Kirby
Established Member
- Reaction score
- 38
OK, my story...
* noticed hairloss last October. At first I believed it was damage from regular hair straightening!
* I am a diffuse, all-over thinner. I have been told that I have NW2 hairline (I think much nearer NW3 myself).
* started finasteride 1mg (branded Propecia) in January (see sig for exact date).
* didn't add any other treatments, mainstream or experimental, and won't without knowing for sure that finasteride works first. I have the intention to, but need to know whether finasteride works for me first, as the foundation stone of a good regimen.
* shed hair DRASTICALLY in the second half of January. The difference was enormous. My girlfriend, who'd denied that I had hairloss, began to agree with me after the shedding!
* never regrew any of the early shed-loss hair, even at this point. However, my hairloss stabilised completely, the scalp itch I had disappeared, so did the severe dandruff.
* when all the way to London to a hairloss clinic, and was squinted at across a desk by a non-doctor, who gave me no straight answers. On reflection, they saw I wasn't a potential hair transplant patient, so weren't bothered.
* started another shedding phase at the end of September. I still have hair falling out, on the pillow each morning, when I wash my hair. Hair has much worse density than when I started finasteride.
That's my story brought up to date for now. I'm ****ing terrified. Baseline hair quantities + extra thickening and growth would be acceptable to me, and that's what I assumed would happen.
I'm going to hijack part of someone else's thread now, to work through some of the se possible 'secondary factors'.
1. Stress may be implicated in my loss, yes. I take Lorazepam for anxiety, have bad anxiety attacks, have no social life because of stress/anxiety issues. I have no idea if somehow stress control can make finasteride 'kick in' for me ... It's all rather cyclical, incidentally, as the worsening hairloss situation is causing me a great deal of stress.
2. My diet could be better, but isn't bad... I don't drink alcohol or eat much if any fried food, for example. My diet is gluten-free (to control IBS), alcohol-free, free of legumes and nuts (also to control IBS).
3. Not going to touch minoxidil unless I can see finasteride causing some positive effects, and then only very reluctantly.
4. I used Nizoral (last November until this October), replaced by BiovaxMed containing ciclopirox olamine. Am open to using more minor/adjunct treatments.
5. I have asthma, allergies, as well as rhinitis and IBS. No idea about thyroid issues. I am definitely not iron deficient, had that tested recently. I have had long-running fungal infections on my hands and feet as a teenager, mostly my hands, which scarred my hands up. Don't think I have a fungal infection on my scalp, as I have been using some form of anti-fungal shampoo for nearly a whole year now.
* noticed hairloss last October. At first I believed it was damage from regular hair straightening!
* I am a diffuse, all-over thinner. I have been told that I have NW2 hairline (I think much nearer NW3 myself).
* started finasteride 1mg (branded Propecia) in January (see sig for exact date).
* didn't add any other treatments, mainstream or experimental, and won't without knowing for sure that finasteride works first. I have the intention to, but need to know whether finasteride works for me first, as the foundation stone of a good regimen.
* shed hair DRASTICALLY in the second half of January. The difference was enormous. My girlfriend, who'd denied that I had hairloss, began to agree with me after the shedding!
* never regrew any of the early shed-loss hair, even at this point. However, my hairloss stabilised completely, the scalp itch I had disappeared, so did the severe dandruff.
* when all the way to London to a hairloss clinic, and was squinted at across a desk by a non-doctor, who gave me no straight answers. On reflection, they saw I wasn't a potential hair transplant patient, so weren't bothered.
* started another shedding phase at the end of September. I still have hair falling out, on the pillow each morning, when I wash my hair. Hair has much worse density than when I started finasteride.
That's my story brought up to date for now. I'm ****ing terrified. Baseline hair quantities + extra thickening and growth would be acceptable to me, and that's what I assumed would happen.
I'm going to hijack part of someone else's thread now, to work through some of the se possible 'secondary factors'.
1. Stress may be implicated in my loss, yes. I take Lorazepam for anxiety, have bad anxiety attacks, have no social life because of stress/anxiety issues. I have no idea if somehow stress control can make finasteride 'kick in' for me ... It's all rather cyclical, incidentally, as the worsening hairloss situation is causing me a great deal of stress.
2. My diet could be better, but isn't bad... I don't drink alcohol or eat much if any fried food, for example. My diet is gluten-free (to control IBS), alcohol-free, free of legumes and nuts (also to control IBS).
3. Not going to touch minoxidil unless I can see finasteride causing some positive effects, and then only very reluctantly.
4. I used Nizoral (last November until this October), replaced by BiovaxMed containing ciclopirox olamine. Am open to using more minor/adjunct treatments.
5. I have asthma, allergies, as well as rhinitis and IBS. No idea about thyroid issues. I am definitely not iron deficient, had that tested recently. I have had long-running fungal infections on my hands and feet as a teenager, mostly my hands, which scarred my hands up. Don't think I have a fungal infection on my scalp, as I have been using some form of anti-fungal shampoo for nearly a whole year now.
