Thoughts?

[BigThinker]

If you're not losing ground, I don't see a reason to change. I'm actually still thinking about dut. At a bare minimum, I need more tactics to manage my waves of anxiety. I think anxiety and anger are exacerbating my loss.

[chrisis]

Aames, you do know you need DHT? Yes it causes hair loss, but the more you suppress the bigger the risk you're taking.

As for the projection of how much DHT you block by upping dose, bear in mind the finasteride chart that shows it might not be a linear relationship.

[clandestine]

chrisis; How's the result of your HT coming along?

[chrisis]

It's going very well thanks. I just posted a 3 month update. Debating posting another photo set at 5 months, rather than 6, because it's changing so fast.

[gsr852]

Aames, wanted to verify that what you use is Dr. Reddy's Dutas via inhouse Pharmacy.biz?

IMHO and only my opinion... Drop the fin & stick with dutasteride 0.5 MG per day. Yes everyone is different with respect to how they react to what, but I had great success for 7 years with Avodart 0.5MG per day/Minoxidil 5% 1 x per day/Nizoral 3 x per week combo for BUT when I changed insurance companies 4 years ago I had to get off Avodart and switch to Fin. I saw an immediate difference which kept getting worse.

This week will be 90 days that I am on Dr. Reddy's Dutas purchased from inhouse pharmacy. What I have seen is a NASTY shed, BUT I am also seeing vellus hairs along and below my hairline and on the sides. If this is not a coincidence or me just seeing things I am a dutasteride fan above all else.

[25 going on 65]

Current:
0.5 mg Dutas (will always remain as my staple since I have verified my response)
1 mg Finpecia
1 ml minox twice per day
Nizoral MF

Anyway, I am thinking of just dropping fin and adding another half mg of duta. Since I respond to duta, fin isn't really doing anything for me. Adding another 0.5 mg of duta would suppress more DHT, especially on the scalp level. I remember reading that the difference in scalp DHT suppression between 0.5 mg and 2.5 mg is around 25% or so (0.5 mg suppressed about 50% and 2.5 mg suppressed about 75%). Thus, I am guessing that 1 mg would give me somewhere around 5 to 10% additional suppression of scalp DHT.

Thoughts?

So fin does nothing in the presence of dut? Neither helps nor hinders? I have seen this posted before but not sure what the evidence is.

Anyway if that is the case, your plan seems solid. I think the closer you get to 2.5mg dut, the less bang you get for your dollar, so maybe the "sweet spot" when it comes to value is around 1 mg?
This month I started taking .5 mg Dutagen on top of my .5mg Avodart.

Question....how can you be sure yoru DHT results were not from fin?

[Aames]

I keep getting errors when quoting, so:

Big-Fuark, I know. I wish I could just forget about this. Dut does give me a better peace of mind but I still want MORE. Why not up the dosage if the price is comparable to fin? It bothers me knowing that I could be doing more. I THINK I am maintaining from baseline at the very least. I see a lot of new hairs along my hairline too. Will post pics at the 6 month mark.

chris-With fin, no. But with duta, suppression does increase fairly significantly with increased dosages. And I know I am taking a risk, but have you seen my other thread? My DHT levels are less than 3 ng/dl. I think I would have had sides by now if I were going to. I don't think a little extra systemic suppression would hurt, especially for significantly more scalp suppression.

gsr-Yes, that's what I use. Best of luck to you with it, man. I was only thinking of upping my dosage since it has a significant effect on scalp DHT.

25-I think this is because fin only acts on type 2 5ar, which duta suppresses approximately 99% of. At least, this is what I read a few months ago. I haven't been keeping up like I should. But I believe that a type 3 has since been discovered and I really have no idea how that comes into play. But even so, adding another 0.5 mg of duta would be much more useful than 1 mg of fin since even 0.1 mg of duta is as strong as 5 mg of fin.

And yeah, I don't think I can afford 2.5 mg a day, even with generics. I'm a student and really don't have the ability at this time. I'm trying to cap my hair loss treatments at 2 dollars per day.

And as far as my DHT results go:
1) I stopped taking fin a month before the test and resumed it afterwards. If I wasn't on duta, my levels should have returned to the normal range within that time-frame as fin's half-life is pretty damn short.
2) My levels are far too low to be obtained through fin. I think WarLord said that a fin user's would be around 15 ng/dl while mine are below 3 ng/dl.

[KO1]

Aames, you do know you need DHT? Yes it causes hair loss, but the more you suppress the bigger the risk you're taking.

What specific functions do you "need" DHT for? Serious question.

[KO1]

Aames - why don't you try RU/CB?