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Hmm,your condition is unique but may be there is solution .keep in touch.
Rapid Norwood Progression In Female
- Thread starter Bluelilac
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if you don’t have this drug, look for a similar drug in your pharmacies. Do not take anti-androgens, be it flutamide or spirolankton or cyproterone acetate without estrogen! All anti-androgens have anti-estrogenic effect, so they are combined!
I’m not sure, but I am greatly aware that it’s a viable option for treating female pattern hair loss. Although, I wouldn’t recommend flutamide; bicalutamide is a greater option. Within women, bicalutamide is greatly effective at doses of 25MG/day. It doesn’t appear to cause an initial shed, from what I have heard.
Have a lot to say but I'm really tired. I got my hair biopsy today wooo!!!!
you're like me before I've abused my bs too much. I did not know about low-carbing until it was too late and my fasting insulin was high which is why I do well with metformin, I only take 250mg.....I'm super skinny too. I also read that metformin can raise progesterone and I just tested my progesterone and it looks really good and it wasn't good a few years ago so YAY
I take 10mg of melatonin instead of 3 and I think that's to lower my morning cortisol which is definitely too high. I can't imagine having high cortisol all day though.I imagine you can't tolerate any caffeine? I drink way too much caffeine....enough to give myself high blood pressure and stuff it's bad
my free testosterone has gone up in the last few years a(from .2 and .3 to .8 last week) converts to dht. So I'm sure my DHT is up from a 13 which is bad. my estrogen also came out extremely high which can cause hair loss but I don't trust that test, I'm going to retest in a few weeks.
I need to test my prolactin levels. have you ever heard of vitex? It's specifically lowers prolactin. I'm worried it would lower my dhea also. I took Seroquel to sleep like a few times a month and apparently it elevates prolactin so I'm never taking that stupid drug again
Goals are see if estrogen is actually high and try to lower it if necessary then try topical finasteride I ordered online to tackle dht....if my estrogen is down enough, I read it raises estrogen by ~15 % but that's in men and I'm not sure if it's temporary or your body adjusts and lowers. If all that fails look at prolactin.
I showed my dermatologist a picture of my hair shed after one bath. She didn't take it seriously because I have so much hair but that's bullshit. this is OCD but I've started collecting my hair sheds in sandwich bags and I want to see if reducing stress decreases it at all. I don't have time to count that many hairs
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SAME the texture of my hair is disgusting and it's really obvious when it's in a ponytail. I hate it I asked my dermatologist about a hair transplant and I could tell she thought I was being dramatic but I'm really not I would totally run out and get one. But I'm not considering it until my shed is consistently down
I’ve seen a hair transplant doctor twice, I can’t get one because I am thinning diffusely so I don’t have a donor zone. My shed seems to have resolved and I guess I attribute that to my diet and keeping my blood sugar and insulin as controlled as possible, but I also did have Telogen Effluvium which I believe was from the high fever and illness I had two months before the shed got INTENSE. Doctors used to not take my hair loss seriously, but now there is no denying it. I have areas in my temples that are now just slick bald, way worse than when I started this thread. My bangs are all see through and the back is losing more and more density by the week. My hairline across my forehead is visibly receded now and the top is starting to thin out to where I don't know how long I’ll be able to make tape in extensions work. Thank god for tinted dry shampoo and extensions though...at least for now! I used to collect my hair in baggies too, to show drs and also to keep track. I stopped because there’s nothing I can do anymore, it’s just too stressful and doctors believe me now. I still count the hair strands I lose on wash days and when I comb my hair, but I don’t save them anymore lol. My hair is just growing back thinner and thinner every shortened cycle, so basically my hair is miniaturizing all over my scalp, it’s just worse in the front, which I read is a common pattern for those with high cortisol and/or Cushing’s.
People still compliment my hair, but it’s all thanks to the extensions, without them I would have had to cut my hair short long ago.
I switched to decaf coffee since I started having issues with cortisol/tachycardia. I’ve been doing somewhat better lately (knock on wood) and haven’t had many tachycardia episodes and even a few normal to low cortisol blood tests, though my 24 hour urine is still high. Same with my prolactin, lately it’s been okay. It just seems to still fluctuate a lot, so hopefully I can figure out how to get everything to be consistent, as in not jumping out of range anymore, of course hormones fluctuate, but they shouldn’t be all over the place the way mine are. My DHEA is actually low, but my Dheas goes up, down. So frustrating.
I do think my “lean pcos” is not classic pcos, I think it has more to do with my elevated cortisol and who knows what else. I have a really difficult time comprehending how my “pcos” is so mild in that I’m thin, have regular menses with ovulation, no hirsutism, no acne, “normal” androgens and SHBG, yet I walked away with the worst outcome; diabetes. And my hair loss is so bad and diffuse and not female pattern at all.
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Please calm down. You don\t have pcos. Women with pcos are hairy af and have elevated DHEAS and low SHBG. I am sorry that you had to go through this. You are so cute girl. I have very wacky and uneven hair loss pattern like yours. But I stopped my progression before it's too late.
The hair loss on my left side is greater than my ride. I have mild recession on the left temple. On the first photos of yours I see that your is way more advanced. My hair loss was due to fungal infection and seborrhea. My hair used to look terrible last three months. - very greasy even after a wash and full of large dandruff flakes. I've been shedding and still shed miniaturized hairs. Nizoral helped me most. It made my hair look the way it used to be and reduced shedding drastically.
Your hair loss is probably chronic telogen efluvium. I don't think it's androgenetic alopecia. Female pattern hair loss is thinning only on top with widening of the natural parting. I already wrote a post which expains why men and women bald in different patterns. I'd like to see photos how your hair looks now.
Unfortunately I do have pcos. I have lean pcos and I was diagnosed twice by two different endocrinologists. I didn’t believe it and I still don’t fully ONLY because pcos is an umbrella term, so what causes one woman’s pcos will not be the same root cause in another woman and I believe something set off my hormone imbalance as opposed to being born with it as they claim women with pcos are. I was diagnosed with insulin resistance and impaired glucose tolerance after failing the OGTT and later diabetic postprandial blood sugar readings were discovered, so type 2. I was found to have polycystic ovaries on three different ultrasounds. And have had elevated total testosterone in the past. I also was diagnosed with adenomyosis, which is similar to endometriosis and is common in women with pcos. I also was diagnosed with Androgenetic Alopecia by my hair loss derm recently. I agree with the diagnosis and believe my loss is Androgenetic Alopecia as I can see miniaturized hairs and vellus hairs. Nothing grows back and it is balding just like my father’s. No women in my family have hair loss, but my father does.
I have already tried Rx strength nizoral/ketoconazole shampoo for a year. It doesn’t work for me. I no longer shed excessively but am still balding. I also get acquired progressive kinking of the hair, which is a feature of Androgenetic Alopecia. My hair is MUCH worse than it was when I posted this and the original photos attached. Unfortunately women can bald in a Norwood pattern and men in a Ludwig, it’s just not as common. For many women with pcos, like me, they often bald at the temples and lose their hairline. I wish my hair loss was CTE, but it unfortunately is not.
I use the term pcos very loosely because as I said it is an umbrella term, but that’s the best diagnosis that can currently be applied to my symptoms. Even though my SHBG is not low, I believe it is due to my elevated cortisol which is what spikes it. I’ve already seen two pituitary specialists at top clinics who had ruled out adrenal and pituitary tumors, and again I’m just left with the pcos diagnosis. I’m not hairy..yet, but I started developing darker and thicker body hair within the last few years back when my symptoms started. My armpit hair grows sooo thick and jet black now and multiple hairs will grow from one follicle, basically pili multigemini. I used to br able to not shave my pits for weeks, I was virtually hairless and now I have to shave at least once a day, if not twice because it grows back by the end of the day. Same with my legs and last summer my thighs started growing hair on them when I didn’t have any there before. My pubic hair extends well past my bikini area now and my face developed long peach fuzz all over it when I used to have none and I have a couple dark hairs I have to pluck from my upper lip now. My Dheas shoots up and down so I feel like my pcos is of adrenal origin and most likely related to my high cortisol.
I either had some type of mild pcos all of my life and it’s just hitting that tipping point where the symptoms are now becoming obvious after so much exposure to screwed up hormones or something triggered my hormones to go whacky. About three years back I had elevated total testosterone on multiple occasions. Like upper 70s out of a range topping at 45, but no one told me anything about it. Now it’s in range and my free T has never tested out of range, but my total T likes to bounce around and even though endos tell me it’s the free that affects your tissues, I’m always symptomatic when my total T is elevated. My last test in May showed my total T was at the top of the range at 45, but SHBG was 118 which was high end normal and free T was up from 1.4 to 2.8, which I swear I am more symptomatic when my free T starts to stray closer to the top of the range.
Sorry for the long post, but the reason women like me with “lean pcos” often go so long undiagnosed and end up developing things like adenomyosis which can develop from unbalanced hormones, and end up shockingly with diabetes is because not many people/drs are educated on pcos and they don’t realize that you don’t have the be obese or excessively hairy to have it. Everyone metabolizes hormones differently and the level of sensitivity to androgens varies from person to person. Genetics also plays a role in how you present with pcos. It’s exactly why some people bald and some people don’t. Same even goes for something like Cushing’s Disease/Syndrome. One of the pituitary/Cushing’s specialists I used to see told me she has had patients who don’t look cushingoid at all, it all depends on how your body metabolizes cortisol.
I’ll post some pics of my hair, but it’s getting to the point where it’s embarassing to post now, honestly. Lol
Here are some pics. These were all taken within the same timeframe, like the last month or so (May-June). It’s difficult to show my diffuse hair loss because I wear extensions to hide the loss, I posted two pics of my hair after I style it with hair tint and, obviously, with my tape in extensions, you don’t remove them and they stay in for months until being redone so my hair looks pretty thick but it’s a total illusion. I have 56 pieces in and without them, my hair would need to be short otherwise I would look like Gollum. It’s hard to show how my front is thinning and balding too, it’s difficult to pick up on camera but in real life you can see straight to my scalp so I always have to cut my bangs from the center of my head to make them look thick and to hide the balding that is happening at my hairline. Basically the underside of my bangs is just vanishing.
It appears I have DUPA, but the temples and sides are the worst and I also had FFA ruled out. My nape is also starting to recede and I only grow tiny weak miniaturizing hairs back. I have a full head of intermediate hairs basically that are all in the process of dying. Extensions are a godsend at the moment, I don’t know what I would do without them because they allow me to appear as if my hair was totally normal when it is anything but. Unfortunately once my front and top starts to go more and my bangs keep receding, I’ll have to move to a wig or topper or figure something else out.
Tinted dry shampoo used to help me cover up my thinning temples, but not so much anymore because there’s not much vellus hair left. The blonde vellus hair used to pick up the tint and make it look filled in, now it’s just like spraying tint on skin because it’s turning slick bald in those areas.
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I feel sorry about you. On the photos I see your hair loss pattern is uneven like mine and not typical male pattern baldness. In male pattern baldness, both temples progress equally and sides aren't thinning unless in very advanced Norwood 7. You are at I'd say Norwood 2,2.5. And as i know the male pattern baldness first start with a small triangular recession which people call a mature hairline. Your juvenile hairline is still intact. It's just diffuse. Is your scalp itching? Mine is especially around the nape and around the crown. I saw some relief with apple cider vinegar but it's still there. Do you have dandruff? I still have dandruff flakes too. Here are photos to display what is happening with me. As you can see on the first photo, the right temple is intact, but on the second photo there is a slight recession on the left temple. There are tiny hairs popping out. They appeared a moth and half ago. Before this area used to be slick bald with only one hair left growing. On the third and second picture you can see the thinning much greater on the left side and it is hider to hide for me, and the thinning on the right side is milder.
If you are searching for help on this forum, I can recommend you solutions for hair growth. You can try:
- Onion juice
- Garlic
- Rosemary oil
- Castor oil
- Apple cider vinegar
- Scalp massage brush
- Stress relief and relaxation
I am using scalp massage brush, rosemary oil and wine vinegar to regrow hair and reduce oilines and dandruff. And now am using nizoral and got great results.
Remember that you have to wait at least four months to see any results from a hair loss treatment. I will post new photos in September for comprasion to ask people if my hair loss has improved.
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Just wanted to add that I can’t believe how fast my hairline disintegrated! I sensed I was thinning for years starting at the same time my other health symptoms developed, but it was only on the sides of my head and my hairline was intact. 2017 I knew I was losing but hairline was still good, and I didn’t suspect Androgenetic Alopecia, I thought hypothyroidism Bc of how bad I felt and how I was easily gaining weight despite thyroid panels always being very normal. In 2018 is when I finally got the pcos diagnosis and the hypoglycemia diagnosis. From March 2018-present, my temples just went slick bald. Soooo fast. Soooo depressing. I’m still in shock when I see my hairline and feel my hair/wash it. It feels like I’m touching someone else’s scalp.
Our hair is quite similar! Yours looks how mine did last year. Have you seen a dermatologist that specializes in hair loss? I see a really good one, people even fly from other countries to see her. She said she’s very hopeful for my hair and thinks with oral minoxidil I can get a hold on things.
I seriously worry I’m destined for a Norwood 7, due to my thinning on the sides. Ugh! I hope not!! I feel like it’s so strange to see the Norwood pattern on women, honestly I never thought anything about hair loss before and never even felt it looked weird on men because to me it was just what men’s hair did, but on a woman, I feel like Norwood pattern looks freaky. I always feel like I look so much more masculine now, it is such a mindfuck, it makes me feel less feminine and like I’m some type of intersex creature lol.
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Try as I wrote you 1mg of Ziproterone acetate and 2ml of estradiol, but before you take 11 days, 2 ml of estradiol
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No I haven't still. I am treating it on my own. I will see only if I don't get any significant regrowth in next eight months. I am ok now and my hair doesn't bother me except that thinning patch on the left side.
The greasiness is gone and now I don't feel awkward anymore when I am around people. It's so stupid that when you have greasy hair people think that you don't take care of yourself and you don't wash it. I still have decent density. I have to be lucky that I have retained a juvenile hairline at age almost 20. Many people my age I know have slightly receded to Norwood 2.
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Diane can not take ethinyl estradiol there! It is a pity that you do not have a combination of drugs with natural estradiol!
spironolactone is a partial ar agonist and therefore has been shown in studies to also have androgenic effects on the body.
same with cpa or any other AA.
check out my thread: https://www.gourmetstylewellness.com/intera...ess-beneficial-for-treating-hair-loss.123271/
hope this helped
Thanks! Unfortunately I’ve been on spironolactone for a year now with no improvements, just progression. I’m not sure what’s left for me to try, other than the oral minoxidil I have yet to start.
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Did you try natural remedies?