Re: Doctor
blondeguy said:
docj077 said:
I hope that you're aware that men with male pattern baldness have a defective androgen receptor and it's actually unhealthy for them to not modulate their hormones through drugs and diet. Not doing so leaves them open to cardiovascular disease and prostate cancer.
So, what you're basically doing is telling men with male pattern baldness to not only cease with hair loss treatments, but you're also telling them to not take of their bodies.
blondeguy said:
No offense, but I have problems with this. You're calling their androgen receptors "defective" when their genes are naturally programmed to behave that way. You're also saying is that it's unhealthy to not be on hair loss treatments because they "modulate their hormones," as if there's some unnatural imbalance unless finasteride is coursing through their veins. These aren't vitamin supplements. They're cosmetic treatments.
Doing as I do requires that people don't treat themselves at all. That would be a poor decision for not only their hair, but their overall health. As I said before, treating hair loss treats the possibility of heart disease and cancer in men with the defective androgen receptor. Men on drugs like finasteride and dutasteride are doing themselves a physiological favor and are actually using it as a disease preventative.
Actually, the androgen receptor is indeed defective. It has a single nucleotide repeat mutation in most men and some men have a triplet repeat mutation, as well. The possible mutations that can be found within the androgen receptor are what create androgen insensitivity, normalcy, or androgen hypersensitivity (which is likely what we see with male pattern baldness). The receptor is defective from birth, so it is an inherited defect.
Also, finasteride and dutasteride act to bring balance to the environment surrounding the androgen receptor by decreasing the amount of DHT available for binding and signaling. This promotes tissue homeostasis as the correct level of signal is achieved causing an adequate amount of gene transcription instead of overexpression once the androgen receptor/androgen complex enters the nucleus.
Men with male pattern baldness do have higher rates of prostate cancer and heart disease. Some have even argued they suffer from increased chances of insulin resistance, as well. 5AR inhibitors prevent these processes by removing the cause and allowing tissue homeostasis to resume instead of a constant high level of androgen receptor signaling.
These drugs make you feel like crap, because they return you to a physiological norm and that's something that men with this defect have never experienced, because they were born with it.
blondeguy said:
My goodness. One is perfectly healthy if they're not using hair loss treatments. Frankly, I felt like crap when I tried Rogaine for a week.
I disagree with slimpiggy's methods, but I agree with his message that if treatments really worked, nobody would be going bald. At best, guys see moderate maintenance for a few years until the effects of genetics overtake the effects of the drugs. I believe a lot of people are making a lot of money off the emotional dependencies of insecure males who have been told by hair loss commercials that they're ugly when they're not--and that lifelong commitment to their treatments are the only way out. Yet these treatments have been available since the 80s and 90s, and 50% of guys still naturally go bald by age 50. Are there any 40 or 50 year olds in the world with a full head of hair who can attribute it to minoxidil and finasteride? Any 30 year olds for that matter who went from bald to full coverage?
Nothing like $#iT-stirring on a Saturday night.
Again, we're discussing 5AR inhibitors here, not minoxidil. That was the focus of the discussion and I apologize if it somehow seems to encompass all hair loss treatments.
First of all, it's quite silly to think that all older men with male pattern baldness have been on 5AR inhibitors since their creation or have even had access. Once they were created, they were incredibly expensive, no physician would prescribe them, and we didn't have the online/overseas pharmacies that everyone adores. So, noone was on these drugs religiously until well into the '90s. There are very few men around here that have been on these drugs longer than five years. What does that tell you? Either men simply did not start taking the drug sooner or the men that have taken the drug have no hair loss problems. So, you have 30-40 y/os taking these meds and they've accumulated decades worth of fibrosis and follicular damage. It takes a long time to reverse that process and many will never reverse it all.
Drug companies are not feeding off anyone's emotions or feelings. It is the individual's responsibility to decide what they want to do with their body. Drug companies have no control over free will. To say otherwise is idiocy at best.
Personally, I find your opinion to be about as worthless as the opinion as the thread creator. There have been a lot of people on these forums that have increased their hair density and distribution with propecia, avodart, and minoxidil. So, to call their results lackluster (which is what you seem to be doing), is more of an insult to them and their hard work. You really should consider the feelings of others before you make yourself into a jackass.
