hair shedding recommencement after 2.5 months

[n0rdic]

Hello,

I'm white male, turning 25 this March, started experiencing male pattern balding about 5 years ago but it has not been too intense, which is to say that I'm lucky to still have full head of my own hair.

Well, anyway, I decided it's time to do something about it and 2.5 months ago started up with a cource of minoxidil (5% 1 ml twice a day)+ propecia 1 mg + laser comb three times a week (even though i'm pretty sceptical about its effectiveness).

It started with intense shedding the firts 3-4 weeks which I took as a good sign for that was a proof the drugs are actually doing something with my body. It stopped after about 1 months though.

this is when I started noticing new hair regrow and it's been going pretty well with tons of new fine hair growing on temples and improved hairline condition. my hair looked and felt better and there was not noticeable hair fallout. the side effects started approximately the same time and revealed in reduced libido, but nothing serious from what I can judge.

about 2.5 weeks back the libido side effected went away as though it never started at all, but the bad thing is that i started noticing more hair falling out in shower and on my comb. at this point I can't really say if it's gone back to the fallout intensity before I started with treatment, but it's definitely dramatically higher comparing to previous month.

I know there's no way one's expecting to see the results before 3 months after treatment start and patience is the king here, but I'm getting pretty frustrated and worried about this whole thing happening to me. I did expect propecia effect to diminsh after about 3 years, but not now after only 2 months. I should I attribute the progress in my hair regrow to minoxidil rather then propecia here - if that's the case, how do these two correlate? Shd I attribute the increased shedding to my organism adjusting to drugs, and if so - why did it diminish after 1 month and now started again?

i don't know if that's related to the issue in any way, but I'm regularly working out and do the jogging for about 7 miles 3-4 times a week minimum.

Please advise for I really don't know whom else to ask? If you ever happened to experience the same thing - please tell me where do I go from here.


many thanks in advance,
G

[Mark]

Hello,

I'm white male, turning 25 this March, started experiencing male pattern balding about 5 years ago but it has not been too intense, which is to say that I'm lucky to still have full head of my own hair.

Well, anyway, I decided it's time to do something about it and 2.5 months ago started up with a cource of minoxidil (5% 1 ml twice a day)+ propecia 1 mg + laser comb three times a week (even though i'm pretty sceptical about its effectiveness).

It started with intense shedding the firts 3-4 weeks which I took as a good sign for that was a proof the drugs are actually doing something with my body. It stopped after about 1 months though.

this is when I started noticing new hair regrow and it's been going pretty well with tons of new fine hair growing on temples and improved hairline condition. my hair looked and felt better and there was not noticeable hair fallout. the side effects started approximately the same time and revealed in reduced libido, but nothing serious from what I can judge.

about 2.5 weeks back the libido side effected went away as though it never started at all, but the bad thing is that i started noticing more hair falling out in shower and on my comb. at this point I can't really say if it's gone back to the fallout intensity before I started with treatment, but it's definitely dramatically higher comparing to previous month.

I know there's no way one's expecting to see the results before 3 months after treatment start and patience is the king here, but I'm getting pretty frustrated and worried about this whole thing happening to me. I did expect propecia effect to diminsh after about 3 years, but not now after only 2 months. I should I attribute the progress in my hair regrow to minoxidil rather then propecia here - if that's the case, how do these two correlate? Shd I attribute the increased shedding to my organism adjusting to drugs, and if so - why did it diminish after 1 month and now started again?

i don't know if that's related to the issue in any way, but I'm regularly working out and do the jogging for about 7 miles 3-4 times a week minimum.

Please advise for I really don't know whom else to ask? If you ever happened to experience the same thing - please tell me where do I go from here.


many thanks in advance,
G

Everybody is physically different from one another, and drugs can affect different people different ways. Your body may just be adjusting. The thing is, it's only been two and a half months, which is entirely too soon to be seeing any real results.

But as with any drug you're taking, you really need to speak with the doctor that prescribed it as he/she will be able to accurately diagnose you better than anyone on the internet will.

-Mark

[n0rdic]

Hi Mark,

thanks for explaining that, but I'm just wandering whether anyone else has actually experienced anything similar to what I do. I've had a consulation with my doctor abt a week ago, but even though she confirmed a dramatical improvement in my hair condition over only 3 months, she also mentioned that shedding can actually come and go during some initial period.

I've noticed that I'm actually shedding more on my sides and back of a my head, rather then on front and top - and that's really unusual for i've never had it before. I still think it might be greatly because my body's still adjusting, but who knows... maybe i shd stop taking propecia for a while to see what might be the reason for this shedding, what say?


any ideas?


thanks a lot in advance.
G

[Mark]

Hi Mark,

thanks for explaining that, but I'm just wandering whether anyone else has actually experienced anything similar to what I do. I've had a consulation with my doctor abt a week ago, but even though she confirmed a dramatical improvement in my hair condition over only 3 months, she also mentioned that shedding can actually come and go during some initial period.

I've noticed that I'm actually shedding more on my sides and back of a my head, rather then on front and top - and that's really unusual for i've never had it before. I still think it might be greatly because my body's still adjusting, but who knows... maybe i shd stop taking propecia for a while to see what might be the reason for this shedding, what say?


any ideas?


thanks a lot in advance.
G

Your doctor has it right on. Shedding is a well known effect of drugs like Minoxidil and Finasteride.

I'm not sure what the point would be in stopping the treatment. You know that shedding can happen from taking drugs like Minoxidil and Finasteride, and you're experiencing shedding after taking them. If you stop the drugs the shedding should discontinue, but so would any positive results.

It's your body and you're certainly free to choose what you do, but I just don't see what the point in stopping the treatment would be, unless you're so upset by the shedding that you feel that stopping it would be better than any potential positive effects of the drugs.

Ball is in your court as they say. There are a few posts in this search on the Balding Blog (http://www.baldingblog.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=ad0779c2b9834a86ddda83aeb47213 88&s=shedding&x=0&y=0) that may be able to give you a better idea of whether what you're experiencing is common or not.

-Mark

[holdenchase23]

Hello, I have had a similar circumstance as you regaurding propecia shedding. I am a white male 24 years old and I have been taking propecia 1 millagram daily for 5 months. After taking propecia for 1 month my hairloss decreased almost entirely, I no longer had hairs in the shower drain or noticed any significant hair loss, it was shocking it seemed that the propecia had stopped my hairloss in a way i never anticapated. However by the three and a half month mark of taking propecia I experianced a massive daily shedding that has continued for almost two months, now however I feel like it is slowly decreasing.
this shedding fase has been very alarming to me especially since it is not reported as a recorded phenomene by merck. Yet, I have done a lot of research and found that many people do report mass shedding upon the early months of starting propecia. Some speculate that this shedding cycle is actually a positive indication that propecia is working to reverse the minaturisation of hair follicles, and that the shedding is simply caused by new thicker hairs growing in, and replacing the old ones. I certainly hope that this theory is correct because I have shed about 100- 200 hairs a day in the past two months since the shedding cycle began. I have decided to continue propecia for an entire year and photograph bimonthly to keep up with my progress. If you are losing hair in the permanent zone ie: the sides and back you may be experiancing a TE which theoretically is sometimes caused by a hormonal reajustment to finastride. If this is the case your hairs that were shed should return within a few months, so I recomend you continue propecia until a year has passed and document your progress with photos.

P.S. I know that the shedding can be alarming but try to stick it out and let the propecia do its job, good luck and keep me updated on your progress.

[riko36]

It’s been a long time since I’ve lost my hair and I think that I’ve tried everything: beer yeast, minoxidil, iron complements, essential oils, CystineB6… but nothing worked :( Now, are more than a few months since I’ve started using Follon ( http://dermavia.lu/etudeclinique ). It looks like it’s working, I have already some fresh growts on the top of my skull. I'm 36 and loosing hair is not right, this brought my morale to zero.

[Pipo]

i have had a very similar situation to n0rdic, been losing hair for about 3 years, 19 years of age but full head of hair Norwood 2 and been on proscar divided into 5 peices once a day for approx a month. About a week in i noticed massive shedding from all over my head, a lot on the back and sides. Particularly in the shower which feels like handfuls (100-200 hairs when I wash my hair - my hair is curly and likes to remain on my head even if it has fallen out and the shock me when i wash it).

Will keep you up to date with my progress to help you compare