The scalp inflammation/itchy/burning/tingling thread

[jrlish]

Torture

Just a couple of updates/additions:

Stopped the Minox (pb) and burning/itching has lessoned. Don't wake up in with extreme itch or burn in the middle of the night like I did before. Still have itching but not as bad.
Still shed about 20+ in the shower XX+ throughout the day.
Still have spots on my head that feel like they were hit with a hammer or stabbed with a knife. When I press on them the spots hurt as well as the hair around it. They seem to move around from day-to-day. They are also hot/warm to the touch.
My hair (what's left) usually feels like I sleep on it wrong. Hurts.
I wish I knew if it was autoimmune or some underlying issue.
I've lost about 50% in the last 6 months and it's diffuse where it's thinning all over. Even on the sides.

Anyone read or come across anything similar. I have seen several specialist and there have been no answers.

[jrlish]

My Story

Hey all,

I'm glad I came across this thread. It's helped me validate I'm not crazy.

Here's my story:

I'm a healthy 37 year old male (limited carbs and sugar) that has had thick hair all my life to the point where my haircutters would want to thin it. I have no history of MPB on either side of the family as well. Around May I noticed a ton of hair in the hotel shower (I travel a lot) and actually thought it was someone else's'. That's when I started to notice hair coming out when I showered from there after. About 3 weeks later it started burning/itching. I went and saw my primary care (in June) and he said my scalp was somewhat inflamed and ordered blood work and prescribed ket shampoo. Blood work came back normal and ket did nothing for me. I then went and saw a dermatologist and she did a quick hair pull test and confirmed my hair was coming out in mass and said I had TE. She said all I could do is wait for my body to heal itself or take minox. I then went to see a Tricologist (evolution hair loss center) where he took images of my scalp and said it wasn't healthy and "looked angry". He then gave me his treatment plan of natural shampoos and minox. I used it regularly but continued to experience the extreme pain and burning. I have been shedding about regularly 30-50 hairs in the shower and constantly throughout the day (falling on my phone and laptop. They have white bulbs on the end obviously and I can see my scalp both wet and dry now. It's diffuse hair loss all over (even on the sides), but more noticeable on the top. I've gone through spouts of depression due to it coming on abruptly and the physical pain it is causing. Along with the burring and itching I have certain spots on my head that feel like they are being stabbed with a knife. When I press on them the scalp hurts along with the hair. It feels like when you sleep on your hair the wrong way. Sometimes I put ice on the spots to try and sooth them. The itching is so bad sometimes it wakes me up in the middle of the night. I have actually gotten up to rinse my hair out to try and stop the burning. The doctor, dermatologist, and the Tricologolist haven't really been helpful. I went back the dermatologist and he basically thought I was crazy, but prescribed me more ket shampoo and some acid for the burning. I'm completely miserable with the sharp pain, burning, and itching throughout the day. It's been 6 months with no sign of relieve. I've collected my shed hair where I could for about 4 months and it's enough to create another full head of hair. At this point I see no end in sight and at a loss of what to do. I've tried minox, nioxin, special shampoos, hair specific vitamins, etc. I'm thinking about laser as a next step, but as I read this forum it seem like perhaps I should give fin a try as well. I'm fine if I go bald, but the scalp pain is what I want to try and get rid of. Thanks for listening to my vent.

[mic28]

My apologies, that was meant for you Dench

[mic28]

Hey Ziggy,

Are you still getting a lot of loss? I quit propecia a couple of months ago. I am also hearing a lot about how diet is affecting hair loss. I tried to cut down beer, carbs, sugar and wheat a few weeks back and felt better. I've got lazy since but might try it again

[unbalding]

I really think it's DHT attacking the follicles because I only get it during/after sex or masturbation.

[Dench57]

Has anyone found diet change helps their itch/inflammation? I hear a lot of reports all over "MPB itch" threads of people cutting down on carbs/sugar/dairy and its helped them immensely. I'm gonna give it a try anyway, won't be easy since I basically live on carbs but will try and cut them down drastically for a week or so.

[Virtual]

Hi, I've read about this problem for weeks and intensely.

I put a post in another forum i want to paste here:

"Hello

The first, sorry for my English is not very good.


I started propecia a year ago, the first months my libido was so so so high, red skin oily skin and a lot of itching / tingling in the middle and frontal scalp.Now that is down a little only,
buti still have the highest libido before i start and the tingling / swelling continue. So, my front and middle scalp is more thin,it has been miniaturized.

I have hypothyroidism for many years, controlled with levothyroxine 10 years ago, I did not have much alopecia until, The dosctor up a little more the synthroid dose two years ago,and started itching and tingling of the scalp, and i had much thinning ang i started on diffuse alopecia, My testosterone levels on the blodd test was so high and my libido went up much too ..

My baseline analysis before Propecia DHT is very high, above the range and medium / low testosterone.

I'm having Reflex hyperandrogenicity on propecia and when i up the levothyroxine dose, i know is the testosterone.

I'm wondering whether to fight this would not be a good idea take oral spiro to lower testosterone levels without sides and continue protecting some hairs.

There are days that I have lower libido, and no tingling, so that it is testosterone, the same happens when being in propecia low levothyroxine, my testosterone and low inflammation disappears.


I am now on RU, but the inflammation not disspear, my hormonal environment remains bad for my hair.

I have always said that we must live well to the treatments, and this is not going well

What would be the best solution for this?

-propecia + oral spiro
-no propecia and only ru.
-propecia + oral spiro + ru
-topical finasteride of Hasson & Wong + ru + minox

I think is necesary lower 5aR2, but I do not know how.
Thanks"


Boys, Its the testosterone and highly inflammatory immune system, think that we are all here diffuse alopecia.

If we have experienced more libido, more oily skin and inflammation .. why we not normalize those reducing testosterone to normal levels?



What methods are there for that?

[Dench57]

Hey James. Glad to hear it's finally working for you and well done for sticking it out - these drugs can really take you on a wild ride before you come out the other end (if at all). I've spoken to several people recently who had similar experiences with Fin/Dut - i.e. burning/itch/pain for the first few months with accelerated loss and then it levelled out. However I've spoken to one other user who had the same reaction as me, came off Fin after 3 weeks of burning/itching, and he's still dealing with it 2 years later. He says he's retried Fin and it just made it worse again. Its such a messed up drug. Maybe I should've just rode it out - it's impossible to know if it would've stopped but I guess it couldn't have been much worse than what I have now i.e. permanent burning/itching.

I am considering trying Fin or Dut again as an absolute last resort, if Setipiprant and CB-03-01 aren't enough to curb this inflammation. I'm also dealing with mild gyno...which I think I got from anti-inflammatories (ridiculous I know but not sure what else could've caused it). So that would probably be exacerbated if I tried Fin/Dut. It's a truly ****ed up situation.

[jamesst11]

yeah man, pretty much the same thing here:

Months 1-5: rapid hair loss accompanied by tingling and itching, etc...
Month 6 and 7: My hair loss is drastically reduced and the sensations are going away and almost non existent. I am also noticing a ton of "new" hairs throughout my scalp. I put "new" in parenthesis, because I am just not sure. We will see!

Do you ever wonder if you should have stuck with it? Perhaps the body just needed time to adjust? It is a pretty extreme physiological change...

[Dench57]

Dench,
how long were you on it?
Did you notice any regrowth or cessation of hair loss at ANY point
Are you still on it

I was on it for 3 months between Nov '14- Feb '15. It just burnt my hair away - and the burning continues to this day.

[jamesst11]

That sounds exactly what happened to me on Fin, and for a long time it was just on one side of my head too. So weird.

Dench,
how long were you on it?
Did you notice any regrowth or cessation of hair loss at ANY point
Are you still on it

[Dench57]

I've been on fin for 7 months now and it has only made my hair much thinner. The sensations I get feel like ants crawling under my scalp, very slowly and burning. I only get these feelings on ONE side of my head and this is where it has thinned the most. There is definitely a correlation between these sensations and hair loss.

That sounds exactly what happened to me on Fin, and for a long time it was just on one side of my head too. So weird.

[Dench57]

Some people claim finasteride helped the itch. I am curious how many people tried fin and the itch went away completely or if it went away at the hairline, temples or crown. Its odd why it would it worse in some people. The issue is receptors are important yet little is known about them and testosterone could be important too. Who knows though really

Most people will find their itch reduced by using Finasteride. For a small minority of us, it makes the itch worse and exacerbates hairloss. I have no idea why.

[jamesst11]

I've been on fin for 7 months now and it has only made my hair much thinner. The sensations I get feel like ants crawling under my scalp, very slowly and burning. I only get these feelings on ONE side of my head and this is where it has thinned the most. There is definitely a correlation between these sensations and hair loss.

[burtandernie]

Some people claim finasteride helped the itch. I am curious how many people tried fin and the itch went away completely or if it went away at the hairline, temples or crown. Its odd why it would it worse in some people. The issue is receptors are important yet little is known about them and testosterone could be important too. Who knows though really