4 months in on Lithium/DMSO topical

So, I'm about 4 months in on the topical now. I wanted to give an update since I had a thread on this in the other forum. I started using the topical back in early May.

It's cut my scalp pinkness and inflammation a lot. I don't get itchy up there anymore at all. No dandruff. No irritation from it. I still get some general pinkness from time to time, but it's really nothing. Sometimes I think it has more to do with my body temp than anything else.

So far I honestly can't give any testimonial that it has helped me regrow hair or maintain what I had.

I've been doing it daily with the Nioxin Scalp Renew every month and I think I've taken a step back hair loss wise over the 4 months. I've shed and thinned more in the areas on top of my head in the 4 months. It's not a huge step back, but a step back nonetheless.

The good is my remaining hair is thicker and the inflammation is being handled.

I'm still waiting to see if it spurs on the regrowth though. Just have to be patient.

My wife has told me she sees dozens of baby hairs poking through in my thin areas in the crown/vertex. They are hard for me to see in the mirror, but I don't think she's lying to me.

I do see a lot of good terminal new hairs growing in the hairline and under it. It seems like whatever I'm losing in the hairline, I'm still replacing with new hairs. My hairline has not gotten worse at all since using the topical.

I'm being hopeful that I've just gone through a necessary shed up top and in the coming months I'm going to start filling in the areas that have gotten thinner.

If those new hairs that are poking through all are terminal and cosmetically viable, I'll have filled in a good portion of where I've been losing and would consider this a big success.

I do not think the topical has done anything to hurt my hair/scalp though. I don't have any horror stories about using it.

Just want to give you guys out there thinking about using it a realistic expectation.

If you're itchy, have dandruff and inflammation, I would not hesitate using it. It literally cut that out w/in the first few days.

If you think it's some elixir that you just pour on your head and you grow back a full head of hair, you might be a little unrealistic.

These things take time and you just have to ride it out.

Just from watching my progress, it's very apparent it takes a long time for the new hair to show up and break through and grow.

Hadrion,why do you use the scalp renew??What´s that supose to do??
And do you use also the shampoo,conditioner and lotion from Nioxin...I was wondering if I should try...
What´s your opinion?

sissi wrote:Hadrion,why do you use the scalp renew??What´s that supose to do??
And do you use also the shampoo,conditioner and lotion from Nioxin...I was wondering if I should try...
What´s your opinion?

sissi -- Scalp Renew is a once a month natural dermabrasion product for your scalp. Think of it like a face scrub for your scalp. It's supposed to slough off all the dead skin and things that could be blocking your follicles. It's painless and you can do it at home.

You should google Nioxin Scalp Renew and you'll find more info on it. I don't really have any answers on if it works and if it's worth the money. My hair stylist has been using it on me for 5 months because he thinks it will help the new hairs come out. I haven't seen any clear signs that tell me it's helped.

I have used the Nioxin shampoo and scalp therapy conditioner in the past, but I don't think it does anything to help you grow/keep your hair. I've really seen no evidence that it's anymore more than a shampoo and conditioner.

Since I use Immortal's topical, I don't even mess with any other shampoo, although I do use Nizoral 2-3 times a week out of habit since I had a lot of scalp inflammation in the past.

Humm,thanks!

Thanks Hadrion, ive actually been waiting for this update, I was very curious of how things were going with you, sounds good. I remeber on your previous post you were saying that the shedding stopped, but that it started again due to poor distribution in the bottle. How's this going, did it slow down again as long as you kept the mix about right?

epdaman wrote:Thanks Hadrion, ive actually been waiting for this update, I was very curious of how things were going with you, sounds good. I remeber on your previous post you were saying that the shedding stopped, but that it started again due to poor distribution in the bottle. How's this going, did it slow down again as long as you kept the mix about right?

My daily shedding seems to have stabilized.

When I shampoo, I'm not seeing more than a few hairs after I lather. For awhile there I was seeing 20 or more just from light lathering.

When I rinse and towel dry, I still lose hairs but it's nothing I would call excessive.

I run a comb through my hair and sometimes hairs come out in it, but again, it's nothing excessive. I've seen much more alarming sheds where I pull out 20 or more hairs just trying to comb my hair.

I do see a fair amount of hairs on my pillowcase each week and sometimes if I'm wearing a light colored shirt, I'll notice some hairs on my shoulders.

I think I'm just shedding the normal daily amount of hair.

I'm not sure if that's what IH intended the result to be -- that we would not even shed the normal amount of hairs each day, but it seems like I'm more in the normal range than the scary range I was in before.

I'll be honest -- I've lost a fair amount of hair on the top middle of my head. It's thin up there and things look sparse. If I don't start seeing regrowth come in and help fill that area in, I'll be close to biting the bullet and buzzing my hair down to a 1. I'm trying to not have to go there as I have enough hair to cover that area the way I comb it, but if I don't start regrowing hair in that area or it spreads a couple more inches to the sides, I'm toast.

The next 6 months to a year will either be very encouraging or the final nail in my hair coffin. I need to start filling in the areas that have thinned out the past months.

I don't think the topical has made things worse, but I really don't know for sure and want to give an honest evaluation. I think if your expectations are that it will halt your hair loss completely and start the regrowth process immediately, you're unrealistic.

Just an update -- 6 months in using the topical and the reports aren't great.

I've lost a lot of hair on the top of the my scalp since I started the topical. I've thinned out completely in about a 2 inch wide swath down the middle of my scalp.

It's getting harder to cover it up and I'm getting seriously discouraged.

The problem as I see it is I'm not getting any serious regrowth of the hairs I've shed in the past 6 months.

The topical keeps the pinkness and the inflammation at bay -- I stopped using it for a few weeks and the pinkness returned to my scalp.

But the hairs that are being shed just aren't regrowing and I'm really losing the battle now. Most of the one's I see have the white club end on them.

On the plus side, my health is off the charts. Following IH's and everyone's advice in here I've dropped about 4 pants sizes, I'm strong, I have endurance, my mood is much better....I feel completely amazing.

But the hair loss is not improving and I need something topically, I'm guessing, that will help me achieve some kind of regrowth.

The sad thing is the rest of my hair is in excellent shape and has thickened up.

I don't think the follicles are dead up there...I don't think I have a ton of fibrosis. There's only a few shiny smooth spots with no hairs on them the size of pencil erasers...the rest is very diffuse. There's hair there, but it's visibly thinning.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I don't know if I should stop the topical. I'm hesitant to, but then I know for sure my hair loss has gotten worse since I started it.

I'm not attributing that to the topical mind you. Just stating facts.

Here's my current regimen (everything at IH"s recommended dosage):

IH's top 6 (HMR, not PM)
Maca
Niacinamide
NAC
Biotin
Magnesium Orotate
CoQ-10 100mg
B-complex
Multi
Sensoril
Krill Oil 2g's a day
Lecithin 4 caps per meal
D-3 5000 IU
Green Tea Extract
Dr. Ohhirra's probiotic
Iodine

I've dropped Rhodiola and Dim.

I'm adding in support for the adrenals, 5mg of DHEA, K2. I'm also going to try using the Seabuckthorn soap Nid linked to.

I'm also upping my Iodine intake since I wasn't taking enough as there is one tab of Iodoral.

My diet is great right now. I've kicked Candida and passed the spit test after having failed it many months ago.

With all the shedding I've gone through, could the hairs just be in a rest phase? Is there anything I can do to get them out that phase?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I've also just started using topical Mag oil. Forgot to add that.

And I also want to add that my skin looks amazing. Seriously, I look far younger than most guys my age.

hadrion wrote:

And I also want to add that my skin looks amazing. Seriously, I look far younger than most guys my age.

What do you attribute that to?

scottyc33 wrote:

hadrion wrote:

And I also want to add that my skin looks amazing. Seriously, I look far younger than most guys my age.

What do you attribute that to?

I think the Fibroboost/EC and the Krill Oil are having an amazing effect on my skin. I'm in my mid 30's and have no wrinkles. The nasal folds that extend down from the sides of my nose to the corner of my mouth are much less pronounced than they were. I don't even have a crease at the corner of my eyes. My pores are also much less visible.

My wife has constantly been remarking on how my skin looks. I don't have a dull/ruddy look. Everything is very bright and vibrant.

I know the regimen is working, I just haven't seen it on top of my scalp as of yet. I really want to see some regrowth, but I'm also resigned to the fact that it's not going to happen since new visible hair should have appeared in these areas over the course of 6 months.

5000 IU vit D is alot, maybe too much.

Have you considered laser?

cpio -- I haven't tried lasers yet. I emailed Nid about it and I probably should follow through since I need to use everything I can to try to reverse this.

As for the 5000 IU of D3, IH and actually a lot of medical types are recommending that amount as a minimum. I don't think that is making my hair shed, but I don't know.

hadrion - Try a break from Lithium/DMSO. There have been users that report this could be the cause of the shed. It's hard to say, but worth a check.

CausticSymmetry wrote:hadrion - Try a break from Lithium/DMSO. There have been users that report this could be the cause of the shed. It's hard to say, but worth a check.

Will do IH. I'll keep updating if there are any changes.

Besides lasers, I'm wondering what else I could try. Do you think that topical Rulide is worth a shot?

As I have stated before, I had developed some form of reaction to my right wrist (2 weeks back) and as such stopped all sups I was on.

Since then I am slowly adding 1 item at a time to figure out the culprit (if any - there might be none).

So I started with Glisodin (SOD), 1Xday 250mg tablet. My itching on the scalp is totally gone, I have never had this feeling in my scalp as long as I can remember. Not saying what it will do for others, but certainly it did something to stop the itching for me. I keep my hair short, so every morning, my hair is usually stuck up in every direction and either I had to spray water or take a bath to be able to have a normal hair dew. However; after taking GLisodin, I do not have this issue any more - the hair stays normal even after waking up and I can just brush it as usual.

So while this may not be regrowing, these are good enough signs for me to keep taking GliSODin for now. The only other item I have started doing is to eat some nuts 2 times a day b/w meals (almonds and pistachios - just few). I do not think the difference is due to almonds - LOL, even though it is rich in Mg and that is why I take it.

You may want to read up GliSODin. IH recommeds it anyways.

Has your hairloss gotten worse, or are you merely shedding shoddy quality hairs for what will be strong, terminal ones? Something to consider. Anagen/Catagen phase for hair is a very long process. One year would be a good measurement. Lasers would definitely be a great help, but you know how I feel about lasers of course.

I'm doing topical rulide as well now!

nidhogge wrote:Has your hairloss gotten worse, or are you merely shedding shoddy quality hairs for what will be strong, terminal ones? Something to consider. Anagen/Catagen phase for hair is a very long process. One year would be a good measurement. Lasers would definitely be a great help, but you know how I feel about lasers of course.

I'm doing topical rulide as well now!

Nid -- Honestly? Mostly shoddy quality hairs were lost. They looked brittle and in some cases very weak. Like I said, most of them had the white club on the end.

I'm starting to think more about doing the laser helmet. It's just a big expense and my wife will think I've gone nuts.

I probably should have went in on the rulide with you like I had initially wanted to.

This is why I don't know if should axe the topical at this point or not. Perhaps the shedding is a good sign, but we're not seeing any decent amount of new hairs poking through as of yet.

It's a tough call if they're mostly crappy hairs going then I guess ya can't be too worried yet since those would have gone eventually either way. In my experience with IH's rinse, sans the couple months where I was too lazy to make another batch, my hair quality overall was improving and scalp felt great!

About the helmet, can always pay for it in installments so the wife doesn't notice ya spending a big glob at once, haha. Just did a treatment with mine today, 280 diodes, that's some power baby! I don't even use foam spacers.

Hadrion did you ever have success with this?

This stuff is only intended for short term purposes. That is until internals can resolve the origin of the problem.

CausticSymmetry wrote:This stuff is only intended for short term purposes. That is until internals can resolve the origin of the problem.

What stuff? Dmso?

The topical combo itself....It's just a temporary aid until the cause is resolved.