I take dutasteride (generic avodart), I think its 0.5mg or 1.0 mg…either way its one pill. Will this potentially cause sterility or would I need a much higher dose?
I doubt that doses of 0.5mg or 1mg would have any certainty with regard to sterility. The information on this complication is presently not very plentiful.
Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):
Dear Doctor,
I have what seems to be a desperate situation – I was married just 2 months ago, and am having serious libido issues. I have been on Fincar (generic for Proscar) for about 9 months. I have experienced positive results, BUT ALSO the often reported side-effect of reduced libido, which really snuck up on me, and hopefully, is not a permanent condition, though this has been reported. I just begun taking PassionRx to counter the effect.
Should I discontinue the drug and live with the hair loss? (My assumption and hope is that my libido will return).
Or, is it possible to maintain positive effects but through a reduced blood-level of the drug vis a vis taking it less often, or cycling on and off and allow for return of libido at the same time?
Put another way, given the 3-6 month time-frame for “catch up” hair loss, can I cycle my use of Fincar, retain benefits, and restore libido?
You need a doctor to talk with, one on one. There are many causes of libido issues, and although finasteride may be the reason, you should not just assume it.
I often tell my patients to stop the finasteride for a week, the go on a half a Propecia a day (that would be 0.5mg of finasteride) and see if the libido issue was solved in the week off of the drug. If it is, maybe half a pill will work for you as it is 80% as effective as a full 1mg tablet. If you’re taking a full 5mg generic finasteride, you’re taking more than the 1mg recommended hair loss treatment anyway.
Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):
I stopped taking finasteride for 10 days while on vacation and believe my hairline receded as a result. Does that seem right or is 10 days too short a time to see any hair loss after taking the product for years?
There is tissue fixation of the drug that may last up to a week. I would doubt that you’d see a major impact from the 10 day finasteride-free vacation, but you should do better planning next time.
Hello
My son is 21, he believes that his hair is thinning at the crown and at the hairline. He has also been complaining about an itching, tingling, burning sensation on the top of his head. I personally do not think that it is thinning as both sides of the family have a long line of full heads of hair. He has a long history of depression and chronic anxiety, he is also a hypochondriac. However about a year ago i discovered that he had taken large amounts of estradiol, in the form of my estrogel, a month or so prior to me discovering it missing. He stopped after i confronted him about it. Approximately six months later he took LSD while at a friends, then he took MDMA, overdosed and had a seizure. My question is could his hairloss be due to either of these? I am very concerned about him, he has always been depressed and lossing his hair would be a huge blow on his self esteem.
I can understand young men experimenting with drugs, as illegal and harmful as they may be, but it is strange that a young man would knowingly be taking female hormones. Does he have gender identification issues?
Hair loss can be a source for depression for many young men, but I would be less concerned about your son’s hair loss when there are potential life threating issues such as: depression, anxiety, illicit drug abuse, seizures, etc. Your son sounds like he needs help and I do not think hair loss ranks near the top of the list.
Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):
For the past several months, I had noticed my scalp progressively showing through just behind the crown of my head. During this time, I had not noticed excessive hairs falling out, in my hairbrush or in the shower. I’ve been doing my hair in a ponytail for the last 2-4 years. I first went to see my GP a few weeks ago, she did my bloodwork and referred me to a dermatologist. At the time of the appointment, the dermatologist had not yet received the bloodwork results. He spent a few minutes with me and prescribed the following:
- Rogaine 5% for men daily at night
- DHS Free and Clear shampoo daily for 6 days per week
- Salex shampoo 1 day a week
- Betamethasone valerate cream after shampooing.
- Appearex Biotin 2.5mg daily
- Vicogen 1 daily (a multivitamin)
A few days later, I received my bloodwork results which are all in the normal range. I am a 44 year old female. I am not sure if I should start this treatment plan or not. My GP had mentioned that the dermatologist may do a biopsy of the hairs, but he did not talk about that and when I mentioned it, he said it was not necessary.
Please advise, thank you so much!
It looks like he’s just throwing everything at you and hoping something will work. Ask him directly and try to find out:
I do not know what your dermatologist’s line of thinking was.
Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):
Does applying Rogaine Foam directly after showering with the hair somewhat wet, but not soaked, bring down the effectiveness of the foam? I read through the directions, but it does not specify unlike the old Rogaine solution.
Thanks!
I believe that it should be applied after a shower and after you mostly dry your hair. Circulation in the scalp is high at that time.
I am 36, have been balding since 21 and now seem to have a pretty full head full of hairs in the advanced miniaturization, with some hairs in the moderate miniaturization phase. Not a lot of normal hairs at all.
Area of balding pretty much covers the entire area; T1, T2 = Temples
F1, F2 = Frontal
M = Middle
V = VertexWhen is it considered too late to start a regimine of Propecia/ Minoxidil? Can these miniaturized hairs be saved, or is it already too late? In the past, have used minoxidil with some results, with the middle and vertex becoming much less visible. More pigment, thicker hairs, but threw in the towel after a year.
It is never too late. I like the fact that you now have a baseline measurement to know what these medications will do if you start them again. Go for it!
Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):
Dear Doctor,
I’m a 35 yr old female who was put on Lexapro to combat mild depression last Thanksgiving. After two weeks of taking the drug, my hair began to fall out in large clumps leaving me with bald spots. I contacted my doctor and she told me to stop taking the Lexapro as it this is a known side effect. I am not taking a replacement drug as my depression was only mild and the hair loss has scared me enough for now. The hair stopped falling out 7 to 10 days after I stopped taking the Lexapro. Luckily, I had long thick hair and even though I lost about 15% to 20% of my hair it was not extremely obvious. However, I have been waiting patiently for my hair to start growing back, but the bald spots are still bald. How long should it take before the hair starts growing back as it has been over ten weeks? I would think that by now I’d see at least some stubbles of new hair growing back. Also, I have a friend who told me that after she had chemotherapy treatment (breast cancer) her doctor told her to take Biotin vitamins and use Nioxin shampoo. Should I use these products to try and speed things up?
Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions!
Telogen effluvium may take from 2-6 months to reverse. Assuming that this is a drug induced TE, you should wait out the process for at least 6 months and then if you still have bald spots, you need to see a specialist. The medications used by your friend may have value. Also, the use of minoxidil 5% may help.
Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):
I have heard on almost every website that Propecia/Avodart decreases your libido and they find it hard to get an erection, however my libido is working better than it ever did. Since taking Avodart, i feel as though it has raised my testosterone and increased my sexual desire. My question is, if Avodart increased my testosterone which it can, will it increase my hairloss. If it has increased my testosterone, does that mean it will continually stay at the same level, what i mean is that will my testosterone always be higher because im taking Avodart or will it slowy decrease over the months. If it will not should i stop taking it as it will increase my hair loss.
I know that men who take Propecia (finasteride) sometimes get an increased sex drive because testosterone levels rise by about 15% on this drug. I don’t have direct experience, but I would expect that Avodart (dutasteride) should have similar effects, because there is a feedback loop which tells your body just how much male hormone it needs. That feedback loop is what causes the rise in testosterone on finasteride.
The value for treating hair loss has nothing to do with your libido, and you should get benefits for hair growth.
Going to see a Urologist next week, will he tell me to stop finasteride?
Hi Doctor. I have been on 1/4 proscar for over a year now with great success, no side effects, and great reqrowth and maintenance. I’m a 26 year old male and went to my hair loss doctor for my yearly check up a few weeks back and he and I were very happy with the way things are going. In the last 3 months however i have had 3 cases of hematospermia, passing blood in the semen accompanied with some minor pelvic pain. I however, have no other problems urinating so it’s clearly something to do with the prostate. My family GP gave me some antibiotics, which seemed to clear one episode and he referred me a urologist to get it checked out further. He mentioned that the fact i was on finasteride would have to be seriously looked at when I visit the urologist. I mentioned all of this to my hair loss doctor during my yearly consultation, now this guy is very ethical and has over 20 years in micro surgery and over 2000 patients my age on the drug. He told me that the finasteride had nothing to do with it.
In fairness to finasteride, I was on it for 10 months without a hitch before I started getting episodes of hematospermia. I’m just worried that the urologist may ask me to stop it as he clearly will not be concerned about male pattern baldness…and effectively lose the wonderful gains the drug has provided me.
In your experience have you ever encountered cases of hematospermia any more in patients on finasteride in my age group? Do you think it may have anything to do with it, what about prostate shrinkage?
Thank you so much and i hope you can help me on this, i really hold your opinion i this area in high regard.
Regards
People who are not on finasteride do develop hematospermia, so I would expect that people on the drug will be at the same risks. I doubt that the drug is contributing to the problem and would agree that finasteride should be continued. I would doubt that a urologist would ask you to stop this, considering the benefit you have achieved.
