Dealing with finasteride shed.

[QuestioningEverything]

Any ideas how to cope with the shed while your trying to grow out you hair at the same time? Been taking it for almost 2 months and started shedding after only the first or second week and doesn't seem to be slowing down at all. Today I got a really good look at how horrible my hair is starting to look since taking fin I'm close to having a break down and shaving it all off and and just letting it work and grow back. But I really don't want to loose the 7 months I've been growing it out already but I can't stop looking at my hair. I probably spend about 2 hours a days just looking at how much worse its getting and searching for new hairs poking through.  Its f***ing draining and consuming.  At least I am noticing a bunch of new growth in front but not nearly enough to keep up with the shedding[emoji17]

[JulieBlair]

Are you using 5% Minoxidil too?  That kept most of my hair in place while Finisteride worked it's magic.  Which for me took a full year and is continuing two and a half years on.  For me though, it has been worth it.  But I think I will still need one more haircut before the final grow out.

Julie

[QuestioningEverything]

I haven't used minoxidil mostly because I figured that after a year of fin and once I start hrt I should be OK with coverage and I'm hoping to stop taking fin since dht shouldn't be an issue once I start hrt. From my understanding is that minoxidil doesn't effect dht so any growth would be lost after stopping regardless of starting hrt. I could be wrong about that and if I am I'll gladly try it out. But if I am right I want to avoid the extra cost and it just sounds messy to use.

[JulieBlair]

If you are not suppressing both DHT and free testosterone then Minoxidil is an ongoing thing.  What it does is tell hair to grow and thicken.  In combination with HRT and Finisteride I've gotten pretty good results.  I started Minoxidil six months before HRT and got some regrowth.  I started Finisteride six months after that and got (after almost a year) a lot more.  I'll talk to my doctor before discontinuing either, but frankly it doesn't cost much and I really am not into wigs My Picture is from early last spring.  It (my hair) is much better than that now.  I'd replace the pic, but I kind of like it.  I look much sweeter than I am. lol

Peace,
Julie

[Miss_Bungle1991]

Yeah, I remember the hair shed thing when I was on that stupid pill. I have very thick hair. So, it wasn't that big of a deal. The psychological effects of the drug were a million times worse. I was highly suicidal and always thinking about death when I was on that drug. I got off it in the summer of 08 and I haven't taken it since that time.

[JulieBlair]

Wow, I've had no side effects that I am aware of at all.  Were you on a high dose regimen?  The dosage for hair loss is only 1mg which may explain my lack of trouble.

Julie

[Miss_Bungle1991]

Wow, I've had no side effects that I am aware of at all.  Were you on a high dose regimen?  The dosage for hair loss is only 1mg which may explain my lack of trouble.

Julie

I was on a high dose rather than a low dose. I never had any issues with shedding until I was on that stupid drug anyway. Had I known what it was going to do to me, I never would have taken a single dose of it.

[QuestioningEverything]

I'll have to look into how minoxidil works a little more. Since being on fin I have had more anxiety and self harming thoughts but I honest don't think its the pill causing it I think it is just the dysphoria since shortly after starting I also contacted an endo for my first appointment and there is a long wait between appointments and the having to wait is agonizing. 3 weeks till blood work so hopefully I won't have to wait much longer.

[Miss_Bungle1991]

I'll have to look into how minoxidil works a little more. Since being on fin I have had more anxiety and self harming thoughts but I honest don't think its the pill causing it I think it is just the dysphoria since shortly after starting I also contacted an endo for my first appointment and there is a long wait between appointments and the having to wait is agonizing. 3 weeks till blood work so hopefully I won't have to wait much longer.

Well, when I was going through it, my mom would just say "it's the hormones". She had no more of an idea than I did at that point. BUT, when I was researching all of this back in late 06', I came across more than a few things that said that there was a low chance (around %20) of patients experiencing stuff like this as a result of the drug. But I didn't say anything to the doctors since I was worried that I might screw everything up and not be allowed to continue taking HRT at all if I questioned any of it.

But once I was off the drug for two days in August of 08, I felt better than I had since November of 07 (I had been on HRT for one month at that point). It was only due to a screw up on the manufacture's part. They accidentally shorted me two days dose. (It came to the pharmacy in a sealed bottle). I stopped taking it altogether. I know people say to consult the docs first and normally I would agree with them. But by this point, I had stopped eating, I was sleeping 12 to 16 hours a day. I just wanted to die and have it all be over. If I stayed on the drug while waiting for a doctor's appointment. I would have been dead. I was already headed down the road towards an early death by that point.