Alex's Story: 20 Year Old Norwood 6 | Diffuse Hair Thinning

[alexpie2]

Picture album: http://imgur.com/a/TJoS1

The first two pictures are me currently at 20 years old with a buzzcut. The third picture is me at 19 with longer hair. My hair has not only thinned drastically in a 1 year time frame, but has lost its darker color. I used to have very black hair and now it is turning more into a dark brown. For the most part my hairline remains intact. There is a little bit of recession but I do not mind it at all. I do mind the thinning and hairloss all over the top of my head though. I lose over 200 hairs in the shower if I choose to shampoo my hair. It's getting pretty bad.

I have never tried minoxidil or finasteride, and never plan on doing so. I do not want to put up with applying minoxidil 2x a day as well as becoming a prisoner to a pill. I have tried topical spironolactone for a few months with no avail. I stopped it because I absolutely hated applying it. The only thing I am using currently is a lazer hairband. I do not believe this works at all, but my dad bought it for my mom and I so it does not hurt to try. It only takes a minute and 30 seconds three times a week.

I have done A LOT of medical tests and blood work about possible conditions. I have taken out gluten completely out of my diet because I am gluten sensitive. My dad has celiac disease so I guess gluten sensitivity runs in the family. I am deficient in a ton of things such as vitamin D, folic acid, magnesium, alpha lipoic acid, cobalamin...the list goes on. My body is a mess. I cannot absorb many B vitamins (which are water soluble) and fat malabsorption is an issue (so I have trouble absorbing fat soluble vitamins as well). My dad ordered a 1 month supply of all kinds of pills for me for around $400 to see if it helps my condition.

I am very curious about all the pills I am taking and how they will affect me. I am taking around 15 a day. It has been about a week since I started them, and I already see improvements. For years my poops have been floating in the toilet, which indicates a lot of fat content in the poop. My diet does not consist of eating many fats, so I know this is an issue of my body not being able to fully break down and absorb the fats. I am taking ox bile to combat this, in hopes of breaking down fats easier in my body. Just yesterday (July 18th) I have had my first poops that sunk to the bottom of the toilet in years.

Besides all this, I have learned to cope with my hairloss a lot better than before. I am getting into fitness, eating healthier, and becoming a lot more outgoing. In my opinion, being happy in life is the most important thing for me. If hairloss is making me depressed and not want to talk to people, then I need to grow up. Worrying about my problems is not going to do anything but make matters worse, which is something a bunch of you need to learn.

 

[Oliver510]

Picture album: http://imgur.com/a/TJoS1

The first two pictures are me currently at 20 years old with a buzzcut. The third picture is me at 19 with longer hair. My hair has not only thinned drastically in a 1 year time frame, but has lost its darker color. I used to have very black hair and now it is turning more into a dark brown. For the most part my hairline remains intact. There is a little bit of recession but I do not mind it at all. I do mind the thinning and hairloss all over the top of my head though. I lose over 200 hairs in the shower if I choose to shampoo my hair. It's getting pretty bad.

I have never tried minoxidil or finasteride, and never plan on doing so. I do not want to put up with applying minoxidil 2x a day as well as becoming a prisoner to a pill. I have tried topical spironolactone for a few months with no avail. I stopped it because I absolutely hated applying it. The only thing I am using currently is a lazer hairband. I do not believe this works at all, but my dad bought it for my mom and I so it does not hurt to try. It only takes a minute and 30 seconds three times a week.

I have done A LOT of medical tests and blood work about possible conditions. I have taken out gluten completely out of my diet because I am gluten sensitive. My dad has celiac disease so I guess gluten sensitivity runs in the family. I am deficient in a ton of things such as vitamin D, folic acid, magnesium, alpha lipoic acid, cobalamin...the list goes on. My body is a mess. I cannot absorb many B vitamins (which are water soluble) and fat malabsorption is an issue (so I have trouble absorbing fat soluble vitamins as well). My dad ordered a 1 month supply of all kinds of pills for me for around $400 to see if it helps my condition.

I am very curious about all the pills I am taking and how they will affect me. I am taking around 15 a day. It has been about a week since I started them, and I already see improvements. For years my poops have been floating in the toilet, which indicates a lot of fat content in the poop. My diet does not consist of eating many fats, so I know this is an issue of my body not being able to fully break down and absorb the fats. I am taking ox bile to combat this, in hopes of breaking down fats easier in my body. Just yesterday (July 18th) I have had my first poops that sunk to the bottom of the toilet in years.

Besides all this, I have learned to cope with my hairloss a lot better than before. I am getting into fitness, eating healthier, and becoming a lot more outgoing. In my opinion, being happy in life is the most important thing for me. If hairloss is making me depressed and not want to talk to people, then I need to grow up. Worrying about my problems is not going to do anything but make matters worse, which is something a bunch of you need to learn.

Hey bro, my hair loss is nearly identical to yours. Like you I didn't want to take finasteride, who would? I also didn't want to put up with applying minoxidil everyday. I was also 20 at the time. Here I am at 22, I've been on finasteride for 3 weeks and feel no side effects whatsoever. The controversy over side effects have been blown way out of proportion. The mind and placebo effect are very powerful things, so are people's desire to make some money off of lawsuits. I don't know what your going to do but remember, you are still at a point where you can recover to a full head of hair. If you truly feel you are among the 4% of patients who would feel side effects(which are mostly older men who have had this problem or are bound to have it eventually), they will go away after a day or two as your body gets used to drug. The only thing finasteride does(you can google this) is bind with an enzyme that lasts in the body for 3-4 weeks, so it is impossible to have side effects lasting after stopping the drug. I've decided to wait before seeing minoxidil, it's annoying, but once a day works pretty well and I might add that later since it's worth the benefits. spironolactone isn't too effective. You seem to care about your hair with all that your doing, but you need to do smarter, not more.

 

[HairCome2Me]

Echoing what Oliver said. There's almost no downside to trying out finasteride in the hopes it could save your hair, if not, slow down the loss to a snail pace. My hairloss is very similar to yours too in that it is diffused and my crown is also in tact. Even though finasteride is not giving me new hairs it did slow down the pace dramatically. finasteride is cheap (If you're in the US, Target and Walmart has generic 5mg finasteride for 30 pills $9) and the side effects if you end up having any will subside with use and definitely will be gone completely if you decide to stop.

Give finasteride a chance. Give your hair a chance to maintain.

 

[Spellbinder]

Hey bro, my hair loss is nearly identical to yours. Like you I didn't want to take finasteride, who would? I also didn't want to put up with applying minoxidil everyday. I was also 20 at the time. Here I am at 22, I've been on finasteride for 3 weeks and feel no side effects whatsoever. The controversy over side effects have been blown way out of proportion. The mind and placebo effect are very powerful things, so are people's desire to make some money off of lawsuits. I don't know what your going to do but remember, you are still at a point where you can recover to a full head of hair. If you truly feel you are among the 4% of patients who would feel side effects(which are mostly older men who have had this problem or are bound to have it eventually), they will go away after a day or two as your body gets used to drug. The only thing finasteride does(you can google this) is bind with an enzyme that lasts in the body for 3-4 weeks, so it is impossible to have side effects lasting after stopping the drug. I've decided to wait before seeing minoxidil, it's annoying, but once a day works pretty well and I might add that later since it's worth the benefits. spironolactone isn't too effective. You seem to care about your hair with all that your doing, but you need to do smarter, not more.

@Oliver510 do you really think a full recovery from this situation is possible? I am almost 3 months on finasteride and 8 on minoxidil, but I dont see improvement still, I have a similar diffuse thinning

 

[alexpie2]

I just want to make things clear that the only method I am using in hopes of saving my hair is the lazer hairband. The pills I am taking are for underlying issues involving my health and are not specifically for the hairloss; that is not to say that they may aid in stopping my hairloss.

As for not taking finasteride, I have visited three dermatologists, all with the same opinion that the drug is bad news. DHT is one of the most potent and important androgens in the body. Blocking it for years will do damage. The worst part about this is that there are almost no long term finasteride studies. There is a 10 year study; however, it was a very poorly conducted study. No control or placebo group, and only 100 participants. It was shown that side effects were 3x more likely than what Merck suggests. If anyone has any other links to long term studies please link. There is a lot more to the story of this drug than Merck claims there is and I am very skeptical about it. Merck is a very shady company.

 

[transam]

I have never tried minoxidil or finasteride, and never plan on doing so. I do not want to put up with applying minoxidil 2x a day as well as becoming a prisoner to a pill.

Well, in that case.....I'm afraid you're out of options. Either hair transplant....or die