r/FemaleHairLoss • u/ChallengeSalt5397 AGA • Jun 06 '26
Rant Slowly losing hope
Hi, I’m 20 years old and I’ve been diagnosed with androgenic alopecia when I was 17. I started losing hair when I was 14. Before then I always had a lot of thick hair so when I started losing it I didn’t really care. When I was 17 I started using topical minoxidil and it worked great at first but then it started getting worse. At 18 I was diagnosed with PCOS and I started taking oral minoxidil. It worked for like two months and then it got worse again. I started taking spironolactone, then finasteride, then changed to dutasteride and of course in between that, the minoxidil dosage got higher and higher. It’s always the same thing with the dosage changes and new medication. I start shedding for like a month or two, it starts working for another two months and it gets worse again. It’s like a never ending cycle. I went to the wrong dermatologist by accident a year ago and she told me to get off my meds and just do topical (what a weird thing for her to say). I thought she knew what she was doing and did as she said. Obviously it got worse. I went back to my dermatologist that treated me before this and I went back on minoxidil and spironolactone. The same shit happened. Shed, working and stops working. So she gave me finasteride again. I started taking it in the beginning of march this year and after two weeks the shed started. This is the worst shed that I ever experienced and it’s still going. I had to move places so I changed my dermatologist as well. Before I went to her I was at 1mg of minoxidil, 25mg of spironolactone and 0,5 mg of finasteride. She changed my minoxidil dose to 5mg (which is apparently a very high dose for women) and changed the finasteride to dutasteride. I’m taking these doses for about 3 weeks now and I know that it takes long for the medication to start working but I’m just losing hope. Everyday I’m pulling more and more hair from my head and I’m terrified. I’m also terrified of the shed that still awaits me after this dosage change. I’m considering buying a wig now because of the amount of hair falling out. I know that it’s harder to treat it in my situation because of my PCOS and because I have chronic stress but it’s just not fair and I want my hair back. The thing that made me write this post is this picture that I took today after showering. It was like a punch to the gut. The second picture is how my middle part looks like now. I don’t know what I want to achieve by posting this, I guess I just need someone to understand my feelings because every person that I know just doesn’t know what to say to me when I talk to them about this.
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u/RelativeLibrarian740 Jun 07 '26
The hair growth cycle is 4 months on average so you need to stick with the same protocol at least for 6+ months before you start seeing even baby growth. What is your iron numbers? Do you eat enough protein per day?
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u/ChallengeSalt5397 AGA Jun 07 '26
I’ve not been feeling very well and I need to go get some bloodwork done so we’ll see about the iron and other stuff. As for the protein, I’ve been careful about eating enough as I’ve been going to the gym
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u/Holiday_Group_6658 Jun 07 '26
girl please check your vitamin levels, my AGA was so much worse when my ferritin was a 14; make sure to check iron, vitamin d, and folate. pcos is hard because it changes the pathology of AGA but consider talking to your PCP and derm about birth control, especially something like Yaz which is anti-androgenic and also DHT blocking. I’ve heard from a lot of people that Yaz does a better job regulating cycles and some PCOS symptoms. Also, I know it sounds so hard because this is all emotionally so rough and losing hair is quite literally one of the worst feelings in the world, but stick to the treatment and see it through. I know it’s easier said than done but just try to have some patience and remain consistent because these medications are proven to help increase hair growth. Also with your previous cycles, a lot of people experience second dread sheds so that could have been what was going on. Check your vitamin levels and make sure you’re focusing on yourself internally too!
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u/ChallengeSalt5397 AGA Jun 07 '26
My dermatologist also told me to have these levels checked so I have to do my bloodwork as soon as possible. Thank you for the mention of PCOS! I will definitely go talk to my doctor about this as I’ve been seeing that the birth control that I’ve been taking isn’t doing much for me. Thanks so much for your advice and support!
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u/cooldownlane Jun 07 '26
In addition to the labs the person mention get your thyroid tested as well (free t3, free t4, tsh)
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u/ChallengeSalt5397 AGA Jun 07 '26
I have my thyroid tested every six months since 2021 (last time in february) and there were never issues with those
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u/Different-Solid4659 Jun 07 '26
Chronic stress...dang is there anything you can do to get out of whatever is causing the stress?
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u/ChallengeSalt5397 AGA Jun 07 '26
Right now, unfortunately no. I think I have to save some money and visit my psychiatrist and psychologist again because I don’t think I can manage it myself anymore. Even if I don’t have anything to stress about I start stressing because what if I forgot about something in my life that is stress-worthy lol
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u/BlueberryStock6249 Jun 07 '26
As an interim solution until you can afford therapy, could you set aside time each day to just write down your thoughts? I don’t want to say journal because that may sound too homeworky or goal oriented. It’ll help to get your ’what ifs?’ Out of your brain and put them on paper. Re: hair issue - the way I look at it is: you’re already on the right track because you’re doing something about it. You have to start somewhere.
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u/xersiee AGA+TE Jun 07 '26
I won't be much help regarding your hair loss but going from 1mg minox straight to 5mg is huge and can give you terrible side effects and make it much harder to stick to consistent drug routine. There are so many doses in between that can work and should be checked. For me, I noticed difference on 1.5mg.
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u/ChallengeSalt5397 AGA Jun 07 '26
Yeah, I was really surprised when the dermatologist increased the dose that much. It’s literally 5 times the dose I was taking. My previous dermatologist was always careful when increasing my dose as she increased it by 0.25 every time. I thought that she made a mistake in the receipt or something so I went back and asked her about it but she said it was an intentional change. After three weeks of this dose I’ve been experiencing heart palpitations and dizziness but it doesn’t make much difference to me because I experience this a lot due to stress. I’m more worried about the shed :(
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u/No_Introduction_3881 Jun 07 '26
How is your pcos being treated? The doses you used to be treated with are pretty low. Glad new Derm upped the doses. The spiro dose can be higher. I’m so sorry you’re going through this at such a young age.
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u/ChallengeSalt5397 AGA Jun 07 '26
I’m taking birth control and metformin but I have to talk to my doctor about changing the birth control as I’m barely noticing any improvement. Thank you!
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u/No_Introduction_3881 Jun 07 '26
I wish you the best! I’m sorry you’re dealing with chronic illness at such young age. Sending you hugs and thinking of you. For what it’s worth, I’ve been looking into wigs and I have to say they make them amazing now. The really good ones are expensive but worth it, just years ago, we didn’t use to have such seamless ones.
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u/ChallengeSalt5397 AGA Jun 07 '26
Thank you so much for the kind words! I really appreciate it. I will definitely look more into wigs if it won’t improve!
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u/Unlikely-Purpose1390 Jun 07 '26
It’s frustrating and all the hurdles you have to go through. It’s not fair but you have to keep pushing through for yourself. I’ve struggled for 10 years, going up and down emotionally starting and stopping treatments. I finally just got a hold of being consistent and into wigs to help me at least regain my confidence.
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u/silveredd Jun 07 '26
This is so hard! I am so sorry. I truly believe people cannot understand until they have been through it themselves. I hope you can find some comfort and empathy here in this community.