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Taking Avodart and Oral Steroids

Dear Dr Rassman:

I started losing hair at 21 years old and i was prescribed Propecia by a doctor. at 23 i took steroids for a period of 2 months, a oral plan which included Winstrol (Stanozonol), so propecia wasnt really working and decided to change for Avodart taking 0.5Mg a day. Now that i dont work out anymore, i kept taking avodart for more than 1 year and now i think i have reduced sex drive, and reduced amount of sperm.

I believe hair loss has completely stopped since avodart, but the sex drive got worst, 1 year after.

would you recommend to stop completely taking avodart?
would it be effective to take it every 3 days instead?
would you recommend to go back to propecia?

Regards

You are asking for detailed medical advice, but I am not your doctor — for legal and ethical reasons, I can only provide general advice. You need to address these issues with the doctor that prescribed you the anabolic steroids and Avodart (dutasteride). You don’t seem to have a focus on the long term consequences and steps you need to make in your hair restoration process, so the best advice I can give you is to find a doctor that will form a Master Plan for you.

You are correct in stating Avodart causes a low sex drive (much higher occurrence than Propecia). It should be reversible once you stop taking the medication, unless you also have a component of inherent sexual impotence. Mind you that this is all confounded by your anabolic steroid use. This is more the reason why you need a good evaluation and examination by a doctor (face to face).


2008-01-16 19:19:03Taking Avodart and Oral Steroids

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FUE Scars and a Bad, Immoral Doctor who sold him lies, promises and bad surgery

For this man’s doctor, each patient was about money, i.e. how much money he could extract from every patient. Many young men fall victims to such doctor behavior as this man did. The doctor told him that the 3000 grafts he was going to perform would not produce any scarring. This man only had a very small bald area in the two corners which could have easily be fixed with 500 grafts per side, but the doctor and his salesman told him he needed 3000 grafts (at least 2000 which were unnecessary). Many of the grafts in these two balding corners did not grow, but the doctor got his money, nevertheless, a lot of money. After the grafts grew in poorly, this man was stuck with white scars from the FUE which he was told was a scarless surgery (not true). He wanted to keep his hair short, but because of the scars, he could not. There are many things about this man’s terrible experience that bothers me: (1) he could not really afford the $30,000 he spent on these grafts (he overpaid even for a good surgery and went into debt to get it), (2) the grafts were taken from his neck area (which is not permanent hair so some of the hair that did grow will not be permanent), (3) he was lied to by the doctor and the doctor’s slick salesman about almost everything relating to the transplant and oversold the number of grafts by 2000 grafts, and (4) he was left with bothersome scars (which I fixed for him with Scalp Micropigmentation) at still another cost he should not have had. The first four pictures are of his ‘scarless surgery’. The second pictures were taken after we repaired the scars with Scalp Micropigmentation.
The patient does have recourse against this doctors by: (1) demanding his money back with the threat of legal action if he does not get his money back (I often help such patients find an attorney who will help them), (2) he can take his complaint to the medical board (in California, the medical boards license the doctors and they must investigate all such claims and if the doctor is found guilty, he could lose his license to practice medicine). I always agree to supply testimony for such patients to assist them to get justice for complaints either in court or for the medical boards. I am even more angry than this man because these slimy doctors give my profession a bad name and harm people. Doctors should be above this type of behavior.

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taking oral minoxidil and finasteride

This might be too early for an update since I’ve only been taking them for a week. But I just wanted to add my experience if it can be helpful, since side effects for these make themselves known within a week of starting treatments.

I started taking 0.5mg of oral Finasteride tablets and 2.5mg oral Minoxidil tablets every morning since last week.

Currently have no side effects to speak of except for a mild sore right arm around lunch time that went away after a couple hours. I think that was from the “swelling” that Minoxidil might sometimes cause. My wife says it might not be even connected.

This may be a very effective treatment for men with balding. I rarely prescribe both oral drugs on the same patient but I have recently been doing so.


2021-07-14 08:17:08taking oral minoxidil and finasteride

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FUE with 2500 grafts 2.5 months ago

I got the surgery done, 2500 grafts, at a top US surgeon 2.5 months ago. So far hair has grown in around the edges, but not in the majority of the center. I’ve been on fin for 4 months. Is this considered normal? I didn’t do ACell/PRP.

You need to wait this out. You will see growth start around 3-5 months and be at styling length by the 8th month. The ACell and PRP has not significant value anyway for hair growth from a hair transplant


2020-08-03 15:47:05FUE with 2500 grafts 2.5 months ago

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Taking Testosterone and Dutasteride 4 months after a hair transplant

I had a hair transplant 4 months ago and found out that my testosterone levels were low, so I went on Testosterone. My doctor prescribed Dutasteride to protect my native hair. What do you think?

With hormone supplements or testosterone, you run the risk of losing more native hair, not from the donor area or the transplanted hair, but from the native hair. Taking Dutasteride, which has a sterility side effect, is not in the best interest of my patients so I rarely prescribe it.

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Gabapentin and Hair Loss

After 6 months of excruciating pain, I was prescribed Gabapentin. I took this drug in January 2018 for nerve pain related to a herniated disc in C6 and C7. I took the drug for a month while waiting for a disc replacement surgery. On the day of my last appointment before the surgery, I woke up pain-free!!! No pain since. I could not believe how fortunate I was. Was it the drug? Did my body heal? I didn’t care as long as I was pain free. We postponed the surgery. If the pain returned, then we would move forward. 2 months later, I still have no pain. Then, I notice there is a little extra hair when I brush or wash my hair. It turned into handfuls of hair! I had waist length, full-bodied hair – so much that I fought to wrap a ponytail holder around my hair twice.

It is June 2018 and I can now wrap a ponytail holder 6 times. Yes 6 and it’s loose!!!! When I touch my hair, I pull back loose strains. From May to June, I have lost an estimated 75% of my hair. If I had known this was the results, I never would have taken this pill. There are other options. I have started taking folic acid in hopes it will trigger the hair follicles to begin regrowing.

Hair loss side effects like shedding, decreasing volume, dullness, etc. have been reported with medications like Gabapentin Neurontin.


2018-08-15 08:29:55Gabapentin and Hair Loss

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Teen Losing Hair On Sides and Back of Head

I am a 17-year old boy and have been losing my hair for a year now. Im losing quite a lot of hair on top but thats not the thing, the thing is that im losing some hair on the sides and the back of my head and its really scary. There is no doubt that i have male pattern baldness but im wondering if lets say one becomes a 5 in the norwood class doesnt that person lose some(lose som density) hair on the sides and the back. Is it just the norwood 7 and beyond that lose their hair their there or what? Please answer there is no one that can answer my question!!

With a traditional balding pattern as outlined in the Norwood chart (see below), the sides and back are spared. All thinning is limited to the front, top, and crown in patients with genetic male pattern baldness (MPB). So if you do have thinning hair on the sides or back of your head, I might think about diffuse unpatterned alopecia (DUPA) — but this is all complete guess work without examining you myself. The questions you asked me via email should be asked of your caring doctor in person following an examination of your hair and scalp. I don’t know what you’re seeing, so I can’t provide much more than that.

 

You need to establish some measurements with mapping your scalp for miniaturization at a minimum in following your hair loss. You also need to have a good doctor establish a Master Plan for your potential progressive balding.


2008-03-19 15:07:31Teen Losing Hair On Sides and Back of Head

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Telogen Effluvium & Propecia

Hello, Dr.Rassman.
I have been on finasteride and minoxidil for eight months. In the first five months, they worked fine for me with shedding about ten hairs in my hand while shampooing. But after five months, shedding increased apparently and the situation seemed to suit for the Telogen Effluvium. Someone told me it was induced by finasteride and rode it out. Is it a good sign to indicate the possibility to reverse MPB? And if I experienced a Telogen Effluvium and rode it out, does it have the possibility to reoccur again?
Thanks.

What you are describing is the acceleration of the hair loss process that normally comes in spurts. Propecia does not cause this; it generally slows it down or stops the loss. Unfortunately, the genetics in some men has a stronger influence than the DHT blocking ability of Propecia. On the other extreme end, we have had some patients completely reverse the male pattern baldness, even in the frontal area where it rarely works to reverse it.


2005-09-02 12:30:16Telogen Effluvium & Propecia

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Gilbert’s Syndrome and Hair Loss

Hello, I was wondering if you could help me out in explaining my blood results.

I am a 20 years old male and it seems and i am experiencing hair loss. I have Gilbert’s syndrome and i was told that it may somehow benefit to hair loss but i am unsure how. I used to have low iron in my blood and i thought that it could be an issue however i have normal levels of iron in my blood now but im still losing hair.

My blood results showed that my testosterone levels are normal however my dht levels are 3 times above normal. I recently experienced some weight loss. Could it be that my liver condition adds to the dht increase? can the dht increase be temporary due to my weight loss? what can i possibly do to slow it down?

Thank you!

I do not believe Gilbert’s syndrome (a liver condition) has any relation to genetic androgenic hair loss. The two are not related.

Gilbert’s syndrome is a hereditary condition that relates has to do with how your body metabolizes bilirubin. I am not sure how it may relate to your DHT levels or if that even has any factor in androgenic hair loss. I would recommend you consult with your doctor or an endocrinologist.