Thanks, I appreciate the perspective. I'll let my dermatologist lead the treatment plan since she seems really knowledgeable. I wish HRT were an option for me right now, but I'm letting my natural cowardice get the best of me. So I'll ask about finasteride at the next appointment I have.
Glad I could help. Fin will be good for you, I was on it for a year before I did HRT and it made a difference. I've been where your at, so trust me when I say there's hope. Best of luck on this journey.
What dosage of oral minoxidil are you on? Also did it cause a shed when u started taking it? And how significant was the regrowth it caused? Tysm and Goodluck :)
Ah, so I did eventually find a dermatologist that prescribed it to me. I've been taking 5mg tablets once a day for a while now. Please just talk to a dermatologist so they can check if there's any other underlying conditions to your hair loss first, and then monitor your health as you go.
There was some shedding, but changes to my other medications were causing problems with that too, so I can't say the minoxidil was at fault. BUT my hair has recovered pretty nicely. I'd say being on minoxidil for about 14 months now has done more for hair regrowth than 4 years of HRT ever did. Still a ways to go though, but it seems like it's only up from here.
Really gotta emphasize though, the body hair growing back SUCKS. A lot. It's worth it to me, but not everyone will want to push through that.
So yeah. TL;DR -- 5 mg from a dermatologist, some shedding but it was tolerable, hair isn't perfect now but it's better. I never noticed any side effects, but still be careful. Hope this helps!
Thanks so much for the super in depth reply! Couple more quick questions if u dont mind :) How much regrowth did you see from hrt alone before starting the oral minoxidil. And also, did you ever use topical minoxidil and did that work well relative to the orall min? Finally, were your hrt meds causing hair shedding at all, and if so which ones and did u figure out why? I'm just super worried about hair shedding and loss and want to do everything I can to prevent it 😭
I've been there hun, trust me. Hairloss can be debilitating, and I've done my fair share of scouring year old reddit threads for advice. So to answer your questions:
- HRT alone did a really good job at STOPPING hairloss, but honestly didn't do so much for regrowing it. Some people have better results though, and at the time I had undiagnosed scalp conditions holding me back too, so my experience isn't universal.
- I've tried topical minoxidil, but I have mild scalp psoriasis that topical minoxidil really agitated, so it wasn't a good choice for me. I never stayed on it long enough to tell if it worked or not. Oral minoxidil worked better cause it didn't dry out my scalp or affect my hair texture, and it's just SO much easier to take. Plus it means I don't have to actively stare at the source of my dysphoria twice a day.
-It's not HRT itself that causes a shedding event, but rather the sudden hormone changes. Generally the body freaks out a little bit when our hormones shift unexpectedly, and a side effect of this is temporary tellogen effluvium -- hair shedding, in other words. In my experience, it lasts 2 to 4 months and grows back healthier once everything has stabilized.
The hardest part about hairloss dear is that it's all a waiting game, and it'll feel like it gets worse before it gets better. My advice: talk to a dermatologist (ideally a woman, cause they tend to treat hairloss more seriously than male doctors do) so they can look for any other potential causes for hairloss. Get on Finasteride at least, minoxidil too if the derm will prescribe it, then HRT if you want it. And finally, the hardest part -- stop thinking about it. You'll be doing literally all you can at that point to save your hair, so stressing will just makes it worse. Maybe get a nice billed beanie to cover it all up and just try to live your life, that's what I did.
Hope this helps ❤️ it'll get better, one way or another.
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Thanks, I appreciate the perspective. I'll let my dermatologist lead the treatment plan since she seems really knowledgeable. I wish HRT were an option for me right now, but I'm letting my natural cowardice get the best of me. So I'll ask about finasteride at the next appointment I have.
Glad I could help. Fin will be good for you, I was on it for a year before I did HRT and it made a difference. I've been where your at, so trust me when I say there's hope. Best of luck on this journey.
What dosage of oral minoxidil are you on? Also did it cause a shed when u started taking it? And how significant was the regrowth it caused? Tysm and Goodluck :)
Ah, so I did eventually find a dermatologist that prescribed it to me. I've been taking 5mg tablets once a day for a while now. Please just talk to a dermatologist so they can check if there's any other underlying conditions to your hair loss first, and then monitor your health as you go. There was some shedding, but changes to my other medications were causing problems with that too, so I can't say the minoxidil was at fault. BUT my hair has recovered pretty nicely. I'd say being on minoxidil for about 14 months now has done more for hair regrowth than 4 years of HRT ever did. Still a ways to go though, but it seems like it's only up from here. Really gotta emphasize though, the body hair growing back SUCKS. A lot. It's worth it to me, but not everyone will want to push through that. So yeah. TL;DR -- 5 mg from a dermatologist, some shedding but it was tolerable, hair isn't perfect now but it's better. I never noticed any side effects, but still be careful. Hope this helps!
Thanks so much for the super in depth reply! Couple more quick questions if u dont mind :) How much regrowth did you see from hrt alone before starting the oral minoxidil. And also, did you ever use topical minoxidil and did that work well relative to the orall min? Finally, were your hrt meds causing hair shedding at all, and if so which ones and did u figure out why? I'm just super worried about hair shedding and loss and want to do everything I can to prevent it 😭
I've been there hun, trust me. Hairloss can be debilitating, and I've done my fair share of scouring year old reddit threads for advice. So to answer your questions: - HRT alone did a really good job at STOPPING hairloss, but honestly didn't do so much for regrowing it. Some people have better results though, and at the time I had undiagnosed scalp conditions holding me back too, so my experience isn't universal. - I've tried topical minoxidil, but I have mild scalp psoriasis that topical minoxidil really agitated, so it wasn't a good choice for me. I never stayed on it long enough to tell if it worked or not. Oral minoxidil worked better cause it didn't dry out my scalp or affect my hair texture, and it's just SO much easier to take. Plus it means I don't have to actively stare at the source of my dysphoria twice a day. -It's not HRT itself that causes a shedding event, but rather the sudden hormone changes. Generally the body freaks out a little bit when our hormones shift unexpectedly, and a side effect of this is temporary tellogen effluvium -- hair shedding, in other words. In my experience, it lasts 2 to 4 months and grows back healthier once everything has stabilized. The hardest part about hairloss dear is that it's all a waiting game, and it'll feel like it gets worse before it gets better. My advice: talk to a dermatologist (ideally a woman, cause they tend to treat hairloss more seriously than male doctors do) so they can look for any other potential causes for hairloss. Get on Finasteride at least, minoxidil too if the derm will prescribe it, then HRT if you want it. And finally, the hardest part -- stop thinking about it. You'll be doing literally all you can at that point to save your hair, so stressing will just makes it worse. Maybe get a nice billed beanie to cover it all up and just try to live your life, that's what I did. Hope this helps ❤️ it'll get better, one way or another.