Crowdsourcing Dutasteride Info

[champybaby]

Hey all: 

First, I'm creating this to gather what I deem credible info on Dutasteride (Dut). There is so much misinformation on the web. There's also not a lot of credible information on very specific questions re: Dut. I am not offering medical advice, etc. I am sharing information I deem credible and sharing here. 

In short, I will be doing several things with this post: 

• Share my experience with Dut
• Crowdsource credible information, that is verified, from Dut users from this forum
• Link credible data, information for people to view
• Answer common questions and if possible, answer questions the community would like to know. 

What is Dutasteride in plain English? And what does it do? 

Generally speaking, like Propecia/Finasteride (Fin), which was made to treat BPH, Dutaseride, too, was made to treat BPH. And like Fin, Dutaseride was found to regrow hair. Fin is approved by the FDA to treat hair loss at 1mg per day dosage. There is misinformation re: Dut and it not receiving approval from the FDA to treat hair loss on forums and the web. Both Dut and Fin were denied by the FDA to prevent prostate cancer. This means that both Fin and Dut attempted to sell their drugs as a way to prevent prostate cancer.

The FDA denied both Fin and Dut, stating that taking these drugs to prevent prostate cancer actually made it harder to detect it. According to the FDA, they said the "risk was low" but that doctors should be aware of it nevertheless. 

GlaxoSmithKline did start conducting a study to receive FDA approval so it could market Dut to treat hair loss, but that effort was scraped. It is unclear why, but the company told NBC that it was to "reallocate resources toward more medically oriented research." Here is the Dut study, on the US National Library of Medicine Website. It was conducted by GlaxoSmithKline, makers of Dut. Phase 3 trials were never released as the study was scrapped. The data included shows Dut at .5mg outperformed Fin. 

How does Dut work? In plain English. 

Generally speaking, hair loss is caused by DHT. Fin and Dut work to block or slow DHT development. However, Fin only slows down or stops the function of one of two "isoenzymes" that cause DHT. It has been reported that Fin can decrease DHT levels up to 70%. Dut, however, slows down or stops both "isoenzymes" and as a result, can decrease DHT levels up to 95%. 

Side effects of Dut: 

Men have lower sex drives, hard time getting hard and some may even grow boobs. There is no accurate data to show how frequent this happens to people who take Dut for hair loss. However, it should be noted that men already take Dut to treat BPH. According to the Mayo Clinic's website, .5mg of Dut should be taken daily to treat BPH. So it's already approved by the FDA at .5mg daily, but to treat BPH, not hair loss. 

My anecdotal experience: 

My sex drive and erections are very healthy. I am a 36/m. I took Fin for 7 years with no sides. I just began taking Dut at .5mg/daily about a week ago. No sides effects. According to my HT doctor, he said Dut is "more potent" than Fin. He added that in his experience, patients who tolerated Fin without sides often go on to tolerate Dut without sides. 

And take this for what it is worth, but according to my HT doctor, "Fin and Dut should not be taken together." So don't do it. Recommended dose is .5mg daily. This is not medical advice. I am just sharing what I've learned here. 

Crowdsource: 

If you consistently took Dut, or are currently taking it, please share the following by making a post below: 

• How long have you been taking it? 
• At what dose and how often? 
• What improvement did you see, if any? 
• Did you experience sides? 
• Age

This post is a work in progress. If you have specific questions re: Dut, please post them below. Thanks. 

Edited November 13, 2019 by champybaby

[LonelyGraft]

Dut is one tricky drug for me to understand. Some claim it works better than fin, others claim that’s nonsense. I’ve read that finasteride inhibits (going from memory) 95%+ of type 2 5 alpha reductase and virtually zero of type 1. Hence the 70% dht reduction you mention. Dut at .5 mg per day inhibits virtually all type 2 and about 50% of type 1 which ends up lowering about 92% of dht due to tacking the type 1 5ar

 

this is where we get into the unknowns:

 

-I’ve read type 1 5 alpha reductase is the primary enzyme found in the brain and we do not know the consequences of lowering this

-the dermal papilla- basically the root of the hair- only contains/creates type 2 5 alpha reductase so some argue dut does very little extra when compared to fin

-SOME studies show dht blood levels mean nothing when treating hair loss as follicle levels of dht are what matters and those are near impossible to measure

-another study found dut actually raised scalp skin testosterone levels by over 100% of baseline. Dht is bad for hair but a lesser evil is still testosterone. (There are many anecdotal reports online of people losing ground on their hairlines. The argument is the higher levels of testosterone affect the hairlines of these people because the hairline area is most susceptible to all make androgens).

- I remember one doctor that used to manufacture/sell all kinds of legit concoctions of minoxidil (dr Richard Lee) mentioned that some patients that took dut had lowered sperm counts that did not reach normal levels once off the drug for several months so that’s something else to consider

 

on the other hand I’ve seen anecdotal reports of a few users have great results from dut. A few even got better results than fin.

 

i tried it myself twice in the past for about 6-9 months each time. First time was .5mg a day taken daily with finasteride. I was about 27 years old. Second was .5mg a day alternated with finasteride. I was around 30-31. I don’t think I saw much difference between the two drugs but I did not document with pictures.

 

what I do know though is that the second time around I got bad acne at the beginning that went away. However with time I noticed changes in my libido. I finally checked my hormone levels and was quite surprised. My total testosterone was at normal levels but my estrogen was above the normal range. My free/usable testosterone was at the lower range and I didn’t feel this was good to have in my early 30s. My shbg was also on the lower side if I recall correctly. My dht levels were obliterated when compared to fin however. After that I returned to finasteride. If I ever decide to try it again it would be once or twice a week MAX. As I feel the drug is not compatible with me. Keep in mind this is only my own experience.

 

id monitor closely and get blood tests if you feel something is off

 

good luck 

 

Edited November 13, 2019 by LonelyGraft

[Thisisnotatest333]

Dut works just like fin, but blocks 3 types of DHT instead of 2.So it has better effects on hairloss, not sure about sides

[champybaby]

4 minutes ago, Thisisnotatest333 said:

Dut works just like fin, but blocks 3 types of DHT instead of 2.So it has better effects on hairloss, not sure about sides

In sake of accuracy, Dut blocks 2, Fin blocks 1, per post. 

[Melvin- Admin]

There are a few posters on here that I believe used Dutasteride, @win200 if i'm not mistaken and @Spanker I don't know if they still do, but I know at one point they did, maybe they'll join the discussion.

[LonelyGraft]

19 hours ago, champybaby said:

In sake of accuracy, Dut blocks 2, Fin blocks 1, per post. 

Actually there is a type 3 5ar that was found more recently that both drugs block. The scientific community aren’t sure what kind of role this type 3 5ar plays however.

[win200]

I've been on dut for ~5 years.  I switched from fin because I just wanted the stronger DHT inhibitor.  It's tough to gauge my loss because I have a hairline transplant that covers any recession, but I can add that since my first transplant in June 2012, there really isn't any visible chance to my hair. So, take that for what it's worth. I do experience some sides, but I've found that sides are often spoken about like they're a binary--either you have no sides or you become impotent. That's not accurate for a lot of folks. On dut, I don't get spontaneous erections, and I've had occasional performance issues. On the whole, though, I don't notice the difference and find the mild sides I get to be very tolerable. 

I will say that the long-term effects of Type 2 5ar on the brain concerns me. Is there a possibility, for instance, that this contributes to/causes Alzheimer's/dementia?  I think about that a lot.