Blond

Well yes and no. It's almost impossible to tell unless you undergo more tests. The adrenal gland does produce DHEA and as it is a prohormone to DHT etc it may be linked. Without unnecessarily worrying about what things could mean, I think you should just consult your endocrinologist as planned. Hope all goes well and please keep us updated.

If you're really bothered it might be worth having another blood test to confirm. Did a physician perform the blood test? High levels of DHEA are associated to certain things but your Dr should be trying/or have ruled them out. Also, do you exercise excessively or are you on a strict diet?

I remember reading somewhere that DHT levels were not directly related to MPB. So people with a full head of hair may have reasonably high levels of DHT. It is to do with how your body (in terms of follicles) respond to DHT. I think people with MPB are just genetically prone to be follicular sensitive to DHT. I'm more concerned that your DHT is that high if on finasteride. It appears you're not sufficiently inhibiting enzymes. What dose/frequency do you take finasteride?

Very difficult to determine. What classification of MPB are you? Thinking about it, DHEA is a precursor for both T & DHT so it makes sense DHEA was very high. As for DHT there could be many reasons as to why it is relatively high. Do yo have any other blood test results? If not it might be worth checking estrogen levels.

Correct! Finasteride will normally cause an increase in testosterone by ~10% due to a loss in DHT feedback in the brain. Merck claims that it keeps within the physiological range. Hormone regulation is very variable from person to person??¦??¦.

Hey LeesHair, I don't really understand the logic of this. By increasing the penetrative ability of minox you will also increase the absorption into the blood stream. Having high levels (relative) of minox in the blood is not a good idea for long term use on your body, particularly the arteries. If you really want to do that why don't you use the higher percentage formula of minox like 15% or whatever. If that doesn't work than I personally would not bother??¦

Baqu, That's a good point but I think it's more complicated than that. I'm guessing that ketoconazole, the active ingredient, will most likely be lipophilic (fat loving) as it needs to permeate through skin to have its effect. The skin will only let lipophilic compounds in or through and repels water or hydrophilic compounds (water loving). Therefore keto. would preferentially absorb through the scalp despite how much you dilute (within reason). You would be better of diluting 2% to 1% whilst it's in the bottle stage.

Swim, Thank you for your kind response. I'm pretty sure that all the mechanisms that are activated (or disturbed) whilst taking finasteride aren't known. For some people this drug can do wonders without significantly altering their biological homeostasis (to the point where one notices unwanted side effects) and for some it causes a hormonal imbalance that is not well tolerated. I agree that higher levels of DHT most likely do make you more masculine; however, reducing it for some does not seem to significantly alter their ability to function as a man. It's a matter of individual response that is unfortunately under current circumstances unpredictable. TC17, There are many reasons why finasteride may not be working well for you. Perhaps you are just too much of a man to be altered by it. Whilst also lets not forget that DHT alone is unlikely to be the only factor involved in hair loss. Let's just hope for more alternative treatments.

Hi Swim, With regards, I don't really have the time to read all of Wikipedia definitions. Wikipedia is full of errors and is not peer reviewed. A side effect, as the name implies, is an additional outcome of a drugs action on the body, which was not intended for therapeutic treatment. That does not mean, as Wikipedia might have you believe, that it is always a bad outcome. In fact many drug discoveries are made through apparent 'side effects'. Both Minoxidil and finasteride are examples. Finasteride which was initially marketed to shrink enlarged prostates (as proscar) is now marketed to treat MPB (as propecia). A side effect of proscar has become the intended implication for propecia usage. A bad side effect??¦ most of us would say not!! As for the whole, 'I feel like I have a side effect but don't realise it's a side effect thing', I'm not sure I fully understand. Basically, side effects are documented by physicians during phases of drug trials. However, post-drug trials (i.e. phase V) there are ways to update the drug side effect list. If enough people are having additional side effects than what is already listed, they can demand their physician to report it to the medical counsel. If a person has a side effect but does not realise it is a side effect then it is still a side effect, just unnoticed??¦??¦.

What? I can't make any sense of what you lot are arguing about! It seems that you're all too bothered about who appears smarter behind your computer screens. Let's keep it simple and accurate so people can understand. First of all SRD5A2 is the gene that encodes for production of type 2 isoenzyme of 5a-reductase.Type 2 isoenzyme of 5a-reductase is an enzyme that catalyses conversion of T to DHT. Both T and DHT are steroid hormones and can be considered as hormone metabolites.

No ideas??

Hi, I was just wondering, to save money, can you dilute 2% to 1% i.e. 100ml of 2% would make 200ml 1%!? I guess in theory it makes perfect sense but does anyone have experience doing this and if so what do you use to dilute it? Could you just use normal shampoo to dilute? Many thanks in advance, Blondie

With respect I believe the injection must be in the scalp (balding area)...that could be why dr. Lindsey has not observed any positive effects. Not sure about whether it helps MPB but its sounds promising for alopecia areata....

Yeah thats a great question! I always assumed they could'nt take hair to low down from the back of the head but I have no idea why not.....

To start with I was secretive. I thought it was embarrassing and something to be ashamed of. I kept it from everyone, even the nearest and dearest! However, 5 years down the line when family started commenting on my thick hair and questioning how had I managed to retain all of my hair and yet my brothers had lost theirs, I told them I had taken preventive measures. I felt rather proud that I had done something about 'the inevitable'. Now I have a little brother of the age of 18 asking me to let him in on the secrets of retaining hair??¦..

I do understand your concerns. I'm just trying to highlight the importance of the psychological state of mind. The placebo effect always amazed me??¦ It is understandable why some people would suffer the side effects that you have. The truth is it is unlikely that you will be able to relax until you stop taking propecia. When you quit, it will obvious impact your body's chemistry and in the short term things may get slightly worse before your body returns to your pre-propecia state. Let us know how it goes. Hope you feel better soon buddy.

brentipold, I disagree. From what you have said it sounds very psychological. Especially as you can achieve morning erections. The thing to remember is everyone is different. I personally have been on the stuff for almost 4 years and my sex drive is very high! I can get spontaneous erections on demand and never in 4 years have I had trouble. The only time I felt that finasteride might be having a negative effect on my sex drive was for a period of one week when it was taking me longer to reach an orgasm. Coincidently, it was the week in which I had been reading posts on propeciahelp.com (about potential side effects). After forgetting about it and meeting a pretty girl I was back to trying my hardest to delay my orgasms!! It is very easy to become fixated on things. I honestly tell you that sometimes I feel that if finasteride decreased sex drive it would not be such a bad thing (for me anyway)??¦. I don't think it is necessary to reduce or increase doses etc. What is necessary is do something consistently. That way you body will adjust itself to what you're putting in it.

Same but dose varies depending on use: e.g. 5mg - enlarged prostates. 1mg - hair loss Both dosages inhibit with practically the same efficacy.

Take a chance, keep away from that website! I'm not saying people on that forum are not genuinely feeling side effects etc but they do tend to speculate far too much and cause unnecessary worry! For example, often they will find a study suggesting finasteride is linked to something bad and then claim that this is a potential side effect to us all. What they commonly fail to do is read the paper and understand that, in fact, the study was performed on rodents and occurs only if you feed them 200Kg of the stuff. The relevance to man (due to differences in metabolism and expression of enzymes) is unclear. Having said that, some of us are probably more like rodents than others lol. That aside, relax, your hearing will return to normal providing there is no underlying pathology and keep away from that website. Oh and perhaps get your ears checked by a physician, just to check nothing is pathological!

Jupiter, I noticed you mentioned you smoke pot. That will exacerbate your hair loss!!

I am completely confused! This is the first time I have seen this thread so perhaps I have missed something obvious but could someone please explain to me why Jupiter's hair turned grey!? Nobody seems to have mentioned it but it looks like although he has more hair it has aged like 50 years!!??

Don't be fooled! You have to understand the biological reason to why a topical approach with finasteride/saw palmetto is unlikely to work. The prostate makes the majority of DHT which gets circulated in the blood. Blood through vascularisation will reach almost every cell in the body. Even if cells in the scalp have 'their' 5-alpha reductase type II enzyme inhibited, it would not stop hair loss as DHT from the blood will diffuse into the papilla anyway. In fact from what I can remember, its type I reductase that is prominent in the scalp so a more logical approach would to use dutasteride. I believe that the real hope is in an anti-androgen that directly competes with DHT binding around the follicle (if they could stop these chemicals reaching the circulation). It's really about clever chemistry approaches in drug delivery rather than anything else that we are waiting for.

I also read this paper but I think it's a pile of pants. The problem is they did not look at whether the gel worked topically (locally) or systemically which is kind of ironic considering the title of the paper! In order to make any distinction between the two you need to monitor circulating hormones. The only interesting thing that results from this paper is that if it does in fact work via a topical route then it might be advantages in giving the liver a break with first pass metabolism of finasteride!