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From: Dallas
Date: 23 May 2001
Time: 17:49:35
Remote Name: 206.175.229.29
Hi T,
I know it takes forever to build your iron stores back up. Did I tell you my ferritin went down a point from 34 in February to 33 in April? Oh well, I'll keep on taking my Niferex and vitamin C.
Did I understand you correctly? After you started on the spironolactone, you started a period that lasted two weeks? Wow. Your body really reacted to it, huh? You're on Diane 35, yes? The pill is supposed to keep the spiro from messing up your periods but in this case it really didn't, huh?
You mentioned switching to Desogen in another post. What did your doctor think about that? I tried Diane for about a month and a half, but it didn't agree with me so I went back on Orthocept (same as Desogen).
The Proscar doesn't seem to have any side effects in me (none that I can tell). I take 2 1/2 mg a day. Dr. Redmond prescribed it in the first place but since he moved to NYC, I've been seeing Dr. Vliet and she agreed to keep prescribing it for me.
I read that Proscar is not an antiandrogen (although the same article later referred to it as an antiandrogen) - it's a 5 alpha-reductase Type 2 inhibitor. It blocks the conversion of testosterone to DHT, a culprit in hair loss.
One problem for women taking Proscar is (which you probably already know) that if you get pregnant, a boy baby could have birth defects. So even though I'm close to menopause, Dr. Vliet has me on the Pill.
That study by Dr. Price (having postmenopausal women take 1 mg of finasteride) concluded that finasteride doesn't help women, but when I decreased my dose by half, my hair loss increased by double. ???????
Anyhow, let me know what your doctor comes up with about the Proscar. I agree with what you said in an earlier post. This dealing with/treating our hair loss is a huge test of our patience and faith. I pray God gives us all the strength we need to face this.