6 weeks on Avodart - Hairline trouble - Help!!

[mastery]

Hi

I'm new here - wondering if anyone can help?

I'm 27 - a Norwood 2.5 but going rapidly to an Norwood 3 and suffer from general thinning. I was on propecia for 2 years - with great success for 18 months - then began losing ground. I started minoxidil on the hairline but have had limited success.

6 weeks ago i took the plunge and jumped onto avodart 0.5 every day. Although my hair in general has thickened up a bit texture wise - (like with a week!)I am still shedding lightly and the hair getting a bit less thick everyday. My hairline though is disappearing rapidly


I can see blonde hairs somedays my hairline but think they are actually getting worse rather than better. My hairline was in a pretty minaturised state pre avodart but hoped it would thicken it up.

Has this happened to anyone? Do I ride it out? Or do I up the dose of Avodart? When do people normally get good regrowth on Avodart? Took me 6 months before I saw good regrowth on Propecia.

Thanks

J

 

[GeminiX]

Personally, I'm pretty sure I got my best results with finasteride, though I think at the time I felt dutasteride was working well for me.

It's hard to say with 100% accuracy due to the cocktail of meds I take, though I do think that dutasteride had better hairline progress than finasteride.

 

[Timi]

Hello GeminX

take you today dutasteride?
or only finasteride 2,5mg?

works finasteride better for You as dutasteride?

have you take minoxidil?


Timi

 

[GeminiX]

Hello GeminX

take you today dutasteride?
or only finasteride 2,5mg?

works finasteride better for You as dutasteride?

have you take minoxidil?


Timi

Hi Timi,

I only take 2.5mg finasteride now, I dropped dutasteride about a year ago and and for about two years I took it alongside 1.25mg finasteride.

When I first started my campaign to recover my hair I tried Rogaine, but I hated it. It made my hair greasy and I had an allergic sneeze all day when I used it.

I'm tempted to try the new foam one, but can't seem to find the womens version in the UK, I'm also going to be adding Vaniqa to my regimen in a few days, but I don't know if that has any impact on hair loss.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Don't change your dose, not after 6 weeks. It's going to be at least a year (I'd suggest closer to two) before it's time to evaluate what .5mg dutasteride/day has done for you. Hopefully the miniaturized hairs being ejected courtesy of the drug will come back stronger, eventually.

Took over a year for my hairline to recover to its pre-dutasteride density once the shedding had abated, sadly the hair-count didn't improve on that level, but at least the ones left behind were a little thicker. They're also still standing, which means today my hairline is about as good (or bad, depending on your perspective) as it was when I went to a daily dose of dutasteride - some 4 years ago.

 

[mastery]

I know I need to ride it out... but is getting worse everyday! Hmmm....

Hope I can have a hairline in 4 years.

Is it worth continuing Propecia - up until the 3 month mark - when dutasteride is fully in your system right?

Just so frustrating - has anyone else had initial hairline problems?

 

[Timi]

http://www.hairlosshelp.com/forums/mess ... SGDBTABLE=

Timi

 

[mastery]

By way of an update -

Four and a half months in and things are still going south. Not only are the hairs on my hairline getting thinner, weaker and disaaperaing on the hairline - but all over my head as well. The funny thing is I am shedding very little. But what I am shedding is very weak hairs (30 or so a day).


I would not be worried except for the fact that the hair gets weaker and thinner seemingly by the day at the moment. Minoxidil seems to have no effect on the hailine and it is disappearing at an alarming rate

I know everyone keeps saying wait, wait, wait, give it at least a year... but I am so far below propecia baseline it is now horribly scary... and not just in hair count but in overall condition of the hair.

Is this everyone's story before improvement? Or shall I up the dose?

 

[kalbo]

your story is eerily similar to mine at the moment...

I'm also 27... Was on finasteride for almost two years and had great results. Hair thickened up and the hairline improved a lot (thanks in large part to minoxidil though). However, around the 18th month or so, my crown started to thin. I thought it was just a shed but it just kept getting worse.

I figured it was time to make the jump to dutasteride so I started using Dr Reddy's Dutas after two years on finasteride. The results so far?...

Not only is my crown worse than before, but now my hairline (which I had no issues with while on finasteride) is going to shits. I did however, switch from liquid minoxidil to rogaine foam during the dutas/finasteride switch so that could have contributed the hairline issue (I only use minoxidil on my hairline). And speaking of rogaine foam, am I the only one who thinks it sucks??? Easy to apply my butt... It takes about 3x as long to apply than the regular minoxidil. Plus when it says it's a months supply, it's really about only a 20 day supply whereas the months supply regular minoxidil actually lasts about 3 months (remember though, I only use it on the hairline).... but enough about rogaine foam... I'll have to create a separate thread on that one

Back to dutasteride: so it's been 7 months on dutas and my hairline has thinned and my crown is getting worse by the day. I've never had to style my hair a particular way to cover the balding spot on the back when I was using finasteride, but I'm forced to do it now. Thankfully though, the rest of my hair is pretty thick still so I don't have to resort to buzzing just yet.

To the dutasteride vets on this board: should I wait this one out or is this a sign that I'm just not responding well to dutasteride?

 

[Timi]

i was 2Years on this sh*t Drug

all my Hair is destroyed
and my Body destroyed

i fight with finasteride and minoxidil
my Hairs come slowly back

i was a Idiot

Timi

 

[el_duterino]

Hey guys, its not a matter of dutasteride being less effective than finasteride..just that your hairloss pace is catching up therefore any drugs that you take later on might appear to be less effective.
dutasteride at 0.5 mg a day will suppress more DHT than finasteride at 1mg a day or evn 5mg, so it will be more effective overall than finasteride.

However, dutasteride does also raise testosterone by 20 to 30% and that could possibly affect the most androgen sensitive areas, such as the hairline, in some people at some stage.

Therfore, anyone who understands the basic mechanisms of male pattern baldness will take measures to protect his hairline from the effects of testosterone.

Use the topicals: fluridil, flutamide, RU58841, or spirolactone to achive this. Don't quit dutasteride.

 

[Timi]

.

 

[Slartibartfast]

I know everyone keeps saying wait, wait, wait, give it at least a year... but I am so far below propecia baseline it is now horribly scary... and not just in hair count but in overall condition of the hair.

Is this everyone's story before improvement? Or shall I up the dose?

I'd say stick with what you're on and give your hair (more of) a chance to respond to it. I know that my Avodart-shed was bad enough to partially re-open the bald spot that finasteride. had taken care of a couple of years earlier; and it drove my front to its thinnest since records began, whatever that means.

By the way, the 30 or so weak hairs you're spotting each day sounds like normal loss - not shedding.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Back to dutasteride: so it's been 7 months on dutas and my hairline has thinned and my crown is getting worse by the day. I've never had to style my hair a particular way to cover the balding spot on the back when I was using finasteride, but I'm forced to do it now. Thankfully though, the rest of my hair is pretty thick still so I don't have to resort to buzzing just yet.

To the dutasteride vets on this board: should I wait this one out or is this a sign that I'm just not responding well to dutasteride?

It's a sign that hair loss is a vicious, cold-hearted bastard and that for some of us these drugs take an effing long time to work. My nadir came about a month further in than you currently are, after which there came a longish plateau, followed by a painfully slow recovery.

Wait it out, as we long-termers are wont to say.

 

[kalbo]

Back to dutasteride: so it's been 7 months on dutas and my hairline has thinned and my crown is getting worse by the day. I've never had to style my hair a particular way to cover the balding spot on the back when I was using finasteride, but I'm forced to do it now. Thankfully though, the rest of my hair is pretty thick still so I don't have to resort to buzzing just yet.

To the dutasteride vets on this board: should I wait this one out or is this a sign that I'm just not responding well to dutasteride?

It's a sign that hair loss is a vicious, cold-hearted bastard and that for some of us these drugs take an effing long time to work. My nadir came about a month further in than you currently are, after which there came a longish plateau, followed by a painfully slow recovery.

Wait it out, as we long-termers are wont to say.

thanks... it's good to know that there's still hope.

 

[HairDont]

I would be very concerned about your situation. Just beause 1 guy said to stick it out for more than a year because he had good results, may not be the best decision. Maybe you should ask to see photos of his hair to see if it similar to yours.

There are many more stories of failure on Avodart than there are success stories.

Many guys with weaker hairlines have seen a huge destruction with Avodart and they never regain the loss.
I had a pretty bad experience with Avodart and finally threw in the towel and back to Propecia. Six months later things had stabilized a bit.

Plus Avodart stays in your system for a long ong time and now there are reports that it may have a possible effct on your fertility issues.

Check out Dr. Rassman's Balding Blog for more info.


http://www.baldingblog.com

The longer you wait, the balder you may become.

 

[Slartibartfast]

I would be very concerned about your situation. Just beause 1 guy said to stick it out for more than a year because he had good results, may not be the best decision.

Short of having two Kalbos to use as guinea pigs, it's impossible to say for certain whether it would be best for him to persist with dutasteride. or revert to finasteride., a drug on which, let us remember, he had begun to experience thinning of the crown.

One thing though: Do you genuinely believe that after seven months a definitive judgement can be made (either way) on whether dutasteride. or finasteride. will 'work'?

Maybe you should ask to see photos of his hair to see if it similar to yours.

He could ask, but alas I've never taken pictures of my hair.

My malady was, and to a certain extent still is, that of the dreaded diffuse thinning. If he (or anyone else) is interested in the finer details of my experience I'll track down, and provide links to, some earlier posts.

There are many more stories of failure on Avodart than there are success stories.

Two points spring to mind: 1) Can you prove this? and 2) Even if that were the case, would it demonstrate the drug's failings or that people with a negative experience are more disposed to visit these boards to solicit advice and/or vent their anger?

There's a steady stream of guys on gourmetstylewellness.com asking for advice after hitting that initial, often heavy, period of shedding on dutasteride., but few post that they've made it to 18 months/two years. Either most of these 'early-stage worriers' are quitting the drug in silent despair, or they get what they need from the site (i.e. re-assurance), keep popping the pills, and are sufficiently happy with the results to not bother posting future details. Who can say which is the case.

Many guys with weaker hairlines have seen a huge destruction with Avodart and they never regain the loss.

Many? What does that mean? How can anyone accurately judge what proportion of men taking dutasteride. have experienced a 'huge destruction' of their hairlines? I'd also be fascinated to know the timescales involved, to wit: did these 'many guys' persist with dutasteride. for a full two years? Because that's how long it took my hairline to recover from its shed.

I had a pretty bad experience with Avodart and finally threw in the towel and back to Propecia. Six months later things had stabilized a bit

For how long were you on Avodart?

Edit: Never mind, I just looked through your posts and found this one: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=47188&p=460391#p460391

Your history:
About 8 and half years Propecia
1 year Proscar
A few months Dutasteride

For some reason I imagined your struggle with Avodart to be on the somewhat longer side that "a few months".

Slarti

 

[kalbo]

Well it's nice to get two opinions on this.

I'm surely going to stick through this, not just because of what Slartibartfast advises, but mainly because I just received 300 pills :mrgreen: . But he did bring up the point that my crown was thinning on finasteride, so why not take the risk on dutas when I would've lost that hair anyways. Plus, my first year on finasteride was a roller coaster too but I stuck it out for more than a year and it paid off (the crown suffered toward the end, but everything else thickened up nicely). And not to discredit anyone else's opinions, but I will lean more toward the opinions of people who have been on dutasteride for more than a year. It does seem like the majority of people who complain are the ones who quit before the one year mark.

Having said that though, I wouldn't recommend anyone jump on dutasteride unless they know finasteride doesn't work or stopped working for them. I used to think that the dutasteride scares were just a bunch of bologna, but from my experience I can say it's definitely true... at least for the short term.

 

[mastery]

Agreed.

dutasteride really does seem to hammer people in the short term and those who stick it out seem to come out on top - eventually... but it is a painful journey.... Problem is there are not many stories of people who did come out the other side because so may were scared off it in the first year.

It just makes no sense that dutasteride should be worse for your hair than propecia. I take El Duterino's point about increased scalp testosterone but accoring to Dr Rassman's "Balding Blog" testosterone in the scalp does not affect hairloss - only DHT does.

Am gonna stick with dutasteride but and am going to brace myself for a tough few months ahead (I am only 4 and a half months into dutasteride).

Also I have also just ordered a load of new Dutas from United pharmacies - which incidently was a heck of a lot cheaper than Inhouse and I didn't get stung for import duty - like I did with Inhouse.

I'll keep you all posted.

 

[boyracercanada]

Hi Slartibartfast: I just wanted to thank you for your regular updates and the hope you've given us dutasteride users. I've read most of your posts regarding your journey with dutasteride because you're situation is very similar to mine, only that I took finasterdide a few years longer than you before switching to dutasteride a couple of years ago.

I took finasteride for 4.5 years then witched to dutasteride about two years ago because my hairline started to thin with no signs of it being a temp shed (and from everything I read online I thought it was doubtful that a "good shed" could occur this late in the game).

My experience with dutasteride so far. Big shed after month 4 or 5, then great results till about the 12 month, kept steady up until about month 18 or 19th... now am experiencing the worst shed ever (hair is the worst its been) but am hopeful that I will have a similar experience to Slartibartfast and recover from the big shed like he did.

One question for Slartibartfast: During your slow recovery from your 2 year shed on dutasteride, did you notice vellus hairs growing in very thin and then getting thicker? Or were the hairs that grew back thick right from the start?

Thanks!

Boyracer