Chadman' story - (I've been losing for 6 years, ignored it)

[Chadman]

Greetings everyone,

I'm currently 26, and I've been losing my hair for probably about 6 years. I was quite literally born with a receded hairline, but only slightly so; in fact, it was a very nice hairline that would look great if only I had it now.

I went through a phase of denial, depression, anger, and everything in between. Despite all this I was able to continue my career and be successful, and in the past year or two I actually got to the point where I simply didn't care. I had come as close to accepting it as any man could get I think.

I never actually noticed any hair loss. Sure, I noticed some hairs on the pillow, but never any shedding. The hair just seemed to disappear. I'm now at a NW3-4 or so, and I realize I was an idiot for not doing something about this sooner. I actually saw a dermatologist many years ago, and he gave me a prescription for Propecia. I ignored him. I guess I was hoping he'd say, "Oh, it looks like you just have an infection; take this and your hair will be back in two weeks!" I'm half joking.

I know I'll never have a full head of hair, and I'm ok with that. Hair has had enough impact on my life to this point. No more! I just need to do something about it to achieve the best results possible and move on. My goal would be able to achieve and maintain a NW2-3. You'd never hear another complaint from me if I were able to do so.

This forum has been an inspiration, a voice in the quiet suffering of so many men. I seek input on a path to achieve the results I desire. So far I'm considering:

1) Nizoral. I'll use this 3 times a week or so simply to provide an environment on my scalp conducive to improvement.

2) minoxidil. Any recommendations? Generic? Lipoxidil? Something that dries would be preferred so I can apply it in the morning without having a greasy look throughout the day.

3) Copper peptides and perhaps other topicals.

Do you think I can be successful with this alone? Successful enough to achieve a solid NW2-3 and maintain it for a few years? I would like to avoid finasteride if I can, but if I can't achieve my goal then I will go see the derm and get a prescription (and maybe go for Proscar later, but I want a doctor's support going into it).

Thoughts? Feedback is greatly appreciated. I'll keep this thread updated with progress.[/list]

 

[Dannie]

I don't think you'll achieve significant improvements on that regimen alone. I was on Minoxidil only for two years. Take a look at http://www.hairlosstalk.com/discussions ... hp?t=26874
see my pictures and judge for yourself. It seems that we have same problem because as far as I know I've been NW2 at the times I have no hairloss problem. I'm considering adding spironolactone to my current regimen but I'll wait for a couple of months to see if my current regimen works before making any changes.

 

[Chadman]

I don't think you'll achieve significant improvements on that regimen alone. I was on Minoxidil only for two years. Take a look at http://www.hairlosstalk.com/discussions ... hp?t=26874
see my pictures and judge for yourself. It seems that we have same problem because as far as I know I've been NW2 at the times I have no hairloss problem. I'm considering adding spironolactone to my current regimen but I'll wait for a couple of months to see if my current regimen works before making any changes.

Your hair definitely looks better than mine bro. I'm permanently receded, and I know there's pretty much nothing I'll ever be able to do about that outside of a hair transplant. To be honest though, I don't care about that so much; I just don't want to keep losing what is on top. That's what worries me the most.

Have you considered finasteride? If you decided against it, might I ask why? Concerned for potential side-effects? If we knew that something like the IH 3 at least stopped loss I'd be in heaven.

 

[Dannie]

I've considered finasteride and decided against. I'm not concerned for side-effects but for consequences. If I had children I'd probably have no concerns but since I don't I'd rather not gamble with it. Well if you can't get regrowth most important is to save as much hair folicules as you can until something revolutionary comes out and I think it's possible with treatments we have today. 5% minoxidil is a good choice for regrowth stimulator, but really can''t help you with the brand since I'm not from the States. I guess Rogaine would work fine. I use 5% generic Minoxidil. I also wash my hair everyday with Alpecine C1 Shampoo (started recently) which should have some anti-androgenic effects. If really proves effective I'll let you know. You have to wash your hair and this seems as a quite good shampoo to me and it smells great so even if it does nothing for your hair loss I guees it won't make things worse.

 

[Primex]

I understand that you don't wanna try Propecia, I was hesitant at first too. I ignored my hair loss for the past 7 years or so now and I'm regretting it of course. I've only been doing my reg for like a month now so I haven't seen any results but on the plus side, the only side I get is from the minoxidil making my head a little itchy. What's stopping you from using finasteride? Are you afraid of the sides?

 

[Chadman]

I understand that you don't wanna try Propecia, I was hesitant at first too. I ignored my hair loss for the past 7 years or so now and I'm regretting it of course. I've only been doing my reg for like a month now so I haven't seen any results but on the plus side, the only side I get is from the minoxidil making my head a little itchy. What's stopping you from using finasteride? Are you afraid of the sides?

You know man, I've thought about my apprehension to finasteride a lot actually. I'm generally against the notion of long-term medication as it is, but this is just my personal feelings on the matter.

I'm not concerned about finasteride in the short term. I'm concerned about what might be known about finasteride 10+ years later. I'm young, unmarried, and I'd like to have children some day. I know studies suggest no link between finasteride use and congenital defects, but again it's just an uneasy feeling.

All that being said, I have decided to go ahead and try it. I realize that I'm wasting too much of my life thinking about this. I'll go at it full force to try and address the problem as best as I can.

As to your itchy problem, I heard some people say that copper peptides actually decreases that I thought. Have you noticed any improvement with your use of it or Nizoral?

Good luck with your regimen!

 

[Chadman]

Well, I have a doctor's appointment this Wednesday. I'm going to discuss my taking finasteride to see if he has any objections. If all goes well I'll be on finasteride starting Wednesday or Thursday.

I had previously planned to go the generic route by just buying online, but I realized that I'd like to have a doctor's buy-in just in case I have anything odd happen.

I'm also contemplating Dr. Lee's minoxidil in the morning and some generic in the evening. I guess that means I'd be on the big 3. I'm still undecided about minoxidil though as there seems to be so much division in the community on whether it's worth it, whether it works, etc. Never can seem to get a clear answer.

 

[malaysiappl]

Is there any problem when take Propecia?
thank you

 

[Aplunk1]

Propecia (finasteride)
Rogaine (minoxidil)
Nizoral (ketoconazole)

The Big 3.

Man, I feel like such a cop-out repeating this.

The Big 3 is really the balding man's best chance of keeping or regrowing some hair. They're all proven.

Sure, there's a bunch of other treatments out there, but they're unlikely to work as well as these proven ones.

You could add copper peptides into the mix, making it the Big 4.

Or, you could use the kitchen sink approach:

dutasteride, minoxidil, nizoral, copper peptides, topical antiandrogens (spironolactone, flut, etc), vegeterian diet, extreme cardio exercise, etc.

 

[ANDREW_J_I]

jump on the propecia bandwagon. it might be for you. who knows.

 

[Primex]

The nizoral and the Copper Peptides do help some, but my head still itches a little. It's nothing big though, I can pretty much control myself not to hurt my scalp, so I'll live.

As for the finasteride,you can think of it as being part of your multivitamins, that's pretty much what I do. I mean I've been taking a multivitamin since I was like 2 years old (ok, they were Flintstone vitamins back then, but they count damnit.) For me it's just like taking the Propecia with the vitamin like I do every morning. I usually skip Saturday or Sunday because I wake up way too late to keep the regular schedule, but it hasn't hurt me any. I hope everything turns out great and I really hope that you respond well to it.

 

[Chadman]

Thanks everyone. I'm on my 3rd day of 1mg Propecia (I got samples from the doctor; I'll probably go Propecia for the first few months as I have a prescription and then move over to a generic).

I'm waiting for Dr. Lee to accept my consultation, and after that I'll start adding his minoxidil in the morning and probably a generic minoxidil for the evening. I'll then officially be on the big 3.

I'm a little nervous, but excited at the same time. :freaked2:

 

[Chadman]

So, it's been a month of finasteride so I thought I'd post an update.

I've had no real side-effects so far. I had a slight ache in the right teste (sorry if that's too much information) for about 2-3 days the first week, but it was a very dull ache and didn't bother me. It promptly went away. I've also had thinner semen than normal, and so far that hasn't changed. Lastly, I did feel as though I had some of what I've heard as "brain fog" about the 2nd to 3rd week in. Granted, my sleeping habits and work schedule are horrible, so it's impossible to correlate it to the finasteride; however, I can say that I don't remember feeling like that. That said, it's returned to normal.

So, everything is looking positive so far. I've started to notice vellus hairs all over my head recently that I didn't have before, so I'm hoping this is a positive.

I plan on getting on minoxidil soon. I wanted to make sure that I didn't have any sides with the finasteride before adding minoxidil so that I could be certain what side-effects I was getting from what.

The fight continues...