• Welcome to Hair loss Experiences hair loss forum.

    Free impartial hair loss advice, hair transplant advice, hair loss medications and hair loss news.
    You can contact us directly at [email protected] if you experience any problems.

Side effects?

J

j12345

member
Hi,

A bit of context, I noticed my hair thinning when I was around 22 and started finasteride shortly after. I still have decent coverage with recession at the temples, although my hair is definitely thinner than when I was younger, but I guess the finasteride did the job. More recently though, now aged 25, I have noticed a loss in libido which is odd for a 25 year old.

I'm wondering whether anyone else has experienced side effects 1/2/3 years after starting? I would've thought that you would notice side effects within the first few months and not so long into use but I can't put my finger on any other source of the issue especially given the reported side effects some users get
 
Kevboy

Kevboy

Valued member
I've been on Finasteride over a year now and all seems ok, no problems. I did have a few little things when I first started but they might have been me being paranoid. My hair has stabalised and enough has grown back that I don't have bald looking patches anymore.
I have heard of people having long term side effects. You might need to come off it for a couple of weeks to see if anything changes.
 
J

j12345

member
Yeah, that's what I plan to do. I'm no medical expert but it would seem weird for side effects to suddenly occur so far into usage. Maybe a week/month break will be good for the hormone balance in my body
 
Kevboy

Kevboy

Valued member
If you do take a break it might be worth having your blood tested before and after it. I`ve seen some posts on here about it. It might reveal something.
 
L

Lockdown-Locks!

member
Hi J,

I’ve just seen your post now. I personally have been very worried about using Finasteride because of the reported sides; I avoided it for about 8 years but at the point now where I really need to take it. I did a lot of detailed research about what to check in a blood test and understating the results. See one of my posts below for what to get in your blood test if that is what you wish to do - I’m very glad I did it and highly recommend it:


Hi Bigmac,

In regard to your first point that a HT success-rate increases the more you can prevent your remaining hair from becoming susceptible to DHT, I guess this brings my original question more into context; how long should one ideally be on Finasteride before undergoing a HT i.e. how long does it take for Finasteride to build up adequate DHT protection for the native hairs; and can this process be done at the same time of implanting new hairs?

Thanks for the thread link, really brings home the importance of getting on the meds. I’ve already had a consultation at The Private Clinic, whereby the advice was to get on Finasteride to 1) protect the native hairs and 2) reach any regrowth potential of the miniaturised hairs. They said this would reduce the total grafts required and, in the meantime, they could operate on my temples since there no hairs there at all i.e. Finasteride won’t regrow this area at all (I’m a circa Norwood late 3/early 4 right now).

I’ve decided to take action – I want a HT and am (reluctantly) willing to initiate Finasteride.

Interesting to see you initially started on Proscar; that is simply the branded version of Finasteride (which I believe is at 5mg only).

I am thinking of taking some pre-Finasteride blood tests privately so I have baseline measurements of key bio-markers, since essentially, I will be playing with my body’s hormonal homeostasis and I don’t like the idea of that at all!

For anyone interested in my research around this (I’m not a scientist/medical expert): Biomarkers to record in a pre-finasteride blood test

Essential
  • Total testosterone determined via liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry i.e. not with ECLIA; Electro-chemo-luminescence Amino-asset (if possible)
  • Free testosterone determined via equilibrium dialysis or equilibrium ultra-filtration; try not to use direct analogue amino asset (this is the standard common test)
  • Dihydrotestosterone levels via high pressured liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry
  • Free DHT Levels via equilibrium dialysis
  • Oestradiol
  • Sex Hormone Binding Globulin
  • Prolactin
  • DHEAS (Dihydroepiandrosterone Sulphate)
Recommended, if you still have budget after the above
  • Prostate Specific Antigen
  • Progesterone
  • Follicle stimulating hormone
  • Luteinising Hormone
  • Thyroid Hormones – to check if thyroid is causing hair loss (i.e. not androgenic cause)
    • TSH
    • Free T4
    • Free T3
    • Reverse T3
    • Thyroid Globulin Antibodies
    • Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies
 
J

j12345

member
@Lockdown-Locks! Cheers for that info! It's something I will look into, although with lockdown I suspect it will be difficult to organise at the moment.

I've stopped using Finasteride (planning on taking a month break) and will see if I notice any differences. In reality, I think the issues were probably caused by external stresses rather than Finasteride given that I had been on it a while. I'll probably restart Finasteride after this little hiatus but maybe on a lower dosage at first and try to track any changes
 
L

Lockdown-Locks!

member
@Lockdown-Locks! Cheers for that info! It's something I will look into, although with lockdown I suspect it will be difficult to organise at the moment.

I've stopped using Finasteride (planning on taking a month break) and will see if I notice any differences. In reality, I think the issues were probably caused by external stresses rather than Finasteride given that I had been on it a while. I'll probably restart Finasteride after this little hiatus but maybe on a lower dosage at first and try to track any changes
No Worries - hope you get on better with it after the restart. I’ve read a fair few good experiences with people having lower doses. I’m sure I even read somewhere that clinical effectiveness was still fairly good at a 0.25mg dose, so may be worth looking into. All the best
 
J

j12345

member
Interesting - I'll have a look into that!

From what you've read / own experiences would you suggest taking 0.5mg a day or 1mg every other day?
 
L

Lockdown-Locks!

member
Interesting - I'll have a look into that!

From what you've read / own experiences would you suggest taking 0.5mg a day or 1mg every other day?
I’m not a doctor so what I say is just a personal preference based on my own logic (disclaimer done!)

I believe the half-life for Finasteride is around 8 hours (meaning the amount of active Finasteride in your body drops by 50% in 8 hours). Based on that, I’d rather have a daily supply of Finasteride, so my system is always ‘topped up’, and hence would take a daily dose rather than bi-daily.

I think 1mg daily dose gives around 60% reduction in serum DHT levels. I personally take 1mg daily but I know there is some research out there saying that people have experienced 0.2mg effective doses – maybe google it to see the studies and more information.
 
bullitnut

bullitnut

4 awesome repairs with SMG
If your planning on coming off it for an extended period of time I'd make sure your hundred percent certain that Fin is the reason for the loss of libido....lots off things can cause it including psychological issues and let's face it all this covid crap is affecting lots of us psychologically.......all I'm saying is its risky if your happy with your hair now.....a blood test as suggested is a good idea and a few weeks off shouldn't be much of a problem but coming off for a while could cause loss your not happy with dude.
 
J

j12345

member
I restarted the fin around 3 weeks ago now, at the full 1mg dosage, and haven't noticed any side effects at all (same as when I started a few years ago) which is good news. I had forgotten how annoying the intial shedding phase can be though!
 
L

Lockdown-Locks!

member
I restarted the fin around 3 weeks ago now, at the full 1mg dosage, and haven't noticed any side effects at all (same as when I started a few years ago) which is good news. I had forgotten how annoying the intial shedding phase can be though!
shedding on Finasteride!? I didn’t think it was such a thing?!
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Some people will shed more than others. If you do experience a big shed you notice your hair is thinner. It can happen during your hair transplant growth stages too. You may look great at 7 months, then look slightly worse in month 8 if you experience a lot of shedding.
 
Top