- Reaction score
- 306
Back very briefly to give an update, I will return some time in August and give a more detailed report because that will be around the 5 month-ish mark for using topical minoxidil.
I will offer some highlights for you all before I return and offer a more detailed report.
- I have a very unique hairloss issue that has been brought on not by testosterone but by IGF-1, Insulin, prolactin and GH levels that are highly elevated this has now been conclusively proven with a battery of tests that have been taken over the last few months, this explains why my hair was maintaining so well for years and then all of a sudden it started going very quickly, the testosterone and DHT issues were just a confounding part of it that if not managed would make the hair loss worse.
- I am a great responder to minoxidil, at the three month mark I was getting results I figured I would get by the 5 month mark.
- I have had shed events that have set me back due to fluctuating IGF-1, Insulin and GH levels, this is something I have yet to fully treat but even with the few shed events my hair is full enough to grow long, I have also had to deal with neighbors in my building hotboxing their apartments with marijuana that also caused shed events, which also now confirm to me that marijuana in general is toxic to hair and skin health.
- I am no longer using topical estrogen on a consistent basis, it is now a hormonal "braking mechanism" to stop any runaway hormonal problems with my scalp.
- I had a very minimal topical finasteride shed after 1 month of taking topical min, I believe the source is the same (at least for some) thus getting through the topical min shed should help you with topical finasteride.
- I found out that minoxidil is absolutely a weak androgenic inhibitor which is why it even works in the first place on top of boosting PGE2 and vascular circulation.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- I 100% absolutely had to use anti-wrinkle serums to stop the effects of topical min, but I do have it under control for the most part, I highly recommend using a vitamin C derived serum, as they work very well to stop this.
- My skin and tissues in general felt a lot more dry when I fully started using min, I started using evening primrose oil orally (as I had back when my hair was really thick) which is a potent skin hydrator as well as using biotin, actually my biotin tolerance shot up dramatically when I started using minoxidil, my body seemed to crave it. I absolutely believe you must take hair and skin supplements as a catalyst and cofactor for hair growth and skin protection when using min, MSM is also being used however that supplement can cause pretty serious acne (moreso than biotin ever did for me) if you use it too much.
- My raging testosterone levels have now officially subsided, and I am now looking for a way to balance that along with hair growth, I think that's just attrition due to the finasteride use which does build up in your body.
- my initial dose of min topically was 2.5% 2x day, had to titrate down a few times and then went up to 5% 2x daily and then had to titrate back to 5% with minimal to no sides depending on the day.
- I am now taking metformin for the insulin and IGF-1 problems, it has helped and it has dramatically improved my skin, however it had the nasty side effect of causing urea to build up in my blood excessively and thus I had to titrate back my use.
- In the near future I am going to be trying an alternate therapy of cabergoline to lower my growth hormone levels as improves insulin sensitivity, lowers growth hormone and reduces inflammation and raises dopamine of which mine is likely too low.
These are just updates with less detail, I will provide a more detailed report in about a month and a half.
And as a final note, because of the settling of my testosterone levels, I'm now interested in a compound known as Deca, which has some very strange characteristics for a steroid, namely that it downregulates 5AR and metabolizes into something similar to but much weaker than DHT as well as not completely destroying test levels but reducing them thus making that compound the primary source of androgen for the body.
The benefit obviously being that I can more closely meter my androgen levels while reducing the impact of it on my hair while (hopefully) keeping my androgen profile at physiological levels that are beneficial for the body without sacrificing my hair.
That's about all for now, talk to you guys later.
I will offer some highlights for you all before I return and offer a more detailed report.
- I have a very unique hairloss issue that has been brought on not by testosterone but by IGF-1, Insulin, prolactin and GH levels that are highly elevated this has now been conclusively proven with a battery of tests that have been taken over the last few months, this explains why my hair was maintaining so well for years and then all of a sudden it started going very quickly, the testosterone and DHT issues were just a confounding part of it that if not managed would make the hair loss worse.
- I am a great responder to minoxidil, at the three month mark I was getting results I figured I would get by the 5 month mark.
- I have had shed events that have set me back due to fluctuating IGF-1, Insulin and GH levels, this is something I have yet to fully treat but even with the few shed events my hair is full enough to grow long, I have also had to deal with neighbors in my building hotboxing their apartments with marijuana that also caused shed events, which also now confirm to me that marijuana in general is toxic to hair and skin health.
- I am no longer using topical estrogen on a consistent basis, it is now a hormonal "braking mechanism" to stop any runaway hormonal problems with my scalp.
- I had a very minimal topical finasteride shed after 1 month of taking topical min, I believe the source is the same (at least for some) thus getting through the topical min shed should help you with topical finasteride.
- I found out that minoxidil is absolutely a weak androgenic inhibitor which is why it even works in the first place on top of boosting PGE2 and vascular circulation.
Minoxidil Acts as an Antiandrogen: A Study of 5α-reductase Type 2 Gene Expression in a Human Keratinocyte Cell Line - PubMed
Although more than three decades have passed since the first use of minoxidil in androgenetic alopecia (Androgenetic Alopecia), its mechanisms of action have still not been comprehensively understood. 5α-reductase (5α-R) has an active role as the predominant enzyme in both Androgenetic Alopecia and female pattern hair loss (FPHL)...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- I 100% absolutely had to use anti-wrinkle serums to stop the effects of topical min, but I do have it under control for the most part, I highly recommend using a vitamin C derived serum, as they work very well to stop this.
- My skin and tissues in general felt a lot more dry when I fully started using min, I started using evening primrose oil orally (as I had back when my hair was really thick) which is a potent skin hydrator as well as using biotin, actually my biotin tolerance shot up dramatically when I started using minoxidil, my body seemed to crave it. I absolutely believe you must take hair and skin supplements as a catalyst and cofactor for hair growth and skin protection when using min, MSM is also being used however that supplement can cause pretty serious acne (moreso than biotin ever did for me) if you use it too much.
- My raging testosterone levels have now officially subsided, and I am now looking for a way to balance that along with hair growth, I think that's just attrition due to the finasteride use which does build up in your body.
- my initial dose of min topically was 2.5% 2x day, had to titrate down a few times and then went up to 5% 2x daily and then had to titrate back to 5% with minimal to no sides depending on the day.
- I am now taking metformin for the insulin and IGF-1 problems, it has helped and it has dramatically improved my skin, however it had the nasty side effect of causing urea to build up in my blood excessively and thus I had to titrate back my use.
- In the near future I am going to be trying an alternate therapy of cabergoline to lower my growth hormone levels as improves insulin sensitivity, lowers growth hormone and reduces inflammation and raises dopamine of which mine is likely too low.
These are just updates with less detail, I will provide a more detailed report in about a month and a half.
And as a final note, because of the settling of my testosterone levels, I'm now interested in a compound known as Deca, which has some very strange characteristics for a steroid, namely that it downregulates 5AR and metabolizes into something similar to but much weaker than DHT as well as not completely destroying test levels but reducing them thus making that compound the primary source of androgen for the body.
The benefit obviously being that I can more closely meter my androgen levels while reducing the impact of it on my hair while (hopefully) keeping my androgen profile at physiological levels that are beneficial for the body without sacrificing my hair.
That's about all for now, talk to you guys later.
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