Hello everyone I'm back! hehe
And I know SO much more now! I have been studying and studying! My mind is like a little hive of new information! hehe
Ok well!! I still am very much focused on my idea of insulin, IGF-1, fat production and liver health. It makes so much sense for younger MPBers that it's scary! Well, actually not so much scary to me personally as I believe it is simply true (IMO)
Thing is, as far as I can tell, for young MPBers, we just need SHBG. As far as I can tell. It seems to be that unless your follicles are madly sensitive, which is probably quite rare, you just need to get your liver churning out more SHBG and mopping up your free T. This is my current theory, so whether it's true (it's hard to tell what will be disproven or proven in the future) or whether people agree, this is what I believe
And I am convinced my hairline is coming back, it certainly looks like it still! Make of that what you will but I'll keep you posted!
Basically, you need a healthy liver, and a healthy thyroid, from what I've learnt. The thyroid regulates pretty much every hormone in the body to some extent. If your thyroid is off, then your liver will probably be a bit off too. Liver fat production, lack of exercise, insulin, IGF-1... all these things are considered by the medical community to decrease SHBG levels. And you NEED good SHBG levels. That is not my theory, that is not speculation, it's basic, raw science. If your SHBG levels are too low, your free T levels will be too high, and you WILL bald (save for a criminally high finasteride or beta-sitosterol dose!!)
Yes we are genetically disposed, yes some people will bald even on a wicked diet, but I think it is rare.
My regimen now consists of the following:
Lignans (SDG at the moment, will soon replace with 7-HMR as they're more potent). These increase your SHBG and mop up spare sex hormones.
Beta-sitosterol and Nizoral or whatever if you want, but as far as I can tell only SEVERE cases should need that stuff.
Lipoic Acid. This will increase your insulin sensitivity. R-Lipoic Acid is the best but it costs a whole bunch so I've bought high strength Alpha-Lipoic! If your liver is healthy and releasing nice low, healthy amounts of hormones and fat, you should be fine. It's also a good antioxidant.
Brewer's Yeast as it reduces sebum, gives you lots of nice B-vitamins and chromium, which is also good for insulin sensitivity. Hell it even contains selenium, which is good for the thyroid!
Curcumin should definitely also be considered according to Brian. It balances sex hormones, reduces sebum, is anti-inflammatory, an antioxidant, lowers insulin resistance... hell apparently it even inhibits some DHT
I'll probably throw it in too!
A good diet and lifestyle. This is the very CORE of this regimen I am making. It varies person to person, but roughly revolves around a high fibre, high veg and usually fruit diet. Too much focus on simple carbs, sugar or starch (I believe personally) will increase insulin. I believe that meat also interferes with insulin, so don't overdo it! Fat and dairy is also bad as all this will result in more fat in your liver and kill it's ability to produce SHBG. Dairy also increases IGF-1... and it's just not worth antagonizing the liver right now lol - it needs ALL it's energy for SHBG! IGF-1 is also not great for you in high doses as far as I can tell.
Also, I'm killing gluten like a bad habit. Apparently this (both quotes by Brian Simonis, qualified in Orthomolecular medicine):
"A very high percentage of females who suffer from polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) are allergic to wheat/gluten. PCOS is the female equivalent of male pattern baldness. Wheat/gluten causes a sustained elevation in blood glucose and insulin levels, which translates into chronic inflammation, upregulation of the gene Dickkoff-1 (which happens to drive DHT induced balding).
And low-and-behold, PCOS can be reversed with the correct diet and supplement protocol"
Oh and this bit about genes:
"Genes are not fate.
1. Epigenetics control gene expression.
I take a few natural agents that epigenetically alter gene expression, such as dietary histone deacetylase inhibitors.
One of them appear to involve the LGR5 gene. Of course if or when the pharmaceutical companies figure out a way to do what I’m already doing, they’ll botch it, because so far all the attempts to turn off physiological proteins ends up causing cancer.
Drugs just are not “smart†enough to modulate, instead they just turn off essential functions."
That is new to me though, I am not trying to change my genes right now I am just trying to stop my obviously vulnerable hair follicles from being upset
I don't believe the gene is activated. I believe the entire problem for most people is hormonal. It is true that if your follicles are insanely susceptible then yes in theory even normal/low levels of T and DHT will set them off, but... I dunno, I can't imagine seeing that too often.
To reiterate, I am NOT saying that people with male pattern baldness are unhealthy. I am saying that I believe that if you want to control it you need to listen to your body and help it to regulate it's own hormones. There IS a regimen that works like this but does not force you to drastically change your diet, but personally I am going down the diet route primarily
Last but not least...
If young men bald because of high androgen levels (low SHBG and just general high levels because you're young), then why on earth do older men bald? Their androgen levels are lower... right?
Well, the reason apparently is, again according to Brian Simonis, that your body makes up for the lack of testosterone by producing more DHT and/or (I am not as experienced yet) increasing the potency of the DHT. So... voila. You bald.
So how do you stop this? Well, I am not totally sure yet, I'm sure Brian knows hehe. But apparently again good diet and increasing insulin sensitivity will help. Also apparently increasing antioxidants will help, like I say this is new to me. Possibly increasing T levels will help also, but decreasing DHT is bad. It usually is bad. In young people it kills many people's sex drives and gives sides, and in old people it gives them no T and no alternative.
Anyway, I'll keep you all posted on my progress
I am soon to drop Nizoral completely (I just finished the bottle so now is as good a time as any!) and I'm dropping my beta-sitosterol to only 200mg every other day.
At the moment my WHOLE regimen is pretty much on the back of SDG lignans and a good low insulin and fat diet, but soon I'll get the other new components. There is a good chance that lignans and good diet alone will cure it (think about it, my SHBG will be more than adequate) but I'm not taking any chances! I need to aim for optimal insulin sensitivity, liver health, low fat production and good thyroid balance! Wish me luck! ^_^