contemplating stopping T because of hair loss and anxiety?

[alex666]

I've been on T for a little over a year and I've been losing hair for months and no one will listen to me. Today I finally got over my anxiety enough to call my doctor and ask about prescribing finasteride or anything for hairloss and she was just like "um no theres no treatments for hairloss sweetie(: if there were we wouldnt have bald men ha ha! (: Oh finasteride? That's super expensive and has a million terrible side effects and you need like 5 appointments and blood tests and 10 other things and i probably still wont even give you a prescription (: you have bald men in your family T just makes you bald sweetie (: ok bye bye!"  god she gets on my nerves like i have checkups like 3x a year for her to ask how I'm doing and she just dismisses my problems? I just did my T shot after skipping a week and I don't think I'm going to be able to bring myself to do my next one. like what I guess i'm either a fat ugly girl or an ugly bald guy so I'm just supposed to be miserable

here are some pictures of my hair currently: http://imgur.com/2dtfAre vs around july 2015 when the hair loss started (excuse my really ugly hair color here I was having a phase) http://oi60.tinypic.com/2u8b30h.jpg

is there anything you guys think I could do? I don't know what else to do like if I stop taking T the constant suicidal thoughts will come back but if my hair keeps falling out they're coming back anyway so I just don't know what to do. like I'm ugly and I'm short and awkward my nice hair was all I had going for me, it was the only thing I liked about myself. and now it's like i'm destroying it

[FTMax]

You may not want to hear it, but I'm honestly not seeing any thinning. I do see that your hairline has changed. That happens to most people on T. But I don't see any thinning. Maybe the earlier picture just doesn't show how much hair was in the other areas.

Have you tried something like Rogaine? That would probably be an immediate step that you could take, since it's available over the counter. I don't know anything about it other than that men use it when they're experiencing hair loss, so you'd have to read up on what it does, what it won't do, and potential side effects. But it's much more accessible than a prescription.

[HeyTrace19]

  my nice hair was all I had going for me, it was the only thing I liked about myself. and now it's like i'm destroying it

I think the quote above from your post is a pretty big issue...  There has got to be more to you than your hair! 

Believe me, I had significant anxiety when my hair started to "fall out".  There was hair everywhere!  On my shirts, in the sink, the shower, my pillow...I thought I would be bald in a matter of months, but now, 5 years on T, I still have a ton of thick hair.  It has receded and taken on a male pattern, but is still there, and thick.  And many of my male relatives were bald at an early age, so I was VERY stressed.  But I let go of that, because I am more than just my hair!  From what I can see in your photos, your hair looks fine. Your hair pattern is masculinizing, which can actually help some folks feel more attractive.  Try to ride it out a little longer and see if you get more of the changes and emotional stability you are hoping for.

Two things that helped me were lowering my dose just a bit, and also using an organic shampoo with DHT blockers...the shedding has really subsided.  I know that I also look pretty good in a hat, so if the day comes when I do finally lose it all, I can keep my shiny little pin head out of the sun with some pretty swell looking hats!  Best of luck to you!

[Kylo]

I thought I was shedding a ridiculous amount of hair even without T for years and though I was losing it yet the hairdresser commented recently on how much healthy hair I've got. My place looks like we got a dog if I don't keep the place clean and it's just me, shedding hairs. Some people just make a lot of hairs and drop them a lot. Unless you're actually feeling thinned patches/spots it could just be that you're shedding and growing more but not actually losing overall coverage.

If you have that particular swirl pattern on the back like most guys do it usually looks like there's less hair on it even if there isn't because you're looking directly down at the hairs thanks to their angle, instead of looking at them laying across each other. Look at any bunch of hairs standing more straight than flat and you're going to see the skin.

You will get the male pattern on the sides but that's not so bad if that's all it is?

[Guile]

Honestly those pictures don't look that bad at all. Unfortunately, what your doctor said is true, and the possibility of balding should have been something any endocrinologist would warn you about beforehand. I do agree with the comments made so far that suggest perhaps you are merely gaining a more male-pattern to your hair, so I wouldn't recommend stopping T, especially without consulting your endo first.

On another note, I'd like to point out that being bald does not necessarily make you ugly. I've seen many men with bald heads that looked just fine without hair, even very attractive. Just know that, if the worst does happen with your hair, and I highly doubt it will, there are still ways to rock that bare head and still look awesome. It's really all about working with what you get. There is a way to turn any negative into a positive if you try hard enough.

[2fish]

No doctor should treat you like that. Get another doctor. Every medication invented has a side effect. She has no right to tell you what you want or don't want.

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[Ms Grace]

As far as I know Finasteride does come with some unpleasant side effects. As suggested Rogaine may help, I heard at my local Gender Centre that some guys were using it to good effect.

But the thing is, if you're taking T and you have a genetic predisposition to baldness when T is in your system then that is a thing that is going to happen.

American Hair Loss Association - Androgenetic alopecia or common male pattern baldness (MPB) accounts for more than 95% of hair loss in men. By the age of thirty-five two-thirds of American men will experience some degree of appreciable hair loss, and by the age of fifty approximately 85% of men have significantly thinning hair.

Believe me I totally understand how distressing it is to lose your hair, but your doctor, flippant as she was, is right about there not really being a cure.

There has got to be more to you than your hair! 

Have to agree with this!!

[Arch]

I transitioned in my mid-forties and wasn't a hundred percent certain that I was actually losing hair. At what point does a male hairline stop being JUST a male hairline and become baldness? With all of the other chaos in my life, I didn't think I could handle baldness, so I decided to see if I could do something.

My doctor prescribed oral Finasteride (topical Rogaine is toxic to cats). I'm still not sure whether it helped. I do know that it interfered with my transition some, although I didn't realize this at the time. I suspected that I would become more comfortable with myself, so I felt that the medication might buy me some time, during which I could come to terms with the possibility of real hair loss.

I'm over fifty now, and I'm definitely thinning in the front. But the loss is very slow; I've been on T for seven years, AND I am the right age for thinning hair, BUT I still have quite a bit of hair left there.

I get why you feel that your hair is your best feature. There was a time when I felt similarly. I'm short (around 5' 7", so short compared to most cis men), and I have a stocky build. I'm currently a bit overweight because chronic injuries prevent me from exercising, but I would have to struggle to stay trim regardless. My shoulders are narrower than most guys', my hips are broader than most guys', my hands are small, even my head is small. In other words, I'm not great-looking, and I'm going to become less and less attractive from here on out because I'm well into middle-age.

But you know what? Although I still have issues, I feel better about myself than I ever did when I had more hair. I've had to adjust, that's all. I don't know what your particular circumstances are; maybe you are overly critical of your looks. Maybe not. But perhaps you just need time to adjust, too.

I don't see hair loss in your pictures--the hairline looks great, in fact. The one shot of the top of your head may or may not illustrate that your hair is thinning; you may be jumping the gun. So don't panic just yet.

But maybe switch doctors...