Third Time Lucky?

[Gatsby]

This week I started back on oral finasteride. Previously I hit side effects at 1mg everyday and every second day at about two months at working up to this level. This time I will work up to 0.5mg's every second day. I won't go higher than this except for getting to the point where I will take 1mg on Friday only (to carry over the weekend) and I will be taking the drug at night time. Also every three months I will take a two week hiatus. I have been going over a lot of YouTube video's on taking finasteride for those who experience side effects and the wash out period and time of administering the drug were recommended to reduce/prevent side effects. Anyway I just thought I would share this on the forum from a guy who has had sexual side effects twice before on doses of 1mg a day and 1mg every second day. Not only in the hope that it may work for me but also in case it might help others. I'll keep everyone updated. All the best. Cheers! 

[BaldReaper]

My plan is 0.5mg M/W/F. Good luck to us sideffect free.

[Antlor]

You got this, bro. Keep telling yourself that finasteride is a positive for your hair health - either you maintain your hair or slow down your hair loss.

[Melvin- Admin]

There’s definitely a threshold. So if you take the least possible amount like 0.25 mg M/W/F it might work. 

[Gokuhairline]

why keep experimenting if you've had issues twice ? I don't understand why people are so adamant on this finasteride drug lol almost seems like an obsession. good luck tho.

[BaldDude]

3 hours ago, Gokuhairline said:

why keep experimenting if you've had issues twice ? I don't understand why people are so adamant on this finasteride drug lol almost seems like an obsession. good luck tho.

What do you use to reduce hair loss progression?

[Gokuhairline]

1 hour ago, BaldBobby said:

What do you use to reduce hair loss progression?

everything under the sun except fin

[BaldDude]

43 minutes ago, Gokuhairline said:

everything under the sun except fin

Dutasteride? 😊

[Gokuhairline]

1 hour ago, BaldBobby said:

Dutasteride? 😊

nope. deer antler spray tho, twice a week to the scalp.

[Gatsby]

On another topic, I just got a call from The Sinclair Clinic here in Melbourne and I'm booked in tomorrow to get a script for oral minoxidil! 🥳🙏

[Gatsby]

18 hours ago, Gokuhairline said:

why keep experimenting if you've had issues twice ? I don't understand why people are so adamant on this finasteride drug lol almost seems like an obsession. good luck tho.

Because if I get sides at this low dose then I can rule out oral Finasteride for good. I’d hate to have benefited from this low dose and never had known. 

[asterix0]

2 hours ago, Gatsby said:

Because if I get sides at this low dose then I can rule out oral Finasteride for good. I’d hate to have benefited from this low dose and never had known. 

Just to note, it is easy to psyche yourself out with side effects, when the same effects can be observed if you are feeling down, depressed for whatever reason, even just tired, etc.

My mentality was screw it even if I get side effects I'll power through and lo and behold they never came, or at least I think they didn't.

 

[ciaus]

22 hours ago, Gokuhairline said:

why keep experimenting if you've had issues twice ? I don't understand why people are so adamant on this finasteride drug lol almost seems like an obsession. good luck tho.

 

Because its the only studied approved drug that actually addresses the root cause of hair loss and we don't all have endless amounts of donor hair and money to throw at hair transplants. 

Best of luck @Gatsby and make sure everything else is in your life is staying dialed in, good diet, sleep, stress management etc. Wish you could back to before you read any of the online stuff about finasteride and approach this with a more relaxed and open perspective. 

 

 

 

 

[Gatsby]

Well I have just returned from seeing Dr Beven Bhoyrul (dermatologist who works at Sinclair Dermatology along with Prof Rod Sinclair). I've been prescribed 2.5mg of oral minoxidil to take daily. Also after going through my entire history (it was a looooooooooooooooooooooong appointment) he suggested that I forget taking 0.5mg of finasteride MWF and that I take instead 0.25mg of finasteride every day. We chatted about this and my previous history of use with finasteride and I will be sticking with his recommendation. I have an appointment in three months to go back and see him. I need to mention also a big thanks to @Viney for giving me a big heads up on oral minoxidil along with @Melvin- Moderator. All the best!

[Viney]

25 minutes ago, Gatsby said:

Well I have just returned from seeing Dr Beven Bhoyrul (dermatologist who works at Sinclair Dermatology along with Prof Rod Sinclair). I've been prescribed 2.5mg of oral minoxidil to take daily. Also after going through my entire history (it was a looooooooooooooooooooooong appointment) he suggested that I forget taking 0.5mg of finasteride MWF and that I take instead 0.25mg of finasteride every day. We chatted about this and my previous history of use with finasteride and I will be sticking with his recommendation. I have an appointment in three months to go back and see him. I need to mention also a big thanks to @Viney for giving me a big heads up on oral minoxidil along with @Melvin- Moderator. All the best!

I believe 🙌.

You now have access to a lot of different hairloss drugs (minox, fin, dut) combined with all kinds of different delivery methods (oral, topical, sublingual and more). I'm certain with Dr Bhoyrul you'll find a regime that works for you and is something you can stick to for the future.

[HairTrippin]

On 9/12/2022 at 11:50 PM, Gatsby said:

Well I have just returned from seeing Dr Beven Bhoyrul (dermatologist who works at Sinclair Dermatology along with Prof Rod Sinclair). I've been prescribed 2.5mg of oral minoxidil to take daily. Also after going through my entire history (it was a looooooooooooooooooooooong appointment) he suggested that I forget taking 0.5mg of finasteride MWF and that I take instead 0.25mg of finasteride every day. We chatted about this and my previous history of use with finasteride and I will be sticking with his recommendation. I have an appointment in three months to go back and see him. I need to mention also a big thanks to @Viney for giving me a big heads up on oral minoxidil along with @Melvin- Moderator. All the best!

What was his reasoning on taking 0.25mg everyday instead of 0.5mg MWF? I take 1 Mg MWF and think sometimes I should take 0.5mg everyday. 

[Gatsby]

In his opinion he told me that it’s more consistent taking it everyday and still effective at 0.25mg. In 12 weeks when I next see him he will review how I’m going. I thought the same as you. 

[Gatsby]

I saw Dr Bevan Bhoyrul yesterday for an update appointment. He examined my scalp in the donor area and told me that my hair (what's left of it) is not miniaturizing which was good to hear.😊 However I told him that my sex drive over the past 3-4 weeks has diminished since starting the finasteride 0.25mg every day back in mid September.😏 I asked him whether I should drop the 0.25mg of finasteride to every second day? His reply was that it wasn't really worth it. He also stated that in his medical opinion he thinks I may not get 'much' benefit from the finasteride for my donor area at my age. He did write me a script for topical finasteride and stated that from all the patients that he has prescribed the topical version to that only one patient has complained of sexual side effects from it. Dr Bhoyrul also increased my oral finasteride to 5mg and said to watch for side effects such as dizziness, etc. He wants me to taper up to 5mg of minoxidil slowly by taking 2.5mg one day then 5mg the next, etc and to monitor it.

As my surgery is less than 5 weeks away I wonder if I should stay on the oral finateride until the surgery and then post op when my scalp heals I could commence the topical finasteride. Hmmmmmm?🤔 Or do I just dump the finasteride idea altogether for now and try the topical next year after the surgery when the scalp has healed?🧐

[WhereIsMyMind]

Just wanna comment on my fin/dut experience.

I was so desperate to gain hair that I literally didnt care if my dick fell off, so I just started fin 1mg/day right away. Since the start, I had ball ache, watery semen and worse erections. I just didn't care and went through.

At 2 months or so, I started recovering from all sides, and went back to 99.99% sexual function. Was on fin like this for 1.5 years, 0 side effects. Then for the same reasons, I upgraded to Dut 0.5mg/day. Same thing, first month or so I had same sides which subsided 2 months later and now lets say im at 99% sexual function which is good enough for me.

Just wanted to show my perspective in case it helps. Having initial side effects does not necesarily mean that will be the end result!

[WhereIsMyMind]

That said tho, there is dozens of upcoming drugs targeting 5ARIs and AR degraders (DHT pathway) in the future with much less side effects (or none) than Fin, so eventually everyone will be able to ditch fin and dut I think. Just patience bruhs!

[Viney]

1 hour ago, Gatsby said:

Dr Bhoyrul also increased my oral finasteride to 5mg and said to watch for side effects such as dizziness, etc.

I hope you mean oral minoxidil 😅

It's positive that you have no minituarizing but the side effects don't sound good. It's only been 3 months so if the sides really are bothering you I don't think you'd lose anything by stopping now and going ahead with your surgery next month. Otherwise if you think you can stick it out taking fin for now and maybe get 'lucky' like @WhereIsMyMind above or myself in terms of the sides going away you might find you can stick with it and see a greater benefit from the fin after 6 months.

I think this one might be on you to listen to your body then decide what you want to do. Understand this is probably a difficult decision for you.

Edited December 14, 2022 by Viney

[Gatsby]

4 hours ago, WhereIsMyMind said:

Just wanna comment on my fin/dut experience.

I was so desperate to gain hair that I literally didnt care if my dick fell off, so I just started fin 1mg/day right away. Since the start, I had ball ache, watery semen and worse erections. I just didn't care and went through.

At 2 months or so, I started recovering from all sides, and went back to 99.99% sexual function. Was on fin like this for 1.5 years, 0 side effects. Then for the same reasons, I upgraded to Dut 0.5mg/day. Same thing, first month or so I had same sides which subsided 2 months later and now lets say im at 99% sexual function which is good enough for me.

Just wanted to show my perspective in case it helps. Having initial side effects does not necesarily mean that will be the end result!

@WhereIsMyMind I rewatched Kevin’s Hair Cafe vlogs on Finasteride and his recommendation that if you develop sides then just push through it and they will pass. So yes this is what I am think (hoping) of doing. Especially on such a low dose. 🙏

[WhereIsMyMind]

2 minutes ago, Gatsby said:

@WhereIsMyMind I rewatched Kevin’s Hair Cafe vlogs on Finasteride and his recommendation that if you develop sides then just push through it and they will pass. So yes this is what I am think (hoping) of doing. Especially on such a low dose. 🙏

Yeah give it a try. The biggest study on Finasteride (10+ years of data from over a thousand patients) state that every single patient who stop treatment that had side-effects, will recover after stopping treatment. So in my opinion, with data on hand, there is nothing to lose for trying it. You can always stop afterwards.

Edited December 14, 2022 by WhereIsMyMind

[Gatsby]

1 minute ago, WhereIsMyMind said:

Yeah give it a try. The biggest study on Finasteride (10+ years of data from over a thousand patients) state that every single patient who stop treatment that had side-effects, will recover after stopping treatment. So in my opinion, with data on hand, there is nothing to lose for trying it. You can always stop afterwards.

Yes I totally agree. In the past in previous trials on Finasteride once I have stopped the drug sexual side effects disappeared within two weeks. 

[mr_peanutbutter]

the only thing that is not so easy to recover is gyno where you need surgery

 

thats my biggest concern