Should I continue Minoxidil?

[Secretlybatman]

Hey guys

Quick recap of my life with hairloss so you can get an idea of why I'm pondering this decision.

I first noticed my hairloss in october 2013 and started treatment in early 2014 which consisted of minoxidil and nizoral. When I started I was a nw1 on the hairline with a bald spot at the back and continued this treatment until feb of this year. Over that time the areas I was applying minoxidil to (One side of my hairline and my crown) Thinned heavily. I lost my nw1 status on my hairline and my bald spot expanded, I also got a weird Triangle like deep frown wrinkle which two months after stopping minoxidil is still there but not as deep as it use to be. In december of last year I got on finasteride 1.25mg per day taken with a glass of water (unsure if you're suppose to take it with water since its broken up) My hair has not improved. I have not grown back what i lost where I applied minoxidil, so a part of me is like: Get back on min to get your hair back! but another part of me is like: Remember how it made your hairloss worse! Ugh. Now I know what you're thinking "This was just your male pattern baldness not minoxdil" If that were true and my hairloss was that aggressive last year, How come i thinned no where else? How come the otherside of my hairline is think as? Is it not possible to lose hair on minoxidil at all? Perhaps if you're a non responder and all minoxidil does to you is open up the blood vessels allowing more dht through without working its magic to keep your hair?
I'm really conflicted right now

My story http://www.hairlosstalk.com/interact/showthread.php/87538-SecretlyBatmans-Story

 

[DoctorHouse]

Hey guys

Quick recap of my life with hairloss so you can get an idea of why I'm pondering this decision.

I first noticed my hairloss in october 2013 and started treatment in early 2014 which consisted of minoxidil and nizoral. When I started I was a nw1 on the hairline with a bald spot at the back and continued this treatment until feb of this year. Over that time the areas I was applying minoxidil to (One side of my hairline and my crown) Thinned heavily. I lost my nw1 status on my hairline and my bald spot expanded, I also got a weird Triangle like deep frown wrinkle which two months after stopping minoxidil is still there but not as deep as it use to be. In december of last year I got on finasteride 1.25mg per day taken with a glass of water (unsure if you're suppose to take it with water since its broken up) My hair has not improved. I have not grown back what i lost where I applied minoxidil, so a part of me is like: Get back on min to get your hair back! but another part of me is like: Remember how it made your hairloss worse! Ugh. Now I know what you're thinking "This was just your male pattern baldness not minoxdil" If that were true and my hairloss was that aggressive last year, How come i thinned no where else? How come the otherside of my hairline is think as? Is it not possible to lose hair on minoxidil at all? Perhaps if you're a non responder and all minoxidil does to you is open up the blood vessels allowing more dht through without working its magic to keep your hair?
I'm really conflicted right now

My story http://www.hairlosstalk.com/interact/showthread.php/87538-SecretlyBatmans-Story

Take a look all over different forums and when you see success stories with photos, the majority have one thing in common. They take finasteride WITH minoxidil. So you need both to maximum results. Shedding cycles can take up to a year to recover. Also realize sometimes these treatments may shed the weak hairs that were going to be lost anyway and maybe a year later they will be replaced with a healthy hair. You have to patient. Right now, I have at least 10 new baby hairs growing in an area that thinned out due to topicals. It took almost 6 months for these hairs to show up. Also realize not everyone will respond the same way but in most cases the combination of finasteride and min seems to be way to fight male pattern baldness.

 

[Secretlybatman]

But I was on min for a year and there were no signs of regrowth just everywhere i put it went bald quickly. It's not like I tried it for 3 months then gave up

 

[Secretlybatman]

can i bump this?

 

[Yoshi3Mario]

No matter whether you take minoxidil or not you should take finasteride if you are serious about keeping your hair. I personally would ditch minoxidil altogether and proceed with finasteride. This isn't a threat but you will go bald if you don't take finasteride.

 

[Agustin Araujo]

If you know 100% for sure that Minoxidil has been helping your Androgenetic Alopecia, I would not stop it. I once quit using topical Minoxidil for a couple of months and went through a massive shed and lost a lot of density.

Also, the exact mechanism(s) on how Minoxidil works to stimulate hair growth is currently not yet fully understood.

You're also supposed to use Minoxidil at the same time with a 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor for the best results possible. I'm not sure how long you took Finasteride, but you'll need to stay on that if you really don't want to lose hair in the long term. Also, you can always give Dutasteride a go if you truly want to stop your male pattern baldness as much as possible.

 

[Secretlybatman]

I've been on finasteride since early november of last year. Absolutely no regrowth where i was applying minoxidil though

- - - Updated - - -

I don't think I could handle dutasteride. I basically don't get morning wood anymore and one of my nipples is bigger than the other (Just the nipple bit not the red areola around it) and it gets hard a lot. I brought it up with my doctor and he said the amount of finasteride I'm on isn't enough to cause gyno and didn't even check. I've tried to do a self assesment and I can't feel any lumps under the skin at all. Maybe ive always been like this. A hard nipple is less embarrasing than going bald anyway

 

[Secretlybatman]

Id like to know why my hair on the one side of my hairline that I applied minoxidil has disappeared everywhere minoxidil spread over 7 months though, It hasn't came back off minoxidil either. Like I said everywhere i didn't apply minoxidil is still thick as hell. I want that hair back but at the same time I don't want minoxidil to make it worse.

 

[Secretlybatman]

ive noticed my right nipple (just the pointy bit) is bigger than the left side and gets harder too. I don't remember this before finasteride but ive done chest squeeze tests and felt no lumps or anything. I'm 7 months in finasteride atm and could someone comment on the above post.