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Hello all, I've been a long time lurker and this is my first post, I'm here to offer some of my own input and experience in dealing with hair loss and and some of the understanding and treatment I've put myself through in order to recover. My story is not a typical one, I have as yet not completely diagnosed endocrine issues, inflammatory/autoimmune problems and some peripheral androgen issues which have made maintaining my hair and balancing that against premature aging of certain treatments rather challenging.
A brief history of mine starts at age 26, it was my first brush with a scary amount of hair loss, my hair was on the top of my head so diffuse (sadly no pictures I was too embarrassed) that I had to cut my hair basically down to nothing, and even then it was visible.
In that particular circumstance my scalp was extremely red and rashy, while I do credit that to some kind of persistent inflammatory condition, I had recently come off a rolling, multi-month series of highly stressful bordering on traumatic events (my life basically blew up entirely a couple times in that span, and not in a "good" way). After my second and most recent bout of hair loss, I am convinced that stress 100% plays a role not just in my unique circumstance of hair loss but adversely potentiates other forms by means of inducing inflammation and endocrine dysfunction.
I was given topical mometasone fuorate and after that topical betamethasone and was on that for around 10 months, during that time, with patience my hair recovered, after cycling off the corticosteroids my hair did experience some diffuse loss but it then recovered later as well.
All the while that was happening there was the steady threat of androgen mediated hair loss, and I was just becoming aware of that and looking for means to combat it, at the time I was hyperthyroid and part of my hairloss was also due to that, and accidentally I discovered that consuming soy isoflavones reduced that condition but may have also unwittingly blunted the effects of androgens. Since I was still in my 20s and my testosterone levels were raging (and ironically soy isoflavones blunt the effect of estrogen which is far more powerful than the isoflavones itself) I didn't experience any ill effects from its consumption, I was extremely lean and athletic and experienced no sexual dysfunction from my measured consumption.
By the time I was 30 I had a full mop of hair again thanks to discovering beta sitosterol (not merely saw palmetto, but a concentrated sterol complex which I have later discovered holds a lot of similar potential to finasteride without the side effects). I periodically had to use corticosteroids due to my recurrent inflammatory problems but that was really the least of my worries at the time, I had my hair back and no major hormone issues, life was good.
Cycle forward to about age 38 until now, I had major stress events once more, and a very paradoxical advancement of seemingly androgenic pattern hairloss which did not respond to the previous solutions. I tried propecia and that gave me such insanely horrible side effects that not only was it not worth the trouble, but I was convinced at that point that it actually was not the focal point of my hair loss, even though it looks pattern in nature.
One of the conclusions I've come to over this in fact is that other hormones absolutely can induce pattern hairloss the same way conventional hormones can, the two most insidious culprits being prolactin and insulin. I was told at age 36 by my doctor that he was concerned that I was developing insulin resistance, but every time I had a blood test and asked for a follow up there was nothing meaningful done about it. Now I'm under the direct care of an endocrinologist and aim to find out which hormones are in excess as I'm now fairly confident I do in fact have insulin resistance and that it is in fact either insulin or prolactin which is causing the majority of my patterned hairloss, NOT DHT or testosterone although they can be aggravating factors.
The past couple years were a losing battle and rather depressing, I could not figure out why using my old conventional methods of recovering my hair - didn't work. Betamethasone this time around made my scalp very oily and broke out into acne which is nothing I ever experienced before, so I immediately stopped it. Even full doses of my beta sitosterol complex threw my testosterone off badly and my mature endocrine profile simply cannot handle the hit my androgens takes from such a powerful supplement, and yet the hairloss did not get better.
I am happy to say now that my hair is, miraculously enough, stabilizing and recovering, one major component has been stress reduction, for certain, I cannot emphasize that enough, high stress will if you're vulnerable to it yeet your hair by so many pathways that it's imperative to reduce it. Even good amounts of stress can induce that loss if it's in excess.
There are some unorthodox means by which I've helped my hair recover and one of them (which has not been the main source of my recovery but helpful nonetheless) was dilute topical cetirizine.
Another which has helped me personally and there is at least one study which attests to it's efficacy is sophora root extract, which I use in a witch hazel/distilled water suspension (because my hair cannot handle most alcohols or solvents). It is reported to both induce some level of hair regrowth as well as topically block DHT.
The third topical I use to effectively mitigate both DHT and other sources of inflammation is a distilled water based topical solution of finacea, which is both theorized to interfere with DHT as well as possess anti-inflammatory properties.
The fourth is doing small doses of sildenafil, for the purpose of vasodilation and increasing bloodflow throughout my body, it also supposedly increases insulin sensitivity which I absolutely believe is a culprit, but not the complete cause of my hair loss.
I've been using all four of these now for just under six months and I'm suddenly seeing a recovery that has enabled me to feel confident enough to not wear a hat or anything to cover the loss on my head.
Bearing in mind I've tried other treatments which for me did not work, a few of which being:
- custom made spironolactone solution by a compounding pharmacy
- RU58841 which very easily went systemic and caused symptoms similar to that I experienced with finasteride only with disconcerting heart complications
- Minoxidil, which I stopped after I started getting lines on my forehead and under my eyes. I discovered that minoxidil interferes with collagen synthesis and the sides were just way too much to be worth it
Other things I've done but are too recent to completely attribute credit for is taking a now publicly available drug called "aminoguanidine" and using other supplements to increase vasodilation, lower blood sugar and provide essential body resources to grow hair. If you are experiencing hairloss and the conventional tactic of drastically lowering DHT is making you feel worse and not providing significant results, you may be in a similar situation to myself, and making sure your levels of inflammation and other hormones are in order could be very helpful in preventing permanent hair loss.
I'm going to find out what my prolactin levels are over the next few weeks, and will push my endo to find out what my insulin status is, so I will have a more complete picture as to what's going on in my body, any new information and progress, I will be sure to pass along. Any questions you might have on my regimen please don't hesitate to PM me or enquire in this thread.
A brief history of mine starts at age 26, it was my first brush with a scary amount of hair loss, my hair was on the top of my head so diffuse (sadly no pictures I was too embarrassed) that I had to cut my hair basically down to nothing, and even then it was visible.
In that particular circumstance my scalp was extremely red and rashy, while I do credit that to some kind of persistent inflammatory condition, I had recently come off a rolling, multi-month series of highly stressful bordering on traumatic events (my life basically blew up entirely a couple times in that span, and not in a "good" way). After my second and most recent bout of hair loss, I am convinced that stress 100% plays a role not just in my unique circumstance of hair loss but adversely potentiates other forms by means of inducing inflammation and endocrine dysfunction.
I was given topical mometasone fuorate and after that topical betamethasone and was on that for around 10 months, during that time, with patience my hair recovered, after cycling off the corticosteroids my hair did experience some diffuse loss but it then recovered later as well.
All the while that was happening there was the steady threat of androgen mediated hair loss, and I was just becoming aware of that and looking for means to combat it, at the time I was hyperthyroid and part of my hairloss was also due to that, and accidentally I discovered that consuming soy isoflavones reduced that condition but may have also unwittingly blunted the effects of androgens. Since I was still in my 20s and my testosterone levels were raging (and ironically soy isoflavones blunt the effect of estrogen which is far more powerful than the isoflavones itself) I didn't experience any ill effects from its consumption, I was extremely lean and athletic and experienced no sexual dysfunction from my measured consumption.
By the time I was 30 I had a full mop of hair again thanks to discovering beta sitosterol (not merely saw palmetto, but a concentrated sterol complex which I have later discovered holds a lot of similar potential to finasteride without the side effects). I periodically had to use corticosteroids due to my recurrent inflammatory problems but that was really the least of my worries at the time, I had my hair back and no major hormone issues, life was good.
Cycle forward to about age 38 until now, I had major stress events once more, and a very paradoxical advancement of seemingly androgenic pattern hairloss which did not respond to the previous solutions. I tried propecia and that gave me such insanely horrible side effects that not only was it not worth the trouble, but I was convinced at that point that it actually was not the focal point of my hair loss, even though it looks pattern in nature.
One of the conclusions I've come to over this in fact is that other hormones absolutely can induce pattern hairloss the same way conventional hormones can, the two most insidious culprits being prolactin and insulin. I was told at age 36 by my doctor that he was concerned that I was developing insulin resistance, but every time I had a blood test and asked for a follow up there was nothing meaningful done about it. Now I'm under the direct care of an endocrinologist and aim to find out which hormones are in excess as I'm now fairly confident I do in fact have insulin resistance and that it is in fact either insulin or prolactin which is causing the majority of my patterned hairloss, NOT DHT or testosterone although they can be aggravating factors.
The past couple years were a losing battle and rather depressing, I could not figure out why using my old conventional methods of recovering my hair - didn't work. Betamethasone this time around made my scalp very oily and broke out into acne which is nothing I ever experienced before, so I immediately stopped it. Even full doses of my beta sitosterol complex threw my testosterone off badly and my mature endocrine profile simply cannot handle the hit my androgens takes from such a powerful supplement, and yet the hairloss did not get better.
I am happy to say now that my hair is, miraculously enough, stabilizing and recovering, one major component has been stress reduction, for certain, I cannot emphasize that enough, high stress will if you're vulnerable to it yeet your hair by so many pathways that it's imperative to reduce it. Even good amounts of stress can induce that loss if it's in excess.
There are some unorthodox means by which I've helped my hair recover and one of them (which has not been the main source of my recovery but helpful nonetheless) was dilute topical cetirizine.
Another which has helped me personally and there is at least one study which attests to it's efficacy is sophora root extract, which I use in a witch hazel/distilled water suspension (because my hair cannot handle most alcohols or solvents). It is reported to both induce some level of hair regrowth as well as topically block DHT.
The third topical I use to effectively mitigate both DHT and other sources of inflammation is a distilled water based topical solution of finacea, which is both theorized to interfere with DHT as well as possess anti-inflammatory properties.
The fourth is doing small doses of sildenafil, for the purpose of vasodilation and increasing bloodflow throughout my body, it also supposedly increases insulin sensitivity which I absolutely believe is a culprit, but not the complete cause of my hair loss.
I've been using all four of these now for just under six months and I'm suddenly seeing a recovery that has enabled me to feel confident enough to not wear a hat or anything to cover the loss on my head.
Bearing in mind I've tried other treatments which for me did not work, a few of which being:
- custom made spironolactone solution by a compounding pharmacy
- RU58841 which very easily went systemic and caused symptoms similar to that I experienced with finasteride only with disconcerting heart complications
- Minoxidil, which I stopped after I started getting lines on my forehead and under my eyes. I discovered that minoxidil interferes with collagen synthesis and the sides were just way too much to be worth it
Other things I've done but are too recent to completely attribute credit for is taking a now publicly available drug called "aminoguanidine" and using other supplements to increase vasodilation, lower blood sugar and provide essential body resources to grow hair. If you are experiencing hairloss and the conventional tactic of drastically lowering DHT is making you feel worse and not providing significant results, you may be in a similar situation to myself, and making sure your levels of inflammation and other hormones are in order could be very helpful in preventing permanent hair loss.
I'm going to find out what my prolactin levels are over the next few weeks, and will push my endo to find out what my insulin status is, so I will have a more complete picture as to what's going on in my body, any new information and progress, I will be sure to pass along. Any questions you might have on my regimen please don't hesitate to PM me or enquire in this thread.