16 And Going Bald Already?, Please Help..

GoldenMane

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You care about your health and hair? Then don't take any risks, stay away from supplements and mdma. You don't need mdma to have fun at a festival, just a few beers, maybe learn to play guitar, you'll have a blast without drugs.
 

TheHandsomeLurker

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When i am starting finasteride should i take note of any potential worrying things that might pop up?, i know its common for a few side effects to happen maybe within the first week etc etc as i am adjusting to it. Also since I am at the gym, is it fine to take supplements with finasteride? (creatine, whey protein, pre workout, caffeine) etc?.
Another thing , what is the drug interaction with finasteride and other chemicals?, hate to have to ask this but a few times here and there I will take MDMA, usually at a music festival, and considering I have one in March I want to make sure it wont put me at a potentially dangerous combo, I havent been able to find anything on consuming MD whilst on finasteride.

You really need to listen to your doctor. Talk over any concerns you have with him.
 

barfacan

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Hi Barf I realize you are being helpful but I am familiar with several finasteride. users that respond moderately well on lower doses. Best Wishes.

Yeah i guess their anecdotal evidence is worth more than actual studies that concluded .25mg of finasteride has nearly the exact same level of DHT suppression as 5mg.
 

jsmith123

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Hi guys, have been on finasteride for 10 days so far now and nothing to really report, feel no different. It is very early on so only time will tell however. So far my "itch and tingles" on my scalp (which i had pretty badly recently when my hairloss really started to kick in) has kind of dissipated , however sometimes i will have little slight waves of it. I am also using nizoral 2% twice a week.
 

jsmith123

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Thankyou :), I will be booking an appointment with an endocrinologist soon so he can run tests to see if i have reached full development and if it is properly safe to be taking finasteride, just for that peace of mind because afterall dermatologists arent trained in the hormone and development side of things with the body.
Will keep you all updated
 

jsmith123

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I am definitely balding, I have pretty bad temple recession (Norwood 2) and on the top of my head my hair is SUPER sparse and thin.. the dermatologist confirmed it was male pattern baldness. All the males in my family on both sides started losing their hair around mid 20s, guess i was just the unlucky one
 

james555

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i would radically change diet, and scalp massage at least 30 minutes a day before bed - i know other ppl on the forum wont agree with the scalp massage, but its a tried and tested thing to help maintain hair, and even regrow if you do it dedicatedly for at least 3-6 months.

also use the other things the doctor tells you - but do exercise, go jogging, swimming, be active - dont stress over this either, stress releases hormones that dont help your hair either.

wish you the best.
 

jsmith123

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Fred, I would love to only have to stick with minoxidil at the moment, however even my dermo agreed with what the people said on the forums, so far its been really fast acting and if i wait till im 18 I could have lost so much hair, My test results show that i am properly developed, under my dermo's supervision i started finasteride and am willing to take that chance. One thing I have noticed though, is I have been on finasteride for about 2 weeks now, the 'male pattern baldness' itch if you put it hasnt really gone away, slightened kind of, on some days it isnt there, some days it is back to how it was, should this be worrying, meaning the finasteride isnt working? or does it take longer?.
 

jsmith123

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Hi guys, just a quick update once again. I have been on finasteride for 17 days now. So far I have no physical side effects and feel normal apart from one thing, I mentally feel a bit 'off'. Feel a bit anxious in certain situations for no reason and worrying for no legitimate reason, even if i know im worrying over nothing i can't *not* worry. Kind of emotionally blunt aswell, No excitement, sadness etc. a good example of this is how I have a music festival coming up this weekend, before I started finasteride and everything i was SUPER excited about it, in the last few days it's kind of just "meh" and if its not "meh" then im anxious over it for NO reason, its very frustrating. Did any of you experience this?, Could it just be me getting adjusted to the medication?, because If i stay like this or if it gets worse I definitely do not want that.. I looked it up and saw ALOT of posts about emotionally blunting on propeciahelp and that is DEFINITELY NOT the site i want to be looking at right now atleast. Anyone got any words or advice to help me out with this ?
 

heisenberg

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Hi guys, just a quick update once again. I have been on finasteride for 17 days now. So far I have no physical side effects and feel normal apart from one thing, I mentally feel a bit 'off'. Feel a bit anxious in certain situations for no reason and worrying for no legitimate reason, even if i know im worrying over nothing i can't *not* worry. Kind of emotionally blunt aswell, No excitement, sadness etc. a good example of this is how I have a music festival coming up this weekend, before I started finasteride and everything i was SUPER excited about it, in the last few days it's kind of just "meh" and if its not "meh" then im anxious over it for NO reason, its very frustrating. Did any of you experience this?, Could it just be me getting adjusted to the medication?, because If i stay like this or if it gets worse I definitely do not want that.. I looked it up and saw ALOT of posts about emotionally blunting on propeciahelp and that is DEFINITELY NOT the site i want to be looking at right now atleast. Anyone got any words or advice to help me out with this ?

Honestly, when I hear stories like this, I think its all in a persons head (for majority of the cases).

Solution: Stop reading forums and scaring yourself on the internet. If you keep reading stories of people getting depressed/emotionally unstable, your going to think you're stressed/emotionally unstable and you then will be.

Put it this way: If tomorrow you suddenly wake up with a full head of hair (but still have to take propecia) would you get extremely happy? or would you just feel "meh"?
 

jsmith123

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Haisen, to some extent i do agree and know thoroughly about the nocebo effects and what not. Thing is i didnt even know finasteride could cause "emotional blankess" and what i am experiencing currently, it hit me before i even knew anything about it possibly causing that. I also think other factors could be causing this "bluntness" at the moment. I have had a terrible week in isolation working a kitchen job with no socialising with any of my friends or any "fun constructive activities" as usual such as going to the gym after school as i usually do. On top of that im also a bit depressed over the state of my body and how it has been for a while, was sad over this even before starting gin, (went from super athletic fit build to lost all my muscle mass and skinny now from lack of excercise). I think all these factors and this chitty week has maybe just accumulated and i might be tricking myself into thinking its the finasteride. I socialised with ftiends yesterday and felt as i usually do but when im alone its a bit of a different story , I mean your own company can be a bit overbearing at times right ?. Anxiousness is present for no reason aswell. Today i accidently sliced my thumb and i full on FAINTED and blacked out from seeing the cut and blood which was extremely weird to me as I have the strongest stomach when it comes to injuries, gore blood and pain etc ( dont know if that episode today was finasteride related though?)

What do you guys think ?. I am going to see how I am next week when im back into my normal swing of things
 

jsmith123

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Just another update. Saw an endocrinologist yesterday and he looked over test results and did a physical examination aswell. he said I am pretty much 90% developed regardless of my age and stated that starting finasteride now would not bring on any 'development problems' as Im pretty much already at full development. He said that finasteride is my only hope at keeping my hair really and that by taking it now it would be equivalent of just another adult male taking it. So i do feel a lot better about it all. In regards to the emotional sides i was experiencing, that has kind of subsided and i feel maybe 75% back to normal again ( i think i was just having a terrible week). Today I also bought zinc, grape seed extract and a mens multivitamin and L-arginine from the pharmacy today, this is not because I have been experiencing side effects (atleast yet) but just that I have read these supplements can help with finasteride side effects if they are present, so just taking a precaution and also just for general wellbeing and health.
 
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Definitely you should try some natural remedies. I can suggest you to try TRX2, I'm using it for 3 months and can see good results. It has only natural ingredients. But as you're only 16, its better first to consult with your doctor first. Hope you'll get better
 

Digidako

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Stick with finasteride, use some minoxidil and don't waste time with anything else.
As for the anxiety I guarantee it's 99.9% self-inflicted, and the finasteride is not to blame for it.
 

jsmith123

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I do agree digi, I feel back to normal now. I think I was just having a terrible week and was tricking myself into thinking finasteride was causing me to become some emotional zombie where it was just the other surrounding environmental factors. Will finasteride be good enough to atleast maintain what I have now or am i still going to be terribly bald in 2 years time becasue my case is so aggressive ? :/
 

GoldenMane

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Nobody knows man, in people who are good responders, it seems typical enough that you keep your hair for at least 10 years, maybe more, and hair folicle culture techniques are making good progress for beyond that. Your hair loss is recent enough too, that you may regrow quite a lot. Best of luck to you man, hoping you have really nice results and we see you in the success stories in the next few months!
 

jsmith123

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I would say my hair has thinned out to this state over a year maybe and it only got very noticeable within the last 3-4 months. So that would be considered pretty aggressive right ?. But my temple recession is not that bad at all really, more can pass off as a tad receeded 'mature hairline', It's more the diffuse thinning that is really getting to me, when my hair is dry i look fine but when my hair is wet jesus christ its a whole different story, Since I caught this quite early albeit aggressive could it be that my hair could atleast thicken back up atleast a bit and maintain like that for quite a while?. If i can keep my hair like this at least I will be satisfied, and Fred why might you say that i would be a NW4 by the time I reach my twenties, is that even possible now that i am on finasteride ?.. even if my loss is so aggressive finasteride can stop it because without DHT it cant progress right?, or might it be that my follicles are so sensitive to DHT hence why i have had such aggressive loss that even on finasteride it can still progress ?. I have attached a photo I have of me taken back in november of 2012. My hair does not have that 'bounce' anymore and now that i think of it my hair does not even come close to sitting down near my eyebrow line, my hair is so flat compared to how it used to be in that photo. Here is 2.jpg - This is taken about 2-3 weeks ago.
passport photo 2 .jpg - This is from november of 2012

Notice the overall difference in my hair ?.
 

Abercrombie

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Yes, that is what happens when you're hair is thinning; it becomes lighter in color, thinner and eventually stops growing. This makes the overall appearance worse and worse for each day. In the photo taken about 2-3 weeks ago
you're basically already sporting a comb over. Do yourself a favor and buzz it off and see how you like it! Going thin at your age indicates very strong baldness genes and medications might not be able to help you (but indeed, if you
want to give minoxidil and finasteride a shot then go for it!!)

I know it sucks and I know denial is the first reaction, but don't let it consume you. Get a buzzcut and hit the gym, in 10 years you might be a candidate for hair transplantation. But for now, buzzcut.
 

jsmith123

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Hi guys,
I thought I would pop in for a one year update, I haven't been on the forums for pretty much at least 8 months and have been trying to just put the hairloss to the back of my mind and get on with my life. I have been on 1.25mg finasteride every day for exactly a year this coming week and nizoral 2% 2 x a week, I am 4 months off of my 18th birthday. I would say my hair has not gotten any worse really and has pretty much stayed the same, i semi what agree, as recently ( maybe in the last 3 months) i have noticed my left temple thinning to the point where it is slightly noticeable under certain light and conditions (if i haven't washed my hair etc first thing in the morning after waking up), My right side has receeded a bit higher up aswell. Even though that still isn't good news in any way of the thinning temples if my hairloss keeps progressing at the rate it has been slowed down to now, then hopefully I will be able to maintain what i have now until my early - mid 20s, that is atleast what my dermatologist said on my yearly check up. The mind is a powerful tool, I would wake up every morning thinking my hair is getting worse day by day however literally every one of my friends or person who knows about my hairloss (and thankfully I have a fantastic supportive circle of mates) have all agreed that my hair has not changed since starting the medication and that it is just me coaxing myself into thinking that as i see myself in the mirror everyday in harsh light.

My main concern is that if finasteride stops working for me at one point and it just can't keep up with the uphill battle and loses its power (is this possible) or does it look like i should be able to maintain what I have for years to come?, my dermatologist said that my hair has gotten a tad thinner so i wasn't just imagining it however he said it could be also stress related or other factors, this could possibly be plausible as around the time i noticed my hair was getting a bit worse was when i was sitting my major end of school exams and was going through a major bout of depression and stressful times.

The one thing that still really bugs me is that i struggle with going in water because of how my hair shows up, it definitely becomes noticeable then, it's pretty embarrassing and makes me self conscious when I'm not with my usual friends who are cool about it, especially makes me feel even worse about myself that I can't enjoy going to the beach or pools etc with a body i can finally be proud of after so much hard effort i have put in at the gym and with my sports because of this ****ing hairloss, I was thinking of having scalp micropigmentation done to camouflage the scalp when its wet but I'm not sure how that would affect having a hair transplant if i was to get one in my 20s IF i still have my hair then?.

Either way I'm slowly starting to come to terms with it and move on, It is what it is and although I know I will never one day feel the joy and the same way I did when i was a 14 year old kid with a full head of hair with no worries in the world but that's life and If i dwell on what the future possesses (ie me being completely bald and having to shave my head) it will just make me feel like **** at this current time which is possibly the last bit of my youth and social peak I can salvage, because trust me being bald even in your mid 20s within my area of my country is a social death sentence unless you have the body of a god fueled by steroids with a dark tan and the most exquisite tattoos backed by a 6 figure bank account.

Well that's my rant / update over, If you guys would like some update photos let me know as it would be great to have an opinion from you guys on if my hair has indeed stabilised or changed and also on what your opinions on what i should do from here on out?.

Thanks
 
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