My situation is probably different to most people on this forum so I'll give you a bit of a background and see what you think.
First of all, I have been gifted with a massive amount of hair all my life. Dead straight with beautiful natural highlights and the envy of just about any women I have ever met and I've warn it long for most of that time and is still long now. When I was 32, I receded a bit on one side and it didn't progress any further.
I have 2 cats that I look after on my own, one with special needs that takes up a lot of my time in order to provide a reasonable quality of life. One year ago my neighbour decided to dump their pure breed cat who I have been looking out for and couldn't bare to see him go so I adopted him. I knew that was going to be very difficult if not impossible but when I make a commitment I stick to it no matter what. So basically I've had very little sleep over the last 10 months and going to bed between 1 and 2 am every night and usually having to get up at 5 or 6 am. Very very stressful.
Also, over the past 2 years I have been having massive issues with gastro intestinal problems, typically acid reflux symptoms, that I know has been brought about by physical and psycological stress. I'm sure this has been limiting niturient uptake. I've almost got this under control now without stupid pharmaceuticals for the rest of my life.
To make things worse, around October last year, I was at a bar one night by my self having a drink when I started feeling really good, then I started feeling very bad. For 2 days I was in absolute agony. I went to the hospital but they refused to treat me. They didn't believe my story and thought I was a drug addict or something and treated me with absolute contempt. I believe my glass was spiked with something. Actually, I probably picked up the wrong glass intended for one of a few girls at the same table. A few weeks to a month latter, I noticed that all my finger nails had a big groove all the way across.
I saw a dermatologist 2 weeks ago and told her my story. I mentioned that there was receding and some hair loss on my mothers side. She looked at my scalp and tugged at a few hairs. I told her that the condition of my scalp had changed. I could always scrape my finger nail across my scalp and dig out some fluffy white matter whether my hair was just washed or not, but now there is nothing there except really clean skin.
She told me that she thinks I have a condition called Telogen effluvium. She gave me some information which interestingly included a picture of grooved fingernails called a Beau line or Transverse leukonychia. I had my thyroid, iron, b12, and folic acid checked out and they are ok.
The printout says;
" Because nail and hair growth are under the same influences, an arrest in hair growth is often mirrored in the nails by a groove across them coinciding with the time of the shock to the system. This is called a Beau's lkine. The time of the shock can be estimated from the fact that a finger nail takes 5 months to grow from the posterior nail fold to the free edge"
It also says;
"Telogen effluvium is self correcting. It is really not influenced by any treatment that can be given." It also says you may not get all your hair back! I don't know how experienced she is, she looked very young, maybe she was very heavily influenced by my story and therefore gravitated towards her conclusion.
I don't know what to do. It comes at a really bad time because I want to start filming a documentary and I can't start be shedding because I will be appearing in it and that would take the focus away from the story. Also I have a pin head, and would look comical with hardly any or no hair. But there is one thing I do know, A perceived loss of hair loss in any amount, be you male, female, christian, hindu, young or old will cause some degree of psychological pain.
So what would you do,
Would you accept the diagnosis?
Would you wait to see if something comes back?
Would you do nothing because your 54 and consider the above as simply coincidence?
Would you get some Nizoral etc and start some treatment anyway?
I have read the FAQ.
First of all, I have been gifted with a massive amount of hair all my life. Dead straight with beautiful natural highlights and the envy of just about any women I have ever met and I've warn it long for most of that time and is still long now. When I was 32, I receded a bit on one side and it didn't progress any further.
I have 2 cats that I look after on my own, one with special needs that takes up a lot of my time in order to provide a reasonable quality of life. One year ago my neighbour decided to dump their pure breed cat who I have been looking out for and couldn't bare to see him go so I adopted him. I knew that was going to be very difficult if not impossible but when I make a commitment I stick to it no matter what. So basically I've had very little sleep over the last 10 months and going to bed between 1 and 2 am every night and usually having to get up at 5 or 6 am. Very very stressful.
Also, over the past 2 years I have been having massive issues with gastro intestinal problems, typically acid reflux symptoms, that I know has been brought about by physical and psycological stress. I'm sure this has been limiting niturient uptake. I've almost got this under control now without stupid pharmaceuticals for the rest of my life.
To make things worse, around October last year, I was at a bar one night by my self having a drink when I started feeling really good, then I started feeling very bad. For 2 days I was in absolute agony. I went to the hospital but they refused to treat me. They didn't believe my story and thought I was a drug addict or something and treated me with absolute contempt. I believe my glass was spiked with something. Actually, I probably picked up the wrong glass intended for one of a few girls at the same table. A few weeks to a month latter, I noticed that all my finger nails had a big groove all the way across.
I saw a dermatologist 2 weeks ago and told her my story. I mentioned that there was receding and some hair loss on my mothers side. She looked at my scalp and tugged at a few hairs. I told her that the condition of my scalp had changed. I could always scrape my finger nail across my scalp and dig out some fluffy white matter whether my hair was just washed or not, but now there is nothing there except really clean skin.
She told me that she thinks I have a condition called Telogen effluvium. She gave me some information which interestingly included a picture of grooved fingernails called a Beau line or Transverse leukonychia. I had my thyroid, iron, b12, and folic acid checked out and they are ok.
The printout says;
" Because nail and hair growth are under the same influences, an arrest in hair growth is often mirrored in the nails by a groove across them coinciding with the time of the shock to the system. This is called a Beau's lkine. The time of the shock can be estimated from the fact that a finger nail takes 5 months to grow from the posterior nail fold to the free edge"
It also says;
"Telogen effluvium is self correcting. It is really not influenced by any treatment that can be given." It also says you may not get all your hair back! I don't know how experienced she is, she looked very young, maybe she was very heavily influenced by my story and therefore gravitated towards her conclusion.
I don't know what to do. It comes at a really bad time because I want to start filming a documentary and I can't start be shedding because I will be appearing in it and that would take the focus away from the story. Also I have a pin head, and would look comical with hardly any or no hair. But there is one thing I do know, A perceived loss of hair loss in any amount, be you male, female, christian, hindu, young or old will cause some degree of psychological pain.
So what would you do,
Would you accept the diagnosis?
Would you wait to see if something comes back?
Would you do nothing because your 54 and consider the above as simply coincidence?
Would you get some Nizoral etc and start some treatment anyway?
I have read the FAQ.
