Stalling/Losing Ground With The "Big 3" - What Next?

[dizcards]

Long-time lurker, first-time poster. I recently turned 34. I have two older brothers who were both essentially bald by age 25. Not sure about Dad's exact timeline, but he's been totally bald for ages. I'm nowhere near that point, so I have been a "decent" success story post-early detection, I guess you could say, but I am definitely showing scalp and thin hair.

I've been on some type of Finasteride since 2001. Started with Propecia tabs for approximately 7 yrs (no sides, thankfully). I switched over to Proscar split into 1/4's in mid-2008 for economical reasons and have been doing that ever since. I have never used a generic finasteride.

I incorporated Nizoral 2% 3x/wk and Rogaine Foam 2x/day into my regime at the same time I switched to Proscar 1/4's (mid-2008)...after learning about the "Big 3" once I gave into the fact that I wasn't re-growing any hair and did some more research. I have not seen any improvements as a result of these additions, however. It actually got me wondering if Proscar 1/4's were still proven to be an adequate substitute for Propecia wholes...came back to read up on it...and looks like that they indeed still are.

Thus, my current dilemma. I feel I'm no longer sustaining my current hair count and am soliciting feedback on the next best non-surgical measure to add to my regime. My frontal hairline is not really an issue...it's all about thinning in the vertex/crown area. I use ample Rogaine Foam 2x/day...going through a bottle in probably 3 wks. I take the Proscar 1/4 pill (aka 1.25mg) habitually in the morning, and use Nizoral 2% 3x per week.

What do you believe my next best step is? Looks like Tricomin or the S5 cream are possibilities, but I don't know all that much about them yet.

 

[BodyDysmorphic]

personally i think think your doing all you can do with the big three

any additional remedies could get too time consuming without getting real results


i would consider you "maintenance" a success considering your family hair loss history

 

[Chris87]

could look into dutasteride

 

[Bryan]

What do you believe my next best step is? Looks like Tricomin or the S5 cream are possibilities, but I don't know all that much about them yet.

Either one of those would be helpful, but I'd really suggest prescription Proxiphen, or its cheaper and OTC (over-the-counter) version called Prox-N. They contain numerous extra ingredients which aren't in anything you're using now. I think they would be very complementary to your finasteride and minoxidil.

 

[lebronsupremacy]

You can try dutasteride, or even bumping up your finasteride dosage to 2.5 or even 5mg.

 

[dizcards]

Thanks for the replies. I've decided to up the Proscar dosage to 2.5mg first. If that doesn't work after approx 6 months, I will look into Avodart. It's already a bit of a pain to do the Rogaine foam 2x per day, but I'm still sticking with that, as well as the Nizoral 2%.

Speaking of the Rogaine foam, does anyone else find that if the bottle isn't "cold" enough, that it comes out as a liquidy foam instead of a thicker foam, and is thus more difficult to apply and use as a styling agent? What do you do to circumvent this?

 

[kthxbi]

one of the more recent cover-stories on thebaldtruth was of spencer talking about people for whom finasteride loses its effectiveness, and the fact that upping the dosage seems like an effective counter - he himself is on 5mg/day i think. if that fails, go for dutasteride. hang in there bro

 

[Rutt]

Isn't it non-trivial to get on dutasteride since it's not approved for hairloss and the sides are worse, so doctors will shy away from it?

especially since doctors don't consider male pattern baldness a "medical condition"

 

[JWM]

one of the more recent cover-stories on thebaldtruth was of spencer talking about people for whom finasteride loses its effectiveness, and the fact that upping the dosage seems like an effective counter - he himself is on 5mg/day i think. if that fails, go for dutasteride. hang in there bro

I thought Kobren took 5 mg every OTHER day? Has he since upped it to every day?

 

[dizcards]

I did a lot of reading specific to "stalling" on Propecia or 1mg/1.25mg of finasteride after making my initial post. It seems that many people have encountered the same thing. I could've jumped straight to dutasteride (0.5 mg/day), but I still have the finasteride 5mg pills at my fingertips and am not in desperation mode. I am 34, after all, and feel fortunate to be where I'm at relative to my male family members.

I will be sure to check back in with status updates.

 

[biglemoncoke]

What i would have done is, add RU on top of the 1.25. nothing is better than the best topical anti-androgen.

 

[dizcards]

I'm not going to entertain using RU until I've gone through the higher finasteride dosages, and then tried dutasteride if the higher finasteride doesn't work out. It looks to be far from a simple process to obtain and formulate RU, and quite honestly, that is more work than I'm willing to put in at this time. If that means I lose what I have left now sooner, so be it...that's a chance I'm willing to take.

 

[kthxbi]

one of the more recent cover-stories on thebaldtruth was of spencer talking about people for whom finasteride loses its effectiveness, and the fact that upping the dosage seems like an effective counter - he himself is on 5mg/day i think. if that fails, go for dutasteride. hang in there bro

I thought Kobren took 5 mg every OTHER day? Has he since upped it to every day?

ahhhh you might be right man, i don't know. i thought he said every day but it comes on at like 2am where i live so i coulda just been groggy. either way, the point still stands.