My hair is very thin to begin, but I have not had any issues with B5-related hairloss. I just wanted to comment on the fear some people have regarding losing their hair on accutane, and just give my own perspective and experience in case it is helpful. I have noticed on this forum that reported experiences with accutane are skewed somewhat to the negative, so I like to report my honest experience where it is relevant in a thread just to add to the informed discussion

I would never touch accutane there are many forums just like this one specifically for people losing their hair from it, win would never risk the chance, I can only imagine how bad it would be losing hair from b5 and accutane. I used to have bad acne and now I barley even get a spot there are much safer and less risky options. Accutane is a strong nasty drug just like propecia. I was on roaccutane as a teen and it was horrible. Just my opinion but best of luck to you. One thing that gets rid of spots for me fast is msm powder it tastes horrible like drinking salt water but works amazing for me. The msm pills did not work however.

I've been living in Asia for the past 2 years where you can get generic accutane over the pharmacy.

I take 10mg every other day, it's a small enough dose that I don't get any side effects but enough that my skin stays clear. It's the way they do it in Asia and I think it's way more sensible than the high doses offered in Western countries.

I would say it hasn't made my hair loss any worse. I've been losing my hair for over 5 years from b5, luckily I had a lot to begin with but it makes me sad to think what awesome hair I would have if I never took b5.

i know traveller it is so sad i feel like i understand ageing women losing all their beauty! Traveller it seems after researching that in britain where i live the dose is also lowered to the same amount these days. I am so tempted. Blue what terrible side effects did you get and what dose? Sorry to turn this discussion on to accutane. MSM never worked for me x

This thread derailed quite a bit, hoping to get on track here.

I am considering getting a prp treatment for hair loss. If so I will be getting it next week. Will update in case of any results.

This is a good idea, I've noted that either NOW thyroid Energy or colostrum (11G per day) alone seems to reduce the itch, both combined seems to remove the itch. As is consistent with hermetics's treatment.

freakingthefrackout, on 23 Jul 2015 - 05:11, said:

i know traveller it is so sad i feel like i understand ageing women losing all their beauty! Traveller it seems after researching that in britain where i live the dose is also lowered to the same amount these days. I am so tempted. Blue what terrible side effects did you get and what dose? Sorry to turn this discussion on to accutane. MSM never worked for me x

Ah, I'm from the UK too. When I had accutane back in 2009 the dosage was horrible and made my lips so dry and joints go funny. Of course once I stopped the acne came back which is when I unfortunately gave b5 a try.

If very low dose accutane was available easily in the UK I would have been on that and not had to suffer this. IMO low dose accutane is far safer than anti-biotics in terms of fucking up your health.

Luckily despite a receding harline I can hide it pretty well and have success with the ladies but if I go bald I'm not sure that will be the case lol

I had the prp treatment. It will be a while before anything is supposed to happen (earliest signs should be after 1 month). I am of course very skeptical that anything will happen at all, but will let you guys know.

whats a prp?

 

Do you guys think that going on Accutane would exacerbate our hair loss?

I was on B5 for 3 years and did notice increased shedding. Whether it was actually from the B5 or due to stress that the B5 may have been causing it is beyond me... Anyways, I went on Accutane and just finished up 5 months. Since stopping the B5, my hair has only became thicker and stronger even though I have been on Accutane this whole time. For me, Accutane wasn't a problem. Only side effects I noticed were dryness of the lips, eyes, some mild eczema, and an irritated urethra which was relieved by some vaseline.. lol

I'm losing hair for a year after the abolition of B5 ! After some time, I will have a receding hairline?

Hello. I've read the full 62 pages of this thread. Sheesh. My hairloss wasn't triggered by B5 mega-dosing - but I've taken so much stuff over the years (I had an eating disorder, and taking supplements has been pretty obsessive) - so it's possible that my hairloss was triggered by something similar/different to what's caused yours. I'm hoping that you'll let me post here and

I've been trying the B1 (100mg, three times a day, with food) that was recommended by one of the posters in this thread. It's helped the hairloss a tiny bit. But it's also helped my energy.

One of the forums you linked to suggested that you take 2000mg of vitamin C, and 2000mg of L-lysine. I have ordered L-lysine powder, which will arrive on Friday. In the meantime I went to Walmart and I've been taking a cheap, poor-quality 1000mg L-lysine tablet - 1/2 on an empty stomach in the morning, and 1/2 on an empty stomach at bedtime - for a week. I think it might be helping the hairloss a bit. I'll stop those and swap for 2 x 1g of L-lysine powder, when it arrives.

That same forum suggested L-cysteine and L-proline. And so I have ordered those as well.

I'm already taking a multivitamin, 50mg of B-complex, 100mg B2 x 3 (for my oily skin) - and I eat a healthy diet.

I had fine hair, but the hairloss went into overdrive a week after my profile photo was taken. So much so that it clogged the shower, and we had to get one of those plumbing wire on a reel things to unblock it. Prior to that it would go through bursts of terrible hairloss. And that's been going on for 10 years - I'm probably down to a 1/3 of my original hair. It's thinnest on the nape of my neck, and above my ears.

I hope we can help each other.

p.s. Things that definitely make it worse is eating crap and especially bingeing on sugary foods; being stressed; jetlag and the weeks after travel (I have been living 3 months in the USA, 4 months in Australia for the last 2 years); cheap shampoos.

So... the B1 theory supports the stress and sugary foods hairloss. The jetlag/time-zone has to do with serotonin/melatonin (Niacin, B6, tryptophan... and that's something I'm looking into).

My hairloss always stops for the two days before my period - which supports the progesterone theory that someone posted about here. Oh, and it gets worse when I'm having lots of sex... that can be lots of things... testosterone, estrogen, something-else.

I'm also looking into cortisol... which goes up when you're stressed (as discussed here). Cortisol has the same precursor, pregnenalone, to the sex hormones - and is made at the expense of the sex hormones, when you're stressed. Your body wants to deal with the stress, rather than worry about your fertility.

I have had cortisol readings done, a few years ago. They were done by saliva. I gave 6 samples at different times of the day. I'll dig up my results.

hi flashy grape, nice to see a new enthused face on this thread. Keep up your research and I will look in to B1

It's a shame your hair loss isn't from b5 as I would feel better knowing one other woman going through this lol, it seems a hugely male problem :S good luck with your progress

Thank you freakingthefrackout. The reason why I feel an affinity with this group is because I have taken so many odd combinations and amounts of supplements. I don't know what triggered my hairloss (it pre-dates my eating issues... oh... the eating issues are no longer around) - but it's highly likely to be too much of some supplement, that's caused a cascade of other things. As we all know - hair and skin are non-essential. So if the body is low in something (anything at all) then it will direct that nutrient to the essential organs and functions.

From reading everyone's post, I am certain that there isn't the one solution for all of us. In the same way the stress shows up in eczema for me, or asthma for someone else, or IBS for another person, or migraines for yet another person - we each have a weak link. You may have been low in Niacin and zinc when you OD'd on B5 - and you've cascaded into a mess of low niacin/zinc symptoms. For someone else it could be EFAs and B2. We are all different.

i'm having a blood test because im going on Accutane, blood test's on Friday, it will be illuminating to see if there are any deficiencies which could attribute to hair. I hope so, would be nice to be able to correct it easily, but alas I think the problem is deeper and more mystifying x

@freakingthefrackout - are you going to ask for specific things to be tested?

nah its just Accutane protocol. But it would show vitamin deficiencies e.g B1 like you were talkin about x

all the guys have had thyroid tests and god knows what, they came back clear. xx

@freakingthefrackout - Subclinical deficiencies also cause symptoms. I find that the most accurate way to determine if you have a need for more of a particular nutrient is the physical symptoms. And, on top of that some people/genotypes/conditions have nutrient dependencies which are outside the normal range of RDAs. For example diabetics excrete 11 times the thiamine (B1) of someone without diabetes. And schizophrenics are given stupid amounts of niacin (b3) - something like 3000-10,000mg/day - and stay on that dose, to be symptom-free.

I lived in Scotland for 18 years (I'm now in the USA). There is a Welsh medic, called Dr MyHill. She has a multi-mineral powder, that you mix with a moisturiser, and put on your skin. The minerals are all chlorides, and are absorbed through the skin, directly into the bloodstream... avoiding the digestive system. Since you've had a history of eating disorders your digestive system is possibly screwed up (I know mine was) and not absorbing nutrient properly. I used Dr MyHill's minerals and it helped me a lot. You make up the dose according to your body weight. You might find it helpful. If you want to I can find a link to it, so you can read about it?

eh, I just don't trust anything anymore. I've spent thousands of pounds and thousands of hours trying every herbal and dietary remedy for acne and hair loss. There comes a point where I just cant afford to go on any more wild goose chases. Nothing seems to be able to change a thing. If you try this mineral thing and you have a thick head of hair at the end of it then yeah i'd def be interested x

@freakingthefrackout - Eek! I do understand what you are saying. People throw miracle solutions at you. You pay your money, you get your hopes up, and it doesn't work... yet again. And all that happens is you lose a bit more hope, become a bit more cynical, and are X dollars poorer.

Taking megadoses of B5 was a gross biochemical stress on your body. The fact that you responded after taking a small amount, for a short time (compared to other people) is possibly cos of your ED history. EDs screw up your digestion. I had years of throwing up - and it still affects my gut years later. So, your body was probably limping along nutritionally, before the B5 - and the B5 pushed some critical nutrient/s ratio over the edge. The blokes here took much larger amounts for much longer - they were normal healthy young guys (but with bad skin). So they had greater reserves to work with compared to you. But they still haven't found the trigger nutrient/s that they screwed up with the B5. However, neither have I - resulting from all the crap I've taken over the years. I'm in no better place than anyone else here!

My reason for suggesting the minerals powder tthat you mix with moisturiser and is absorbed into the skin/bloodstream - is because it's a way to build yourself back up from the ground up. At least you'll have your minerals covered, and you'd be investing long-term in something that you know will be absorbed, and will impact your general health.

By the way - I live in the USA, and Australia, and haven't lived in the UK since 2013. If I was still in the UK, I'd still be using the minerals cream. )

Ok thankyou the link would be interesting. I wonder if this mineral cream would be ok to use on skin during Accutane as most derms say to be very minimal due to extreme skin fragility x

@freakingthefrackout

Just have a look over it, and see what you think. You can make appointments to see her, if that's something that interests you. Alternatively she'll send you a massive comprehensive health questionnaire, that you complete and send back to her. I am sure that you pay to do that. You pay 50 (or whatever) and that's for her to go through the questionnaire properly and make suggestions. I think, that's how it goes, from memory... I asked about it.

Dr Myhill's website: http://www.doctormyhill.co.uk/

The page about transdermal minerals powder: http://www.doctormyhill.co.uk/wiki/Transdermal_micronutrients

Her store page (this is new!) where you can order the transdermal minerals: http://www.salesatdrmyhill.co.uk/

Just for interest, this is what she says about hair loss: http://drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Hair_loss

As for your question - No, don't apply it to the face. It would burn - cos it's like applying salt to your skin. You apply it to the thin skin of your body. Inner arms, inner thighs, breasts, buttocks, belly. And you rotate through them. So apply on boobs one day, then buttocks the next, then inner thighs the next, then belly. Etc. That's cos you can super-saturate the local tissues, if you apply it in the same place. And it's not as effective.

thanks, what physical improvement did you have when you took these powders?

@freakingthefrackout - It contains vitamin D too, which at the time I didn't know affected mood. So, my mood improved. My hair shafts/strands became thicker. My skin looked better. I think, looking back, it helped my period/hormones too. Maybe cos of the zinc and magnesium. You measure up the dose according to your body weight. So someone who is bigger/heavier has a higher dose than a smaller person - which makes sense.

My L-lysine, L-proline and L-cysteine powders arrived on Friday. I've been away all weekend so I haven't started them. I am starting the L-lysine powder this week. And the L-proline next week, and the L-cysteine the week after. One at a time so I can better see what (if any) effects they have.

You said you were having your accutane blood test on Friday. Do you know when you'll get the test results?

I've been doing a lot of research on peptides and I've tried some before but they were different types for different things. Here's a list of some others I will be trying.

Copper peptides - ghk-cu and ahk-cu

Some people have had good results using it as a topical and also one guy had a lot of regrowth injecting it sub q.

Healing peptides - tb-400 and epitalon and bpc-157

These are all injected sub q. Lots of people are reporting hair growth and hair looking much more healthy and fuller. There are many other advantages to these peptides too like anti aging, less wrinkles, more energy, better skin, faster healing, healing of organs and more.

I've ordered epitalon and will be going from there but I'll keep you guys updated.

Good work blue! Let us now how it goes.

Personally Im close to losing all hope. For now Im just waiting for the scientist to come up with a cure haha ;( My hair is getting so bad Iv lost all confidence.. And I used to be so Beautiful.. Girls.. Forget about it!