My treatment log, w/ pictures and weekly updates (Finasteride, Emu Oil, Minoxidil)

[irishpotatoes322]

Hey guys, I am determined to beat my hair loss, so I am making this thread to document the all-encompassing approach I am taking. I will update regularly and keep you guys posted on everything from my mood, sexual function, physique, overall well-being, and last but not least, my hair!

My regimen will be as follows:

AM:
Minoxidil liquid 5% - applied on entire head
Emu Oil - applied on entire head
Biotin - 10,000 mcg
Ginkgo Biloba Extract -60m (as needed, to see if I can combat any possible brain fog that might arise)
Black Tea Extract -300 mg
Pregnenolone -25 mg (as needed, to see if I can combat any possible brain fog that might arise)

PM:
Minoxidil + Emu Oil
.625mg finasteride every night (taken at night so I can fall asleep and forget about any potential sides, real or psychological)
30mg Zinc Gluconate


Starting date: 6/1/2013



Journal:

6/2: Feeling good, not much to say .

As you can see, I'm a diffuse thinner, so I'm hoping I respond well to treatment. My hair line is actually not as bad as it could be, considering how much MPB runs in the family lol.

[UK_]

Good luck! Finasteride is all we've got for a very long time by the looks of things.

[PatientlyWaiting]

Good luck! Finasteride is all we've got for a very long time by the looks of things.

And Dutasteride.

Don't limit yourself to fin, it's not that good for advanced hair loss.

[irishpotatoes322]

Good luck! Finasteride is all we've got for a very long time by the looks of things.

Appreciate the support

And Dutasteride.

Don't limit yourself to fin, it's not that good for advanced hair loss.

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, I had sides on fin before so I'm a little reluctant to try Dutasteride. I should've clarified, but I'm only giving finasteride a shot again with the hopes that a more consistent dosing schedule + supporting supplements + more patience will be the formula to eliminate sides, while helping to maintain what I have. I'm kind of kicking myself for not sticking on the drug longer, because a few weeks before I quit I noticed substantially darker / thicker hairs on the top of my head that would fall out one or two strands per shower. (This was after I had been on it for about 4-5 months, with side effects taking out about 20% of my libido and erection strength, I recovered to 100% a mere week and a half after quitting, maybe I'm lucky, but knowing I didn't have post-finasteride issues also gave me the confidence to try again). I think I have really high DHT levels, all I know is I grow facial / body hair very fast - I'm half italian /irish lol).

[mature]

You could have tried RU which is similar to fin with far less sides since its topical, soon enough CB0301 will hit the market which would definitely do perfect, just maintain what you have until then and taper off the fin

[PatientlyWaiting]

Ginkgo Biloba Extract sounds good if it actually does work.

I would love for the reason for my disastrous semester to be brain fog. I don't know how I went from getting A-'s and B+'s to C's and C+'s in the very next semester. I swear I made such silly mistakes in exams, that it wasn't even that I didn't know the material, I just seriously did some silly mistakes that felt normal at the time, I saw the mistakes I did in the exams, and it was like "What the hell, I missed out on 20 points for that tiny(legit) mistake!?". I studied and studied, understood what I was doing, and still did terrible. I got a B in my English class, which I was expecting an A like always, I always do the best essays in all of my Eng classes, not this time. It was just an all around terrible semester and the only thing I can think of is brain fog.

It has me worried. Not to toot my own horn, but I am fairly smart, not the smartest guy or anything like that, but I consider myself a bright person. So those C's and C+'s were disturbing to me.

[PatientlyWaiting]

I've been blaming everything in my head. Brain fog, professor's being harsh graders, thinking too much of hair loss, etc. This is false, if I verbally blamed the prof's for being hard on me, i'd just get laughed at by my classmates, considering every one knows I was like the teacher's favorite student in 3 out of my 4 classes I took this sem. If anything, I think the prof's actually barely passed me because they liked me, but I deserved to fail.

Hopefully next semester I do much better. I destroyed my GPA, i'm going to need A's and A-'s to get it back to a decent GPA.

Well i'm rambling now. Sorry. I'll leave your thread alone.

[PatientlyWaiting]

Then again, a legit reason would be thinking too much about my hair loss, which I didn't think of it at all in the previous semester.

I'll see what I can do, i'll try to just forget about the hair.

[mature]

Then again, a legit reason would be thinking too much about my hair loss, which I didn't think of it at all in the previous semester.

I'll see what I can do, i'll try to just forget about the hair.

What is there to obsess or think about, you are already taking measures to maintain and prevent further loss and being patient while new treatments and a possible cure comes to the market.

[irishpotatoes322]

No need to apologize man, this thread is as much yours as it is mine or anyone else's so long as it can help.

As far as your brain fog, I would do two things. Ginkgo Biloba extract is super cheap, so it can't hurt to give it a try. My pregnenolone isn't here yet, but it's supposed to help even more with the brain fog, and it as well is inexpensive. It cost me $2.99 for 60 25mg capsules I think? Definitely worth a shot. I've been using Ginkgo Biloba for two days now, and while I can't say it's done anything for my memory (too hard to gauge), it's certainly improved my ability to concentrate. I know this because I typically have racing thoughts, and with finasteride it worsened a tad, but it's a non-issue to me as of today. We'll see how I do come August when I start classes again.


The other thing I would say is probably harder to want to hear, butttt look, I really believe restructuring the way you think about your hair would do you wonders. I used to have pretty bad anxiety, but training my mind to accept things in life that I had no control over did more for my self-esteem and general well-being than any tangible successes that came my way.

Do I think the side effects from this medicine are real? Oh yeah, without a doubt, at least in a respectable portion of the men taking it. However, the degree to which these sides are felt, by the same token, are largely exacerbated by the mind. This may seem paradoxical, but the very act of doing something about our hair loss means we are heading into the future with an expectation, an expectation to see improvement, an expectation to stop feeling defeated since we are being pro-active now about our situation, and just many other expectations that cause increased awareness to the problem. If you can just drop all expectations, you'll probably put your mind at ease. Doing this will make you appreciate any success you have on the medicine a whole lot more, even if its relatively minor like partial stabilization.

[irishpotatoes322]

6/11

Update: So it's been 10 days, here's what I noticed so far:

Gym: Lifts have improved, but I find myself struggling to maintain the volume that I was finishing effortlessly before fin. In some cases, I'm cutting back a whole set, but I still feel strong, and no negative changes to my physique that I can see (the last time I tried fin, I noticed increased lower belly fat accumulation, but that doesn't seem to be a problem while I'm intermittent fasting)

Sexual function: Immediate sexual side effects (low libido, difficulty maintaining erections, they are much softer). No improvement so far.

Mood/Well-being/Cognitive: My pregnenolone came, and I can safely safe it's cleared up any brain fog I may have been having. As far as my mood goes, I've been much more mellow (for better and worse). Things don't seem to affect me as much, which is nice to an extent. The one big drawback of course is that I haven't experienced any of those really good days, where I felt high on life pre-fin (and yes, despite dealing with the reality of hair loss). I'm going to try and monitor that closely, because for me personally, that would impact my quality of life more than saving my hair, so hopefully it clears up.



Hair: Feels great. I know it's only been 10 days, but I have no further scalp itch, and the shedding has almost come to a complete halt already. Before fin, rubbing my hands through my head when applying minoxidil, I'd notice 10-15 hairs depending on how rough I was. Just today, to give you an idea, both in the shower and when applying my topicals, I only noticed 3 strands of hair in total. Crazy eh? It also feels like it lays nicer, but that could just be the regenpure shampoo / conditioner.


All in all, I am happy to know that I can beat my hair loss, provided I stick with the treatment. The question for me is going to be whether or not I can deal with the side effects, here's to hoping they resolve in time!

[irishpotatoes322]

I decided to stop all treatment and just accept my hair loss. My reason is that I have no patience to wait for finasteride side effects to wear off (no telling if they even will), and without inhibiting DHT, other treatment is just a losing battle. The biggest problem for me was that it just made me feel like a completely different person, the lack of energy / strength / mental clarity was worse for me than the sexual side effects.

GL to the rest of you!

[BigThinker]

I decided to stop all treatment and just accept my hair loss. My reason is that I have no patience to wait for finasteride side effects to wear off (no telling if they even will), and without inhibiting DHT, other treatment is just a losing battle. The biggest problem for me was that it just made me feel like a completely different person, the lack of energy / strength / mental clarity was worse for me than the sexual side effects.

GL to the rest of you!

Sorry to hear that, man. Gotta do what's best for you and be true to yourself.

Hope all goes well with ya.

[Jcm800]

I decided to stop all treatment and just accept my hair loss. reason is that I have no patience to wait for the finasteride side effects you're ear off (no telling if they even will), and without inhibiting DHT, other treatment is just a losing battle. The biggest problem for me was that it just made me feel like a completely different person, the lack of energy / strength / mental clarity was worse for me than the sexual side effects.

GL to the rest of you!

Sorry to hear of your fin experience. What dosage were you on, did you taper on to it at all? I'm thinking about embarking on the treatment myself, but post like yours really make me think twice. Good luck to you.

[DepressedByHairLoss]

I decided to stop all treatment and just accept my hair loss. My reason is that I have no patience to wait for finasteride side effects to wear off (no telling if they even will), and without inhibiting DHT, other treatment is just a losing battle. The biggest problem for me was that it just made me feel like a completely different person, the lack of energy / strength / mental clarity was worse for me than the sexual side effects.

GL to the rest of you!

I totally hear you. I've been on finasteride for 3 years and I'm experiencing some of the side effects that you mentioned: sexual dysfunction, loss of muscle mass, etc. I've actually been thinking of getting off of the medication for almost 2 years now, but I stay on it because I am so scared to death of losing my hair. My idols are some of my rock musicians and every time I see those guys with full heads of hair, I am given that extra motivation to stay on finasteride despite the side effects. But these side effects have really been pissing me off lately and I'm certainly not committed to monkeying around with my hormonal levels for the rest of my life. I know that it's not healthy, despite what some supposedly-reputable studies might say.

It always angers me because hair loss is something that affects people so greatly, yet we are given such limited options to treat it. This is an "epidemic of Biblical proportions" as Spencer so accurately puts it, and are given options that are fraught with setbacks and are just minimally effective. I always get a kick out of how some people come on here and claim that "most men aren't bothered by their hair loss and therefore don't do anything to treat it". That is such utter bulls**t. Most men are in fact deeply disturbed, if not devastated by their hair loss. They only do not seek out treatments because these treatments are either minimally-effective or whose setbacks outweigh the prospect of getting on these treatments.