Do you think it's possible I just had an increase in DHT? Simple as?

Soy isoflavones won't hurt thyroid function at all provided that there is adequate iodine and selenium. I posted a study on here a week or so ago showing a 2 year study in which genistein, the primary isoflavone, had no effect on thyroid hormone levels. What does hinder thyroid function is estradiol (increases thyroid binding globulin), gluten, and casien (milk protein).

A couple months back I had an inflamed thyroid that was enlarged which I wrongly attributed to soy isoflavones (not exactly sure what caused it but my best guess would be estradiol spike from the stint I did with 5 mg of fin.) It wasn't until I eliminated all wheat products (dairy was already gone) and stopped finasteride that things improved. Upon switching to a sea food diet with lots of sea weed, my thyroid has returned to its normal size (can't see or feel it). I now consume well over a 100 mgs of soy isoflavones between supplements and food a day with no ill efffects.

Fantastic

Well done - you are much more focussed than me ._. I know what kind of thing I want/need to do, but I have so much trouble actually keeping a level head and just giving it a go! But no-one is perfect

I wonder if soy isoflavones would make a good addition to my regimen as well. Do you attribute any degree of your success to equol at all, as of course your diet could mean you are a producer!

Yeah I hear you about keeping a level head and staying with a regimen. The past 3 months or so I've changed mine so much. The process of finding what works for me personally required things to get much worse before they got better. It's maddening. Really it's just trial and error and weeding what works and what doesn't.

I'm not sure whether or not I'm an equol producer or not but if not, I think it's pretty likely I'll become one within the next 6 months or so.

Absolutely

I'm sure equol is very helpful in MPB, it does seem to have a lot of potential.

So you think you think you now have a regimen that works? And that's great about your temples filling in and stuff ^^

I think if I can just relax and be constructive, I am sure to be ok! Unfortunately I think the very enthusiasm and stuff that allowed me to find IH and learn and everything could be my downfall unless I get it under control now!

I think I'll be ok

Hoppipolla wrote:

Other than that erm.. what do you think misterE and other folks?

Sounds good so far Hoppi, however I would stay away from the avocado and oils (the fat you eat is the fat you wear).

misterE wrote:

Hoppipolla wrote:

Other than that erm.. what do you think misterE and other folks?

Sounds good so far Hoppi, however I would stay away from the avocado and oils (the fat you eat is the fat you wear).

Yeah I'll watch my fat intake - you say it encourages estrogen and enlarges sebaceous glands?

Perhaps I should get my beta-sitosterol in supplement form?

Hoppipolla wrote:

misterE wrote:

Hoppipolla wrote:

Other than that erm.. what do you think misterE and other folks?

Sounds good so far Hoppi, however I would stay away from the avocado and oils (the fat you eat is the fat you wear).

Yeah I'll watch my fat intake - you say it encourages estrogen and enlarges sebaceous glands?

Perhaps I should get my beta-sitosterol in supplement form?

Yeah, watch the fat intake, it will promote estrogen and desensitize insulin. I personally believe that without a high-fat intake (say you only get your fats from whole-grains, legumes, vegetables, fruit and flaxseeds) beta-sitosterol is of no need.

I believe that the beta-sitosterol (found exclusively in plant-fats like nuts, seeds and avocados) negates some of the negative effects of the dietary-fat. For instance it appears that phytosterols found in nuts, seeds and avocado protects against high-cholesterol and high-estrogen levels associated with fat consumption. However the opposite is true for animal-fat, which doesn’t contain phytosterols at all and does contains cholesterol and aromatase-enzymes.

So the higher your fat intake, the more phytosterols your body needs to negate the negative effects of the fat, the lower your fat intake, the less phytosterols are required by your body. Now combing the extremely-low-fat diet with phytosterols might be synergistic and provided great results, but I believe this defeats the purpose of phytosterols. I would like to mention, that I do take about 375mg of beta-sitosterol every now and again.

Ah cool, yes I understand what you mean. Am I right in saying that phytosterols provide other positive effects too though, I thought they reduced estrogen somehow and bound to androgen receptors? Although I suppose beyond a point, other things will do this better anyway and the latter wouldn't even be needed!

I had a good jog earlier anyway and actually used my new Android phone to track my running by GPS lol So that was good fun! ^^

Erm, I was having a think a little earlier, and am I right in saying that these are the main paths to hair loss? ::

Excess testosterone/DHT (steroids, excessive meat consumption, etc) - as this would stimulate the receptors by sheer quantity as opposed to the AR sensitivity?

Excess estrogen (specifically estradiol?) as this upregulates receptors

Particularly high inflammation in the body (this is the reason why guys report hair loss from particularly high amounts of sex or masturbation?)


Erm.. is that it for the main triggers?

Also, is this why guys who drink lots of beer end up with beer bellies and no hair? lol The estrogen in the beer, leading to AR upregulation? O.O

It's amazing how much makes sense when you focus on estrogen...

I would say low IGFBP-3 or excess free-IGF-1 "triggers it" by down-regulating SHBG, causeing a massive converion of testosterone into both estrogen and DHT.

Hey Hoppi,

How long have you been on your current regimen?