Hi, 28 year old, lack of hair on crown

[therealhan]

So - any word, MNX, of your continued or discontinued Propecia use? Sounds like the cons outweigh the pros - sorry to hear that..

[keepingmyhair]

Then don't.

if only personality traits built up over a lifetime were so easy to just change. Self-esteem has so many elements. Mine's pretty low at the moment. Looking good helped.

[clandestine]

Having my identity tied to my physical appearance is so very unfortunate.

Then don't.

[keepingmyhair]

I lasted all of about 4 days on propecia before I felt cause to skip a day. Not sure if I'm even going to pick it up again tomorrow.

I'm not sure if this was early side effects or just a coincidence, but I have been crushed by depression, anxiety, and loss of appetite over the last 2-3 days. I was so ****ing out of it that I was pulling my hair out this morning.

I skipped my dose for the day and am feeling fairly human again.

I know people are going to say this is all in my head, or that it will go away if I persist. You are probably right, but holy shit I could endure baldness better than the way I've felt the last two days.

I may start on a smaller dose after all as chrisis and others recommended.

you don't take any other medications mnx? If not, that would indeed freak me out as well. anything that has the potential to increase anxiety in a patient is something I run hard and fast from. The unfortunate part is that because we are already anxious about taking the drugs, we often will end up creating symptoms regardless of whether they're real side effects or not. People like us it's lose lose. Maybe smaller dose or just push on through a week and see if it ends up not being the problem.

We are both suddenly realizing our great thick hair is apparently shedding and thinning on the crown and we might bald.. We have a legitimate reason to be both depressed and quite anxious! I wish I was married, I'd care so much less. Having my identity tied to my physical appearance is so very unfortunate.

[clandestine]

I didn't want to go on Propecia either, but to be honest, it was the biggest anti-climax of my life when I actually did get round to taking it.

Kirby; how long have you been on propecia?

[Kirby_]

I didn't want to go on Propecia either, but to be honest, it was the biggest anti-climax of my life when I actually did get round to taking it.

[itssomuchfun]

Did it happen aggressively for you? How is it now?

Yeah it's been pretty aggressive over the last 8 months. I had a thick head of hair beforehand, just thinning at the crown. It's still coming out pretty badly. Don't know how much longer before I'm gonna need to buzz it. My doctor isn't sure now if I have aggressive mpb or telogen effluvium. I'm having allergy tests done this week to see if it might be the chemicals in Rogaine that is causing the redness/irritation on my scalp, which he thinks might be a reason I'm having hair loss all over. I also have drops to put on my head. I'm none too pleased since he got my hopes up a few weeks back when he said it was probably just the diet/weight loss that was causing the excessive hair loss. Now he says if the allergy tests don't show anything then I should go on Propecia. Despite the successes of so many others I don't want to go on the drug.

[mnx]

I lasted all of about 4 days on propecia before I felt cause to skip a day. Not sure if I'm even going to pick it up again tomorrow.

I'm not sure if this was early side effects or just a coincidence, but I have been crushed by depression, anxiety, and loss of appetite over the last 2-3 days. I was so ****ing out of it that I was pulling my hair out this morning.

I skipped my dose for the day and am feeling fairly human again.

I know people are going to say this is all in my head, or that it will go away if I persist. You are probably right, but holy shit I could endure baldness better than the way I've felt the last two days.

I may start on a smaller dose after all as chrisis and others recommended.

[keepingmyhair]

sorry mnx, meant to post my update in my own thread not hijack yours!

[25 going on 65]

I'm not familiar with Pizarro, but Pantagatacos is IAHRS-recommended. Sounds like they both should have spent more time with you guys from the sound of things. I understand we can only expect so much from a free consultation, but what's the point if he's only going to glance and prescribe finasteride? Your regular GP could do that much.

Anyway, best of luck to you guys. I can definitely understand being annoyed by your experiences.

mnx... if Propecia gets too pricey, try getting an rx for 5 mg finasteride tablets and cutting them into fourths.

keepingmyhair, as you've probably figured out by now, Rogaine alone doesn't top male-pattern hair loss. If stopping it is your goal, you'll need finasteride or dutasteride unfortunately.
The scalp inflammation sounds pretty intense. Ketoconazole shampoo might address it, but it seems like one of the doctors you saw should have tried to give you something for it.

[keepingmyhair]

keepingmyhair and mnx, can I ask you guys what doctors you saw?

25 going on 65, I first saw a Dermatology Nurse Practitioner who knew nothing about anything, then I saw a Dr. Marina Pizarro which was a free consultation just like Mnx. She said Rogaine twice a day the rest of my life...

She spent about 8-10 seconds looking at my hair also. She was nice, but I don't know. I'm upset over it again today. She was also the doctor that said my scalp didn't look inflamed at all, yet when I saw my mother yesterday she freaked out going through my hair for 5 minutes because of how red and inflamed it looked. It's all so ridiculous, some days I wake up and it looks like my hair is back to normal again.. then after fiddling for a moment i'm like "oh.. wait, there it is." When i told my father that the hair specialist Dr. said I was thinning like a norwood 3 vertex he started cussing at me, said they're full of shit, and I'm not to listen to them.

So you can see, stressful. Someone just give me a flipping test that gives me a 100% answer and then friggen fix me.

[mnx]

I saw Dr Panagotacos in San Francisco.

I will say that I went for a free consultation, so perhaps I cannot complain about having limited attention. Honestly, I'm happy I walked out with some Propecia.

[25 going on 65]

keepingmyhair and mnx, can I ask you guys what doctors you saw?

[mnx]

Tell me about it, felt very disappointed with the appointment.

Thanks for the good wishes, I'll keep some updates going. All things said, I feel like I'm doing my best to address this problem and I am optimistic that things will improve.

It's a matter of perspective. Now when I look at my hair, I see it as something that will be improving not getting worse, and since it is early on, it helps ease the mind a lot.

If you go ahead with your second opinion with an expert as I think you should, hopefully he shows a little more concern and attentiveness to your situation. Also, whichever path you end up taking, I hope it works well for you also.

Feel free to message me anytime you want to talk about it. Otherwise I may be on here a little less as I am trying really hard to be positive, and I cannot do that thinking about my hair all the time.

[keepingmyhair]

Just got back from specialist. He looked at my hair for about 5 seconds, took a couple pictures, and sold me some Propecia.

Not really the attentiveness and information I was hoping for, but whatever.

See, I think that's crap. I don't understand physicians anymore. These days I think about becoming one just so there's at least one person that seems to care more. Was there any discussion? Did they care or notice your anxiety levels about your hair?

No mention of any tests whatsoever, or even inform you those options exist if you feel that you'd like as much information as possible? I don't know about the rest of you but I'm so detail oriented when it comes to my body I want every blood, urine, hair, and technology test available that I can afford. The fact that they aren't even discussing miniaturization tests with either you or me during our specialist visits is pissing me off. I shouldn't have to learn what that test is through a forum, the hair specialist should let you know that exists for the sake of your full knowledge and the best possible diagnoses. There's literally millions of symptoms that correlate to just about every medical illness imaginable, and hair loss is a symptom of probably 500,000 of them. So yeah, maybe a few tests should be in order other than just a quick glance for '5 seconds' before diagnosing someone with a permanent health issue (be it physical or mental or in hair loss...both).

In any case, if you've decided to go forth with propecia mnx, i'm looking forward to seeing how it goes and wish you NO side effects because god knows I'm so sick of side effects from my meds.