Help needed asap: I feel helpless

[jazzyb]

Over the past 3-4 years I hav experienced balding or male pattern baldness. I have to blame my experimentation with steroids (6months 2005) etc when i was young 20-21. Not one familly member over my entire extended familly is bald or balding on both my moms and dads side so I can say I am the one to blame. Maybe its my excessive use of splenda, also which I have recently stopped.

I am now 28 and well, My balding has'nt all of a sudden since january kicked into high gear. I swear the amount of hair I've lost since is astounding, nearly makes me think it may not be male pattern baldness.

Could you guys please adivce:

Jan 2012 picture:

Today:

I have been using Minoxidil for about 3-years very on and off, it takes me 6months plus to finish a bottle, but as of a week ago I have started using it properly with a dropper and rubbing it in twice daily. For 6months I have been religiously washing my hair with nizarol.

Anything else I can do besides propecia?
Could this be Telogen Effluvium? Can this be reversed! HELP
Thank you,

 

[kc444]

You must use minoxidil consistently. I am not at all surprised that you didn't see any results by using a bottle every six months. Even missing one application is bad.

You won't be able to keep your hair for a long time unless you get on Propecia. Most people don't experience any side effects. It works very well with minoxidil and there's a good chance you'll be very pleased with the results.

Yes, it's male pattern baldness.

 

[jazzyb]

Thank you for the reply. I will be going to a doctor today for sure.

My only concern is why the rapid change over 3-months? I don't understand.

 

[gh05]

how often are you using nizoral? you say 'religiously'?

some say it can cause hair loss.

 

[Chris87]

Even with steroid use..either your hair is sensitive to DHT or its not...so there must be male pattern baldness SOMEWHERE (even if its only a little) in your family. Its hard to believe that your entire family has never even thinned out at all and they're all norwood 1s. There are definitely body builders who use steroids for a lot longer and dont lose their hair so...i would guess you have some male pattern baldness somewhere in your family

But yeah...your absolute best bet is finasteride. Looking at your hair...I would hop on it right away if I were you. If your doctor is willing to give you a prescription for propecia..ask for Proscar instead. Proscar is the same drug, finasteride, but it is a 5mg pill instead of 1mg. Get the 5mg pills and cut them into 4 equal pieces and take one a day (equals 1.25mg per day). Proscar is much much cheaper than propecia.

 

[jazzyb]

how often are you using nizoral? you say 'religiously'?

some say it can cause hair loss.

Everyday man! thanks for the posts guys. I am giong for finasteride.

 

[jazzyb]

Bloody hell, all the negative press plus propeciahelp.com scared the living crap out of me.

So i decided to try saw palmetto to see the sideffects....

I did visit my doctor yesterday who claims that propecia only works via placebo, in that it has no chemical/biological effect.

Ahhh.

Plus, its been 2-weeks of 2x a day applications of minoxidil 5% how long does it take to see a change?

Could I have made my self immune to minoxidil by using it sporadically over the past 3years.

 

[TravisB]

I did visit my doctor yesterday who claims that propecia only works via placebo, in that it has no chemical/biological effect.

Well, either we don't know something what doctors do, or your doctor is an idiot.

 

[BritishUser]

Nizoral everyday is too much; Twice weekly is recommended.

 

[jazzyb]

Yesterday at around 3pm at work I had a complete nervous break down. I had to call my wife to pick me up and once I hit the car I cried like a kid. That lasted till about 10pm. Inbetween I got my hair cut shorter. I suffer from hypochondria severly so that does not make it any better and one big reason I cannot take finasteride.

I have started:

minoxidil 5% 2x daily
Saw Palmetto , Vitamine D and E daily
and Nizoral daily

would adding sprio be beneficial, is there any thread/evidence proving that it works.

Thank you kindly

 

[Chris87]

Yesterday at around 3pm at work I had a complete nervous break down. I had to call my wife to pick me up and once I hit the car I cried like a kid. That lasted till about 10pm. Inbetween I got my hair cut shorter. I suffer from hypochondria severly so that does not make it any better and one big reason I cannot take finasteride.

I have started:

minoxidil 5% 2x daily
Saw Palmetto , Vitamine D and E daily
and Nizoral daily

would adding sprio be beneficial, is there any thread/evidence proving that it works.

Thank you kindly

Well..if you're worried about side effects and stuff, I wouldn't use spironolactone because some people experience systemic absorption of it and have side effects.

You shouldn't let the whole side effects thing drive you away from finasteride. Everything has side effects. minoxidil has been known to cause rapid heart rate, low blood pressure, dark circles around the eyes, etc..

Honestly at your stage, minoxidil will maybe help a little (its going to take at least 6 months to see results though), but its not going to stop your hair loss and its not going to grow back a full head of hair. If you take finasteride you have an overwhelming chance of not getting side effects and its the only thing that can truly stop, and possible reverse, your hair loss. I'd just hate to see ya, 5 years down the road, on your way to a NW6 kicking yourself in the *** like "why didnt i just f*****g try it"

 

[Chris87]

Dude, stop using nizoral every day it's not supposed to be used everyday! Prolly doing more harm than good!

As long as its not irritating his scalp or anything i don't see the harm. I use it every other day (sometimes i use it for 2 days straight if my hair gets particularly oily that day or whatever). There was a guy on here a while ago who used nizoral every day for months at a time and actually appeared to have some hair thickening/regrowth similar to what you might see using rogaine.

I cant just use it 2 times a week...every other shampoo dries out my hair and scalp and then my dermatitis starts to flair up

 

[jazzyb]

thank you for the discussion guys. Very informative.

I've been using minoxidil for roughly 3-weeks now (regularly) and am still shedding the same (maybe a bit less then before) compared to before minoxidil.

I am applying it 2x daily now.

Will minoxidil stop shedding?

Thank you,

Also mods can this be moved to the story section, I will update this as a story.

 

[jazzyb]

woah 6-weeks in and the minoxidil shed is nearly unbearble. Hundreds of hairs. Will this stop? Will they grow back thicker?

O gosh.

On a side note, I visited a transplant doctor who has be nearly convinced to geton propecia.

 

[IrishFella]

If hairloss is effecting you that bad, and it seems it is judging by your top post were you mention you had a breakdown at work, then you'd be on it by now instead of letting to get worse.

Just my 2cents.

 

[jazzyb]

If hairloss is effecting you that bad, and it seems it is judging by your top post were you mention you had a breakdown at work, then you'd be on it by now instead of letting to get worse.

Just my 2cents.

I'm a hypochondriac, I will relate any mild variation in my body to propecia. Hence I am trying to avoid it.

 

[Rawtashk]

If hairloss is effecting you that bad, and it seems it is judging by your top post were you mention you had a breakdown at work, then you'd be on it by now instead of letting to get worse.

Just my 2cents.

I'm a hypochondriac, I will relate any mild variation in my body to propecia. Hence I am trying to avoid it.

Dude...you can try to avoid it all you want, but here's the cold hard fact: The ONLY FDA approved method for preventing and reversing balding is Propecia.

You can try all the other alternative methods you want, but the fact is that none of them are going to work like propecia will. Every day you go without Propecia is one more day of irreversable hairloss. It's 100x easier to MAINTAIN what you have than it is to regrow what you've lost.

 

[israelite]

If hairloss is effecting you that bad, and it seems it is judging by your top post were you mention you had a breakdown at work, then you'd be on it by now instead of letting to get worse.

Just my 2cents.

I'm a hypochondriac, I will relate any mild variation in my body to propecia. Hence I am trying to avoid it.

then kiss your hair good bye ! no finasteride= more hairloss

 

[IrishFella]

If hairloss is effecting you that bad, and it seems it is judging by your top post were you mention you had a breakdown at work, then you'd be on it by now instead of letting to get worse.

Just my 2cents.

I'm a hypochondriac, I will relate any mild variation in my body to propecia. Hence I am trying to avoid it.

then kiss your hair good bye ! no finasteride= more hairloss

Blunt but most likely true.

Unless you have a nice bit of disposable cash, then you could buy RUM or CB.

 

[jazzyb]

Regardless of my freaking out and extreme shedding my hair does seem to be improving, I'm not sure of new hairs but I have a bit more density.

I'll probably start propecia end of july if results are not satisfactory from current regime.