Mysterious hairloss
Posted , 9 users are following.
I have a question In regards to some strange hair loss I hope some people can help out with. I started back in January when I had gotten my long hair cut and noticed my hair was generally a lot more thinned out. I had noticed some scalp showing here and there prior, but didn't think anything of it until it was cut and noticed the actual extend of the damage, so I can't say for certain how long its actually been going on. Ever since though, my hair has been progressively diffusing. In Regards to miniaturization, I haven't really noticed much honestly. What I do notice is all the parting lines, as well as a few area's that formed at the top, periodically get wider, making hair generally just look a tiny bit worse every so often. It seems to just happen abruptly every couple weeks or so. Like one day theirs hair there and the next their isn't. I could look in a mirror and see that the spots that were seemingly fine yesterday, are now even more thinned out. the affect of it can be pretty much been seen throughout my hair. The top being the worst and the right side of my head having the least. Being disheartened and rather confused, I went to my primary care doctor to voice my concern. She did some blood work to check my iron levels and thyroid but every thing came back clean. Unable to accurately give a diagnoses herself, she directed me to a dermatologist, who I then went to see. She performed a scalp biopsy and reviewed the blood work sent over from my doctor and also couldn't find any direct cause. She informed me that it was genetic and wrote me a prescription for some Finasteride to stop it from progressing, which I gladly accepted. After about month of use, combined with the Rogaine and Nizoral I was already using prior, I noticed no effect what so ever. It just continued on at its normal rate. With a medication that's suppose to have an 80% success rate, as well as being reinforced by two other routines, It struck me as odd that I didn't see at least some stabilization. It wasn't long after that I noticed my beard following suit, becoming more patchy and disconnected in almost the same manner of time that my scalp was. My goatee that was once thick and even just a month prior, is now now jagged and sickly looking in comparison. Looks almost as if bugs have eaten away at the edges, along with a strip of the upper lip part pretty much gone entirely. Upon further inspection, I noticed the rest of my body hair starting to go too. Roughly around this time, lots of random symptoms started to pop up too. Things like:
(Discomfort in Hands/Arms, Legs/Feet) - A lot of times I'll get a shooting of pins and needles in these area's. Other times It'll just be a random burning sensation that'll rapidly increase and then immediately alleviate itself.)
(Dizziness) - This seems to be a constant. It's mild but its always there. It's like a bobbing feeling. Similar to to what you would feel if you were a little buzzed. Concentrating my sight too far to the left or right disorients me and messes with my sense of balance. Also happens when I close my eyes, which sometimes affects my ability to fall asleep. I'll get jolted back up, right as I'm about to doze off. I'll contribute this to my body thinking theirs some kind of danger because of the floating feeling.
(Breathing trouble) - As described, every once in awhile, usually at night, I'll little trouble breathing. I'm not wheezing or struggling to breath or anything, my airway just feels somewhat constricted. Like I've become conscientious of my own breathing and have to work a little harder to get each breath out. Caused a couple panic attacks the first times experiencing it. Usually Lasts lasts about an hour or two.
(Heart palpitations) - This is actually a pre-existing condition that showed itself a couple years. Just randomly came out of the blue one day and caused a lot of pain and discomfort for the first few days. Palpitations got better over time and continue to this day. Never really went away, just kind of went dormant. They just randomly come and go. Hasn't been the same since. Amidst all the other other symptoms, they seemed to have kicked back up. Not painful anymore like they were originally, just kind of annoying.
(Groin Area) - Sometimes an aching, but usually a cold feeling in the testicles that comes and goes every so often. Everything still functions normally, but orgasms don't feel as intense anymore.
(Mood/Aggression) - I guess you can say I've always been a short tempered person. Lately I've noticed that in some instances that would normally stress me out, I've become more passive. Like I want to get mad but can't. On the contrary, Sometimes I find myself getting enraged at something I wouldn't find more than a mild annoyance. Their have been times where Ive become infuriated without really knowing why. My overall emotions feel a little more dulled out too, but I'm not sure if that's an actually issue or just a psychological thing.
(Prostate?) - This is another condition I've had prior to all this, but now it seems amplified. Repetitive urge to go to the bathroom even though I don't have to. Theirs have been nights where I've gotten no sleep over this.
Well that's about the gist of it. I can't help but wonder if a couple of the issues I already had are related to whats all going on now. I want to say yes, but overall i'm not as concerned with all that stuff as I am with saving the hair on my head, but from the looks of it, everything seems intertwined. Unless I have some rare form of genetic hair loss and its a huge coincidence that all these symptoms started popping up, I'm inclined to say theirs something going on here. doctor had me go for an echocardiogram for the palpitations and they confirmed I had a premature heart rate with extra beats. They didn't see anything abnormally wrong with the heart, so they wrote it off as normal. I'll be going back to my doctor soon to discuss the results with her with her.
If anyone has any idea's as to what this might be, please post your opinion because anything helps at this point.This has caused a fair share of depression for me and would love to just rectify what ever is causing this and move on with my life. Thanks a bunch!
- Chris
0 likes, 18 replies
Guest Zombieflanders
Posted
If you were a woman I'd suggest it's menopause. LOL!
I think you should get tested for viruses, especially EBV. Most people have had EBV in the form of mono when they are younger (95% of us), and afterwards it lays dormant in your body waiting for times of stress to reactivate in your body. I've been dealing with this all year and have all the exact symptoms you are describing and more. Although I have alopecia universalis and couldn't tell you about hair thinning because I have none. When you get tested make sure the lab is doing all 3 tests (IgM and IgG's). There isn't much you can do about it if you have it, except trying to boost your immune system with supplements. It takes a while for it to go dormant again. Some people end up having chronic fatigue syndrome and it lasts longer. Hopefully this will help you. Good luck.
Zombieflanders Guest
Posted
Can't say I've ever had mono, but its something to look into I suppose.
amkoffee Zombieflanders
Posted
From the sounds of it as I read your question I immediately thought it's alopecia. Alopecia falls out in patches not an all-over thinning. And it sounds like that's what you're describing to me.
I'm very disappointed in your doctor's response to this. Your doctor should have run a panel of blood work I think it's called a CBC. Something like that would have perhaps picked up something.
There are a lot of illnesses that will cause hair loss but typically that hair loss is a thinning rather than spots. One that comes to mind is rheumatoid arthritis. I had a friend who lost an incredible amount of hair before she was finally diagnosed. There are many autoimmune disorders out there that can cause hair loss. Well alopecia is an autoimmune disorder. You might read up on Lupus also.
It is possible that some of the medication is causing some of your symptoms as well. Have you looked up your medication to see what the side effects are? I would do a search on your medication as well. And ask your doctor to do a CBC blood test.
Zombieflanders amkoffee
Posted
These are all the labs that were done.
ALT
AST
Basic metabolic panel W/EGFR
CBC with DIFF/PLT
Lipid Panel with reflex to Direct LDL
Iron, TIBC and ferritin Panel
TSH 3rd gen W/reflex to FT4
amkoffee Zombieflanders
Posted
The only other one I can think of is to have your testosterone level checked. It's possible it's dropped too low and that's why your hair is falling out. Otherwise I'm out of suggestions.
patrice59574 amkoffee
Posted
I think its male pattern baldness. As for the symptoms they could simply be caused by the stress of knowing you're losing your hair.
I suffer from anxiety and anxiety can cause all those symptoms and then some.
But yeah I'm experiencing diffuse thinning ...and my uncles on my dads side are bald.. And I have a cousin that's bald...
So look at your family and see if there's anyone who is bald in your family tree to see where that came from.
But there you have it. My answer..I think its genetic.
amkoffee patrice59574
Posted
patrice59574 amkoffee
Posted
Nah...I'm fine...ill embrace hair loss bc eventually it'll all go away ...so no point spending insane amounts of money on it...so I'm just gonna get a scarf.
Zombieflanders patrice59574
Posted
I don't know about you, buy I've never seen someone have 100% of their scalp succumb to balding. Its usually limited to a specified area and happens over the course of years, not months. Unless i have some kind of rare genetic hair loss that makes my facial and body hair fall out and its a huge coincidence all this other stuff started showing up around the same time, I'm not buying the whole "It's genetic" thing. Baring that mind, along with all the other things I mentioned, its become probable that this is some sort of underlying condition I've had for awhile, which is my i'm here. Please actually make an effort to read things.
patrice59574 Zombieflanders
Posted
Alopecia totalis and universalis can do this...just watch YouTube videos...
One girl lost all her hair in a week.
Sucks but that's alopecia for you.
Zombieflanders patrice59574
Posted
rpsinghsethi Zombieflanders
Posted
Might be you are suffering from some other diseases also that's why you did not get effect of finasteride on scalp. However, there are so many surgeons who prescribe finasteride for hair loss, but your case is different. You should now do one thing that forget every stress, tension and anxiety from mind and start focusing on your lifestyle habits and change it to get back thick hairs.
amkoffee Zombieflanders
Posted
Let me explain to you what alopecia is because people lose all their hair all the time to alopecia it's called alopecia universalis. With alopecia you can lose a little bit of hair in patches on your head or it could all fall out or you can lose all the hair on your body eyelashes eyebrows and other places too. And this takes a matter of a month maybe two months.
I don't exactly know what your problem is with prince but I think you should rethink how you talk to people who are trying to help you.
Zombieflanders amkoffee
Posted
Because I've seen this before. Guys with actual male pattern baldness like to come to forums like these and write off every hair loss story they see as "Yup it's genetic" to make themselves feel better about their own securities. I'm not saying he is, but when he started to do just that, along with th ignorong symptoms that contradict it being genetic, it raised a red flag with me. It's just gets old is all. Also, I'm inclined to disagree with you. Complete hairloss is on the uncommon side, as universal alopecia is rare auto immune disorder.
amkoffee Zombieflanders
Posted
Well I looked it up and it affects only 2% of the American population. But that is 6.5 million people in America that are affected. And I get your frustration because everybody's that's commenting is talking about your hair and not the other symptoms you are experiencing, except for me of course I suggested you look up lupus and other autoimmune disorders that can cause all these conditions. I don't know if you've done that yet or not. But quite honestly having had alopecia myself, I was more offended by the people who said it was from stress then anything else. Because that just discounts the fact that it's a disease it's not stress.
BTW have you considered my other suggestion to get your testosterone level checked?
One more thing that might have been good to know is your age. I hope that you get this figured out because there's nothing more frustrating than not having a name for a problem. Not only do I hope that you figure out the problem but then it's easily remedied.
Guest amkoffee
Posted
It’s hard to know what your other symptoms are from because so many things share the same symptoms. It’s very frustrating.