Sensitive to slight change in testosterone

Jonny Q · Jun 17, 2009

I've been using propecia since about October 2008, I've been through the sheds and other side effects and I am pleased to say that recently the hair fall had all but stopped and the hair itself was feeling much healthier and stronger. I even think that it was starting to thicken up and I had "turned a big corner" My wife, who doesn't know that I'm taking anything and cuts my hair also commented on the fact that it looked thicker recently.

I've also decided to get fit, I'm 38 and want to keep in good shape as I get older, so invested in some weights and a home gym. The only problem is that I have noticed that since I have started doing some training I get increased hair loss again, I suppose due to the raised testosterone levels in my body. If I leave the traing my hair gets better and the loss reduces, but if I start again the same results occur. I haven't checked what happens if I do cardio training such as running yet as I'm waiting for an ankle injury to recover.

I just wondered if anyone else had a similar problem, or if there was anyone who could suggest anything to counteract this reaction. I also recently took some "alleged" semen enhancing tablets to help up the old fella following a vasectomy, this had the same response, the ingrediants included vit E, zinc, aminos, maca, to name but a few, the product was said to "increase testosterone levels"

It seems as though my body is very sensitive to any slight increase in testosterone levels, with the effects going "straight to my head" as they say.
I wondered if a pure protein supplement would be any good as protein is a major factor in hair and would help in the rebuild of the muscles rather than calling on the body to increase its testosterone levels to cope. I stress that only a pure protein supplement would be used as I also had a similar effect previously whilst taking supplements including creatine.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

scub · Jun 17, 2009

any training on the body (especially weight lifting) is going to increase testo.. without testosterone you can't really build muscles.. as you train your body produces and releases MORE testosterone to help the muscles grow.. but i see you already partly knew this.

basically there isn't much you can do except stop working out.. however, long-distance running seems to be OK for the most part for me. i stopped going to the gym for the same reason as you (testosterone sky rockets).

if you want maximum hair growth you'll have to give up intense workouts.

SuperMeh · Jun 17, 2009

I think you have to think about whats really causing the hair loss though, added testosterone will make the hair loss situation worse but how long does it take for you to react to these rises you get from work outs?

A big shed would be an effluvium where many hairs have gone into the telogen phase at once and as a result all shed at a similar time, even when your hair goes into these phases it is the norm for the shed to happen several months after the big change in your body that caused it.. so something that happened 2/3 months ago could be causing the shed, I've only ever had an Telogen Effluvium shed before and it was from an allergic reaction from a dye I used 3 months earlier...

If you start working out and say 1/2 weeks later you start shedding a lot I wouldn't put it down to working out.. people on finasteride report going through multiple big sheds, sometimes forever throughout their treatment, it could easily just be this... no? It's just convenient to think it's raised testosterone because of the change in lifestyle.

Also even if you have raised testosterone if you're taking finasteride your DHT is still going to be drastically reduced as long as you're responding to it, taking finasteride itself raises testosterone as your body reacts to the lessened DHT. I started exercising more regularly and vigorously and have not had any noticeable shed yet.

Just my thoughts though. It's worth think about and maybe getting some blood work done if you're really worried.

Wishing you well

Jonny Q · Jun 18, 2009

thanks for the comments!
I'm quite sure it is related to the training and testosterone increase. It's as though the finasteride is doing the job but just can't handle the extra amount of testosterone when I do the training, like a cup that only holds so much before it overflows. I wondered about introducing Saw palmetto aswell, to see if this could counter act the extra testosterone thats created. I know in essence it does the same thing to a lesser effect, but I also understand that its not exactly clear how it does it ( very limited knowledge ). I also wondered if I should give it a go for an extended length of time. Its taken quite some time for me to see any results from the finasteride, so I wondered if over time it might get to a point where it levels out to suit the raised levels, also, my body may become more used to the training, rather than the initial shock to the system, eg recover time, initial growth, etc when you first start to do something new.
Anyway thanks again and if anyone else has any thoughts I'd appreciate them.