Hey guys, I really need some input here. I stopped finasteride for 6 months last year (2012) without noticing any loss, but started back on it Feb this year 2013. However, for past few months I'm shedding (hair on pillow, on hands from shampooing, etc) for the past few months. Is this PERMANENT hairloss? or a phase?
What will happen if I STOP Finasteride after 14 yrs on it
- Thread starter Keaphare
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Quantum Cat
Senior Member
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- 137
Likely a phase.
One of the biggest misconceptions about male pattern baldness is that it causes hair to simply 'fall out' and that's it. male pattern baldness doesn't work like that.
Our hair grows in cycles - Everybody sheds hair - men, women, whether balding or not. It's completely normal ( I think an average person sheds 100 hairs a day).
For a man suffering from male pattern baldness, in each growth cycle the susceptible hairs grow back slightly finer and slightly shorter. This cycle repeats itself until the hair becomes so fine and short it's practically invisible. Then it dies altogether and the follicle dies. But a normal sized hair doesn't simply fall out and never come back, unless you have a different type of alopecia.
So counting the number of hairs you find on your pillow, comb, in the shower, or wherever, is pointless as it isn't an indicator of male pattern baldness. If you're shedding more hair than usual then it's for some other reason. Shedding more is common when using treatments and it's usually a good sign.
I have heard of some horror stories where people used Minoxidil and shed, and claimed the hairs never grew back. But these are anecdotal stories on the internet so I don't know how reliable they are
One of the biggest misconceptions about male pattern baldness is that it causes hair to simply 'fall out' and that's it. male pattern baldness doesn't work like that.
Our hair grows in cycles - Everybody sheds hair - men, women, whether balding or not. It's completely normal ( I think an average person sheds 100 hairs a day).
For a man suffering from male pattern baldness, in each growth cycle the susceptible hairs grow back slightly finer and slightly shorter. This cycle repeats itself until the hair becomes so fine and short it's practically invisible. Then it dies altogether and the follicle dies. But a normal sized hair doesn't simply fall out and never come back, unless you have a different type of alopecia.
So counting the number of hairs you find on your pillow, comb, in the shower, or wherever, is pointless as it isn't an indicator of male pattern baldness. If you're shedding more hair than usual then it's for some other reason. Shedding more is common when using treatments and it's usually a good sign.
I have heard of some horror stories where people used Minoxidil and shed, and claimed the hairs never grew back. But these are anecdotal stories on the internet so I don't know how reliable they are
Thanks Quantum, you've eased my worry a bit. The last six months have been very stressful from surgery on a joint and I believe stress and cortisol play a role in hair loss. It's put me behind on the minoxidil. Yes I've read the stories on shedding with min before but I don't think they are reliable sources of info either. I believe it strengthens the hair.
It is a common knowledge on forums that finasteride is a harsh drug and is responsible for almost everything on this planet. Recent research even linked excessive finasteride use in New Orleans to the hurricane Katrina.
haha~ you crack me up!
You can down play the side devastating side effects as much as you want but it's been confirmed by two of my countries top ophthalmologist that Finasteride caused my severe dry eyes. It's a permanent condition and you may say "well use eye drops". It's not that simply, drops evaporate in seconds and the pain is extreme and very few options exist. Now, it's been confirmed that an anti-androgens receptors are on Lacrimial and MGD glands and thus our eyes require DHT. They can survive for years without it as they fight to remain normal but then the cells get burnt out, inflammatory and that inflammatory turns to fibrosis and the cells atrophy.
They studies are out there. And it's very difficult to convince an an ophthalmologist of anything without double blind placebo controlled trials.
In my case the damage is done so why stop the drug? I know guys whom have stopped it and their eyes did not improve and I stopped it for 6 months and my eyes did not improve. No eye improvement, but plenty clumps of hair during shampooing and lots of hair on my pillow. I was losing hair FAST. So I say, if the eye damage is done and wont' improve, then why stop the finasteride, so I've been back on it for a few months. No more clumps of hair.
They studies are out there. And it's very difficult to convince an an ophthalmologist of anything without double blind placebo controlled trials.
In my case the damage is done so why stop the drug? I know guys whom have stopped it and their eyes did not improve and I stopped it for 6 months and my eyes did not improve. No eye improvement, but plenty clumps of hair during shampooing and lots of hair on my pillow. I was losing hair FAST. So I say, if the eye damage is done and wont' improve, then why stop the finasteride, so I've been back on it for a few months. No more clumps of hair.
Thinning Sucks
Experienced Member
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At 19 years old I saw very heavy shedding in college on my white dorm pillowcase even noticed by roommate. This was the start of heavy diffuse "shedding" over the next 30 years and still continues.
I think we will see numerous new male pattern baldness treatments in our lifetime. CB 03 01 is one promising new treatment in progress as we speak and would be much better alternative to finasteride. I think stem cells will lead to big advances or a flat out cure with multiplication someday too probably in our lifetimes but could be 20+ years from now.
So when people say stupid stuff about having bald kids or being bald 10 years from now that is just stupid because 10 years from now we will have something stronger/safer then finasteride so male pattern baldness will become less an issue as time goes on. Its just right now we are in a weak lull period with nothing really new happening.
So when people say stupid stuff about having bald kids or being bald 10 years from now that is just stupid because 10 years from now we will have something stronger/safer then finasteride so male pattern baldness will become less an issue as time goes on. Its just right now we are in a weak lull period with nothing really new happening.
try natural progesterone (Utrogestan 100 or 200). All my sides are blown away ( i take 1,25mg finasteride ED) and my hair is incredible (even ~Norwood 0,5 from diffuse NW1).
Shedding without finasteride was about ~140 hairs/day
Shedding with finasteride was abaout ~20-30 hairs/day
Shedding with finasteride + 200mg progesterone is about ~10 hairs/day
100mg progesterone = ~1mg finasteride .. but without upregulation ...
you have to take it a***
Shedding without finasteride was about ~140 hairs/day
Shedding with finasteride was abaout ~20-30 hairs/day
Shedding with finasteride + 200mg progesterone is about ~10 hairs/day
100mg progesterone = ~1mg finasteride .. but without upregulation ...
you have to take it a***
Nothing has come yet.
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Lol, talk about bumping a thread out of nowhere.
DHT has effects in the body, but the question is how important are they? It might be of minor importance, and not make a big difference in the long term. It could be that lowering DHT is actually beneficial long term. Its just as likely lowering DHT ends up being a good thing as much as it is a bad thing. Just because it exists doesnt mean it important.
Although I would agree the dangerous part is we hardly know anything about what DHT really does. Although we only monkey around with DHT because we also dont understand why hair is sensitive to DHT in the first place!
We do know the function of dht. It causes young boys to enter puberty.
In adults it can have some effects on sex drive the body uses both dht and testosterone in the arousal process. However it really depends on which hormone each person is more sensitive to. This is why you get reports of both increased and decreased libido from different people.
Dht also serves the function of limiting the amount of testosterone in our bodies. From an evolutionary standpoint in our history as a species it would not be benificial to have excess testosterone as it would lead to excess muscle and you would not be able to support yourself with the scarce food resources available in primitive times.
The body likes to remain in homeostasis meaning it only wants certain amounts of hormones. How each persons body handles 5 ar inhibitors and increases in testosterone will be different for everyone hence different sides. The body could: 1. Command the remaining 5ar producers to just produce more dht - non responders to propecia 2. Convert excess testosterone into estrogen- low libido and Gino. 3. Not react to increases in testosterone- increases libido and more testosterone. Not everyone will be effected by a decrease in hormones the same way.
As far as balding I believe evolutionarily it serves to tell others specifically others of the opposit sex that you are past your prime and not fit as a mate. I’m basing this off attraction studies where even though based off appearance alone, balding men are seen as more knowledgeable and as leaders however they are desired less as potential mates. 85 percent of men have some hair loss by 35 and again in primitive times life expectancies were not much longer than that.
As far as why some men bald early or never bald chalk it up to genetic diversity and nature not being perfect. But it holds true 85 percent of the time
In adults it can have some effects on sex drive the body uses both dht and testosterone in the arousal process. However it really depends on which hormone each person is more sensitive to. This is why you get reports of both increased and decreased libido from different people.
Dht also serves the function of limiting the amount of testosterone in our bodies. From an evolutionary standpoint in our history as a species it would not be benificial to have excess testosterone as it would lead to excess muscle and you would not be able to support yourself with the scarce food resources available in primitive times.
The body likes to remain in homeostasis meaning it only wants certain amounts of hormones. How each persons body handles 5 ar inhibitors and increases in testosterone will be different for everyone hence different sides. The body could: 1. Command the remaining 5ar producers to just produce more dht - non responders to propecia 2. Convert excess testosterone into estrogen- low libido and Gino. 3. Not react to increases in testosterone- increases libido and more testosterone. Not everyone will be effected by a decrease in hormones the same way.
As far as balding I believe evolutionarily it serves to tell others specifically others of the opposit sex that you are past your prime and not fit as a mate. I’m basing this off attraction studies where even though based off appearance alone, balding men are seen as more knowledgeable and as leaders however they are desired less as potential mates. 85 percent of men have some hair loss by 35 and again in primitive times life expectancies were not much longer than that.
As far as why some men bald early or never bald chalk it up to genetic diversity and nature not being perfect. But it holds true 85 percent of the time