Finasteride - is it just not working for me

[WarLord]

I've been of Fin for over a year now and my hair is worse than it was before I started taking it. I'm hoping that I'm a late responder.

I suppose you haven't done any blood tests. You are like a blind man walking without a stick.

[Shan]

Everyone responds differently and should give at least a year yo assess the results

[SpeedTheCrowsNest]

Need to give a little but more information, firstly if you don't mind me asking how old are you? and what time of hair loss are you experiencing?

Also do you suffer from the DHT itch?

I have been taking Finn now for 4 months started mid January, my hair loss is at the temples so far i have noticed no loss at the crown to my knowledge anyway. I personally don't loss a massive amount of hairs each day, i just loose it where i experience what i believe is refereed to as the DHT itch which occurs at the point the hair loss is occurring. I take 1mg a day in the morning at around 8am and 4 months in I'm still getting the itch and loosing hair from my front temple area of my head.

I am 25.

Yes very much so - and my scalp is very dry.

I am taking generic fin 5mg cut into quarters.

Hair loss noticeable mainly at the hairline and crown.

I am thinking it just isn't working for me as I still wake up with quite a few hairs on my pillow and a lot fall out when I wash my hair.

Is it too early to switch away?

I get all this wait one year stuff but the point is my hair loss hasn't stopped or slowed down at all.

[SpeedTheCrowsNest]

I'm not sure if fin should take that long to slow down or stop your hair loss. For me, every time I take fin, it slows down my hair loss pretty noticeably just one month in. At about 1 month my hair loss completely stops. At about 8 months I start seeing noticeable thickening. The "Wait to see what it does in 12 months" is to see if any thickening or regrowth happens, not to see if in 12 months finasteride slows down your hair loss or stops it, that sounds crazy.

With Dutasteride everything happened faster, my hair loss skipped slowing down and just stopped 1 week into taking dut. 1 month in, my crown filled in slightly. I'm also using fin so maybe that contributed to dut's success for me.

I'm not trying to be negative or give you bad news, I just don't think that fin should take this long to start at least slowing down your hair loss rate. I could be wrong. I think in the fin clinical studies there was a small percentage that finasteride had no effect on, you could be part of that group, I could be wrong on that too though.

What would you suggest then?

What has worked for you?

[Soxfaninfl]

I've been of Fin for over a year now and my hair is worse than it was before I started taking it. I'm hoping that I'm a late responder.

If your at the year mark and it hasn't worked for you then you need to get on DUT as soon as possible. The longer you wait to get on it the more hair your going to lose.

[PatientlyWaiting]

What would you suggest then?

What has worked for you?

The first time I took finasteride was the Propecia brand. It worked for me immediately, in weeks it slowed down my hair loss rate, and in 1 month it stopped it completely. I went on and off Propecia from 18-21 due t financial issues, and every single time I went off it, the hair shed came back, and it would once again and again take just 1 month to stop the hair loss every time. So that worked for me. Right now i'm on Dr Reddy's 5mg cut in to 1/4ths and I got the same exact reaction, hair loss slowed down in weeks, stopped in a month. After 3 years however, my hair loss started again, but not as bad as pre-fin, just a bit of hairs on the shower, like 10-15 per shower. Then I added dutasteride once a day at 0.5mg and it stopped it, but that's a different story.

I suggest you just keep reading on the hair loss forums. Maybe the guys in this thread are correct and you have to give fin 12 months to see what it would do for you. But personally I was always under the impression that the 12 months were to see if you are gong to get any thickening and regrowth. Personally, I don't think it should take more than the first 3 months for fin to at least slow down the rate of your hair loss, but that's only because that's what has always happened to me.

[WarLord]

I suggest you just keep reading on the hair loss forums. Maybe the guys in this thread are correct and you have to give fin 12 months to see what it would do for you. But personally I was always under the impression that the 12 months were to see if you are gong to get any thickening and regrowth. Personally, I don't think it should take more than the first 3 months for fin to at least slow down the rate of your hair loss, but that's only because that's what has always happened to me.

This is also something that I always wondered. If an anti-hairloss treatment works, it should work within 2-3 months (the length of the telogen phase). This always happened in me with topicals, but I have no idea, how it is in 5-AR blockers. Apparently, they can regrow hair very quickly, within 6 weeks, so they should work very quickly as well. However, my experience tells me that these drugs can take you on a wild ride full of incessant sheds. I started to take fin in late June 2012 and currently, after 10+ months, I am also in a worse state than at the beginning, because hair in my temples detoriorated. This is a shocking result, considering that I started from a stable state, after 15,5 years on minoxidil.

In any case, I wouldn't recommend to waste time on fin for 1+ year. That guy should have added dut a long time ago.

[SpeedTheCrowsNest]

So considering it is like what 6 months for me is there any harm in converting to Dut already (or adding it?)

Also what is the best place to buy it?

And if I started to add Rogaine to the mix (because my worst loss is at the front/hairline) would it be too early to do so?

[WarLord]

So considering it is like what 6 months for me is there any harm in converting to Dut already (or adding it?)

Also what is the best place to buy it?

And if I started to add Rogaine to the mix (because my worst loss is at the front/hairline) would it be too early to do so?

Why to wait with the addition of dutasteride? You can start with 1-2 capsules a week. This could make a substantial difference. And if you see that it works, you can add another capsules and then drop fin completely.

But first of all - I repeat it over and over again: Measure your DHT and testosterone levels! Otherwise you won't know, what is happening in your body.

Start minoxidil, only if you were not satisfied with the results. It is a life-long commitment that needs everyday's discipline. Not many men are endowed with it.

[SpeedTheCrowsNest]

Why to wait with the addition of dutasteride? You can start with 1-2 capsules a week. This could make a substantial difference. And if you see that it works, you can add another capsules and then drop fin completely.

But first of all - I repeat it over and over again: Measure your DHT and testosterone levels! Otherwise you won't know, what is happening in your body.

Start minoxidil, only if you were not satisfied with the results. It is a life-long commitment that needs everyday's discipline. Not many men are endowed with it.

Have been thinking I need to sort the test out for a while, can my standard GP do it or do I have to go elsewhere?