Hey guys! This is my first post to any kind of hair loss site. I'm pretty distraught which I'm sure all you guys have experienced and feel I'm a decent looking guy but without hair fugly lol. I'm so grateful for any help.
Abbreviated version: 29 WM- I have thyroid disease and an anxiety disorder (double whammy). Noticed problem mainly last 9 months. Had very thick hair over the years it's lost a lot of volume due to bad thyroid levels off and on which never re-grew after sheds. Out of 4 Derms- 2 said normal and 2 said beginning male pattern baldness. Nobody around me thinks I'm losing hair but I know I am and isn't it the point to catch it before it shows? I'm a horrible shedder in the shower and my hair sheds at the slightest touch. If you look at it too long it sheds. This makes me adverse to manual application products like rogain. I've cut washing my hair down to 1-2 times per week. I can now see thru my hair to my scalp easily in sun light and have to do a bit of a comb over (I part my hair anyway fortunately that's the style these days) to hide any see through to the scalp. All my derms are hesitant on finasteride either because of thinking it's my thyroid or because they see no visible bald spots and they keep saying I'm young and it will mess my 'junk' up. I connived a script on Friday from my family Doctor though. I have no problem with my hair lines or blatant bald spots, rather a diffuse thinning. My thyroid levels have been normal for months, though I was hospitalized for pneumonia in December. From Nov-Feb big hair loss. Maybe due to Pneumonia? What to do? If it is my thyroid will finasteride still help or no? I don't know what the cause but need to do something. Thanks guys!! So grateful for your time and wisdom!! Sorry for length it feels good to get my whole story out.
PS- Father and both G-Fathers all have hair though thin on crown.
My Whole Story: I'm 29 white male. I've had extremely thick hair my entire life. In 2007 at the age of 21 I was diagnosed with severe thyroid disease (red flag). Hyper-Thyroidism called Graves' Disease which I've been treating with anti-thyroid medication, chasing levels for nearly 8 years. Radioactive Iodine failed and I'm adverse to surgery at this point. I've also been diagnosed with GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder aka super stress). I've got a double whammy for hair loss.
My hair has been shedding off and on depending on my thyroid levels for years then would bounce back when I got back in range. I would never re-grow the hair lost but it would stop shedding. However, I had so much thick hair that for years I didn't care. In fact, I was grateful I lost hair so it could be styled more manageably.
The issue really started about 9 months ago last May. I noticed out in the first nice day of spring I got sunburn on my crown. This had never happened to me before and it immediately concerned me. I started shedding constantly like I would when my thyroid levels were off but my thyroid levels have been relatively normal for months. I'm talking losing 30-50 hairs in the shower at a time sitting in the drain- all over the tile. It looks like I murder my slap every time I shower. This continued until September when I noticed my swirl in the back now showed a circle of skin which got larger each month. I freaked and went to the Dermatologist at University of Penn. (pretty prestigious place) who told me she could see some thinning on the crown but would deem me normal if I hadn't been so adamant about what I've lost. In other words, she said I'll take you at your word that it's happening since you know what it looked like before. On the slip it said Androgenic Alopecia. She outright refused finasteride saying she thought it may be my thyroid and if she gave me finasteride she wouldn't know which fixed it. She recommended minoxidil.
I'm embarrassed to admit, but at that point I stopped washing my hair but once a week. I would wear a shower cap. Even though the Derm told me it's going to come out anyway all I know is I see it clump in the drain and I want to minimize that.
I went to 3 more derms all which said I was normal or had some thinning in the crown. It was split between normal or male pattern baldness. They all recommended Rogain.
In December, I contracted double pneumonia and was in the hospital very ill. The antibiotics killed the good bacteria on my scalp and my hair got so waxy it felt like I had gel in it when I didn't. This just made hair come out even more when combing and showering.
Now Feb, it's gotten so diffusely thin that I can now see my scalp through my hair in bright light. I've lost at least 60% of my hair since 2007.
So, I basically am adverse to Rogain for 2 reasons- 1 my hair sheds at the slightest touch- hence why I only was it 1-2 times a week. Applying rogain to it twice a day will make it shed even worse let alone the chemical shedding it causes. I talked my family doctor into giving me finasteride on Friday. I figure that it's obviously more effective than rogain and I can cut out the manual shedding from application at least. I'm telling you guys- I'm a "shedder" naturally.
Admittedly, part of me wants to do nothing and believe it's from stress, illness, or my thyroid and it will fix itself but I feel I'm playing a dangerous game. I also feel if I'm going to do it with success it's now.
Should I try rogain first since I'm a horrible shedder already or just go right for the finasteride. Wait until the shedding stops then start minoxidil?
Abbreviated version: 29 WM- I have thyroid disease and an anxiety disorder (double whammy). Noticed problem mainly last 9 months. Had very thick hair over the years it's lost a lot of volume due to bad thyroid levels off and on which never re-grew after sheds. Out of 4 Derms- 2 said normal and 2 said beginning male pattern baldness. Nobody around me thinks I'm losing hair but I know I am and isn't it the point to catch it before it shows? I'm a horrible shedder in the shower and my hair sheds at the slightest touch. If you look at it too long it sheds. This makes me adverse to manual application products like rogain. I've cut washing my hair down to 1-2 times per week. I can now see thru my hair to my scalp easily in sun light and have to do a bit of a comb over (I part my hair anyway fortunately that's the style these days) to hide any see through to the scalp. All my derms are hesitant on finasteride either because of thinking it's my thyroid or because they see no visible bald spots and they keep saying I'm young and it will mess my 'junk' up. I connived a script on Friday from my family Doctor though. I have no problem with my hair lines or blatant bald spots, rather a diffuse thinning. My thyroid levels have been normal for months, though I was hospitalized for pneumonia in December. From Nov-Feb big hair loss. Maybe due to Pneumonia? What to do? If it is my thyroid will finasteride still help or no? I don't know what the cause but need to do something. Thanks guys!! So grateful for your time and wisdom!! Sorry for length it feels good to get my whole story out.
PS- Father and both G-Fathers all have hair though thin on crown.
My Whole Story: I'm 29 white male. I've had extremely thick hair my entire life. In 2007 at the age of 21 I was diagnosed with severe thyroid disease (red flag). Hyper-Thyroidism called Graves' Disease which I've been treating with anti-thyroid medication, chasing levels for nearly 8 years. Radioactive Iodine failed and I'm adverse to surgery at this point. I've also been diagnosed with GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder aka super stress). I've got a double whammy for hair loss.
My hair has been shedding off and on depending on my thyroid levels for years then would bounce back when I got back in range. I would never re-grow the hair lost but it would stop shedding. However, I had so much thick hair that for years I didn't care. In fact, I was grateful I lost hair so it could be styled more manageably.
The issue really started about 9 months ago last May. I noticed out in the first nice day of spring I got sunburn on my crown. This had never happened to me before and it immediately concerned me. I started shedding constantly like I would when my thyroid levels were off but my thyroid levels have been relatively normal for months. I'm talking losing 30-50 hairs in the shower at a time sitting in the drain- all over the tile. It looks like I murder my slap every time I shower. This continued until September when I noticed my swirl in the back now showed a circle of skin which got larger each month. I freaked and went to the Dermatologist at University of Penn. (pretty prestigious place) who told me she could see some thinning on the crown but would deem me normal if I hadn't been so adamant about what I've lost. In other words, she said I'll take you at your word that it's happening since you know what it looked like before. On the slip it said Androgenic Alopecia. She outright refused finasteride saying she thought it may be my thyroid and if she gave me finasteride she wouldn't know which fixed it. She recommended minoxidil.
I'm embarrassed to admit, but at that point I stopped washing my hair but once a week. I would wear a shower cap. Even though the Derm told me it's going to come out anyway all I know is I see it clump in the drain and I want to minimize that.
I went to 3 more derms all which said I was normal or had some thinning in the crown. It was split between normal or male pattern baldness. They all recommended Rogain.
In December, I contracted double pneumonia and was in the hospital very ill. The antibiotics killed the good bacteria on my scalp and my hair got so waxy it felt like I had gel in it when I didn't. This just made hair come out even more when combing and showering.
Now Feb, it's gotten so diffusely thin that I can now see my scalp through my hair in bright light. I've lost at least 60% of my hair since 2007.
So, I basically am adverse to Rogain for 2 reasons- 1 my hair sheds at the slightest touch- hence why I only was it 1-2 times a week. Applying rogain to it twice a day will make it shed even worse let alone the chemical shedding it causes. I talked my family doctor into giving me finasteride on Friday. I figure that it's obviously more effective than rogain and I can cut out the manual shedding from application at least. I'm telling you guys- I'm a "shedder" naturally.
Admittedly, part of me wants to do nothing and believe it's from stress, illness, or my thyroid and it will fix itself but I feel I'm playing a dangerous game. I also feel if I'm going to do it with success it's now.
Should I try rogain first since I'm a horrible shedder already or just go right for the finasteride. Wait until the shedding stops then start minoxidil?