Long time reader - first time poster.
BACKGROUND:
Hair loss started just after my 25th birthday. Was told pretty bluntly by the hairdresser of the day that I was going bald.
My father has been losing his hair for most of his life - I think he would be classified as a NW5A or early NW6. I think he inherited it from my paternal grandmother.
Both of my mother's brothers have been losing for a while as well - they are not as advandced as my father - but not that far back either. I think they inherited it from my maternal grandfather/grandmother.
Most of my friends from School/Univ/Work still have a full head of hair. Some of them have signs of difuse thinning all over, while one or two were experiencing frontal loss.
COURSE OF ACTION:
For the first 4 months after being diagnosed I was in a state of denial. After being told about the loss I ran home from the barber and checked in the mirror - there it was the very early stages of an NW3V. I mean I just turned 25 - my life was just starting to get good with a stable job and steady flow of cash and some female intrests in site.
I started doing a lot of reasearch on the net and asking my friends who had already started losing their hair (all in their late 20s to mid 30s) what they had used. I started to use Nizoral 2% since I read that it was somewhat effective in slowing down the loss. Since I was still in the early stages of loss I wanted to preserve what I had going forward.
As the winter came along - I could start feeling the cold more and more on my crown (I don't know if it was just psychosematic (sic) but I did feel it). I could also notice on the elevator rides up that more scalp was showing through under the potlights.
I finally went to my doctor to talk to him about it. The loss was bad - but the stress and the loss of self-esteem that it had caused was even worse. As I said most of my friends have the full head of hair or diffuse thining - so none of them have a really really visible bald spot. I have always been one to have my hair short because I can't stand to fuss with it in the morning (gel and go).
My MD wasn't too understanding with the stress that it was causing me - he said just look at your family. He suggested that I try Propecia and wrote me a 3 month script.
I hadn't start using Propecia earlier becuase I don't like to take more medication then I have to and I was worried about the side effects. I took the script home and talk with my uncle who had been using it for a while - he said that he hadn't seen any side effects and he was happy with the progress.
I filled the script and started to take the pills. About 3 weeks in I noticed the first set of "temporary" side effects with my erections being softer and not last as long as they did before. I also noticed the loss of some of my libido. My MD said to just keep going with it and it should pass - so I did. Well about 1.5 months in the really bad effects had passed - however my libido wasn't really close to where i was before - but the hair loss seemed to have stopped.
There was visible new hair growth on my vertex which I was ecstatic about - I figured I would just wait out the side effects because they are supposed to go away the more you use it.
Fast Forward 8 months. I have been using the pill for a while now being pretty regular. My shedding hadn't been to bad up until about 3 weeks ago - at which time I also noticed that my libido was going down again (harder to get an erection).
I am getting worried that they pills are really starting to have some serious side effects. I am thinking about going to 1/2 mg every day or 1 mg every second day. I know that finasteride works for me - the problem is the systematic approach seems to be having some very undesirable side effects - whats the point of having the hair to get the girl if you can't make the next move with the girl because of the hair. I have even debated shaving my head down (haven't done it since Univ) but I just can't bring myself to take the clippers to the scalp.
I have been looking at topicals and other methods including:
- Revivogen - Nobody has been able to show that it works and most people say it is just a waste of money
- spironolactone - Kind of worried about the side effects since it is not the nicest stuff in the world (might just be the oral form) - also the smell would be an issue when I work out or in the summer when the temps get hot.
- Crinogen- haven't been able to find out too much about this
- Zix - really don't know about this one - but would be willing to try it.
- Topical Fina - Need to talk to a dermatoligist first.
- Lasercomb - won't stop the loss but might just slow it down - still not enough evidence out there to support its use.
I am really hoping that cloning/multiplication/gene therapy comes down the pipe soon and is affordable for everybody to do (Banzan's 40k $US is out of most people's price range).
Anyway this is my story so far. Like most people have said - being bald is one thing - but going bald is worse because of the stress it causes. I am really starting to get stressed out about it again :-( .
Any helpful hints/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
The Clown
BACKGROUND:
Hair loss started just after my 25th birthday. Was told pretty bluntly by the hairdresser of the day that I was going bald.
My father has been losing his hair for most of his life - I think he would be classified as a NW5A or early NW6. I think he inherited it from my paternal grandmother.
Both of my mother's brothers have been losing for a while as well - they are not as advandced as my father - but not that far back either. I think they inherited it from my maternal grandfather/grandmother.
Most of my friends from School/Univ/Work still have a full head of hair. Some of them have signs of difuse thinning all over, while one or two were experiencing frontal loss.
COURSE OF ACTION:
For the first 4 months after being diagnosed I was in a state of denial. After being told about the loss I ran home from the barber and checked in the mirror - there it was the very early stages of an NW3V. I mean I just turned 25 - my life was just starting to get good with a stable job and steady flow of cash and some female intrests in site.
I started doing a lot of reasearch on the net and asking my friends who had already started losing their hair (all in their late 20s to mid 30s) what they had used. I started to use Nizoral 2% since I read that it was somewhat effective in slowing down the loss. Since I was still in the early stages of loss I wanted to preserve what I had going forward.
As the winter came along - I could start feeling the cold more and more on my crown (I don't know if it was just psychosematic (sic) but I did feel it). I could also notice on the elevator rides up that more scalp was showing through under the potlights.
I finally went to my doctor to talk to him about it. The loss was bad - but the stress and the loss of self-esteem that it had caused was even worse. As I said most of my friends have the full head of hair or diffuse thining - so none of them have a really really visible bald spot. I have always been one to have my hair short because I can't stand to fuss with it in the morning (gel and go).
My MD wasn't too understanding with the stress that it was causing me - he said just look at your family. He suggested that I try Propecia and wrote me a 3 month script.
I hadn't start using Propecia earlier becuase I don't like to take more medication then I have to and I was worried about the side effects. I took the script home and talk with my uncle who had been using it for a while - he said that he hadn't seen any side effects and he was happy with the progress.
I filled the script and started to take the pills. About 3 weeks in I noticed the first set of "temporary" side effects with my erections being softer and not last as long as they did before. I also noticed the loss of some of my libido. My MD said to just keep going with it and it should pass - so I did. Well about 1.5 months in the really bad effects had passed - however my libido wasn't really close to where i was before - but the hair loss seemed to have stopped.
There was visible new hair growth on my vertex which I was ecstatic about - I figured I would just wait out the side effects because they are supposed to go away the more you use it.
Fast Forward 8 months. I have been using the pill for a while now being pretty regular. My shedding hadn't been to bad up until about 3 weeks ago - at which time I also noticed that my libido was going down again (harder to get an erection).
I am getting worried that they pills are really starting to have some serious side effects. I am thinking about going to 1/2 mg every day or 1 mg every second day. I know that finasteride works for me - the problem is the systematic approach seems to be having some very undesirable side effects - whats the point of having the hair to get the girl if you can't make the next move with the girl because of the hair. I have even debated shaving my head down (haven't done it since Univ) but I just can't bring myself to take the clippers to the scalp.
I have been looking at topicals and other methods including:
- Revivogen - Nobody has been able to show that it works and most people say it is just a waste of money
- spironolactone - Kind of worried about the side effects since it is not the nicest stuff in the world (might just be the oral form) - also the smell would be an issue when I work out or in the summer when the temps get hot.
- Crinogen- haven't been able to find out too much about this
- Zix - really don't know about this one - but would be willing to try it.
- Topical Fina - Need to talk to a dermatoligist first.
- Lasercomb - won't stop the loss but might just slow it down - still not enough evidence out there to support its use.
I am really hoping that cloning/multiplication/gene therapy comes down the pipe soon and is affordable for everybody to do (Banzan's 40k $US is out of most people's price range).
Anyway this is my story so far. Like most people have said - being bald is one thing - but going bald is worse because of the stress it causes. I am really starting to get stressed out about it again :-( .
Any helpful hints/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
The Clown
