Jayson1361

I’m going +1 Gatsby on this. Oral minoxidil has substantially reduced my shedding. By what I think is a at least 70-80%. I’m 4.5 months in. Not seen any regrowth and maybe even a little less hair on the hairline, but shedding has definitely decreased. Hair does feel strengthened. But nothing visible has taken place as far as regrowth. I can say that one night I went out and got drunk with a friend and for about 3 days I had water retention in my legs. It quickly subsided. We drank allot. 🤦‍♂️ But it went away with cardio and actually drinking more water, surprisingly. That’s the only side effects I’ve seen besides the desired effects of less shedding. It’s my opinion that oral minoxidil is for people with at least some what of a healthy lifestyle, or at least try. Otherwise, side effects may be more predominant.

Have you seen effectiveness wear off from using minoxidil? Thickness and density should plateau, however maintenance should continue. Everybody is different clearly, but maintenance should last longer. You state you would argue your hair loss stabilized, which implies it’s working still. Why would you stop?

I think the general consensus is that oral minoxidil is dose dependent just like fin or dut. Typically if minoxidil is effective then it peaks around a year with maintenance of terminal hairs for even over 5 years +. The probability of see new regrowth and increased thickness over the year to two year mark would be very uncommon, but maintenance, that is exactly why minoxidil was prescribed. I can only assume that oral minoxidil would be the same. If indeed effectiveness started to decrease obviously a higher dose could be considered with in the range of safety. Oral minoxidil however is very effective and obviously people have slowly increased dosage and frequency over time. The most common side effects being water retention, slight dizziness…etc. It seems usually those symptoms come or go based on your health. If your a heavy drinker or otherwise unhealthy then those symptoms will seem more prevalent. Basically these drugs work over time and buy time and dosage can be increased but side effects may increase in probability. I’m sure 10mg of oral minoxidil is more effective than 5 or 2.5, but side effects are def more probable.

I have minor recession of the hairline left and right and thinning behind the hairline. With acceptable density elsewhere which I believe is due to a few styling products and obviously medication. Acceptable for now. I believe wet hair shows thinning well enough. However, I don’t ever wear my hair wet and base how I feel about my hair by how I can get it to look

Well, I appreciate that. I’m certainly not here to solicit compliments but thanks. I think the leave in hair conditioner and blow dryer helps. Yeah there’s certainly some validity to your statement I could regret it. I suppose that’s why I chose Dr Konior. To minimize regret if there is some. Certainly there will probably be a fluctuation of emotions. But, after seeing all the results here on HRN it’s hard not to want to at least try to reinforce things. I mean I’ve almost made it to 50 here with meds, why not? Serious question, why not? Plus there’s story after story of people seeking a procedure when meds stop working. I mean I suppose if meds are continued for whatever time frame they’ll still be effective even though diminished over time, maybe… who knows🤷‍♂️.. pharmacology clearly isn’t an exact science in vivo + time based on the person. For as advanced as things are I think humanity is still rather entry level for medical technology, which is the scope of this website, not to mention… well everything else 😂😂 Regardless, why not try when complications are mitigated by experience with a guy like Dr K, and meds. You have obviously hit on a thought that crosses my mind though. Ultimately, Avodart has clearly helped or delayed the thinning process I’m thinking. Also, oral Min is a double edged sword if indeed we accept the effectiveness diminishes over time. If it does I’m glad I waited until now to try it. Just over 4 months in. However, it has significantly reduced hair shedding around the 3.5 month mark, which makes me wish I started earlier. Where I use to come home from work after 8-12 hours and aggressively run fingers though my hair or a pick I could see 30+ hairs or more maybe even 50 hairs fall. I took this in stride thinking 50-100 hairs a day shed. Perhaps some got caught up in any product I was using🤷‍♂️. Now though at anytime I try the same process I might see 5-10 hairs. So I’ll continue on and possibly seek to improve things with Dr K. Who knows maybe I won’t, maybe I’ll chicken out and sacrifice my deposit… but you have struck a nerve because I do think about regretting things…I mean it is a surgery.

Pre PSO it was around double almost triple all be it still low as Avodart was doing its thing. If I remember correctly it was around 6.8-7.2 relative to levels posted at the start of this thread. I do not have blood test levels on PSO alone. The dosage I take is 3000mg per day. It’s hard to say if I saw benefits relative to hairloss. My opinion is my skin looked better but relative to hairloss it’s just so hard to measure. But, I also started drinking much more water with a little chlorophyll added.

I think normally I would agree with you Melvin. However, I’ve always felt my forehead was large. I did have a hair transplant doc measure it during consultation and he said it’s in the norm. Basically can stack three fingers from top of eyebrows to front of forelock. If you factor in recession I feel it makes my forehead look wide or rather large in my opinion.

I’d say both but the lowering part wouldn’t be very much at all. Probably just fill in back to where it was when I was 40 I’d say.

basically👆 that’s where thinning is. I believe the leave in conditioner, a blow dryer and a little dry shampoo later on in the day contributes to my hair looking more full. Suppose you can’t hide or conceal lack of density when separating hair to show in pictures. Which is to say I think my mid and vertex and mostly the forelock are ok for now. But I think these pictures show obvious recession, in my opinion.

Approaching 50 I’ll be 49 in August🤦‍♂️

Decreased interest in sex I’d say but still capable. Especially if going to the gym regularly. I think maybe some occasional brain fog manifested in conversation sometimes where I want to make a point but politely let someone finish their point, then take a second to remember my point. But, that’s really only in very casual conversation not usually during important conversations. Otherwise maybe some mild water retention in the mid section, maaayyybe… hard to say given age and level of water I drink. I’ve always had a hard time sleeping consistently but I attribute that to the nature of my work.

Melvin do you think Lower T could be contributing to hair thinning? I’m on oral with pretty much the same regime you have. 2.5mg with 5mg EOD. Little over 4 months in. I have seen a rather dramatic decrease in hairs shed. I’m thinking that meds just lose effectiveness over time I don’t know. I’m capable of getting excited and such and performing but semen is rather low. Regardless, I think that obviously meds are effective but eventually genetics take over, or rather just continue on course as they are meant to. My theory at the moment is the level of hairloss I’m supposed to experience has obviously been mitigated by meds, but also that perhaps the severity of MPB I’m genetically supposed to experience may not be as bad as I thought it would be at the start when I noticed minor thinning in my early 30s… but I really don’t know. When my dad was my age temples were gone, forelock was drastically depleted and crown was definitely shiny and slick. Mid crown was going but enough to support a comb over. It looked acceptable on him but that was a different time. It’s hard for me to imagine that hairloss meds are so good that I circumvented all that just by taking a pill. Maybe so, but given the various stories in this site and the efforts others have gone through I’m doubting it. That could be me just being optimistic, but my feeling from all the stories I’ve read it’s most likely more pragmatic. I have a procedure scheduled with Dr Konior in December for 1000-1500 grafts, probably more towards a 1000 to reinforce the hairline. I’m certainly apprehensive about the whole thing as others are. I’m hoping that meds and 1-3 procedures over a 3-6 year period will keep me aging as I hope to. But I think that keeping my hair to the point where hairloss isn’t really noticeable or age appropriate might be challenging mentally that is. But I really don’t know. Dr K says age is most definitely in my favor since I’m almost 50. 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️

Previous post didn’t update so I’ll repost. Having such low DHT from using Avodart and Pumpkin Seed Oil(test prior to using PSO and after confirm this)… hairloss is progressing rather slowly. These pictures are directly under some harsh lighting in the bathroom

So yeah libido is a bit of an issue but given my age and cialis maybe it’s normal, or being masked by meds. However, having such low SERUM DHT levels but still experiencing thinning or fallout just goes to show DHT isn’t everything. My PCP told me that 444 on total test and 10.7 on free test is still within the normal ranges seen, all be it on the low side. He said that could be due to being almost 50.

Based on Google search it seems 2.5ng/dl or 25pg/ml seems pretty low but I honestly don’t know compared to others that might have access to their blood test results on this forum…which is why I posted my original question.

This is why I’m asking because when I Google normal reference range for DHT i get a number of 14 - 77 ng/dl as a normal range which would make mine low…But I’m not sure really. I take .5mg per day of Avodart. So that’s 3.5mg per week.

Curious if these ranges are good or normal being on Avodart for anyone that knows🤷‍♂️

testosterone 444NG/dL Ref Range: 264 - 916 NG/dL free testosterone(direct) 10.7pg/mL Ref Range: 6.8 - 21.5 pg/mL dihydrotestosterone 2.5 NG/dL

It’s effective on some level for most people, I’d bet. I’m not in the medical field but after using it for almost 4 months I bet most people get at least some positive reaction to it. I did the same, bought some and kept it around for a bit before trying it. Looking back the apprehension to trying it was just something I created in my head from reading about it, obviously. Side effects seem to pretty rare or just so mild they’re not noticeable. Sometimes I would feel flushed I think. Face gets flushed, skin maybe too but then it goes away. Hard to say really if it’s Min or just time of day after a workout maybe 🤷‍♂️

I’m thinking you meant this post for me logically following the context of this thread. I’ll reply but don’t want to hijack Jim’s thread. I have not noticed any irregular heart beats or increased heart rate. I have noticed a little light headed feelings here and there. My blood pressure is fine and I get two physicals a year and nothing has been found with heart or blood tests. One day I think I noticed a sharper type pain in the center of my chest and felt it in my back, and I thought well maybe it’s the oral Min. But, I had been at the gym stretching a few days earlier and felt a cavitation in the mid part of my spine while stretching that caused a little spasm. Then two days later the pain described. It went away and haven’t felt it since. So I think it was that. Otherwise, approaching the 4 month mark soon which will be the 14th of Feb I’ve noticed some decreased fallout when shampooing or brushing a comb through the hair. My crown seems like it may be a bit coarser or thicker, same with mid scalp but hairline looks the same thus far. People say a good 12 months is needed to assess effectiveness and to make a decision about continuing oral treatment for the effective timeframe that minoxidil may continue to work…which most say if it does work then you could get 6-8 years of use before effectiveness declines. But that’s just from forum and Google searches🤷‍♂️.

Looks like you have some great hair characteristics like slightly thicker perhaps coarse hair that grows in thick when transplanted. The hairline design looks quite remarkable. Are you happy with current results? Do you have any high light pictures?

Oh yeah…look at you go! Best part about this and your progress is you don’t have to watch your hairline go away anymore. Good for you Jim, like the progress. You want to see some increased thickness…put oral minoxidil 2.5mg daily before bed into your regimen. Can testify to its effectiveness. Regardless, looking forward to your 8 mo, 10mo, and 12mo updates! Excellent thread.

Were you On it before your HT? Did you notice anything involving thickness or density vs hairline improvement?

Updates??

Thick donor, good surgeon. Following.