I obviously have male-pattern baldness. The frontal hairline pattern is unmistakable. During my own research and consultations with doctors and dermatologists, inquiring about what factors could be contributing to it or what could mitigate it, I have so often heard the following: "Forget everything else, this is all just genetics and hormones. All other factors are negligible." Well I'm posting this to put it out there that, for me at least, this appears to be a load of BS.
In terms of treatment, I spent 8 months using topical minoxidil but it did nothing (except maybe make things worse so I stopped, and was no worse off afterwards). I also spent 9 months taking finasteride (1mg/d) and I still do to this day, even though it doesn't seem to help either. The only thing I've ever noticed that affects my hair loss is stress, even though this is androgenic alopecia and not alopecia areata. If I had a few stressy days I would start shedding 5-10x as much as normal. During calm periods I would shed less.
I have a preexisting anxiety problem (not caused by the hair loss) so a few months ago I decided to try if medication could help. This was 5 months into taking finasteride. A doctor prescribed me an SSRI (paroxetine) and a few weeks later the stress and anxiety were greatly reduced, but surprisingly, so was the shedding and the itching. I'd say it was like a 80-90% reduction. I was now about 6 months into finasteride so I thought it had probably taken this long for finasteride to start working.
I was on that antidepressant for 3 blissful months of very little hair loss, thinking I finally had it under control. But then I discovered that my liver was having a rare toxic reaction to it. So I had to stop taking the SSRI 5-6 weeks ago and sure enough, my liver has since recovered. But guess what: as the effects wore off and the anxiety came back, the hair loss also returned in full force. I've been shedding more than ever and my scalp is itchy and inflamed, which it totally wasn't during those 3 months prior. I can also tell that when I get stressed the itching immediately intensifies, as if my immune system goes into full attack mode against my follicles. I was once told by a doctor that I have a hyper-responsive immune system (meaning: if I caught a cold my immune system would react like I got malaria and I'd be sick like a dog) so maybe that is actually what's happening.
It's funny that the only medication that seems to have worked wonders for my hair loss is not the kind of medication that everyone talks about on forums like these but a common antidepressant. I still have to wait a few weeks for my liver to fully recover before I'm cleared to get on new medication but I'm definitely gonna try to find some other anti-anxiety medication that I can tolerate. Maybe another SSRI or beta blockers or something. We'll see.
Of course YMMV and I'm no medical expert, but I just wanted to put this out here as one person's experience. And I'm curious to find out if anyone else here has found that getting their anxiety (or their immune system) under control has resulted in major improvements to their hair loss. That's why I posted it in the discussion section and not in "my story". Thank you for taking the time to read!
In terms of treatment, I spent 8 months using topical minoxidil but it did nothing (except maybe make things worse so I stopped, and was no worse off afterwards). I also spent 9 months taking finasteride (1mg/d) and I still do to this day, even though it doesn't seem to help either. The only thing I've ever noticed that affects my hair loss is stress, even though this is androgenic alopecia and not alopecia areata. If I had a few stressy days I would start shedding 5-10x as much as normal. During calm periods I would shed less.
I have a preexisting anxiety problem (not caused by the hair loss) so a few months ago I decided to try if medication could help. This was 5 months into taking finasteride. A doctor prescribed me an SSRI (paroxetine) and a few weeks later the stress and anxiety were greatly reduced, but surprisingly, so was the shedding and the itching. I'd say it was like a 80-90% reduction. I was now about 6 months into finasteride so I thought it had probably taken this long for finasteride to start working.
I was on that antidepressant for 3 blissful months of very little hair loss, thinking I finally had it under control. But then I discovered that my liver was having a rare toxic reaction to it. So I had to stop taking the SSRI 5-6 weeks ago and sure enough, my liver has since recovered. But guess what: as the effects wore off and the anxiety came back, the hair loss also returned in full force. I've been shedding more than ever and my scalp is itchy and inflamed, which it totally wasn't during those 3 months prior. I can also tell that when I get stressed the itching immediately intensifies, as if my immune system goes into full attack mode against my follicles. I was once told by a doctor that I have a hyper-responsive immune system (meaning: if I caught a cold my immune system would react like I got malaria and I'd be sick like a dog) so maybe that is actually what's happening.
It's funny that the only medication that seems to have worked wonders for my hair loss is not the kind of medication that everyone talks about on forums like these but a common antidepressant. I still have to wait a few weeks for my liver to fully recover before I'm cleared to get on new medication but I'm definitely gonna try to find some other anti-anxiety medication that I can tolerate. Maybe another SSRI or beta blockers or something. We'll see.
Of course YMMV and I'm no medical expert, but I just wanted to put this out here as one person's experience. And I'm curious to find out if anyone else here has found that getting their anxiety (or their immune system) under control has resulted in major improvements to their hair loss. That's why I posted it in the discussion section and not in "my story". Thank you for taking the time to read!