Introduction: I am a 32 year old male, in overall good health, and I exercise regularly. I maintain a healthy diet full of good fats, high protein and vegetables. MBP isn't prevalent on either side of my family. About a year ago, I had the thickest, healthiest hair. I had absolutely no concern.
Story: I found out a few years ago that I have a small pituitary adenoma. I left it untreated because I had no symptoms at all but after two years of no treatment my doctor made the case that I need to begin a prescription. It is a dopamine agonist called Cabergoline and my dosing schedule is .5mg twice weekly. I began this treatment a little over a year ago.
Now onto my hair issue: a little over a year ago, I noticed my hair was shedding immensely. I had never experienced an issue with this before, whatsoever. Since maintaining this treatment, my hair has been consistently shedding. Hairs fall out in the shower, I notice them on my pillow, and every time I brush my hair or run my hands through it, hairs fall out. I also noticed that my hair isn't following a typical male pattern baldness track. My hair is thinning diffusely, all over (sides and back included), and it's fair to say now I have lost about 50% of my original density from a year ago. Over the past 4-5 months, I have noticed this issue accelerating. I also noticed that the hairs I am shedding are breakage hairs as well as bulb hairs. For example, last March during the Covid-19 beginning, I couldn't get my hair cut for 3 months. In those 3 months, my hair was a mop. It was thick, and full, and so out of control that I needed to wear a hat to work to look semi-together. Now we fast-forward to early August 2020, when I last had my hair cut. It has now been 4 months of no hair cut and my hair looks the same that it did 4 months ago. The hair is shedding so fast that I don't even need a haircut anymore.
About 1.5 months ago, I began Finasteride at 1MG daily along with Rogaine as directed. Obviously, it is way too soon to see any benefit from these hair medications. It is my understanding that male pattern baldness occurs gradually over longer periods of time. This is leading me to figure out what is causing my hair to thin diffusely over the past year. I read that dopamine agonists such as Cabergoline have extremely rare side effects involving hair loss. I am always under intense stress, but never to the extent where it is controlling me. I sleep well, eat well, exercise and take copious amounts of vitamins and minerals.
Conclusion: I am in crisis mode. I have been to 4 dermatologists. None of them were helpful or had any knowledge of what is going on. They all just said take Finasteride and kicked me out of the door. One of them didn't even know what DHT was...crazy, I know. Has anyone experience anything similar with their hair? Does anyone have any resources or expertise that could help me? Because this issue is diffuse thinning, I am hoping the route cause is Telogen Effluvium, but when I stopped my medication for a couple weeks, the issue persisted. I also read that Telogen Effluvium corrects itself over a handful of months so that leaves me here in no-where land trying to figure all of this out. I am also wondering if the Finasteride is effective in treating this issue. I am asking the hair loss community: PLEASE HELP!
If you have information could help me, please feel free to e-mail me at swirvin1@yahoo.com.
Thank you all and I hope everyone is staying safe.
Story: I found out a few years ago that I have a small pituitary adenoma. I left it untreated because I had no symptoms at all but after two years of no treatment my doctor made the case that I need to begin a prescription. It is a dopamine agonist called Cabergoline and my dosing schedule is .5mg twice weekly. I began this treatment a little over a year ago.
Now onto my hair issue: a little over a year ago, I noticed my hair was shedding immensely. I had never experienced an issue with this before, whatsoever. Since maintaining this treatment, my hair has been consistently shedding. Hairs fall out in the shower, I notice them on my pillow, and every time I brush my hair or run my hands through it, hairs fall out. I also noticed that my hair isn't following a typical male pattern baldness track. My hair is thinning diffusely, all over (sides and back included), and it's fair to say now I have lost about 50% of my original density from a year ago. Over the past 4-5 months, I have noticed this issue accelerating. I also noticed that the hairs I am shedding are breakage hairs as well as bulb hairs. For example, last March during the Covid-19 beginning, I couldn't get my hair cut for 3 months. In those 3 months, my hair was a mop. It was thick, and full, and so out of control that I needed to wear a hat to work to look semi-together. Now we fast-forward to early August 2020, when I last had my hair cut. It has now been 4 months of no hair cut and my hair looks the same that it did 4 months ago. The hair is shedding so fast that I don't even need a haircut anymore.
About 1.5 months ago, I began Finasteride at 1MG daily along with Rogaine as directed. Obviously, it is way too soon to see any benefit from these hair medications. It is my understanding that male pattern baldness occurs gradually over longer periods of time. This is leading me to figure out what is causing my hair to thin diffusely over the past year. I read that dopamine agonists such as Cabergoline have extremely rare side effects involving hair loss. I am always under intense stress, but never to the extent where it is controlling me. I sleep well, eat well, exercise and take copious amounts of vitamins and minerals.
Conclusion: I am in crisis mode. I have been to 4 dermatologists. None of them were helpful or had any knowledge of what is going on. They all just said take Finasteride and kicked me out of the door. One of them didn't even know what DHT was...crazy, I know. Has anyone experience anything similar with their hair? Does anyone have any resources or expertise that could help me? Because this issue is diffuse thinning, I am hoping the route cause is Telogen Effluvium, but when I stopped my medication for a couple weeks, the issue persisted. I also read that Telogen Effluvium corrects itself over a handful of months so that leaves me here in no-where land trying to figure all of this out. I am also wondering if the Finasteride is effective in treating this issue. I am asking the hair loss community: PLEASE HELP!
If you have information could help me, please feel free to e-mail me at swirvin1@yahoo.com.
Thank you all and I hope everyone is staying safe.