Hi All,
I've been reading these forums since October or so and I thought it was about time I shared my story.
I'm 22 and first noticed that my hair had receeded slightly at my temples at age 21 or so. I noticed an increase in the rate of this recession right through this year and put it down to poor vitamin intake, stress, or anything I could think of other than the obvious - that I was suffering from male pattern baldness. It's worth noting that there is currently no hair loss at my crown.
I went to the Doctor in mid-June and he confirmed that, yes, I was losing my hair, and he also informed me that the medications on the market weren't really effective at treating hair loss - ie. they were only partially effective for only part of the population. His advice to me was to 'get used to the fact that you won't have any hair'.
I continued my research online and managed to successfully sift through the snake oil merchants and so on and finally found this site - which is brimming with information on the best treatments, what to expect realistically and, most importantly, an active forum for sufferers to share their experiences. (HairlossTalk - you really do deserve a pat on the back for all of this)
My first step in attempting to get my hair loss under control was to order 3 months worth of Revivogen and a couple of bottles of Nizoral 2%. I apply the Revivogen almost nightly (I do unintentionally miss it occasionally) and shampoo with Nizoral every other day (I use the Revivogen shampoo when I'm not using Nizoral and follow both up with the Revivogen conditioner). I also started 1000mg of Lysine per day and a 3000mg charge of L-Arginine every now and then.
I'd say for the next month or so my hair loss appeared to be slowing - I wasn't losing much hair in the shower - but I wasn't really satisfied that I was doing all I could be to correct the situation on my head.
In early November, approximately 1 month after starting Revivogen, I made another trip back to the doctor - armed with information about Proscar - and got a prescription for 30 tablets. I've been taking 1/4 of a tab daily since approximately Nov 10. One thing I've noticed is that, if anything, I have been shedding much more with Proscar in my system. The amount of hair I lose in the shower now is far in excess of anything I had seen prior to me starting treatment, and I believe that my hair is now getting much worse at the front - where I have now have slight diffuse thinning as well as the receeding temples.
I initially thought 'great, it's just one of those sheds that everyone mentions - I've been on Revivogen for a month and it's meant to cause a shed, and now with finasteride running through my system I'm going to definitely have one of those things' - but it just won't stop! And I'm not seeing any noticeable replacements that others mention coming through!
I know it sounds like I'm expecting miracles overnight, but I'm really at a loss as to how people manage to stay focused through sheds such as this - I'm not going to stop with the current regime I have, but I'm so tempted just to go out and get some 5% minoxidil to top overthing off - something I was planning to keep in reserve for the 6 month mark if nothing improved.
I'd appreciate any feedback/comments/suggestions that you guys can put forward!
Oh yeah, and Merry Christmas and best wishes for the new year!
I've been reading these forums since October or so and I thought it was about time I shared my story.
I'm 22 and first noticed that my hair had receeded slightly at my temples at age 21 or so. I noticed an increase in the rate of this recession right through this year and put it down to poor vitamin intake, stress, or anything I could think of other than the obvious - that I was suffering from male pattern baldness. It's worth noting that there is currently no hair loss at my crown.
I went to the Doctor in mid-June and he confirmed that, yes, I was losing my hair, and he also informed me that the medications on the market weren't really effective at treating hair loss - ie. they were only partially effective for only part of the population. His advice to me was to 'get used to the fact that you won't have any hair'.
I continued my research online and managed to successfully sift through the snake oil merchants and so on and finally found this site - which is brimming with information on the best treatments, what to expect realistically and, most importantly, an active forum for sufferers to share their experiences. (HairlossTalk - you really do deserve a pat on the back for all of this)
My first step in attempting to get my hair loss under control was to order 3 months worth of Revivogen and a couple of bottles of Nizoral 2%. I apply the Revivogen almost nightly (I do unintentionally miss it occasionally) and shampoo with Nizoral every other day (I use the Revivogen shampoo when I'm not using Nizoral and follow both up with the Revivogen conditioner). I also started 1000mg of Lysine per day and a 3000mg charge of L-Arginine every now and then.
I'd say for the next month or so my hair loss appeared to be slowing - I wasn't losing much hair in the shower - but I wasn't really satisfied that I was doing all I could be to correct the situation on my head.
In early November, approximately 1 month after starting Revivogen, I made another trip back to the doctor - armed with information about Proscar - and got a prescription for 30 tablets. I've been taking 1/4 of a tab daily since approximately Nov 10. One thing I've noticed is that, if anything, I have been shedding much more with Proscar in my system. The amount of hair I lose in the shower now is far in excess of anything I had seen prior to me starting treatment, and I believe that my hair is now getting much worse at the front - where I have now have slight diffuse thinning as well as the receeding temples.
I initially thought 'great, it's just one of those sheds that everyone mentions - I've been on Revivogen for a month and it's meant to cause a shed, and now with finasteride running through my system I'm going to definitely have one of those things' - but it just won't stop! And I'm not seeing any noticeable replacements that others mention coming through!
I know it sounds like I'm expecting miracles overnight, but I'm really at a loss as to how people manage to stay focused through sheds such as this - I'm not going to stop with the current regime I have, but I'm so tempted just to go out and get some 5% minoxidil to top overthing off - something I was planning to keep in reserve for the 6 month mark if nothing improved.
I'd appreciate any feedback/comments/suggestions that you guys can put forward!
Oh yeah, and Merry Christmas and best wishes for the new year!
