spironolactone and hair falling

[ifonlyican14]

does spironolactone prevent hair falling or male baldness, which on is better spironolactone and finasteride, what about using spironolactone and finasteride together.

[MaggieB]

It does and it is primarily prescribed for hair loss prevention in women. I stopped taking it a couple months ago since I had an orchi last January but in a month, my hair began to shed and my scalp began to feel sore or tingly. I went back on half dosage and now three weeks later, my scalp feels fine and my hair loss has been reduced or abated. Too soon to tell.

Maggie

[Nicky]

Well, they both act on differnt things but are complimentary.

MPB (male pattern baldness is caused by something called DHT (dihydrotestosterone or something like that) acting on the hair folicals on your head. DHT which is created from testosterone. With spiro you have less testosterone so in theory you should have less DHT too i.e. less MPB. Finasteride is a DHT antagonist. So combined is probably going to be more effective than one alone.

I take both. 

You should probably talk to a dermatologist. There are other reasons for hairloss besides male pattern baldness.

[Muffin]

You can buy an OTC herbal drug called 'saw palmetto' that does the exact some thing as finasteride, but also if you're taking a progesterone then most of those have the same effects as both.. and apparently much better from what I've read.

[ifonlyican14]

which one is more potent, finasteride or aldactone,
Thanks

[Muffin]

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, but this information is available online so I'm just passing it on. I don't claim it to be the 'truth' just an opinion that I consider to be worth reading, but not the only opinion that is out there. If you are planning on taking any of these drugs I recommend consulting a doctor first.
I'm sure you already know this^^^ though...

Aldactone/Spironolactone: The preferred general anti-androgen is Spironolactone (Aldactone).
This drug is primarily used as an anti-hypertensive and shouldn't be used by people with low
blood pressure. Another side-effect is that it increases the amount of intracellular potassium,
which can lead to the potentially life threatening problem called Hyperkalemia. This can usually
be managed with diet and regular blood monitoring. It is also a diuretic so remaining properly
hydrated is also crucial to maintaining good health. Okay, so what does it DO? A couple of things:
first and foremost it competes with Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) at hormone receptor points. DHT
is believed to be the cause of non-genetic male-pattern baldness and excess facial/body hair.

The other thing Spironolactone does is block the expression of the P-450 gene  that, among other
things, stimulates progesterone to testosterone conversion [ see the section titled "Hormone
Chain Explained" ]. I have also found information claiming that the topical form of Spironolcatone
(available as a foam) is the preferable method of delivery for blocking DHT at the skin - if the
primary purpose of using the drug is to hamper body/facial hair growth and/or male pattern
balding.

Finasteride: Probably better known by the brand name versions, Propecia and Proscar. This
drug is popular as a treatment for male-pattern baldness. Like Spironolactione it targets DHT
hormones, however it doesn't block DHT receptor points as Spironolactone does. Instead it does
what Natural Progesterone does - blocks the activity of the 5-alpha-reductase enzyme in an effort
to prevent the conversion of testosterone into DHT. For patients seeking to reverse a receding
hairline, they often use Minoxidil (Rogaine) as well. This may be undesirable to M2F TS patients,
however, because Minoxidil can often have a systemic effect (i.e., it causes hair growth
elsewhere on the body, not just where it was applied). For most M2F patients the object of DHT
reduction is to slow/reduce unwanted facial and body hair. If that is the objective, Spironolactone
has been shown in studies on women with Hirsutism to be more efffective at reducing unwanted
hair than Finasteride [ source ]. Finasteride used in conjunction with Spironolactone is more
effective, but alone it is not a good general anti-androgen. However, in patients for whom
Spironolactone or Flutamide (discussed below) are problematic, Finasteride is often prescribed
as an anti-androgen that's better than taking nothing at all.
There is some argument over whether or not Natural Progesterone (also discussed below) is
more efficient tha Finasteride at blocking 5-alpha-reductase activity. The dosages and methods
seem to be a very important factor in end result as one study found progestrone to be 97%

efficient [ source ] at blocking 5-AR, while another found it only 24-62% effective [ source ]. The
latter study found Finasteride to be 59-82% effective (a combination of Pg and Finasteride was
68-78% effective) [ source ]. However, a different study showed Finasteride to be only 20%
effective [ source ]. So it remains unclear whether one is more effective than the other or if they
are roughly equal in effectiveness at blocking the enzymatic conversion of testosterone to DHT.
The only thing that IS clear, is that Finasteride provides none of the other health benefits of
natural progesterone, which may be a major factor to consider when selecting an HRT regimen.
Note that these numbers refer to SERUM levels of 5-AR. The enzyme is also produced at
localized points in the skin, where the efficiency of Finasteride is roughly cut in half!

Source: http://f.imagehost.org/download/0937/HORMONE_THERAPY_MALE-TO-FEMALE_HRT

Remember this is just something I read that I believe makes a lot of sense, it may not to you ...or tekla.
♥

[Abby]

I have regrown an inch of full hair on the front of my hairline in about 3 months.  That is still 1/2 an inch from my original hairline.  I know because at age 11 I walked into a dumpster and had to get stitches right there.  The hair line is clean though.  Looks cool.  Totally unfugly to part.  Two months or so of dutasteride but I also use other methods (glycerin and rogaine diluted 1:10 in "distilled water" applied generously, and 500mg of L-cysteine w/ food).  I would think spironolactone is helping too but I haven't taken it as long.

There is some argument over whether or not Natural Progesterone (also discussed below) is
more efficient tha Finasteride at blocking 5-alpha-reductase activity.

In my opinion it is not.  I used Natural Progesterone alone for some time and it did not regrow hair or prevent hair loss.  It did seem to make my scalp, um, "swell", like there was an extra layer of fat.  My current formulation (topical) has grapefruit extract in it which is said to prevent hair growth, so I can't be sure.  I also tried adding a dab of Renova; nothing fell out.

[ifonlyican14]

what about the side effect on liver after using combination of finasteride and aldactone for a long time ?