What’s your thoughts on the post fin syndrome Iv read about? Or any of the sides these meds can have? I would like to salvage some hair loss and potentially get some regrowth if possible, but the negatives I hear about scare me from trying fin/dut/minox tbh
It’s both real, in the sense crashing DHT levels can have awful effects, even catastrophic if you’re not forewarned of them, and bullshit hysteria, in that there’s no permanence whatsoever and you will recover after some time and DHT levels come back to normal.
I experienced this, long ago, before “post finasteride syndrome” had a name. It was awful. Turned me into an anti-propecia (the brand name) activist for decades.
When you don’t understand hormones, and the effects of crashed DHT don’t immediately resolve after stopping, it’s easy to be scared it’ll never get better.
Add to this that PFS symptoms are all capable of being induced psychosomatically. So even after DHT comes back, if you’re convinced you’ve got permanent ED and depression, you will.
It wasn’t until I learned of the terrible, somewhat similar effects of crashing estrogen, as many have here, and how depending on which AIs caused the crash, estrogen recovery could take days to weeks, that it all clicked.
Here’s the bottom line. The overwhelming majority of men use Fin and Dut, often at higher doses than used for hair, without issue. Tens of millions or more have used these meds, long term, over decades.
However, there are some, like me, who are hyperresponders, or hypersensitive to the effects. Starting doses should be lower, and cautiously titrated up. This way, the moment you feel any sides, you can stop increasing, or reduce the dose.
Get a pill splitter.
For fin, the standard hair dose is 1mg/ day. This is fine for most, but to be prudent, start with 1/4 (.25mg) tab every other day. After two weeks, if all is good, take it every day. After two weeks if no problem, you can alternate .25mg with .50mg. Then .50mg / day. At this point you’ve got 80% of fin’s benefits, with a much lower risk of sides.
I did this, despite being traumatized in the past, and discovered .50mg was just fine, despite 1mg being a disaster last time. I experienced significant hair regrowth over the next 6 months.
If things go terribly, just stop taking it and you’ll be back to baseline within a couple of weeks. Unlike those weighed down by fearmongering and the resulting psychosomatic symptoms, you know better, since unlike the average reddit r / PFS user, you understand half lives and hormones.
Dutasteride is better, but if you inadvertently crash DHT, recovery takes months. So first, see how you tolerate fin. It’s most likely going to be fine, but either way, the faster recovery makes it the smarter place to start,
Once you’ve successfully used it for 6 months, you can cautiously transition to dutasateride. Typically you’d start even lower because of its greater potency and half life. Ie, .125 mg, just twice a week to start.
If there isn’t a 5-ar inhibitor in the hair preservation stack, you’re kidding yourself, and at best, buying a little time. It must be the basis of any effort to stop loss.