Anyone notice an increase in hair loss after decreasing finasteride dosage?

[zenmunk]

Anyone notice an increase in hair loss after decreasing finasteride dosage?

[jsnw]

I'm 41, started taking Propecia when I was 27 or so. Took 1mg every day for most of that time. I had a lot of people comment on my hair in the first year so I guess I had good results with it. Never experienced any of the side effects that I read so much about now days. My hair loss stabilized for the most part especially the crown area but I was still ever so slowly losing my hair line. Maybe a year or two ago I started taking it every other day to save money and didn't notice any change. Then I went to 3 times a week, then 2 times a week, then eventually once a week. I don't know when or how quickly it happened, but now I've lost a lot of the hair on my crown. It sucks, and was a big mistake on my part to try and get away with that small of a dosage. For the last couple of months I've been taking it every day in hopes of gaining back what I lost. Hopefully I'll get lucky and some of it will come back but I don't know. I was fine with taking it every other day and will return to that dosage at some point. Be careful..

[Shampoo]

Originally Posted by jsnw

I'm 41, started taking Propecia when I was 27 or so. Took 1mg every day for most of that time. My hair loss stabilized for the most part especially the crown area but I was still ever so slowly losing my hair line. Maybe a year or two ago I started taking it every other day to save money and didn't notice any change. Then I went to 3 times a week, then 2 times a week, then eventually once a week. I don't know when or how quickly it happened, but now I've lost a lot of the hair on my crown. It sucks, and was a big mistake on my part

Don't feel alone. That's almost my story to a "T".

[zenmunk]

Thanks for your replies, guys. I've been experimenting with 0.5mg everyday for the last two months. So far I think I haven't lost any hair. I check the mirror every day, and I take pics every month for comparison. Hopefully I can get to 6 months without noticing any hair loss. If I do, then I'll continue with that dosage indefinitely.

jsnw,

How long did you remain at every other day before you decreased it to 3x/week?

[jsnw]

If I had to guess I would say at least 8 - 10 months. I wasn't really keeping track of it. I know the time frame that I went from 3 a week to 1 per week was much shorter. I think that's when the wheels started to come off. For a period when I was taking it every day to the time I reduced to every other day I was having to do a lot of blood work for my doctor. (for another issue) She had prescribed me the Propecia a long time ago and out of curiosity I asked her to keep an eye on my DHT levels. She said there was no change in the levels from the time I was taking it every day to every other day. I remember her saying that the Propecia was definitely blocking the DHT. I know everyone is different but I can't imagine that taking it every other day would make much of a difference.

[zenmunk]

Thanks, jsnw. Good info. 0.5mg everyday or 1mg every other day is the same, so that's encouraging.