IfAHairFallsInForest
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Hi everyone, I'm a first time poster, but I've been visiting this site pretty often ever since February. (Sorry if this is a long post. But given all the usual questions I see in response to these posts, I'll try to make this as comprehensive as possible)
First notice of loss
The first time I thought I might have a problem on my hands was in September of 2009. During this time, I had a weird illness that lasted from July to Oct. where I'd get exhausted for 7-10 days (I'd sleep for 18 hours a day and still feel tired). Then, in almost a matter of hours, I'd feel completely fine. Feeling fine would last for about a week, and then out of nowhere, I'd feel tired again. At the time, I was studying for the Charted Finance Analyst L1 exam, so I'd notice some more hair than normal in the pages. I chalked the hairloss up to the illness and moved along. All tests that I had came back fine, other than iron being a little low.
Crap! I'm going bald!
I first had my moment of hairloss realization the same day I dropped this girl I had fallen for off at the airport. She was in the US because of our year-long work program for recent college grads and had to leave the US to go back home for work. Naturally, I was feeling crappy, and as my family and I were going out to eat that night, my dad tried to make a wisecrack comment that he could see my bald spot. So, yeah, that day wasn't too fun. After eating, I went upstairs and checked it out in the mirror, and saw a thin line running up from my vortex to the center-right of my head. Greaaaat...
Diagnosis
I went to my GP in February, and he said, "yep, you have male pattern baldness." That day (after a month of researching) I got a subscription to Propecia.
I also went to a dermatologist 2 months later just for confirmation, but after telling him my story, he thought I had Telogen Effluvium. I'm going to another dermatologist who specializes in hair loss, just to get male pattern baldness confirmation. Why am I doing this? Who knows?
Hair loss so far
Pretreatment: I only had a little loss on my crown, nothing more. Density and everything else was fine.
From treatment start 2/25 to 5/10: After only taking finasteride, for about three weeks, my front right temple area had obvious thinning. I also had thinning and increase loss on the entire top of my head. Every part of my top and a little bit of the top part of my sides has had thinning. I guess my male pattern baldness does not discriminate (hooray for equality!). I started minoxidil about 3 weeks into my treatment, and I apply it only to the crown and front right of my head.
Regimen
- 1 mg of Propecia (2.5 months)
- Min twice daily (2 months)
- nizoral 1% (2.5 months)
Where I stand now
Currently, I am still losing a good amount of hair in all parts of the top of my head. The increase in loss has been steady ever since I started finasteride. If I run all my fingers through my hair and close them together, I'll get 1-2 hairs every single time. The places where I've applied minoxidil has yet to have any signs of growth. I feel that I've gone frop 90% density to about 60% density. I know it's early, but it is frustrating to know I might have gotten into the fight later than I thought. Whereas, in February, I thought I was ahead of the game.
Side effects?
Nope. Not really. I had a week about one month in where "mini-IfAHairFalls" wouldn't salute, but now everything's all good. It prob was just an adjusting period.
One last thing
Sorry if this message comes off negative in any way. I've got a great family, a good job, and good friends. I'm typically a really happy-go-lucky guy. However, sometimes this stuff can really get me down. If you guys can offer any support or words of wisdom. I'd really appreciate it.
I'll try to update as often as possible.
Thanks for the read.
First notice of loss
The first time I thought I might have a problem on my hands was in September of 2009. During this time, I had a weird illness that lasted from July to Oct. where I'd get exhausted for 7-10 days (I'd sleep for 18 hours a day and still feel tired). Then, in almost a matter of hours, I'd feel completely fine. Feeling fine would last for about a week, and then out of nowhere, I'd feel tired again. At the time, I was studying for the Charted Finance Analyst L1 exam, so I'd notice some more hair than normal in the pages. I chalked the hairloss up to the illness and moved along. All tests that I had came back fine, other than iron being a little low.
Crap! I'm going bald!
I first had my moment of hairloss realization the same day I dropped this girl I had fallen for off at the airport. She was in the US because of our year-long work program for recent college grads and had to leave the US to go back home for work. Naturally, I was feeling crappy, and as my family and I were going out to eat that night, my dad tried to make a wisecrack comment that he could see my bald spot. So, yeah, that day wasn't too fun. After eating, I went upstairs and checked it out in the mirror, and saw a thin line running up from my vortex to the center-right of my head. Greaaaat...
Diagnosis
I went to my GP in February, and he said, "yep, you have male pattern baldness." That day (after a month of researching) I got a subscription to Propecia.
I also went to a dermatologist 2 months later just for confirmation, but after telling him my story, he thought I had Telogen Effluvium. I'm going to another dermatologist who specializes in hair loss, just to get male pattern baldness confirmation. Why am I doing this? Who knows?
Hair loss so far
Pretreatment: I only had a little loss on my crown, nothing more. Density and everything else was fine.
From treatment start 2/25 to 5/10: After only taking finasteride, for about three weeks, my front right temple area had obvious thinning. I also had thinning and increase loss on the entire top of my head. Every part of my top and a little bit of the top part of my sides has had thinning. I guess my male pattern baldness does not discriminate (hooray for equality!). I started minoxidil about 3 weeks into my treatment, and I apply it only to the crown and front right of my head.
Regimen
- 1 mg of Propecia (2.5 months)
- Min twice daily (2 months)
- nizoral 1% (2.5 months)
Where I stand now
Currently, I am still losing a good amount of hair in all parts of the top of my head. The increase in loss has been steady ever since I started finasteride. If I run all my fingers through my hair and close them together, I'll get 1-2 hairs every single time. The places where I've applied minoxidil has yet to have any signs of growth. I feel that I've gone frop 90% density to about 60% density. I know it's early, but it is frustrating to know I might have gotten into the fight later than I thought. Whereas, in February, I thought I was ahead of the game.
Side effects?
Nope. Not really. I had a week about one month in where "mini-IfAHairFalls" wouldn't salute, but now everything's all good. It prob was just an adjusting period.
One last thing
Sorry if this message comes off negative in any way. I've got a great family, a good job, and good friends. I'm typically a really happy-go-lucky guy. However, sometimes this stuff can really get me down. If you guys can offer any support or words of wisdom. I'd really appreciate it.
I'll try to update as often as possible.
Thanks for the read.
