Neuro
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Certainly one year ago I never thought I would be frequenting a site like this, let alone worrying about my hair falling out.
December 2005: I had been taking medicine to treat acne, and I eventually noticed that the hair on my scalp was thinner than the hair on the sides. I thought maybe the acne medicine was causing this, so I went to see my dermatologist. She "enthusiastically" prescribed Propecia. Being the sort of vain person that I was/am, I decided to use it. In retrospect, my hair was absolutely fine. No one but I could detect any signs of male pattern baldness.
March 2006: The Propecia seems to be working well. I can't remember if there was regrowth, but the important thing is that there was no shedding or any other side effects. For about one week, unrelated to Propecia, I got a viral, febrile sickness.
May 2006: Propecia is so expensive, and my mom pays for it. She bought me this expensive shampoo because she believes cosmotologists, and I consequently stopped using Propecia. About ten days later, I noticed hair falling out, and I immediately decided to take Propecia again.
Summer 2006: My hair was shedding incredibly rapidly. I went from a full head of hair to extreme scalp exposure when my hair was wet. Just running my hands throught it would produce numerous telogen hairs. My last summer at home before college was so distressing.
August 2006: Dermatologist says I have telogen effluvium as a result of my illness in March. The timing was perfect: three months after I got sick, my hair began shedding. Even though I think the interruption in my Propecia regimen was the cause of shedding, she was confident that all my hair would grow back because this was typical Telogen Effluvium. I also saw a rheumatologist to rule out any possibility of an autoimmune disorder. Those results were negative.
October 2006: Hair still shedding, though not as rapidly as over the summer. Thin hairs keep coming out. I saw a new dermatologist here at college, and he says that I also have Telogen Effluvium. Both of my dermatologists refuse to believe that Propecia would cause this. So, I now see some hairs growing in along my hairline, but I cannot be as certain in regards to the top of my head. I just don't know what to do. If Propecia is doing this to me, I'd rather just stop it. But I don't want to stop it and get even worse results by doing so. I don't think anybody notices the thinness of my hair, but I certainly do, and it has had an enormous impact on my self-image, -esteem, and confidence. I don't know how much longer I need to put up with this, or what I else can be doing.
Just from reading this, do you think that by stopping Propecia for less than two weeks in May caused these months of rapid shedding, or could I truly have Telogen Effluvium induced by my illness in March? Also, what should I do? Should I continue with Propecia to see if things get back on track, or should I give up on it entirely because it might even be the cause of the shedding?
December 2005: I had been taking medicine to treat acne, and I eventually noticed that the hair on my scalp was thinner than the hair on the sides. I thought maybe the acne medicine was causing this, so I went to see my dermatologist. She "enthusiastically" prescribed Propecia. Being the sort of vain person that I was/am, I decided to use it. In retrospect, my hair was absolutely fine. No one but I could detect any signs of male pattern baldness.
March 2006: The Propecia seems to be working well. I can't remember if there was regrowth, but the important thing is that there was no shedding or any other side effects. For about one week, unrelated to Propecia, I got a viral, febrile sickness.
May 2006: Propecia is so expensive, and my mom pays for it. She bought me this expensive shampoo because she believes cosmotologists, and I consequently stopped using Propecia. About ten days later, I noticed hair falling out, and I immediately decided to take Propecia again.
Summer 2006: My hair was shedding incredibly rapidly. I went from a full head of hair to extreme scalp exposure when my hair was wet. Just running my hands throught it would produce numerous telogen hairs. My last summer at home before college was so distressing.
August 2006: Dermatologist says I have telogen effluvium as a result of my illness in March. The timing was perfect: three months after I got sick, my hair began shedding. Even though I think the interruption in my Propecia regimen was the cause of shedding, she was confident that all my hair would grow back because this was typical Telogen Effluvium. I also saw a rheumatologist to rule out any possibility of an autoimmune disorder. Those results were negative.
October 2006: Hair still shedding, though not as rapidly as over the summer. Thin hairs keep coming out. I saw a new dermatologist here at college, and he says that I also have Telogen Effluvium. Both of my dermatologists refuse to believe that Propecia would cause this. So, I now see some hairs growing in along my hairline, but I cannot be as certain in regards to the top of my head. I just don't know what to do. If Propecia is doing this to me, I'd rather just stop it. But I don't want to stop it and get even worse results by doing so. I don't think anybody notices the thinness of my hair, but I certainly do, and it has had an enormous impact on my self-image, -esteem, and confidence. I don't know how much longer I need to put up with this, or what I else can be doing.
Just from reading this, do you think that by stopping Propecia for less than two weeks in May caused these months of rapid shedding, or could I truly have Telogen Effluvium induced by my illness in March? Also, what should I do? Should I continue with Propecia to see if things get back on track, or should I give up on it entirely because it might even be the cause of the shedding?
