My Big 3++ story...Month 11 update! Coming close to one year

[WillNotLetItHappen]

Re: My story...just started treatment/comments?

It's 2 1/2 months now. No idea, I'm really not claiming anything. I'm trying to comment my progress, also for myself to see the process I was going through.

I just noticed these developments. I don't think these hairs were here before but I didn't even take close up pics from my hairline at the beginning of treatment because I thought I was ok with it and just wanted it to stay where it was.

This is what I'm talking about:

[attachment=0:36prd0je]IMG_0888.JPG[/attachment:36prd0je]

See the fine hairs on the right side? The long black ones have been there before and show where I probably had hair five years ago. Those close ups always look pretty scary and bad. When I style my hair it looks like a minor recession to me.

anyway, if I get these small hairs to really grow out, that would make a difference!

 

[gsk]

Re: My story...just started treatment/comments?

looks good buddy! are you still shedding? if so how many hairs are you losing?

 

[WillNotLetItHappen]

Re: My story...just started treatment/comments?

Thanks!
Well to be honest I am still shedding. I don't notice much difference yet although at some point I thought so. When I wash or style my hair I still lose a sh*t load of hair. I still would guess over 100 a day but I'm hoping it is less. I try not to count because I'm doing what I can right? If they still decide to leave my head then so be it. Also it is not even three months yet and the back of my head isn't worse from what I can tell.

RSR39's comments in his post gave me hope too. He said he never really stopped shedding and look at his amazing results! It's funny because I think I'm seeing progress but it surprises me because I'm still losing hair. It's not small hair but thick black hair mostly.

It could be due to a lot of things. Maybe my initial loss has just not slowed yet. Also I started using finasteride and upped the dose of minoxidil around the same time. So it could be that I'm seeing a bit of minoxidil shed too. I started using foam in the morning and liquid at night (inspired by Peaboddy). So continuing my regimen... :hump:

 

[WillNotLetItHappen]

Re: My story...just started treatment/comments?

Update: Month 3 completed.

 

[WillNotLetItHappen]

Re: My story...just started treatment/comments?

This was a very interesting month. To sum it up: I feel great! I'm sticking to my regimen very rigidly:
0.5mg Propecia (2x a quarter), regaine foam in the morning and 1-2ml Regaine liquid in the evening. I also took supplements for the last month (cheap vitamin B complex, biotin), but I pause now for one week to not overdo it. Also I started some Ginseng tablets for overall feeling.

It is very hard to capture the difference on pictures because it is easy to comb my hair in a way that it looks like I'm not balding. Both these pictures were taken with wet hair. I'm definitely seeing change in my hair, the top feels thicker, more dense and the hair is not as dry and weak. The balding spot seems to be smaller. When my hair is dry it is almost non-detectable. I'm extremely excited and happy about it!

My temples have a lot of fine hair that seems to be getting darker and growing longer. If all of that turns into terminal hair, my temples will be almost fully restored. If they stay like they are, that's fine too. I don't look like I'm balding there.

This is only month 3 and I'm doing very good. I think that I'm responding to finasteride in a very good way so far. These are the other things I've noticed:

* the itch on my head is completely gone.
* I'm losing way less hair (I think in a normal range) when washing my hair and when running my fingers through it..
* and the best thing: my sides are completely gone. I feel the best I have in months!!

After a very rough start the first two weeks of this months where I felt quite a few sides, they now seem to be gone completely the last three weeks. I tried again to take half a tablet at once and it didn't work. I had a very upset stomach and it just didn't work. Also I experienced some ache in my balls and numbness down there as well for a few days as well as reduced libido. I now take two quarters of Propecia twice a day (morning and evening) and everything works very well the last weeks. I started to take some Ginseng tablets. I don't know if that plays a part in it. My overall feeling has improved dramatically since my stomach is good again. Also I eat healthy and work out regularly. I'm very happy with my regimen so far! Thanks to this forum for showing me that you can actually fight hairloss!

 

[WillNotLetItHappen]

Re: My story...just started treatment/comments?

Can anyone help me with my Norwood?
What are the chances of improving my Norwood? If anybody needs one I could give you 1-2 Norwoods.
Thanks!

 

[Life_sucks]

Re: My story...just started treatment/comments?

Your hair looks good mate. I don't know why you are splitting finasteride...but it's not a big deal.

I don't see keto shampoo in your regimen, so I'd recommend something like Regenepure DR. Also, I'd advise you to look into RU.

Sorry about not answering your Norwood question...I'm good at it..lol

 

[WillNotLetItHappen]

Re: My story...just started treatment/comments?

I'm splitting finasteride cause my stomach can't handle a full tablet. In fact it looks like I can't even handle half a tablet at once so far - that's why.

You're right about the shampoo. Actually I'm using nizoral about 2 times a week, I just forgot to mention it. I'm on the big 3, just with 0.5mg finasteride.

Thanks, I'm definitely interested in RU. However it now looks like my loss has stopped for the time being with just 0.5mg finasteride. I'm in it for the long run. My plan is to regrow as much as possible too. If the loss doesn't fully come to a halt I will try to up the dose of finasteride first. I'm trying to not throw everything in at once. What will I do 5 years from now? However, if I'm not satisfied later on I will think about RU again. But I've seen so many great stories with finasteride and Min alone that I will give that a go for a much longer time. It is just 3 months in my case so far and I'm already seeing improvement...

Can anyone help me with my Norwood?

 

[WillNotLetItHappen]

Re: My story...just started treatment/comments?

Can anyone help me with my Norwood?

Pleez.

 

[WillNotLetItHappen]

Re: My story...just started treatment/comments?

Seems like my temples are filling in. Lots of small fine hair turning black. Hard to capture in pictures. Also it feels like the density around my temples has improved. I have received compliments lately. Amazing, feels really good. Weren't bad to begin with, but hey I'll take any hair I can get.

Interestingly I found out that I must have been balding a much longer time than I thought. You develop an eye for it when you spend too much time with it. Must have been at least 4-5 years I guess...just seen old pictures. Damn, I wish I would have seen it earlier.

Anyways, Progress left temple:

 

[WillNotLetItHappen]

Re: My story...Month 4 update.

Alright, month 4 update.

I'm very consistent with the regimen. I don't miss a single dose of finasteride or Min and am very committed. I have added fish oil and 50mg of Zinc. Don't know why precisely but I've read it is benefitial to add that to finasteride. Not sure I like taking that stuff if I don't have any deficencies though.

Felt like this month was less good. For some time the itch has returned but it is now gone again. Unfortunately I think that I've lost more hair than I thought I had. Why? Because at some point I lost little hair during shampooing and decided to count. I know one shouldn't do that but how do I know if treatment is effective? When do you know if Propecia has actually decreased shedding?

Anyways, I had 150+ hairs in the shower today and still seem to constantly lose about 100 hairs on days where I wash my hair. I have less hair in the hand when shampooing and less when styling it than at the beginning. Since it is month 4 I'm starting to think I should up the dose of finasteride to 1mg from 0.5mg. I'm thinking of switching to Proscar for cost reasons, Propecia is f*cking expensive. I think I'm seeing progress in terms of look and feel. I can also hide my hairloss pretty effectively I think. Don't know about my progress though, it is not a Peaboddy type of story yet, but I had more hair to begin with.

Otherwise I feel fine, pretty much like before treatment. I have my ups and downs hairwise but can't believe how long I have denied my hairloss.

I will try to rearrange pics on the first page to include the new pics. I'll try to make it easier to see progress (if there is any).

Comments are very welcome, I don't have anyone to discuss this issue with.

 

[WillNotLetItHappen]

Re: My story...Month 4 update.

Ok pics here, whaddaya think? :innocent:

 

[WillNotLetItHappen]

Re: My story...Month 4 update.

I find it hard to judge from pics, it so depends on the lighting, flash etc. You can make your hair look good or bad. I tried to pick a mix of different angles and lighting...

 

[WillNotLetItHappen]

Re: My story...Month 4 update.

It's getting real quiet in here...anybody can help me with my Norwood? What Norwood is this? Has my situation improved. Looking in the mirror today I feel really unsure...having a bad hair day. :shakehead:

 

[Joe-1991]

Re: My story...Month 4 update.

Zinc and fermented cod liver oil are excellent general health supplements to take anyway. so good call there.

Have you experienced any side effects from the finasteride?

 

[TheGrayMan2001]

Re: My story...Month 4 update.

Stay on finasteride. You're only on month four. Give it at least a year.

If you aren't seeing more progress by month six, I would go ahead and add minoxidil to your regimen unless you already have.

 

[gh05]

Re: My story...Month 4 update.

I think pics are a bad way to document progress. Like you say, lighting, wetness of hair, angle, camera type etc can change the way it looks and make it impossible to track progress. I find that taking a short video is more reliable because you don't need to worry about the angle so much but still this is not accurate.

Do you have any sexual side effects from finasteride at all? Is your sex drive high and are your erections good with it? We have similar hair type by the looks of it but I am too concerned over side effects.

 

[WillNotLetItHappen]

Re: My story...Month 4 update.

Thanks for the reply guys, I appreciate it.

Have been on Rogaine the last 2 yrs but only the last two months I've been using it as directed. I'm hopeful that it gets better, while some respond in just 3 months I think it really takes much longer.

As for sides, I guess I rode most of them out.

I had a really upset stomach the first two months, felt like sh*t. That is definitely gone completely, some ball ache gone, libido is back where I started which isn't terribly high. I can really recommend maybe starting slowly on the drug (e.g. 0.5mg) and building up. Definitely took my body to adapt to the drug, but it has now, I feel great.

Any idea on the Norwood?

 

[TheGrayMan2001]

Re: My story...Month 4 update.

The problem with the Norwood is two fold

A) We can't really see your whole hairline on these latest pics at least

B) The norwood scale is not a progression scale. It just so happens that most men bald in a progression that follows the norwood scale, but many don't. The norwood scale is only for where you end up. For most of us, we are actually Norwood 4 or 5 genetically-speaking so and we just haven't made it to that point yet.

 

[gh05]

Re: My story...Month 4 update.

The problem with the Norwood is two fold

A) We can't really see your whole hairline on these latest pics at least

B) The norwood scale is not a progression scale. It just so happens that most men bald in a progression that follows the norwood scale, but many don't. The norwood scale is only for where you end up. For most of us, we are actually Norwood 4 or 5 genetically-speaking so and we just haven't made it to that point yet.

How can they use it to predict where someone will end up when thinning may not have started in some areas yet?

OP...how long did you have ball ache for? Can you get it up easily when you want it? I'm nervous because I took prozac for just a few days and that ruined my libido for weeks and I could barely get hard when I wanted to. Hate that feeling and don't ever want to experience it again.