Hairloss - male pattern baldness or Thyroid-Related

[mogro0022]

Hi guys,

So I've been on finasteride 1.25 mg daily for over 3 months now along with Nizoral two times a week. Initially I only had crown thinning that I was worried about because my dad and maternal grandfather were completely bald (only have side and back of head hair left) by the age of 30. My hairline seems to be fine but my whorl was larger than normal and so I talked to my derm and she prescribed me finasteride. Well I just washed my hair today and as I was running my hands through it while applying shampoo, I collected quite a few very thin hairs on my hand. That is completely new to me as up until January of this year, the only hairs I was ever shedding in the shower were 10-15 thick ones. Also, I am a very hairy guy literally from head to toes I have coarse hair everywhere on my body. My forearms on the underside seem to have these new hairs growing that feel stubbly as I run my fingers over them. Whether they are actually new hairs or just old hairs that are beginning to thin is unknown. It could be just that the body hair is thinning which would be a good thing for me. But the fact that those thin hairs are falling out in the shower which never happened a month ago makes me wonder if the finasteride is actually making my hair loss worse through Reflex Hyperandrogenicity.

Also, even though it looks to be starting from the crown, I have this unusual hair loss on the back side of my head, literally like random streaks of thin spots where my scalp is visible. This also appears on the left and right sides of the back of my head at crown level, where my scalp is visible. That kind of hair loss does not seem typical of the standard male pattern baldness. My hairline itself and mid-region seem unaffected by any hair loss and don't seem to have changed much since I was 15.

I just turned 20 less than a month ago and although I am probably at a high risk of male pattern baldness due to my genetics, I feel as though my thyroid might be wacky and causing that unusual pattern of loss in the back and sides of my head. I have always had very coarse head hair throughout my childhood and it seemed to start shedding more at a young age but nonetheless my hair still remained thick up until a year ago when I noticed my whorl was thinner. From the research I did, hyper/hypothyroidism can cause these symptoms and others that I have such as bulging eyes, anxiety, depression, memory issues, tendency to oversleep, bad sleep in general, panic attacks, irritability, oily skin and hair, weight gain, etc. I have been uncertainly diagnosed with Crohn's disease which is an autoimmune disorder that has made me go on Prednisone multiple times to control these flare-ups that I get (most recently 3 month ago for 2 months) and I currently take Sulfasalazine to treat it. I haven't yet begun to use Rogaine but I have bought some and plan to start soon. Is this an example of Reflex Hyperandrogenicity or could it be that my hormonal levels or thyroid are messed up? I really hope it is the latter because I can treat that unlike Reflex Hyperandrogenicity which can make treating my hair loss practically impossible. Sorry for the long post but I had a lot to mention. XD


(Taken after I woke up before I washed my hair, its very oily at that time and I also had bed-head but you can see the weird thinning in the back more easily like this).

(After washing my hair).

 

[DrDog]

It looks like standard male pattern baldness

With that being said, I really don't know much about thyroid disorders

What symptoms do you know you for sure have? I'm talking about concrete knowledge not "I think"

 

[mogro0022]

It looks like standard male pattern baldness

With that being said, I really don't know much about thyroid disorders

What symptoms do you know you for sure have? I'm talking about concrete knowledge not "I think"

I have had orbital pressure above my two eyes for many years now, constant red, watery eyes that artificial tears don't help with, light and heat sensitivity making the hot summers unbearable for my eyes, difficulty swallowing (looks like I'm straining to swallow to others), shaking hands when I hold them in the air or hold heavy things (noticeable enough for others to notice and for me to have difficulty doing precise work (would be terrible as a surgeon), high metabolism making it hard to gain weight anywhere but my belly, really bad sleep, really bad panic attacks, depression, tired even after sleeping, difficulty concentrating (like ADD level), tendency to forget things easily (locking the door, things my parents ask me to do, homework that is assigned in class, even flushing the toilet, I even forget if I locked the door or not causing me to have to check again) and some I can't can't recall at the moment. All of these have been there since I was like 12, 13 years old and most of them like my forgetfulness and eye conditions have even worsened since then. My mom had thyroid issues too but I don't know the details and I'm pretty sure she's taking medications for it and as of right now she seems to be symptom free. I've never talked to anyone about having thyroid issues because I am just recently thinking that I may have it based on all of those symptoms.

 

[hellouser]

I've been on these forums for almost 4 years and every case of frightened guys ive seen about hair loss has always been male pattern baldness. Not once have I seen anyone suffer from Telogen Effluvium, thryroid or stress...

Sorry kid, you're far more than likely to have acquired the socially hated baldness gift... that thinning hair in the crown is a giveaway. Might want to start thinking about finasteride and minoxidil... dont even bother looking at anything else since those are your only two options anyway.

 

[TD500]

3 months in and your shedding has increased, it's probably from propecia. If you want to find out if its a thyroid issue go get it tested by a doctor.

 

[mogro0022]

I've been on these forums for almost 4 years and every case of frightened guys ive seen about hair loss has always been male pattern baldness. Not once have I seen anyone suffer from Telogen Effluvium, thryroid or stress...

Sorry kid, you're far more than likely to have acquired the socially hated baldness gift... that thinning hair in the crown is a giveaway. Might want to start thinking about finasteride and minoxidil... dont even bother looking at anything else since those are your only two options anyway.

I am on finasteride though for the past 3 months and I have started to see shedding that I never had a month back when washing my hair. Like actual thin almost silk like hairs. My hairline and mid-frontal region haven't changed much at all for the past 5 years. Just my crown and now the back of my head which has just appeared past two months or so. Plus the underside of my forearm has some stubbly short hairs right under my hand which I don't know if they were there before or not. They definitely feel stubbly even though I have never shaved my arms before. I mention all of this and more in my first post.

 

[dehoha]

Since your case is very like mine, I would like to chime in and add my two cents. My hair loss started a little before 18 due to severe diet. Now I am 26, about to hit 27 in 3 months. Your symptoms are very similar to what I have experienced. I took finasteride for a little less than two months, and my hair shedded literally everywhere. From front to back, including sides. So I stopped finasteride, and my hairs stopped falling out immediately for a short amount of time. I am not sure how that "magical period" happened, but I shedded less than 10 hairs for a month. This was January of last year.

Fast forward it to today, my hair has receded more because I stopped using minoxidil. I know that I could have kept decent hairs if I continued to use minoxidil, but my body hair and white flakes from the scalp got out of control. I know for SURE that minoxidil is a proven treatment, and if you want to keep your hair somehow, minoxidil would be the best bet.

If you suspect you are sensitive to DHT levels, you can try stopping finasteride cold turkey. However, do this at your own risk as nobody knows if finasteride is helping you or not currently. You can either wait it out until 1 year mark (some people even say 2 years) or throw the towel right now. Had I chosen to stick with finasteride, would my hair be in better shape now? Most likely, since finasteride seems to work for most people. Would I have been able to bear the psychological trauma from shedding? Most likely not. Hence, I chose to throw the towel early and I do not regret doing that one bit. Everybody has different opinion, but that's my two cents on finasteride.

Going to your question about thyroid issue. It is very difficult to diagnose if you are hyper or hypothyroid by looking at the symptoms. First of all, symptoms for hyper and hypo are almost identical. Everything you mentioned, except for bulged eyes and weight gain can be from both hypo and hyperthyroidism. However, bulged eyes is for hyperthyroid while weight gain is for hypothyroid. Do you see my point? It is impossible to diagnose your thyroid level based on symptoms. The best way to diagnose if you have thyroid problem or not is to get blood test for TSH, free T3, free T4, AND rT3 level altogether. There are more tests to rule out more serious conditions like Graves or Hashimoto's, but both conditions occur not as commonly. I realize that you just turned 20's, so it will be difficult to get insurance or earn money to see doctors. Check with your school's health center to see if you can get these blood tests at discount, or possibly for free.

Another problem with thyroid condition is that even if you knew which side you are, it is very difficult to treat the condition. For instance, I currently have very high level of rT3, low functional level of TSH, normal free T3, and HIGH T4, which points to hyperthyroid condition. What am I doing to treat that condition? Pretty much nothing except taking vitamin D to optimize hormonal level. Thyroid related medication is so complex and most of them affect more than one variable at a time. Oh and there is no prescription available to lower rT3. The best thing you can do is to optimize general health and let your body return to its homeostasis. However, this is most likely hard for you as well because you might have Crohn's disease.

Now onto gut problem, I have faced several issues since I had two big surgeries with general anesthesia in a short amount of time. Antibiotics are detrimental to gut health, which I took several rounds not just for surgery, but also for acne and other infections. Just like general health, your gut health does not degrade suddenly. Instead it accumulates damages over time. At younger age, people are generally healthier and therefore have better immune system. However, as your body (gut) accumulates more damage over time from various sources like surgery, antibiotics, bad sleep patterns and severe stress, your body can no longer fight off effectively. When your gut is damaged, food you eat becomes threat instead of nutrition, not just for your hair, but for your health in general. This is because your gut can no longer function well to do what it was supposed to do - digesting food and absorbing nutrition.

Personally, I am very confused about how you can be diagnosed with Crohn's disease at such young age, but since you said it was not a definite positive, I really hope you do not have that condition. If you do have it, take supplements such as L-glutamine, DGL, marshmellow root and slippery elm to soothe your stomach and esophageal linings. When my stomach issue peaked, I could not handle slippery elm. I think DGL is the safest option to start with, then L-glutamine, then finally other stuff. As far as I know, there is no prescription medication that soothes stomach lining. AVOID PPI's or ANTACIDS AT ALL COST. I can go on and on about gut health, but I do not want to make this post any longer.

I hope you the best luck with this journey. It will be an uphill battle for sure. Stay strong and do not give up.

PS: It is very possible to have vertex thinning without frontal line receding. My younger brother has full frontal/temporal hair, but his vertex is showing quite a bit. Of course, everybody would pick vertex thinning over frontal thinning if there was an option.

 

[mogro0022]

If it helps to know, I've also had two very stressful panic attacks that lasted for many weeks each (one about a month before I first noticed my crown thinning during the summer of 2013 and one during February of 2014 that left me with a large scar on my neck which itself gave me near suicidal depression for many months after up until October of 2014). Whether this is just coincidental or not, just want to mention it. By the way as I mentioned in my first post, I have been diagnosed with an IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) called Crohn's disease which is an autoimmune disorder that causes my body to attack itself since I was 6 years old. The maternal uncle I have that is also bald has a similar form of it called Colitis. Not saying that all of these are causes for my crown thinning but I don't want to leave it out.

- - - Updated - - -

Since your case is very like mine, I would like to chime in and add my two cents. My hair loss started a little before 18 due to severe diet. Now I am 26, about to hit 27 in 3 months. Your symptoms are very similar to what I have experienced. I took finasteride for a little less than two months, and my hair shedded literally everywhere. From front to back, including sides. So I stopped finasteride, and my hairs stopped falling out immediately for a short amount of time. I am not sure how that "magical period" happened, but I shedded less than 10 hairs for a month. This was January of last year.

Fast forward it to today, my hair has receded more because I stopped using minoxidil. I know that I could have kept decent hairs if I continued to use minoxidil, but my body hair and white flakes from the scalp got out of control. I know for SURE that minoxidil is a proven treatment, and if you want to keep your hair somehow, minoxidil would be the best bet.

If you suspect you are sensitive to DHT levels, you can try stopping finasteride cold turkey. However, do this at your own risk as nobody knows if finasteride is helping you or not currently. You can either wait it out until 1 year mark (some people even say 2 years) or throw the towel right now. Had I chosen to stick with finasteride, would my hair be in better shape now? Most likely, since finasteride seems to work for most people. Would I have been able to bear the psychological trauma from shedding? Most likely not. Hence, I chose to throw the towel early and I do not regret doing that one bit. Everybody has different opinion, but that's my two cents on finasteride.

Going to your question about thyroid issue. It is very difficult to diagnose if you are hyper or hypothyroid by looking at the symptoms. First of all, symptoms for hyper and hypo are almost identical. Everything you mentioned, except for bulged eyes and weight gain can be from both hypo and hyperthyroidism. However, bulged eyes is for hyperthyroid while weight gain is for hypothyroid. Do you see my point? It is impossible to diagnose your thyroid level based on symptoms. The best way to diagnose if you have thyroid problem or not is to get blood test for TSH, free T3, free T4, AND rT3 level altogether. There are more tests to rule out more serious conditions like Graves or Hashimoto's, but both conditions occur not as commonly. I realize that you just turned 20's, so it will be difficult to get insurance or earn money to see doctors. Check with your school's health center to see if you can get these blood tests at discount, or possibly for free.

Another problem with thyroid condition is that even if you knew which side you are, it is very difficult to treat the condition. For instance, I currently have very high level of rT3, low functional level of TSH, normal free T3, and HIGH T4, which points to hyperthyroid condition. What am I doing to treat that condition? Pretty much nothing except taking vitamin D to optimize hormonal level. Thyroid related medication is so complex and most of them affect more than one variable at a time. Oh and there is no prescription available to lower rT3. The best thing you can do is to optimize general health and let your body return to its homeostasis. However, this is most likely hard for you as well because you might have Crohn's disease.

Now onto gut problem, I have faced several issues since I had two big surgeries with general anesthesia in a short amount of time. Antibiotics are detrimental to gut health, which I took several rounds not just for surgery, but also for acne and other infections. Just like general health, your gut health does not degrade suddenly. Instead it accumulates damages over time. At younger age, people are generally healthier and therefore have better immune system. However, as your body (gut) accumulates more damage over time from various sources like surgery, antibiotics, bad sleep patterns and severe stress, your body can no longer fight off effectively. When your gut is damaged, food you eat becomes threat instead of nutrition, not just for your hair, but for your health in general. This is because your gut can no longer function well to do what it was supposed to do - digesting food and absorbing nutrition.

Personally, I am very confused about how you can be diagnosed with Crohn's disease at such young age, but since you said it was not a definite positive, I really hope you do not have that condition. If you do have it, take supplements such as L-glutamine, DGL, marshmellow root and slippery elm to soothe your stomach and esophageal linings. When my stomach issue peaked, I could not handle slippery elm. I think DGL is the safest option to start with, then L-glutamine, then finally other stuff. As far as I know, there is no prescription medication that soothes stomach lining. AVOID PPI's or ANTACIDS AT ALL COST. I can go on and on about gut health, but I do not want to make this post any longer.

I hope you the best luck with this journey. It will be an uphill battle for sure. Stay strong and do not give up.

PS: It is very possible to have vertex thinning without frontal line receding. My younger brother has full frontal/temporal hair, but his vertex is showing quite a bit. Of course, everybody would pick vertex thinning over frontal thinning if there was an option.

Wow it seems we are the same people. I actually took minocycline for over two years to treat my acne during high school (been like 3 years since I stopped). Also the weight gain that I thought my thyroid was causing probably is due to my Crohn's instead as when I have a flare-up like right now I tend to have a loss in appetite resulting in weight loss and then the opposite when I am in remission of my Crohn's symptoms like I was for over 6 years until now when it started again. Normally my weight is stable and normal however so you can take that off the symptom list in which case I'm leaning towards hyperthyroidism. Also my vitamin D levels have also been very low and my numerous doctors have mentioned that to me after multiple blood test results. So I started taking 6000 units of vitamin D everyday for the past couple of months. I also took a two, 2 month courses of Prednisone (one in December of 2012 and the other in October of 2014 for two flare ups I had, one which I still have because the Prednisone didn't apparently push me into a full remission).

- - - Updated - - -

3 months in and your shedding has increased, it's probably from propecia. If you want to find out if its a thyroid issue go get it tested by a doctor.

Does that shedding include seeing very thin hairs on your hand that you have never seen before? I don't mind a shed if it's because finasteride is working. I'm just scared that it might be shedding due to further minaturization instead in which case would mean the finasteride is either making it worse or something else is happening.

- - - Updated - - -

Ok, I have another question, I looked in the mirror today to see the back of my head, and there is a huge thin part running down the back right side. I did not have anything like that before I started finasteride 3 months ago. In fact it was completely filled in with thick hair when I started the finasteride. Is this a finasteride shed that will help to increase the thickness later or is finasteride making my hair loss worse? I wanted to take it because my crown was thinning and I wanted to maintain/regrow that area. Now it seems as though other areas are worsening while my crown isn't getting better. Could it be that the increase in T / decrease in DHT is responsible for the back and side hair loss, or is this an example of Reflex Hyperandrogenicity?


Taken right after I woke up.


Same region a week prior to starting finasteride.

By the way, my libido has decreased quite a bit in the past few weeks, and I am no longer getting morning wood as before I would get it every morning, and now I can't remember the last time I got it. I would have the urge to masturbate almost twice a day before, and now I really don't have the urge unless I really want to.

- - - Updated - - -

Can I get a bump?

 

[Pokiu]

Funny thing is that since i was holding my urine to long, and got bladder problems, my libido also decresed in the same way, and my hair loss startet at the same time. i dont know maybe we are all suffering from prosate problems and that part is maybe also causing the raise of dht .

 

[Pavi]

I've been on these forums for almost 4 years and every case of frightened guys ive seen about hair loss has always been male pattern baldness. Not once have I seen anyone suffer from Telogen Effluvium, thryroid or stress...

Sorry kid, you're far more than likely to have acquired the socially hated baldness gift... that thinning hair in the crown is a giveaway. Might want to start thinking about finasteride and minoxidil... dont even bother looking at anything else since those are your only two options anyway.

I suffer from male pattern baldness and thyroid disease

 

[hellouser]

I suffer from male pattern baldness and thyroid disease

There's a first for everything.

 

[Raccooner]

If it helps to know, I've also had two very stressful panic attacks that lasted for many weeks each (one about a month before I first noticed my crown thinning during the summer of 2013 and one during February of 2014 that left me with a large scar on my neck which itself gave me near suicidal depression for many months after up until October of 2014). Whether this is just coincidental or not, just want to mention it. By the way as I mentioned in my first post, I have been diagnosed with an IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) called Crohn's disease which is an autoimmune disorder that causes my body to attack itself since I was 6 years old. The maternal uncle I have that is also bald has a similar form of it called Colitis. Not saying that all of these are causes for my crown thinning but I don't want to leave it out.

- - - Updated - - -



Wow it seems we are the same people. I actually took minocycline for over two years to treat my acne during high school (been like 3 years since I stopped). Also the weight gain that I thought my thyroid was causing probably is due to my Crohn's instead as when I have a flare-up like right now I tend to have a loss in appetite resulting in weight loss and then the opposite when I am in remission of my Crohn's symptoms like I was for over 6 years until now when it started again. Normally my weight is stable and normal however so you can take that off the symptom list in which case I'm leaning towards hyperthyroidism. Also my vitamin D levels have also been very low and my numerous doctors have mentioned that to me after multiple blood test results. So I started taking 6000 units of vitamin D everyday for the past couple of months. I also took a two, 2 month courses of Prednisone (one in December of 2012 and the other in October of 2014 for two flare ups I had, one which I still have because the Prednisone didn't apparently push me into a full remission).

- - - Updated - - -



Does that shedding include seeing very thin hairs on your hand that you have never seen before? I don't mind a shed if it's because finasteride is working. I'm just scared that it might be shedding due to further minaturization instead in which case would mean the finasteride is either making it worse or something else is happening.

- - - Updated - - -

Ok, I have another question, I looked in the mirror today to see the back of my head, and there is a huge thin part running down the back right side. I did not have anything like that before I started finasteride 3 months ago. In fact it was completely filled in with thick hair when I started the finasteride. Is this a finasteride shed that will help to increase the thickness later or is finasteride making my hair loss worse? I wanted to take it because my crown was thinning and I wanted to maintain/regrow that area. Now it seems as though other areas are worsening while my crown isn't getting better. Could it be that the increase in T / decrease in DHT is responsible for the back and side hair loss, or is this an example of Reflex Hyperandrogenicity?

View attachment 31101
Taken right after I woke up.

View attachment 31102
Same region a week prior to starting finasteride.

By the way, my libido has decreased quite a bit in the past few weeks, and I am no longer getting morning wood as before I would get it every morning, and now I can't remember the last time I got it. I would have the urge to masturbate almost twice a day before, and now I really don't have the urge unless I really want to.

- - - Updated - - -

Can I get a bump?

Sorry to revamp this old post but it is relevant to my situation. I too get this linear band that runs down my scalp. It is distressing to me whenever I see it. Do you still have the linear band or has it resolved itself? Anyone else here have this condition? Is it typical of male pattern baldness, a result of scarring or an autoimmune condition? Does anyone have information about this? There is a condition called linear morphea or linear Scleroderma that can cause this empty band but it is pretty rare from what I have read. I saw a case online of folliculitis decalvans causing this too. I suspect after taking Dutasteride I might have acquired this condition but cannot say for certain.