Hair loss gene to aggressive for big 3?

[Harris]

Try not to feel like that stay with the tablets and hopefully there may be some improvement around the corner. If you cant hold off ur hairloss for 3ish more years theres a good chance things like histrogen will be available. do what ever you can to hide it in the meantime keep going with tablets and maybe get some toppik. Do you buzz your hair? I buzz mine to 0 and it takes your mind of the balding and actually gives you the impression that you arnt balding at all for a few days this may reduce the stress a bit and help you and people around you get used to what might become, or maybe buzz to a 3 and get some toppik I have never used it but I here it can save people 2 years of there hair looking ok. At least we have hope with future treatments just a waiting game until they are available

[Kirby_]

I hate buzzing my hair, only did it because of the early shedding, it makes my poor hairline much more visible. My aim was to grow my hair back to where it was last October but I won't now have the density to be able to do that.

I just want to get to the bottom of what might be a possible secondary factor in my hair loss, which could explain the rapid loss since Jsnuary.

[notgoingout]

Originally Posted by Kirby_

I'd like to do that but I probably have no means of affording private treatment, let alone the high cost of travelling all the way to London! I'm at an absolute loss, no chance of getting a referral via the NHS(distance from London, will just get told, you're going bald, shave your head you're thirty), I want this to be something other than MPB but I'm 99% sure it's just very aggressive MPB causing my sudden heavy balding. Is there any way I can get "clearance" over other issues without private treatment in distant London? I wish I would die in my sleep every single night, I can't stand looking at myself in yhe mirror heavily balding because of these shitty worthless tablets

Believe me, I know exactly how you feel. All I would say is that you have already spent enormous amounts of time and energy, probably not to mention money, trying to deal with this.

First port of call should be your GP. Let him/her know just how badly this is affecting your life and how important this is to you. Lots of people do get NHS referrals so it is definitely worth a try. If you do get an NHS referral, the fare to London will be small change in the scheme of things.

If push comes to shove, I'd say find the money to see him privately. It's worth giving his practice a call to find out what it would cost at least. He will help you get to the bottom of this, whether it's MPB or something else. He'll also point you in the direction of psychological help if he thinks it would be useful but he's not the sort to tell you it's 'all in your head' either.

Also, in my experience he's not the sort of doctor you would see more than once in a blue moon. If he prescribes treatments you would probably get these locally from a pharmacy. You wont be relentlessly backwards and forwards to London paying private medical bills. I've seen him 3 times in 11 years!

As a minimum, it might be worth calling his practice to ask if they would recommend a doctor closer to your neck of the woods.

I know the whole process of trying to deal with this can be exhausting to the point where you can't see the wood for the trees. That's why I think getting advice from a consultant dermatologist who actually specialises in hairloss (and there aren't many of those to the pound) is invaluable, rather than relying on practicioners from within the 'hairlosss industry'.

[Kirby_]

Is there any way I can definitely find out whether it is (as I strongly suspect) extremely aggressive MPB before going further along the road of getting private treatment?*

At the moment I can't really talk to a GP about this, I'll just be told "you're going bald, tough" again, which I can't really handle yet again. I don't want to again be fobbed off with psychological stuff, if I explain the stress levels element (just AMAZINGLY permanently stressed out by this, seeing how thin my hair has gotten since January/February, there's literally not been a moment since December that I've actually felt happy). Fixing the hair loss, or at least slowing it down a lot, is what would lift how I feel. Practical stuff, positive outcomes.

Any ideas what Dr Fenton could potentially prescribe for me? Do you mean stuff like fin, minox, or other stuff? (I agree with the notion he may well be able to be a much more useful person to see than a hairloss surgeon, as I can't imagine that a HT would do anything for me with my level of loss and diffuse pattern loss.)

* I want it so badly to be a non-MPB reason for hairloss, but the pattern of the loss is a NW6 type pattern, for the most part, so I'm stressed half to death knowing that's what is exactly going on, just I didn't realise fast enough.

Sorry that might be an incoherent blur, 3:20AM here, another night unable to sleep due to the anguish caused by balding.

[notgoingout]

Originally Posted by Kirby_

Is there any way I can definitely find out whether it is (as I strongly suspect) extremely aggressive MPB before going further along the road of getting private treatment?*

At the moment I can't really talk to a GP about this, I'll just be told "you're going bald, tough" again, which I can't really handle yet again. I don't want to again be fobbed off with psychological stuff, if I explain the stress levels element (just AMAZINGLY permanently stressed out by this, seeing how thin my hair has gotten since January/February, there's literally not been a moment since December that I've actually felt happy). Fixing the hair loss, or at least slowing it down a lot, is what would lift how I feel. Practical stuff, positive outcomes.

Any ideas what Dr Fenton could potentially prescribe for me? Do you mean stuff like fin, minox, or other stuff? (I agree with the notion he may well be able to be a much more useful person to see than a hairloss surgeon, as I can't imagine that a HT would do anything for me with my level of loss and diffuse pattern loss.)

* I want it so badly to be a non-MPB reason for hairloss, but the pattern of the loss is a NW6 type pattern, for the most part, so I'm stressed half to death knowing that's what is exactly going on, just I didn't realise fast enough.

Sorry that might be an incoherent blur, 3:20AM here, another night unable to sleep due to the anguish caused by balding.

Yep, it seems GPs all too often adopt a bizarre, hard-headed approach when a man presents with MPB, but if you want to pursue this option you will need to tough it out with him. Even for a private consultation, consultants often insist on a GP referral. However, your GP might be more likely to refer you for a consultation if he knows you are being seen privately and it wont eat into his precious budget. Yes, it sucks but it is probably true.

The reason why I think you would beneift from seeing Dr Fenton is that he will help you ascertain whether you have a problem at all and, if there is a problem, he will help you pin down precisely what it is. Yes, he may prescribe treatments like finasteride and minoxidil but he has treated patients with various types of alopecia with other drugs that may or may not be appropriate for you. Most doctors would probably feel uncomfortable prescribing anything other than 1mg finasteride daily but this guy really knows his stuff and, where he feels it appropriate, he may be willing to look at alternatives or different dosages. I don't know if he would say this is appropriate for you and I would hate to misrepresent him; that's why I would urge you to make every effort to see him yourself.

Kirby, forgive me for saying so, but you're in really unhealthy territory at the moment. You seem to be blaming yourself for not acting fast enough to stop your hair loss but from the way you describe it, it has set in really quickly. Nothing you have done or haven't done has made it worse. You have taken positive steps like taking finasteride but for one reason or another it doesn't seem to be having the desired effect at the moment.

I know exactly how it goes: you convince yourself it's MPB, then you start to think it's something else, some kind of reaction to something or a scalp condition of some description. Then you come on this forum and some people will tell you there's nothing or very little wrong whilst others tell you you'll be bald in a year. It all goes round and round in your head until you're mentally and physically exhausted and the anxiety eats away at you. It affects your work, your relationships, your whole life.

You need to get yourself on an even keel: don't sit on this forum all night for a start and get some sleep; make sure you're eating well, too. Neither of these will bring your hair back but they will enable you to think and act more positively, for example, when it comes to challenges like dealing with your GP. I can understand your desperation to do something that yields fairly quick, tangible results but the best way to start to act constructively is to give your mind and body the chance to rest and recover from the trauma you're going through.

Sorry if I sound like a dick head, but this is based on my own experience and I know 100% what you're going through, so I hope it makes sense.

[Kirby_]

How can I work out 100% whether it's no just aggressive balding before I spend lots of money on private treatment?? I'm SURE thTs what it is I'm nearly NW3 at front HEAVILY balding diffuse pattern it's heavy MPB no other explains ton it's so fast I was 29 last year and never noticed bakfi y before had good enough hair it's just GONe I'm ub shave head territory it's ****ed up I just want to die this sham drug made md hideous bald

[Kirby_]

Gp sneered just said I'm getting baldness just live with it won't give referr for specialist I'm ****ing dead looking this shit that **** bitch girlfriend of mine dues t believe I ga r hàir loss just talks shit about naturally thin hair in patches what a dense bitch I'm trapped balding hesvily but denied

[Tracy C]

Originally Posted by Kirby_

... I just want to die this sham drug made md hideous bald

The medication is not a sham. You are freaking out. You need to find a way to deal with your emotions over this. Treating hair loss takes a long time. It is a painfully slow process. It is in your best interest to learn a more productive way to cope with it.

[UK_]

Originally Posted by Kirby_

Gp sneered just said I'm getting baldness just live with it won't give referr for specialist I'm ****ing dead looking this shit that **** bitch girlfriend of mine dues t believe I ga r hàir loss just talks shit about naturally thin hair in patches what a dense bitch I'm trapped balding hesvily but denied

Yeah thats what happens - worst part is what you have lost you wont get back - happened to me.

Finasteride is ass. And I have a feeling Histogen wont help slick bald or anyone beyond NW 6. Bummer being as though it is still 5 years off.

[UK_]

Originally Posted by Tracy C

The medication is not a sham. You are freaking out. You need to find a way to deal with your emotions over this. Treating hair loss takes a long time. It is a painfully slow process. It is in your best interest to learn a more productive way to cope with it.