Hair loss treatment with monoxidil and finasteride

 Well, it's been a few months of using a topical spray once a day and rubbing it into my scalp. What I bought was from the Hims company and apparently they have treatments for a lot of different physical issues. It's ridiculously expensive ($150/bottle), and I realize that I'm very privileged to be able to even try this stuff. I saw my doctor here in Portugal and had my T levels, liver, and kidney function checked. Everything was good, all tests nominal. I also talked with her about a prescription for something similar to what I got from Hims, and of course it's cheaper in PT. A one month supply of topical monoxidil is under $20 here.

My labs showed that my T levels are now low, lower than the normal low for males (under 400). This was what I planned for when switching to the T gel. Hopefully my hair follicles will appreciate the change!

I took a before pic, at 2 months, and at 3 months. Hims advertised that 80% of men using the product would have positive results. I'm usually in the smaller group that has crap side effects or something weird..but NOT THIS TIME :) 

I thought maybe I was biased on the results so far so I asked a number of people their opinion and the consensus is that I have more hair than I did before treatment. I'm really happy with the results so far! Here's the pics:

Before

At 2 months 

At 3 months

NOTE: Treatment with monoxidil and finasteride has to be continued to maintain the results. If I stop using the drugs, my results will regress. Also, it's not recommended to use them for more than 10 years as there are risks associated. Consult with you doctor if you have questions about what risks YOU might have.

Hair loss continues- Point of No Return?

 Hi all! Earlier this year, in May, I posted about the annoying fact that my hair is thinning. It's now December 2023, and a lot more hair has "left the building". I switched from intramuscular injections of testosterone, with the intention of getting rid of big peak levels. The idea was that a low, steady, daily dose if T would slow down my hair loss. This has not shown to be the case. 

Hair loss is caused by a variety of things, effects of  testosterone converting to dihydrotestosterone (DHT), and one of them is heredity, which we can't do anything about..yet. No matter what you do, those genes are with you! Anyhoo, T gel was not the magical solution for me. It may be for someone else, but my family has women with thinning hair and one bald grandfather. The odds aren't good for me. I recently got a prescription for a topical spray scalp treatment that includes monoxidil and finasteride. Finasteride, a specific and competitive inhibitor of 5α-reductase enzyme Type 2, inhibits the conversion of testosterone to DHT. DHT thins hair follicles to the point where the hairs are sooo thin that they break off immediately and the follicles die off.

I will use the product for a few months and report back if I see any improvement. I'm also doing some research into flavonoids in food that block DHT. Wish me luck..and hair! Happy holidays to one and all :)

Aging as a transguy, where's my hair?!

 Hi! It's been a while since I posted, and my body is still changing. I'm still in Portugal. The testosterone I was injecting here is a little stronger than the US "equivalent", and my hair loss started accelerating. When I first decided to transition, I felt that I was OK with going bald, but it's different when it seems like either a long ways off or a low probability of actually happening. Well, the probability isn't low anymore and I can see it happening. 

I check my testosterone levels a couple times a year and I was aware that they were high, between 1000 and  1,200 ng/dL. High testosterone will likely damage your hair follicles. I talked to my doctor about it and switched back to using a topical gel and it's a lot easier to control my levels that way, although I do get hot flashes if I'm even a couple hours late with application. I've been using the gel for a couple months and some of my hair is returning, but if the follicles are dead, they're dead and nothing will bring them back. 

Elsewhere on my body, like my back, I have some 3" long hair. I joke about braiding it, but I'm not limber enough to do that lol.

Other changes: 

Belly fat

I mentioned that I live in Portugal. Portuguese pastries and breads are amazing. They are also my nemesis. To stay trim, I just can't eat sugar or carbs! At the moment I'm planning on going low carb AGAIN. 

USA Insanity

I go to the US for business reasons for a few months every year. It's just getting worse. I was prescient about what COULD happen, so I got me and my wife out of there, but it's still really hard seeing how crazy folks can get when they are in a group. Never thought that I'd quote Black Sabbath, but, "If you listen to fools, The mob rules." 

I have safe haven in Portugal and would be happy to provide info to anyone interested in emigration.

Old transguy living in Portugal

 My wife and I left the US and moved to southern Portugal officially this year. The move made it easier to escape the Covid crisis, but we decided to move here mostly for safety and health reasons before Covid. Portugal has actual laws that protect LGBTQ people in employment, housing, and health. Portugal is one of the safest countries on earth. Portugal has universal healthcare. Portugal is relaxed and extremely beautiful ❤️. 

My wife has been here since February 2020. We had a 2 month stay planned so we could explore and decide what area to get a house Then the pandemic happened and we were trapped for about 5 months. At that point we found a place and I returned to the craziness of the US and made arrangements, packed, sold stuff, and got paperwork done. 7 months went by many cancelled flights as well. No US airlines were flying pets that didn't fit under a seat so I drove from Oregon to NJ with our dog through a few blizzards in Feb. 2021. Barely made my flight back to Portugal and reunited with my wife! 

We have been renovating our house (built in 1840s) and socially distancing in a rural area. Portugal is now over 70% vaccinated. I have met a couple transguys on a FB group and met up with them in person. The pics in this post of the coast are from that visit.

Ok, more trans related stuff now. After a year of wearing a shirt and protecting my scar tissue from sun I go without a shirt enough to have evened out my skin tones. Top of chest used to be white, belly brown. Now all tanned!  My right nipple graft decided to grow a little more nipple tissue and is no longer exactly "round". I don't care. I have a considerable amount of chest hair, a few if which are grey. Hey, I'm 57 now! My beard first came in brown, now I have about 10 gray hairs in it. That is less grey beard than my 35 year old son has 😂. My hair has thinned slightly and my hairline changed a tiny bit, but I think I'm not rushing towards baldness. I am still using intramuscular T injections and the T comes in single use 1ml glass ampules here. I prefer the kind in bottles with stoppers, but it's not available that way. My doctor speaks English and acts somewhat bored with me. She was interested in seeing a chart of my T levels over time. She said "Oh? You have that?" I'm bringing her a printout next visit.

I only have 2 nipples now

 I mentioned before that I had phantom nipples in the vicinity of where they used to live. It's been about 6 months since I've felt the phantom nipples. My nipple grafts have a little sensation in them at this point, but it's just basic, like pressure. They aren't into being erotic yet. I pass 100% of the time in person, 98% of the time on the phone. I have to make myself speak lower on the phone because people can't see my beard. All of my identification has the right name and gender on it, but I've run into issues with secondary things. My car registration..the deed for our house..our marriage certificate. The marriage certificate is an issue that we have been trying to fix for over 4 months now. We were married in a small town in Massachusetts and covid-19 is making everything take forever. My wife and I are moving to Portugal and the amount of paperwork involved makes my gender change look easy lol. I will provide future updates on being trans and moving to another country. 

Ok, I look like a guy. Now what?

I have facial hair and some muscles. I lost a lot of fat and curves. I look like a cis male mostly, but my experiences are different. Women are wary of me, even when I'm polite and helpful. I can't be playful with a stranger's kids at the checkout in a store. I mourn being considered "safe" or at least harmless. My gender change has gained me many privileges, but there are trade-offs.

Post Hysterectomy Healing

Wow, it seemed so easy. I went in, the surgery was finished in record time it seemed. 50 minutes! I teased my surgeon about hog tying me and throwing up her hands to stop the clock (farm/ranch humor). Anyway, it went really well and I felt pretty normal unless I tried to push something or lift more than 6 pounds, and I was told to listen to my body. That sounded like good advice. One of my incisions looked like it some bruising around it and seeped blood for a couple weeks. My doctors worried about it closing because it was slow to do so. Finally it closed up. However, the 5 week recover time was really, really, long for me and I was waiting to do a bunch of things. I do really physical activities like roofing, changing tires, digging post holes, etc. After the 5 weeks was up, I dove back into working the first day..and then I started bleeding. My doctor told me to wait some more. Apparently the 5 week thing was just a ballpark for healing. Some people need more time than that and I was one of those people. Take away points: Don't pile up a bunch of stuff to do immediately after healing from surgery and you can't speed up healing even if you want to really bad. Your body has its own schedule.

The pesky incision that wouldn't close.