27, starting new regimen, seeking advice from the veterans

[HairMagician]

So, I unfortunately got quite sick with Valley Fever (live in AZ) and lost 30 pounds in in just a few months. My male pattern baldness had already progressed to norwood 2 before this, but the involuntary crash diet induced a biblical shed (we are talking 400 hairs in the shower a day) and I quickly progressed to Norwood 3. My appetite came back as I recovered and my shedding is slowing. I decided it was time to hop on a regimen.

5% RU in KB, 1 ml once daily applied along the hairline and some on the crown
s5 cream, on the crown and hairline 2x daily
5% minoxidil 1 ml 2x daily, applied just like RU

it is important to note I have been on minoxidil for 3 years, the rest of the topicals I just started a few weeks ago.

My main concern is the RU. I am using the pre-made solution sold by Kane. I'm wondering if I should simply mix my own, I keep the bottle refrigerated and it seems to work (I got mild sides, nothing major at all, definately tolerable) but I heard it may degrade. Kane reported it is stable for months, does anyone know if this is true? Also, I heard one poor guy suffered heart failure (it was reported on Good Looking Loser), so I am cautious about it, just had a chest xray and EKG and everything is good. Has anyone really had heart probs from RU?

Also, what else could I add to my regimen? I can't get my hands on finasteride, my Physician is bald and refuses to prescribe it, ironically, stating "male pattern baldness is unstoppable, welcome to the club". My libido is ridiculously high and I am not looking for sex/relationships atm (concentrating on getting back in college), so a slight decrease in libido would actually help level things out more. Is it possible for me to go to an urgent care facility and get a script for finasteride? Should I see a dermatologist?

Lastly, should the hair I lost due to the crash diet grow back (since it was "shock loss"), or is that **** gone forever?

Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this and reply, I know it is long as **** but I just wanted to communicate my situation as best I could. Hopefully I can learn more about fighting this condition and help other dudes going through the same ****. I know how rough it can be.

 

[Quantum Cat]

can't get my hands on finasteride, my Physician is bald and refuses to prescribe it, ironically, stating "male pattern baldness is unstoppable, welcome to the club".

the ignorance of some doctors out there is mind boggling. he's probably bitter that Propecia wasn't around when he was young and started to bald

 

[Notcoolanymore]

I didn't think we could get RU in the US. Good to know we can. My trust and belief in my doctor cost me years of not treating my hair loss. Go to a derm to get your prescription for finasteride. I would even call in advance to make sure he/she is a Dr. that prescribes finasteride.

 

[overzealousfollicles]

Find a new doctor that will prescribe you the finasteride if that's the route you want to take. I saw a dermatologist after being recommended against it by my physician. He's no stranger to hair loss and has a pretty noticeable transplant, and was very sympathetic to my cause.

I hear Nizoral is good. I haven't used it yet. I'm on finasteride and minoxidil 5 % myself. I started off with finasteride at 21 and it worked great, with long enough hair my hair loss was literally unnoticeable. Stupidly I went off it for a few months when I was 23 and hairs started falling out rapidly, went back on it after 3 months off. Now I gotta style it just right to limit its noticeability.

Something that's helped me in terms of concealment, although it does nothing to actually prevent hair loss itself, are hair fibres such as Caboki or Toppik. They help with problem spots at my crown or temples. Hope this helped.

 

[Diffuser44]

Find a new doctor that will prescribe you the finasteride if that's the route you want to take. I saw a dermatologist after being recommended against it by my physician. He's no stranger to hair loss and has a pretty noticeable transplant, and was very sympathetic to my cause.

I hear Nizoral is good. I haven't used it yet. I'm on finasteride and minoxidil 5 % myself. I started off with finasteride at 21 and it worked great, with long enough hair my hair loss was literally unnoticeable. Stupidly I went off it for a few months when I was 23 and hairs started falling out rapidly, went back on it after 3 months off. Now I gotta style it just right to limit its noticeability.

Am I the only finasteride user that never experienced a shed after quitting finasteride? My scalp started itchy, and slowly the dht ate away at my hair. It wasn't until 1 - 2 years later that it started to become noticeable that I was losing my hair.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm almost wondering if people's post finasteride sheds are purely psychological. Then again I started at the age of 18 after losing 11 hairs. So maybe I didn't experience a shed because all of my hair was not in the telogen phase.

 

[HairMagician]

Thanks for your responses! Yes, Quantum,, unfortunately I have observed this bitterness/ignorance many times before. Not to go off on a tangent, but doctors prescribed me meds in the past with complete ignorance to the fact that there is a discontinuation syndrome associated with them (btw, benzodiazepine withdrawal is hell, i was put on it and had faith in the docs that said I could just stop, it was a living hell and 70% of docs denied there was a withdrawal syndrome despite mountains of scientific research showing there is).

The moral is, you can only trust yourself to look out for your best interests, even when it comes to something like hairloss. He doesn't want me to go to a derm, but I will anyway.

Oh, and thanks for the Nizoral advice, I picked some up a while back and have been using it, it is only 1% though.

Notcoolanymore, yep, you can order RU. I order from Kane, he has a distrib. center here in the US, I get my orders within 2 days, very efficient. I decided to cut down to .5ml daily for a while to allow my body to acclimate to the rather mild sides before upping the dose (if you guy plan on using RU, taper yourself on just to be safe, I just dove in and used a fairly high dose right off the bat).