I've read in two different websites (one at apria.com, the other I can't remember) that women who were taking flutamide at 250mg per day for hirsutism were able to reduce their dosage to 125mg after 12 months and maintain the same results. Has anyone found that they could lower the dosage after a period of time successfully?Has anyone tried?
I've read in two different websites (one at apria.com, the other I can't remember) that women who were taking flutamide at 250mg per day for hirsutism were able to reduce their dosage to 125mg after 12 months and maintain the same results. Has anyone found that they could lower the dosage after a period of time successfully?Has anyone tried?
I can't answer your question (sorry!) as I've never taken flutamide, although I am going to ask my doctors about it. Are you currently taking it (at 250mg/day?), and if so what results are you having? Thanks!
Thanks for those links. I have been taking 250mg for about 9 months. I have seen significant reduction body hair but the improvement in facial hair has been so-so. There has been some improvement but not what I was hoping for. Please bear in mind that I am 52 years old and have been dealing with this problem for decades. This makes it much more diffucult to get successful results than if you catch the problem in the early stages. I wish you the best of luck with this.
I started taking flutamide yesterday. I'm not sure whether I should take 125mg or 250mg/day. (On Tuesday my dermatologist prescribed 250mg, and on Wednesday my internist prescribed 125mg. Neither of them has any experience prescribing flutamide.)
I plan to take 125mg/day for at least a week in the hopes of minimizing any side effects, but I really don't know whether there would be any point in staying at 125mg either until my next liver function test in a month, or until I can assess how well it's working (which I guess would take at least six months, and maybe a year), or whether 250mg is likely to give me better results.
I'm hoping for significant improvement in my acne and alopecia. Reducing the hirsutism would be great, but at this point it bothers me less than the other symptoms. Sadly, I have the idea that hirsutism is the easiest symptom to affect with antiandrogen therapy and alopecia is the hardest. Not sure whether that's true. Also unfortunately, my dermatologist thinks reducing androgens won't fix my acne by itself, and still wants me to go on Accutane, which I'd really rather not do (again -- I took it at 17 but had to go off when my triglycerides went up to 1100). But I also hate the horrible acne! Sigh.
Surprisingly enough, since I have lots of clinical symptoms of hyperandrogenism, my test results don't show elevated androgens. My total testosterone was 28 ng/dL (although it was 42 before I started taking metformin in July), my free testosterone 2.8 pg/mL, my DHEA-S was 194 mcg/dL, and my SHBG was 27 nmol/L, which gives me a free androgen index of 3.6. I guess I must be sensitive to even normal levels of testosterone, or convert an inordinate amount of it to DHT. Or the tests are just wrong! (Serum hormone tests are notoriously inaccurate.) I hope the flutamide will help anyway.
I'm rambling here. It's just so frustrating that no one seems to truly know how to fix anything, and that doctors don't have answers to any of my questions. I wish there was an all-knowing endocrinologist I could go to!
Surprisingly enough, since I have lots of clinical symptoms of hyperandrogenism, my test results don't show elevated androgens. My total testosterone was 28 ng/dL (although it was 42 before I started taking metformin in July), my free testosterone 2.8 pg/mL, my DHEA-S was 194 mcg/dL, and my SHBG was 27 nmol/L, which gives me a free androgen index of 3.6. I guess I must be sensitive to even normal levels of testosterone, or convert an inordinate amount of it to DHT. Or the tests are just wrong! (Serum hormone tests are notoriously inaccurate.) I hope the flutamide will help anyway.
My PCOS symptoms get worse when my Testosterone is above 22 or so. I can tell when it's going up. I guess I am also sensitive. I started Metformin 2,000mgs, about three years ago. It brought my Testosterone down from 119 to 40. (within two months). Then my Endocrinologist added Spironolactone (200mgs) for acne. My Testosterone then went down to 25. So for two years after that my levels stayed around 20-25. I was able to lose weight, had regular cycles, skin cleared,etc... This combination helped all of my PCOS symptoms, except the hair loss.
Well, last year my Testosterone started climbing slowly. It went up to 60. My Endocrinologist kept saying, well your still in the normal range. (who's normal range??)
I asked for Flutamide.
She said "No".
I found another Endocrinologist. He prescribed Flutamide. I started on 125mgs, after one month, liver fuction tests were normal, so I now take 250mgs a day. I have been taking liver fuction tests every four weeks since stating it in June.
Good news is no more hair loss cycles, Testosterone went down quickly to 22, I have noticed new head hair growth already. I feel good, like my body is working the way that it should. I am not Diabetic or insulin resistant, but it's the Testosterone levels that I have to watch. Sorry so long, but I know that their is not a lot info out there about flutamide, Testosterone and PCOS.
__________________ Allison
I have to exercise in the morning, before my brain figures out what the hell I am actually doing To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. . Traditional PCOS - Anovulatory, increased androgens, no insulin resistance
Medications and Supps listed on my profile.
My PCOS symptoms get worse when my Testosterone is above 22 or so. I can tell when it's going up. I guess I am also sensitive. I started Metformin 2,000mgs, about three years ago. It brought my Testosterone down from 119 to 40. (within two months). Then my Endocrinologist added Spironolactone (200mgs) for acne. My Testosterone then went down to 25. So for two years after that my levels stayed around 20-25. I was able to lose weight, had regular cycles, skin cleared,etc... This combination helped all of my PCOS symptoms, except the hair loss.
Well, last year my Testosterone started climbing slowly. It went up to 60. My Endocrinologist kept saying, well your still in the normal range. (who's normal range??)
I asked for Flutamide.
She said "No".
I found another Endocrinologist. He prescribed Flutamide. I started on 125mgs, after one month, liver fuction tests were normal, so I now take 250mgs a day. I have been taking liver fuction tests every four weeks since stating it in June.
Good news is no more hair loss cycles, Testosterone went down quickly to 22, I have noticed new head hair growth already. I feel good, like my body is working the way that it should. I am not Diabetic or insulin resistant, but it's the Testosterone levels that I have to watch. Sorry so long, but I know that their is not a lot info out there about flutamide, Testosterone and PCOS.
Wow, new growth within four months! That's fantastic! I hope I have results as good.
Does the flutamide keep your skin clear?
Thank you for sharing your experience. I agree, there's not enough information on how to use flutamide! If I knew where to find a doctor who prescribes it a lot, I would consult them, but I don't, so I went to the doctors I have armed with a bunch of studies showing good results with flutamide and the flutamide-metformin combination in PCOS.
Interesting that you need your total testosterone so low to manage your symptoms. Maybe I'll be just like you in that regard. Do you also track your free testosterone or free androgen index (which is calculated from total testosterone and SHBG)?
Flutamide dosage question 
Flutamide 
