Category: Drugs

I had used propecia about three years ago but I stop using it because it caused gynomastia. At that time I expierence thick and full regrowth in three months with no shedding or scalp discomfort.
I decided to try it again recently and the gynomastia did not reoccur. now I have been expirencing some shedding and a slight scalp discomfort on my first week of use. Is shedding a good sign or would this be an indication that I am a poor candidate for propecia. I have also been expirencing an increase in body tempreture 24 hour a day. my face is flush or red since starting on propecia.

You should go back to the doctor who prescribed you Propecia and address these concerns. The shedding you are talking about is something that I have heard before and the thought is that you may be experiencing accelerated hair cycling, a precursor to increased growth which may be following in a few months. Hang in with the hair loss, because it should be temporary (see: cycling).

I have not heard of facial flushing or hyperthermia (increase in body temperature) with Propecia use. You may have an underlying medical condition that may be coincidental to Propecia use.

Hi – I have heard that taking propecia may provide a false negative in some cases on a PSA test since DHT is lowered. Is it possible to have prostate cancer and not know it from a PSA test because propecia hid the true results?

Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test is a screebubg test for prostate cancer. It is a nonspecific screening tool for doctors to consider when evaluating a patient. PSA can be affected by many non-cancerous causes such as infection, benign elargement of the prostate (BPH), or even digital manipulation (during a rectal exam, for example). Finasteride is thought to reduce elevated PSA levels so we generally take a PSA baseline test for all men over 50 prior to starting the drug.

For further reading, the Dec 2005 Journal of Urology published a 7 year follow-up study of patients taking 5mg finasteride (5x dose of Propecia) and found no significant increase in Prostate cancer risk (Dr. G. Andriole was the lead author, Ref: J Urol. 2005 Dec;174(6):2098-2104)

That article was prompted by the New England Journal of Medicine article published in July 2003, which alluded to an agressive form of prostate cancer with finasteride use (which was not correct from the follow-up study).

I just performed my blood test and discovered that i’m having high cholesterol level. The doctor advised me to take medicine to reduce my cholesterol level in my body.

My question is, i’m about to take Finasteride to combat my hair loss. Is there any problem of taking Finasteride together with cholesterol reduce pills concurrently as advised by my doctor?

Kindly give your advise and comment?

What is the succesfull percentage recorded after using Finasteride treatment (out of 100 people)?

Many medications interact with one another and they all have a potential for side effects. I do not know what cholesterol medication you are taking, but most that I know of do not interfere with Propecia. I strongly advise that you address your medication concerns with your doctor or pharmacist.

Could the medication effexor interfere with propecia

All medications have the potential for cross reactivity with other medications. I do not believe Effexor or its generic form venlafaxine (which is an anti-depressant class of medication) will interfere with Propecia (finasteride).

As a disclaimer, posts on BaldingBlog are to educate the public on hair loss topics based on my personal experience and opinions. It not to be used for the purpose of medical diagnosis or treatment. Always check with your physician before starting any medication.

Hi Doctor

i’ve been taking propecia for 1 year and a half with no success. But it seems that for me it’ll work in small stretches then when im feeling stressed, ill have a strange feeling in my throat, and any hair ive maintained in a short period of time will fall out. it’s very visible. This is obviously uncommon, does it make any sense? if so is there any prevention for something like this?

thank you so much.

Stress may be central to your problems, but all of what you think you are seeing may not be what is actually there. Work on the stress with some stress reduction process and stay on the Propecia if you really have male patterned balding. This is a wonderful drug to slow, stop, or reverse hair loss in men, particularly for those under the age of 30.

Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):

Hi doctor
i am 23 year old, and i am started to use propecia 2 months ago. i am using 1% nizoral once a week with my mild shampoo. i want to order minoxidil 5% without propylene glycol from http://www.minoxidil.com, but is that a safe product ? and when can i be a good candidate to HT?

Minoxidil 5% is a higher concentration formulation, so it may have some side effects as stated in on the product. Minoxidil is a known weak hypotensive agent and it could drop your blood pressure. The higher the dose, possibly the higher the drop in blood pressure. leaving out the propylene glycol should not impact the value or safety of minoxidil, but this is not an area of my expertise (that formulations) so let’s say this is my medical ‘guess’.

With respect to being a “good candidate” for a hair transplantation, there is no way for me to know that without seeing you in person, taking a good medical history, examining your scalp hair for miniaturization, and understanding what your goals are (it’s the old-fashioned way of practicing medicine). Generally if we can predict your pattern of hair loss, understand what your worse case scenario for hair loss might be, and can measure your supply of hair against your worse case need for hair (from a hair transplant perspective), then we can make a recommendation and answer your question about being a “good candidate”. Stay the course on Propecia, as this is the best of the things you are presently doing while you come to other decisions about your hair loss.

Also, always consult with your doctor before starting any medical therapy. I may be a medical doctor, but I am not your doctor and BaldingBlog’s main purpose is to educate rather than providing individual medical advice — I recognize that this is sometimes a fine line.

For those of you who do not want to fall into the trap that some professional athletes find themselves in, I just found the US Anti-Doping Agency’s “wallet card” which may be of interest.

From the list — Masking Agents: Avodart, bromantan, dutasteride, epitestosterone, finasteride probenecid, Propecia, Proscar

• USADA Examples of 2006 Prohibited Substances and Prohibited Methods of Doping – PDF file