19 Year Old Going Bald...

[mikey06]

Hi, I'm new to this site but I've been researching hair loss for no more then a year. Here's my story...

I'm 19 years old (soon 20 in a few months) and I noticed my hairline starting to recede when I was 18. I knew I was most likey going to lose my hair since my brother is in his late 20's with a lot of hair loss. I wasn't really bothered by it until a few months ago when my receding hairline became a lot more noticable. It really bothered me and I knew I had to do something about it. I looked up a few things about hair loss about 8/9 months ago and had plans to get on Propecia but at the time I was stuggling with acne so I decided to hold off for a while. I didn't have acne really bad but it was enough to make me become very self-conscious which led to depression. It got so bad that a lot of times when I would get invited to go out with friends I would make up excuses why I couldn't go hang out just so they wouldn't see the big inflamed pimples I used to get. Well after months of trying different treatments from slapping acne treating chemicals on my face to using red/blue lights (don't feel like explaining what it is but yuo can look it up if you want to). I ended up taking the holistic route and changed my diet around. I took out a lot of bad foods that have been known to affect acne and added in various good foods/suppliments. I've been doing this for a good 5 months or so now in which I've been able to reduce acne slightly and have almost completely stopped getting the big inflamed pimples I used to get. I still get acne a good bit but things have been better and I don't go insane worrying about it anymore. Well I got to enjoy a couple weeks of actually feeling decent about my self until I noticed my temples seemed to have receded over a month ago. Then I started to worry about going bald especialy the fact that I'm only 19. Now here I am on this site. It makes me pretty mad that I had to go through so much stuggling with something stupid like acne and now here I am starting all over again with hairloss.

I have currently been taking saw palmetto for the past 2 months or so which was suggested by someone on the acne site I go to. They have been able to stop/slow down their hair loss by taking saw palmetto extract. I thought what the hell I'll give it a try until I find something else. The other week I decided to visit my doctor to see what could be done even though I already researched a lot and knew what treatments I wanted such as propecia. That ended up being a waste of 50 bucks. She basicaly said I was screwed and should just consider some kind of transplant later on. Well after doing some more research I saw that some people buy generic propecia online for a decent price. I ordered some generic proscar about a week ago and I also got some 5% minoxidil. They both came with in the last few days and now I'm ready to battle hair loss.

I took 1/4 of the generic proscar tonight but I'm not sure about starting the minoxidil just yet. I expected the finasteride pill to be a little bigger. I find it hard to believe that such a small piece of it will actually do anything since I'm used to taking big pills of saw palmetto. I'm actually a little worried about this...it just doesn't seem like enough. lol I might take a picture of one of the pills and compare it to a dime or soemthing to see if it's normal size for being 5mg or if someone else is willing to take a pic of their finasteride to compare.

Now that I'm starting/going to start these treatments I was wondering if anyone can give me any advice. Their are some questions I have such as is it better to take the pill with food or just water (not sure if it matters)? I'm kind of scared to try the 5% minoxidil right now just because I've read about shedding and whatnot when using certain treatments. I don't want it to make my hairline worse. I did have some other questions also but it's late and I can't think anymore after writting all of this. I just thought I might as well join the site and hopefully be able to post in the succes stories thread in the near future.

 

[ghg]

finasteride pills are small... even those with 5 mg finasteride are very small. You know, 5 mg... how much do you think that would weigh?

 

[30_going_on_60]

hey mikey, welcome to the hell, lol, just kidding, it's really not that bad. I've had a pretty similar youth, horrible acne, about a year without it and then the hairloss kicked in when I was about 18. Dotors are smart people to be sure, but a lot of them aren;t at all concerned about hairloss since its a cosmetic thing. There are tons of similar stories on here about doctors refusing to prescribe anything because they really don;t think it's a big deal or that it doesn;t work. Maybe try another doctor. Propecia DOES work, I'm saying that from first hand knowledge. The bad news is that it won;t work forever. 5-10 years is the general norm although it could be more or less. Also, it simply may not work on some people. If you;re sure yo're losing your hair, and your older brother is visibly bald, then there's a chance that you are losing your hair. My advice is to wait a little bit, if you are definately starting to lose a lot, then consider the medication. My goal was to hold onto an acceptable amount for as long as I could up to an age where its more common and I wouldn;t stand out as much. I have about as much hair now as I did when i was 20, but probably a little less, it's all thanks to the medication. And at 30, I don;t nearly care as much as when I was 20, I mean, I'd rather it didn;t happen at all, but its a lot easier to deal with. I have more hair than about 30% of the people my age, where before it was like 1%. Also you;re young and you can take some comfort in knowing that medical knowledge has more than doubled sinced Propecia first came out and something new and better may be on the way soon. In the mean time, maybe try using Nizoral 2% twice a week and try to get as much input from people on these boards as you can.

 

[RaginDemon]

hey mikey, welcome to the hell, lol, just kidding, it's really not that bad. I've had a pretty similar youth, horrible acne, about a year without it and then the hairloss kicked in when I was about 18. Dotors are smart people to be sure, but a lot of them aren;t at all concerned about hairloss since its a cosmetic thing. There are tons of similar stories on here about doctors refusing to prescribe anything because they really don;t think it's a big deal or that it doesn;t work. Maybe try another doctor. Propecia DOES work, I'm saying that from first hand knowledge. The bad news is that it won;t work forever. 5-10 years is the general norm although it could be more or less. Also, it simply may not work on some people. If you;re sure yo're losing your hair, and your older brother is visibly bald, then there's a chance that you are losing your hair. My advice is to wait a little bit, if you are definately starting to lose a lot, then consider the medication. My goal was to hold onto an acceptable amount for as long as I could up to an age where its more common and I wouldn;t stand out as much. I have about as much hair now as I did when i was 20, but probably a little less, it's all thanks to the medication. And at 30, I don;t nearly care as much as when I was 20, I mean, I'd rather it didn;t happen at all, but its a lot easier to deal with. I have more hair than about 30% of the people my age, where before it was like 1%. Also you;re young and you can take some comfort in knowing that medical knowledge has more than doubled sinced Propecia first came out and something new and better may be on the way soon. In the mean time, maybe try using Nizoral 2% twice a week and try to get as much input from people on these boards as you can.

in general, people who are not on treatment will catch up with you when they get older. It's quite common to see guys in their 30's start balding.

 

[mikey06]

The pills just seem so small....lol but as long as they work I won't complain. Actually that's a good thing because I've always had a hard time swallowing pills.

I'm definately losing my hair. My hairline has receded over 1/2 in.+ since I was 18. I'll have to look up Nizoral more but I do have some dandruff expecialy now since it's colder out. I live in PA and during the warmer months I don't really notice it much at all. I know that most likely I will eventually have to face being bald but for now I hope to at least keep the hair I have for a few years and maybe grow a little back around my temples. I've actually been kind of stuck in my life because of acne, hair loss, and other personal things. I was suppose to go to school right out of high school but I decided to take a year off which most people I know who did the same never went back. All these stupid things have been holding me back from moving forward in my life. I haven't had a job for a while now and it's all big mess. :roll: I hope these treatments help me out for at least a few years to come so I can get my self confidence back and go to school. I hate feeling bad about all of this because I've always been pretty happy with everything in my life but I guess it's just another bump in the road... I've learned that things such as acne or hair loss or what ever can actually have a positive impact on your life. I've always wanted to eat healthier and start lifting weights even though all my life I've been a small skinny skate rat. lol Now because of acne I've been doing both of those things. Also, I think over all they can turn you into a better person if you know what I mean.

 

[RaginDemon]

The pills just seem so small....lol but as long as they work I won't complain. Actually that's a good thing because I've always had a hard time swallowing pills.

I'm definately losing my hair. My hairline has receded over 1/2 in.+ since I was 18. I'll have to look up Nizoral more but I do have some dandruff expecialy now since it's colder out. I live in PA and during the warmer months I don't really notice it much at all. I know that most likely I will eventually have to face being bald but for now I hope to at least keep the hair I have for a few years and maybe grow a little back around my temples. I've actually been kind of stuck in my life because of acne, hair loss, and other personal things. I was suppose to go to school right out of high school but I decided to take a year off which most people I know who did the same never went back. All these stupid things have been holding me back from moving forward in my life. I haven't had a job for a while now and it's all big mess. :roll: I hope these treatments help me out for at least a few years to come so I can get my self confidence back and go to school. I hate feeling bad about all of this because I've always been pretty happy with everything in my life but I guess it's just another bump in the road... I've learned that things such as acne or hair loss or what ever can actually have a positive impact on your life. I've always wanted to eat healthier and start lifting weights even though all my life I've been a small skinny skate rat. lol Now because of acne I've been doing both of those things. Also, I think over all they can turn you into a better person if you know what I mean.

You can expect great maintainese, but regrowth at the temples is very hard, dont expect too much of that.