advice needed

hotdillon · Post by **hotdillon** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 12:35 pm

Hi I'm 23 years old and norwood 2. Have been using rogaine now for about 2 months and propecia for about a month. So far I havent seen any new hairs and my hair loss seems to be getting worse! I count the hairs that fall out in the shower and on my pillow and I am losing TONS of hairs still.

I am getting really worried that they maybe making it worse. what should I do? I don't think I've been using them long enough but it's hard to not check everyday and I'm having a hard time deciding if I should keep forking out the money. Thanks in advance for any help.

Post by **HairLossFight.com** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 7:45 pm

Hello Stillman and welcome,

You said:

Have been using rogaine now for about 2 months and propecia for about a month. So far I havent seen any new hairs and my hair loss seems to be getting worse! I count the hairs that fall out in the shower and on my pillow and I am losing TONS of hairs still.

Now, assuming that it's MPB that you suffer from (since you have already assessed yourself as a Norwood 2) I would say its way too soon to start panicking. In fact, I think you have a very good chance of keeping the hair you currently have, and perhaps regrowing some of what you've lost. If you're a 2 on the Norwood scale that means you have a hair line on par with the likes of James Dean. I would recommend that you visit a doctor, preferably a dermatologist specializing in hair loss, to get an assessment of your situation and rule out skin conditions like psoriasis and hair loss related to something other than Androgenetic hair loss (MPB or FPB). Once you've done this, if all checks out okay, I recommend that you STICK TO YOUR TREATMENTS!

It's way too soon to assess the results, and the fact that you are experiencing more shedding than normal is irrelevent at this point because you may be over-fixated on counting hair, and also because period sheds are a common side-effect reported by many users of hair loss treatments like Rogaine and Propecia. So keep using these, take a baseline picture now of your hair loss (you can use the pics in the Morphollica.com Pics and Regimens section as a guide to what sort of pictures to take), and then take another set of pictures 6 months from now. Chances are you'll be pleasantly surprised.

As for the cost of the drugs, if you can afford to stay on Rogaine and Propecia, I don't see any reason to stop using them, but if not, I suggest that you go to Costco and pickup the 5% Minoxidil that Costco sells under the Kirkland label. It will cost you about $5 to $10 a month. Also Propecia is the name that Merck is marketing the drug Finasteride under for the treatment of hair loss. Merck also markets Finasteride for another condition called Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) under the name Proscar. Proscar contains 5mg of Finasteride whereas Propecia contains 1mg. Some people get prescriptions for Proscar and cut up the pills into quarters effectively getting pieces of 1.25mg of Finasteride, and taking one of these a day. Hope this helps.

Regards,
Sam

hotdillon · Post by **hotdillon** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 10:55 pm

Thanks for the advice Sam. My Dr. wasnt willing to prescribe proscar though. I am going to try another one. My hair is still falling out. I hope you are right.

hotdillon · Post by **hotdillon** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 10:05 pm

Hey Stillman, DON'T GIVE UP YET! I've been on Minoxidil and Proscar (quartered) for a year now and I have had good results, even though I was shedding lots of hair at the beginning of my treatments.

hotdillon · Post by **hotdillon** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 11:11 pm

Here is an update on my situation:

-still shedding but a LOT less
-managed to get proscar prescription. I'm using it now instead of propecia.

I think that my hair looks a little better now from a month ago or so. I have been thinking of shaving it really short. what do you think?

Also thinking of using l-arganine and MSM.

hotdillon · Post by **hotdillon** » Sun Feb 08, 2004 3:52 am

Here is a long overdue update.

Still using proscar and minox. added MSM. My shedding has almost completely stopped and now that I cut my hair real short it looks much better than before. I think maybe my hair is getting a bit thicker.

I just want to thank you guyz for not letting me stop when I was panicing when I first posted here. Thanks Sam. I hope Morphollica.com keeps growing and more people keep using these forums because you have helped me a lot. you too magneto!