Tolerance to Propecia after six years. Anyone else?

[Adrian1]

I've been on Propecia for six years and have had GREAT maintenance, with no further hairloss after I started taking it... UNTIL NOW! In the past five months, I've been experiencing INTENSE shedding, with my hair thinning rapidly. Have I developed a tolerance to finasteride? Has anyone else experienced the same thing? Should i switch to Dutasteride? Is dutasteride available in Canada?

Thanks for your help!

 

[j25]

I don't think it's possible that your body develops a 'tolerance' against finasteride.. There is a theory, though, that states that hair follicles grow more and more sensitive to DHT during the course of the years, which means that male pattern baldness tends to become more aggressive.
Maybe you've reached this mark, which means that the remaining scalp DHT is now starting yo damage your hair follicles again.
My guess is to switch to dutasteride, and/ or add a topical your regimen.

 

[Adrian1]

Thank you for the info. I've read so much conflicting info about the possibility of developping "tolerance" to finasteride, that I don't know what to think. I'm talking to my Dermatologist next week about topical solutions.

Thanks!

 

[jfhawk06]

get on spironolactone or folligen (or dutasteride, perhaps). gourmetstylewellness.com has been maintaining for a few years on that regimen.

 

[Cornholio]

I also noticed finasteride slowly failing after about 4-5 years... Im sure it was still working (not a reason to stop treatment), but just not holding its own. Some people have continued miniaturization and loss even with the DHT supression available with finasteride (its not complete).

I have switched to dutasteride and added minoxidil and spironolactone. Will that work? Nobody knows. But, I think that without additional treatments loss would only have continued with finasteride (it may anyway, but I'm trying).

good luck.

 

[nohairnodandruff]

I'm thinking j25 is on the right track. finasteride preventing DHT is not a side-effect your body just gets use to. I believe finasteride blocks the recipticles so that 5ar and testosterone are not able to bind.

 

[ACT10Npack]

If I was you I would increase the doses of Finasteride from 1MG to 2.5MG. This will help you and stop the progression for same time now.

 

[drinkrum]

Finasteride continues to do its thing. The theory is that your body becomes more sensitive to whatever DHT is floating around or that the baldness simply accelerates. But the old pharmacological notion of cycling off drugs to prevent tolerance does not apply to finasteride. At least, that's what the medical research posits.

D.

 

[chewbaca]

Has anyone thought it could be AR upregulation?

 

[Thinning Sucks]

I am in the same boat after 6 years...finasteride not helping as much in the slowdown, especially in front. Crown is similar but slowly getting worse.

 

[Greg1]

Even though you're hitting this challenge now, six years of maintaining is EXCELLENT! Congratulations! I'd be curious if the body does build up resistance and tolerance to various topical treatments. Very interesting though to be sure.

 

[KipWinger]

~i been on finasteride 9 months, and in the month 3 i started to shed a lot like tellogen efluvium. can it be that i am in the same boat as ppl who had taken it for 6 years? can be my body increased the production of dht? and fina is not working good? becouse in the first 6 months was amazing stopped completely my hair loss. is good increase the dosage of fina? or go to dudasteride? i have stopped used finasteride to see what happen in my shed about a week, and the truth is that my shed is better now. i usually get my hand full of hair in the shower, now i can count 10 hairs or 15 hairs. any advice?

 

[Adrian1]

What's "AR upregulation"?

 

[KipWinger]

this forum is a crap. always when i put some kestion is there no answer. what i am doing in here?!

 

[Greg1]

KipWinger, give people a chance to respond to your questions! I think that in the States we are soooooooooooo spoiled!!! Thankfully, collectively, this discussion forum is made up of folks from all around the globe NOT just from the States 8) Just because you don't get an IMMEDIATE answer to your question doesn't mean diddly squat about your importance here as a contributor.

 

[Shed-A-Head]

I have been taking finasteride for 6 years, with a break of a couple of months about 2 years back. The shedding that started after the break has not stopped, so I guess the reception of finasteride is different after some time. What I don't know is if the situation is better with finasteride than it would be without. I am not going to take dutasteride as it alters your hormones even more than finasteride.
Btw, I have aggressive male pattern baldness and finasteride still did a perfect job, at least for the first couple of years.