CS - Can You Diagnose Me (iodine - no effect, beta sis - depression!)

Hey all,

I've been on these forums for years now - and I've had a few small success - but overall I'm beginning to wonder if my hairloss or the reasons behind it are like most people.

I started losing hair at 18! Very very slowly. Although, I did have really bad dandruff (massive flakes) - a year or so before it started. I'm now 34, nw3/ with diffuse nw4 pattern. The center of my hairline went first, then the temples. I've got a double crown and that thinned at 20/21.

Naturally muscular, don't smoke at all or drink much. I've been using the IH regimen for a fair few years now - and I'm not holding ground anymore.

for what its worth here are some facts:

Very low sex drive
Greasy skin
Average body hair
Zinc and bananas have a huge effect on my mood as does macca
Vellus hair still there - right up to my teenage hairline (I can get it to grow longer with topical aloe + garlic - but it rarely turns terminal)
Topical Colloidal silver also grows hair - but far too slowly to be useful.
Used to have bad hair pain - now that hair is gone, I don't have the pain.
Took beta siterol - as suggested by you - hair got thicker - sex drive dropped even lower, dropped after six months.

Iodine - has made no difference to me - no detox, no mood change, nothing. I can take massive amounts and nothing changes. Tried it with vitamin c and without. I can only assume I'm not iodine deficient..

My own guess:

-Not iodine deficient
-Low testosterone (but why do I easily put on muscle???)
-High eostrogen (very young looking skin)
-Very slow balding - hormones slightly out of balance?

Any ideas any one?

Never tried minox or propecia.

gbp2000 - Beta Sitosterol can easily cause depression. It also can drop testosterone levels, because it absorbs a lot of cholesterol in the gut, preventing steroid synthesis.

Beta Sitosterol really has no place after your mid 20's.

Not only does Beta Sitosterol increase depression, it also affects anti-stress steroids from being produced.

Stress is a pretty big deal with hair loss. You might want to try Panax ginseng if you're under any kind of stress.

If you have any existing implants of any kind anywhere in the body, that can cause a chronic inflammation.

Have you tried a metal detox?

Hey CS,

I was pleased with the results of Beta Sitosterol , but I'm not a depressive person and the change was obvious.

I've not tried a metal detox, I'll give that a go!

I should mention that I have three gold teeth.

In the "good old bad days" I used to take a lot of beta sitosterol, and eventually I began to notice depressive symptoms. I found out later, that I was not the only one. I takes out too much cholesterol from absorption.

Metal detox is one of the most beneficial things one can do. Gold teeth are okay, however it may differ depending on the alloy used. Gold and Platinum are actually very tolerable.

I takes out too much cholesterol from absorption.

Is beta-sitosterol's mechanism of action based on reducing cholesterol absorption, and thus reducing the amount available for conversion to androgens? Or does it actually enter the body and directly inhibit 5AR?

I imagine that it's the latter, since the body should increase endogenous production of cholesterol in response to insufficient dietary cholesterol.

mphatesmpb - It does both. It's kind of like a double blow.

My hair grew thicker with Beta Sis - but the sides were intolerable.

I will begin a metal detox next week and let everyone know how it goes!