How are the polish guys making out with their cb? Any of them having any success? Are they getting any side effects? Thank you!
I will try to summarize what I learned reading some CB-related topics in Polish forum (pokonajlysienie.com).
As for the efficiency: there are different opinions, but I'm under impression that it more often works than not. Some guys claim that it maintains their hair or slows hair loss. I don't remember anyone mentioning any major regrowth (only minor if any). These reports spanned many years so CB from different sources were tested.
Side effects:
I don't think anyone reported any sexual side effects.
Skin irritation, dandruff etc. was commonly reported but it's probably due to delivery vehicle. Most common delivery vehicles used were pg/et, stemox and kb. kb is the least effective according to what I read.
2 people recently reported changing of hair color due to stemox. One person reported losing color a bit, another reported that on place where solution was applied hair changed. Maybe it's due to loss of eumelanin (dark pigment) so pheomelanin (yellow-red pigment) became more visible (?). Maybe it's not because of stemox itself but some other stuff that given cosmetic included.
One person reported brain fog (but he wasn't sure that CB caused it).
Quite common complaint which I find most worrying is that some people claim that it affects immune system. Users were more likely to catch various infections etc. It makes sense because CB is metabolised to cortexolone which is a glucocorticoid. From what I read on hairlosstalk it's weaker than cortisol, but if lots of CB reaches the bloodstream then I guess it results in lots of cortexolone (which then might have some negative effect).
One person reported 5kg weight gain. He lost it quickly once he stopped taking CB. This also looks glucocorticoid-related.
The question is whether these symptoms were a coincidence or the result of increased cortexolone in the bloodstream.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong but increased glucocorticoid levels should be reflected in blood tests even in basic blood morphology, right? Leukocyte, basocyte, monocyte levels should be affected (?). Has anyone who used CB made blood tests? Also I guess it's possible to make more additional tests targetted to measure glucocorticoid levels. If it's possible then we would have more reliable way of telling whether CB goes systemic (via cortexolone) substantially.