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Oh sorry then, but indeed they have the same substance.
24 Yo, 1 Year On Finasteride... Lost A Lot Of Hair.
- Thread starter Credo
- Start date
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Not sure what herbal estrogen blockers are, nor have I heard of estrogen blockers except Serms. FtM's to my knowledge only use T. It's not clear if estrogen on the scalp can provide significant results without going systemic unless only used on the hairline. It might be that it has localized DHT effects and would arrest hair loss but be insufficient to regrow hair. Estrogel on the scalp works but the amount I used definitely put me at adult female levels of estradiol. Because i don't read Slavic, I am not sure exactly what form of estrogen this Alpicort has. Do you know OP?
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It's estradiol benzoate. It did elevate my systemic estradiol levels but not to such extreme; I just checked the previous pages of the thread when I was describing it and it was 40 pg/ml.
The substance I took to counter this was indole-3-carbinol and it worked; after a month my estrogen levels were 'too low to be measured' according to the test.
Naturally I didn't take it to transition haha, was just trying to regrow my hair. It was prescribed to me by a dermatologist (I live in Eastern Europe). And so far it seems estradiol benzoate did in fact have a powerful regrowth effect on my hairline, but I can live without it as it's probably not very healthy long term, even with indole-3-carbinol.
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You might want to start a personal thread about this and keep us updated. I would definitely be interested because as my hair restoration maxes out, I still want to help XY's do this without feminization if possible but the other main person that I know who did what I am doing also was at very high estradiol levels. I don't think those levels of estradiol would be harmful at all, either physically or psychologically since unlike increasing T, there is no roid rage or elevation in heart disease or prostate cancer risk. Please keep us informed.
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Yeah, I didn't have many if any side effects at 40 pg/ml of estradiol in blood. I went to a doctor to check for gyno since I was paranoid but they found nothing. MAYBE my face was a little puffier than usual, but I was also bulking and my weight increased so that could have very well been unrelated.
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I'll try to post some more objective photos when my hair is freshly washed (I just applied minoxidil so it's wet) but yeah basically I'd say I'm somewhere around the 2016 levels. I think what made me make the initial post was mostly the shedding from abruptly stopping minoxidil in 2017. I definitely have some balding genes but I think they're quite mild and have been kept in check with minoxidil and RU (I think it was mostly minoxidil to be honest).
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For you maybe lmao. RU is better than topical finasteride so that's sh*t advice too.
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Baby ru has a short half life and needs to be applied twice a day to do anything. Save your money for some shemales in thailand instead baby.
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I don't have that much hair loss. My hair stopped receding after I used topical Progesterone.
If RU was that great, doctor's could prescribe it, and it would be tested.
You're just talking out of your a**hole.
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Ok attaching more pics. Overall I'd say I've more or less maintained and the initial hair loss was likely from minoxidil withdrawal. Also I can finally grow some facial hair.
The benefits of Minoxidil will probably last for around five years.
That said, it isn't an androgen blocker, and that's definitely a good thing.
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What about while you're on a DHT inhibitor? Some people maintain on min alone for years and then there's others that get no benefit from it at all. It all depends how aggressive your hair loss is and your destined final Norwood pattern.
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Excellent thread.
Here's my analysis:
1. Stay consistent with treatments. Part of Credo's issue from the get-go was that he was off and on treatments. Once he became consistent, results came.
2. Nothing like being a minoxidil hyper-responder. The most powerful treatment for this guy has been minoxidil, as is evident in his dramatic change in hair color. He went from towhead to nearly black hair. That is because minoxidil increases pigmentation. Not only that, but there are some minoxidil hyper responders out there who don't need a 5ARI.
3. Microneedling in combination with minoxidil creates a similar effect to that of oral minoxidil, as apparent in the dramatic results.
4. As evident in his blood tests, as well as photos, dutasteride can in fact make hair worse through hyper reflex. (It's possible that finasteride can, too, albeit not to the same degree). Way too often people throw the kitchen sink at their hair loss, and too many people jump the gun on dutasteride. It should only be a last resort.
5. Not everyone responds the same to the same treatment. This of course is an individual case study and should be treated as such. Different people respond differently to different treatments. Nonetheless, there is a lot to glean from in this thread.
Again, great documentation, very helpful record.
Here's my analysis:
1. Stay consistent with treatments. Part of Credo's issue from the get-go was that he was off and on treatments. Once he became consistent, results came.
2. Nothing like being a minoxidil hyper-responder. The most powerful treatment for this guy has been minoxidil, as is evident in his dramatic change in hair color. He went from towhead to nearly black hair. That is because minoxidil increases pigmentation. Not only that, but there are some minoxidil hyper responders out there who don't need a 5ARI.
3. Microneedling in combination with minoxidil creates a similar effect to that of oral minoxidil, as apparent in the dramatic results.
4. As evident in his blood tests, as well as photos, dutasteride can in fact make hair worse through hyper reflex. (It's possible that finasteride can, too, albeit not to the same degree). Way too often people throw the kitchen sink at their hair loss, and too many people jump the gun on dutasteride. It should only be a last resort.
5. Not everyone responds the same to the same treatment. This of course is an individual case study and should be treated as such. Different people respond differently to different treatments. Nonetheless, there is a lot to glean from in this thread.
Again, great documentation, very helpful record.
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Quick question - are you a fit person / train a lot? Do you have T on the higher range? I ask because it seems to me that often people who experience hyper reflux from 5ARIs are usually in that category.Ok attaching more pics. Overall I'd say I've more or less maintained and the initial hair loss was likely from minoxidil withdrawal. Also I can finally grow some facial hair.
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Thanks for responding!
Just wanted to correct you a little bit for the record: the darker hair color and decent thickness is actually my baseline from 2016. The towhead was actually from abruptly stopping minoxidil in May 2017, which made me shed like crazy.
Attached photo illustrates it well, left is from 2016 before starting any treatment, right is in summer 2017 after being off minoxidil for like 2 months. The shedding started about a month in and it took me a few months after restarting to regrow my hair, but it came back even stronger.
Needless to say, I think minoxidil helped me maintain for all these years as well as regrow some hairline (right now I'm shedding so it's not apparent but the hairline corners improved from baseline in 2016).
Attachments
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Yes I am. As for my T, it was quite average around 500-600 ng/dl when I measured it.
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Ah, I see. I do think it's still darker than baseline now.
Nonetheless, it is evidence that minoxidil is the primary cause of improvement. Again, I think the needling causes the drug to go quite systemic and act as powerful as the oral form.
Have you had any issues with water retention?
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Makes sense. Usually those who seem to do fine on dutasteride are usually low in T. In my estimation it's much more risky for anyone in the average ranges and beyond. And I've yet to see any single case where someone improved their hair from going from finasteride to dutasteride.