Hey guys, finally decided to make a "Tell your story" thread. Been lurking here the last few months and I have to say thank you to everyone posting here, it has been a great place for information and guidance since I started noticing my hairloss.
I'm 21 years old and from Norway. I've allways been terrified of losing my hair, and the last year has been filled with alot of depression and frustration.
I can't say for sure when I started losing my hair, but around august 2011 was when the scalp itching started. At first I didn't connect the itching to hairloss at all, so I didn't really start researching hairloss treatments until late december. I quickly realised that the big 3 was the best approach to dealing with hairloss.
I'm losing most hair at the hairline and temples, but it's also alot thinner on the top (really ranging from my crown to my hairline). If I scratch my scalp anywhere on the top, back or front there will always follow a few hairs between my fingers if I squeeze them gently together before my hand leaves the hair. It's hard to say exactly how many hairs I lose during a day, but it's more than a 100.
In the beginning of march I had my first appointment with a derm. It was a pretty sad experience. She refused to listen to me and my story and firmly stated that I did not have any hairloss (even though I tried to show her how easely my hair fell out when I stratched my head, and my receding temples). She prescribed me with a dermovate ointment and a very expensive shampoo that I had never heard of (can't remember the name).
The dermovate ointment helps abit, but not much and the effect only last a few hours tops. I never bothered to buy the shampoo as I quickly got a new appointment with a different derm.
The other derm was willing to subscribe me 5mg Actavis finasteride, and I started taking 1,25 mg a day from march 10.2012. Before starting with finasteride I had used kirkland 5% minoxidil and 2% keto (not nizoral but pretty similar) for about a month.
Allready after 3 weeks on finasteride I started noticing the effects. My scalp itching had decreased and my hairloss had slowed down alot. Still lost some hair at the temples but that could be some minoxidil shed. I only apply minoxidil at temples and hairline. Unfortunately, with my reduced hairloss and improved scalp also came the sideeffects.
I have a girlfriend, so noticing the sexual sideeffects was easy and very obvious. It is not all in my head, unfortunately, and it's pretty bad. Loss of libido and ED (to the point that it's hard for me finishing the race when having sex, and sometimes not even being hard enough to have sex). The last 10 days or so I've been on a reduced dosage of finasteride, about .3 mg, but this has not helped much and the hairloss has increased again and my scalp is back to itching like crazy. Having a girlfriend through it all has been amazing, and she's allways understanding and comforting, but she can't really relate to the issues with hairloss like other people experiencing it can.
I've decided to stop taking finasteride in a few days because of the sides. This is not at all ment to be a thread against finasteride, I knew the risks and never really doubted trying it out. It has worked wonders for others, and I recommend it to anyone trying to fight male pattern baldness, it's just depressing realising that I can't use it.
Now I feel like I've kinda lost. I've tried researching how to fight agressive hairloss without finasteride, but it seems pretty hopeless. Please correct me if I'm wrong, because I would love to find a regiment that works without finasteride.
I have also considered going to dutasteride, a few months after stopping finasteride maybe, but it is my impression that it is likely ill experience the same sides that I have on finasteride.
I guess I just wanted to get this out there, without a spesific goal in mind, it feels good to share this with someone going through the same stuff. Also to get other, more experienced opinions. I will add pictures as soon as possible.
I'm 21 years old and from Norway. I've allways been terrified of losing my hair, and the last year has been filled with alot of depression and frustration.
I can't say for sure when I started losing my hair, but around august 2011 was when the scalp itching started. At first I didn't connect the itching to hairloss at all, so I didn't really start researching hairloss treatments until late december. I quickly realised that the big 3 was the best approach to dealing with hairloss.
I'm losing most hair at the hairline and temples, but it's also alot thinner on the top (really ranging from my crown to my hairline). If I scratch my scalp anywhere on the top, back or front there will always follow a few hairs between my fingers if I squeeze them gently together before my hand leaves the hair. It's hard to say exactly how many hairs I lose during a day, but it's more than a 100.
In the beginning of march I had my first appointment with a derm. It was a pretty sad experience. She refused to listen to me and my story and firmly stated that I did not have any hairloss (even though I tried to show her how easely my hair fell out when I stratched my head, and my receding temples). She prescribed me with a dermovate ointment and a very expensive shampoo that I had never heard of (can't remember the name).
The dermovate ointment helps abit, but not much and the effect only last a few hours tops. I never bothered to buy the shampoo as I quickly got a new appointment with a different derm.
The other derm was willing to subscribe me 5mg Actavis finasteride, and I started taking 1,25 mg a day from march 10.2012. Before starting with finasteride I had used kirkland 5% minoxidil and 2% keto (not nizoral but pretty similar) for about a month.
Allready after 3 weeks on finasteride I started noticing the effects. My scalp itching had decreased and my hairloss had slowed down alot. Still lost some hair at the temples but that could be some minoxidil shed. I only apply minoxidil at temples and hairline. Unfortunately, with my reduced hairloss and improved scalp also came the sideeffects.
I have a girlfriend, so noticing the sexual sideeffects was easy and very obvious. It is not all in my head, unfortunately, and it's pretty bad. Loss of libido and ED (to the point that it's hard for me finishing the race when having sex, and sometimes not even being hard enough to have sex). The last 10 days or so I've been on a reduced dosage of finasteride, about .3 mg, but this has not helped much and the hairloss has increased again and my scalp is back to itching like crazy. Having a girlfriend through it all has been amazing, and she's allways understanding and comforting, but she can't really relate to the issues with hairloss like other people experiencing it can.
I've decided to stop taking finasteride in a few days because of the sides. This is not at all ment to be a thread against finasteride, I knew the risks and never really doubted trying it out. It has worked wonders for others, and I recommend it to anyone trying to fight male pattern baldness, it's just depressing realising that I can't use it.
Now I feel like I've kinda lost. I've tried researching how to fight agressive hairloss without finasteride, but it seems pretty hopeless. Please correct me if I'm wrong, because I would love to find a regiment that works without finasteride.
I have also considered going to dutasteride, a few months after stopping finasteride maybe, but it is my impression that it is likely ill experience the same sides that I have on finasteride.
I guess I just wanted to get this out there, without a spesific goal in mind, it feels good to share this with someone going through the same stuff. Also to get other, more experienced opinions. I will add pictures as soon as possible.
