DHT and Testosterone Blood Levels and Effectiveness of Finasteride
I’m male, 23. It’s been one month since I started to take finasteride (1/4th of a proscar pill) and my DHT levels are just as high as they were before I started. I still experience shedding, and it seems like it worsened. Scalp is itchy. I don’t have any photos though (it’s not that bad yet)
January 2017: (before fin)
Testosterone 10.000 ng/ml (reference values: 1.420 – 9.230) HIGH
Dihydrotestosterone 832.18 pg/ml (reference values: 250.00 – 990.00)
April 2017: (1 month after taking fin)
Testosterone 9.580 ng/ml (reference values: 1.420 – 9.230) HIGH
Dihydrotestosterone 824.78 pg/ml (reference values: 250.00 – 990.00)
What do you think this might be? A fake fin (proscar)? I will buy a generic produced in Hungary to test this theory.
If new generic fin won’t help me as well, I guess I will try Avodart.
I think that you are on the wrong track. The effect of finasteride is to compete with the effects of DHT at the 5-Alpha Reductase enzyme level in the hair follicles. This competition is generally only 70% effective. Your gene activities is what is propelling your hair loss. Think of it as a ‘tug-of-war’ with one side being the genes + hormones + hair follicles, and the other side being the drug finasteride blocking the hormones through its action on the 5-Alpha Reductase enzyme at the hair follicle level. If the ‘action of the drug’ is stronger than the effects of the genes + hormones + hair follicles, the you can slow down the hair loss or even reverse it. But if your genes are more powerful in this tug-of-war’ you keep losing hair.
Perhaps I’m not understanding your answer to the question correctly, but almost every paper I’ve read on finasteride says that it reduces serum levels of DHT. Is this not ‘the DHT levels in you blood’?
Did you mean to say that it does not reduce testosterone levels? I think the person who asked the questions point is that his DHT are not reduced after taking finasteride.