St.John Wart seems to have a connection as described in the following link https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19073252. It does seem to interfere with blood levels.
2019-09-20 04:33:322019-04-08 13:34:16St. Johns Wart medication and Finasteride, is there a connection I should know about?
I’ve been splitting my 1mg min, and taking half in the morning, and the other half at night. Do you think this is a good idea, or should I just take the whole pill once a day?
Either way, it will work. The value of finasteride is in what sticks to the hair follicle stem cells.
2019-02-15 12:34:042019-02-20 08:52:25Splitting Daily Finasteride into Two Doses
If you are a female taking Spironolactone 100 mg can you take propecia too?
If you are taking spironolactones, you must be managed by a doctor. As I do not have experience with it, I can not answer this from direct knowledge, but I would suspect that it would be reasonable to take Propecia, provided that you are past child bearing years. There is no long term studies on safety in women for Propecia, but there are certain conditions that cause a woman to make a great deal of male hormones and as such, may actually develop a male patterned hair loss. Having these diseases and being past child bearing years, a trial of Propecia may be indicated, but be aware of the possible appearance of conditions that ‘theoretically’ may develop which could impact the breast, uterine and ovarian organs. For example, cancer risks have never been studied when a women is placed on Propecia and those women who are genetically prone to breast, uterine, or ovarian cancer may find themselves at greater risk.
Are you familiar with using spironoclactone topically for hairloss???? one DR. said it might be the closet thing to cure we have. IT is antiandrogen , which stops DHT at the point on scalp with attacking the follice. I would like to know if you think it worth trying in a lotion on the scalp??? Please respond With you professional opinion. THANKS
Yes, I am familiar with Spironolactones use for hair loss. They have been around for some time. Medline states “Spironolactone, a ‘water pill,’ is used to treat high blood pressure and fluid retention caused by various conditions, including heart disease. It causes the kidneys to eliminate unneeded water and salt from the body into the urine. Spironolactone is also used to treat certain patients with hyperaldosteronism and in certain patients with low potassium levels.”
This is a potent medication and has had some reported impact on fascial hair in women. There are some doctors who use this in conjunction with other medications including Minoxidil, which is an anti-hypertensive medication. Although side effects from spironolactone are not common, they can occur and include: upset stomach, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, frequent urination, dizziness, headache, enlarged or painful breasts, irregular menstrual periods, drowsiness, muscle weakness or cramps, rapid, excessive weight loss, fatigue, slow or irregular heartbeat, sore throat, unusual bruising or bleeding, yellowing of the skin or eyes, skin rash, vomiting blood, fever, and confusion. I do not believe that this is a viable treatment for hair loss as there is no objective evidence that it works in female hair loss, but it is used by some doctors to treat women with hair loss.
2005-10-25 08:29:552005-10-25 08:32:02Spironolactones and Hair Loss in Women
I posted a question some time ago but didn’t hear back from you so here goes. I am a 33 year old female with hair loss for the past year and 7 months. Started to notice the loss after going off the birth control pills. I went to see a hair loss expert at Duke University who said it was TE. Still hasn’t stopped thinning. I am back on the pill and spironlactone. I also have Hashitmoto’s disease. No family history of female hair loss although my dad has lost his hair. My testosterone levels recently came back at 86 which my doctor thinks is high and probably due to some PCOS. I have several questions. First, could the spiro be making my hair loss worse? What can be done to combat the high testosterone levels? I have a diffuse loss but also hair loss at the sides of my forehead (what I consider the temples) and my hair line has receded (which is what bothers me the most). Thanks for any insight.
The cause of your hair loss seem multifactorial. Birth control pills has been linked to hair loss even if you have stopped taking it. In other words, stopping or starting birth control pills may have ‘triggered’ your hair loss process. Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis is also a reason why you may have hair loss, because of its autoimmune process (your body may be attacking your hair). Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) may also be related to hair loss by the virtue of hormone imbalances that this disease produces. Spironolactone, which is a common blood pressure lowering drug, can also be the cause of your hair loss as much as a help for it (now that sounds crazy, but it does say much about its value). Some doctors believe that Spironolactones may also grow hair, because spironolactone works by inhibiting a hormone called aldosterone, which is similar to testosterone (note: this is a very simplistic way of putting it). To my knowledge, there is no reliable scientific evidence of using spironolactone to grow hair. Most importantly spironolactone is not approved by the FDA to treat hair loss. Finally, your high testosterone levels should be addressed by your primary care doctor or a specialist who knows your complete medical history. PCOS can cause virulizing traits, and with high testosterone, that will just accelerate these traits. You may have already guessed, but spironolactone is commonly used to treat PCOS to decrease the androgenic hormone (testosterone) levels.
You seem to be doing the right thing by seeing the appropriate doctors. Unfortunately, sometimes there are no solutions.
2006-03-29 13:48:322006-03-29 14:23:36Spironolactones and Hair Loss
Hi Doc,
Nice blog.
My question is kinda odd, but please humor me. I can tell there’s some sort of relationship of importance between cause-driven itchy scalp and hair loss.
I really think someone in the hair loss research field, such as yourself, should look further into what I’m saying. I am a statistician by background; I have a PhD in my field, and I am by no means bringing up a crazy idea here. It’s a theory. We all want a cure for baldness, and the best bet is to hear out every conceptual idea or theory. If you could learn the connection here, I believe you would not only make a lot of money, but you’d also help a lot of people.
So, here goes… I noticed about a year or two ago – when I eat something spicy, my head itches. Ok, big deal. Sometimes when I workout, my head also itched. However, the spice aspect, is more noticeable, regular and I can even predict it. When I eat something spicy, I know I’ll have an itch shortly “only in the area of my head that’s thinning or balding”. It’s really strange, and my statistics background tells me there’s got to be a connection there.
The questions I think need answering are:
-Why do humans feel itching?
-What in a spice could cause itching at distant location?
-Could it be something from the spice goes into the bloodstream right away and effects DHT?I seriously think a dermatologist should be able to answer this. I know I’m not the only one to bring this up.
I am not a dermatologist, so I will try to answer to the best of my capacity. I do know from personal experience that one of the consequence of eating spicy foods is sweating on the scalp, which can make your scalp itch. It also makes my nose run and sometimes my eyes water depending on the heat level. This may be due to a histamine reaction from the capsaicin, the chemical which makes it spicy. But I do not see how this is related to hair loss.
Most male hair loss is due to genetic causes, which is known as androgenic alopecia (AGA) or male pattern baldness (MPB). It is really not a DHT issue in and of itself. In other words, if you do NOT have the genes for hair loss, you will not go bald no matter how much DHT you have.
As far as why humans have to feel the sensation of itching, that is like asking why humans have to feel the sensation of pain. I think that is a bit beyond the scope of BaldingBlog. Sorry.
I’m reading on the package of finasteride accord and it says that it lowers the sperm quality and that infertility is a possibility. Would I be risking going infertile if I were to take finasteride for 10 years?
Infertility would be a very remote possibility. I looked into this when one of my nephew’s sperm count dropped on finasteride. I found the decreased sperm counts is not uncommon when on finasteride. After that research, his wife became pregnant. I have had the opportunity to do sperm counts on some of my younger patients, a lower than average sperm counts have been seen.
Once miniturization of the hair begins, how long does it take until a person notices his hair is even slightly thinner ?I go back a year ago and it was still good and today less dense. A year seems pretty fast, but doesn’t it take longer?
The hair loss process varies with the individual and his/her genetics. There are no rules here. Some people take a long time to lose the hair while others can lose it in a year or two.
2008-08-14 09:32:112008-08-11 14:13:08Speed of Hair Loss
