Sly Bald Guys Forum
Discussions About Being Bald => Advantages and Disadvantages to being Bald => Topic started by: Jfols on June 08, 2013, 03:57:43 AM
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Hi guys I hope this is the right section, but I've read many times about the link between heart disease and mpb, and this sounds ridiculous but ill explain why. My hair loss started at 17, well that's when I noticed it, increased shedding and a receding hairline. I have been on finasteride since I turned 18, I'm 20 later this month , but no improvement if anything it's got much worse, minix has kept my hair line more or less in place at norwood 2.5 but the top has thinned ,but also the back and sides(possible other cause?) interestingly I have no balding in my family but anyway guess I was just unlucky. However in the last 6 months, I've more or less accepted, and just waiting for the right time to shave it off. At the moment i can keep my hair how I always have and it's just me that can feel how thin it has got so I'm happy to keep it for now. My girlfriend is supportive and says she doesn't care what my hair is like or if I shave it. So that's good. BUT I feel slightly helpless, just when i accept that it's going to come off In the next year or so i read that mpb is linked to a greater chance of heart disease. I feel like I can't win. The reports say the increase is greatly enhanced in younger balding men, and by how advanced they're hair loss is. So by my reckoning, I'm young, must have aggressive balding as I don't respond to med so basically I feel helpless that just when accept and embrace the Idea of shaving, it's clear that I will have a great great chance of developing heart problems in the future. What do you guys think of the link? Sorry if I've waffled on, I'm going to have a read of other people's stories in the meantime, cheers!
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Welcome, Jfols!
I also started balding at 17, and had that MPB peninsula on top by the time I was 22. By the time I was in my thirties, there was nothing on the top. I can relate to how you feel about hair loss.
What you have to do is stop worrying about what might be. I am 51 and am at a greater risk for three cancers and Alzheimer's because those run in my family. Now I guess I can add heart disease to the list of things that can kill me. But you know what? I know I also have a probability for going before my wife simply because I am male. Something is going to kill me eventually whether it is a disease or a drunk driver. I cannot waste my time worrying about things I cannot control.
Live as healthy a life as you can and take care of yourself. Enjoy your life while you are here. So far, your attitude seems to be good. Don't let a statistic like that get in your way!
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Thank you for your reply sir, if you don't mind me asking, how is your health you come across as perfectly healthy and look great in your picture, only that its easier to compare myself to someone who has been in this situation. I understand what you say about something is going to kill you eventually and again it's not that I'm scared of, I'm scared of getting it young, unread there is a 60 odd per cent chance of a man getting a heart related disease in there life, so regarDless if hair it would probably happen anyway but I'm scared of getting it in my forties etc, once into your 60's it's almost expected, maybe not expected but accepted that it happens, but I just want to enjoy adulthood, have a family and watch them grow up and enjoy that time as a healthy outgoing person, not having to worry the ticker. I feel silly saying this at 19, but hopefully when I reach te age where it is more prominent, I pray there will be huge advancements in treatments so that if it does happen there will be great treatments, maybe even cures with all this stem cell research. Thank you for your reply
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Welcome, Jfols! Glad to have you join us! I realize that a lot of statistics tend to scare us.....(FYI, I will be 41 next month and I take hypertension medication,[runs in the family on both sides]). I got struck with MPB in the late 20s, and as an African American Male, I'm at a bigger risk at some of the things you've mentioned. But I also say that we can control some of the things that we do to live longer lives....e.g. eat right, exercise, avoid drinking and smoking, etc. etc. As far as the hair loss, we have plenty of young guys here dealing with it, It's good to know you and the lady are accepting the possibility of going sly, and I bet you will look even better once you do the deed. Thanks for joining, and post a pic if/when you can!
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worry about things you can do something about. Excess worry causes illness.
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I understand how you feel, i read that article and thought "well that's just great!" then I actually laughed as here it was, yet another thing I could easily worry away my life over instead of just living.
I think it was Mark Twain who said... “I've lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.”
Everyone has said it above, be present :)
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got to agree with Bennett, get on with enjoying your life, do something with it...other than worrying about what probably wont happen....I rarely pay attention to what the latest "research" says....it often contridicts itself at some point....as for the hair...shave it and thats one less thing to worry about....welcome to the brotherhood
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I just want to enjoy adulthood, have a family and watch them grow up and enjoy that time as a healthy outgoing person, not having to worry the ticker.
At 20, I said something very similar to my boss. I really expected to be dead before I reached 50. He almost slapped me because he was 55. He now is in his eighties, and we still keep in touch. He laughs at me to this day for what I expected to happen.
To answer your question about my health: I developed glaucoma. SURPRISE! Nothing in my biological history indicated THAT would happen. No melanomas, polyps or other cancers. I also did not get married or start a family until I was well into my thirties - probably because I did not meet my soul mate until I was 31. We have been happily married for twenty years and have three kids.
Now quit worrying and go out and enjoy life!
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Thank you so much for all your replies, means a lot, I feel so glad I found this forum and feel somewhat more positive already, did anyone else loose their hair this young here? And gone on to be perfectly healthy? Cave dweller: thank you for the reply, guess it goes to prove I can worry all I want when in reality it's just as likely, if not more likely to be something other than heart disease that effects my salty in the future! Cheers lads
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did anyone else loose their hair this young here? And gone on to be perfectly healthy?
I started thinning in junior high school.
I'm about to turn 56 and, aside from some irksome gastric issues, am as healthy an a ox. My blood pressure is exemplary (the exact word my doctor uses), my cholesterol level is fine (though she'd like my "good cholesterol" level a tad higher), and I have no signs of diabetes despite being overweight (at least according to the charts).
I do get lower back pains, and a knee that tends to give me problems now and again; but as far as heart health goes, no problems.
Needless stress and worry over phantom health issues will do more to ruin your health than any actual issues. Take a chill pill and take cave dweller's advice to go out and enjoy life.
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Hi JFols.
My father died when he was 53 of a heart disease and I started loosing my hair when I was 19 - that means I'm in extreme risk here! Nah, seriously... don't think about stuff you can't control - you have so much more in life to think about. And besides, I don't believe that crap. If anything, I believe in the correlation between baldness and high testosterone levels. OH YEAH! 8)
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Like others have mentioned, you need to stop worrying about things you cannot control. Worrying not only won't solve your problem, it'll likely make it worse. If you develop anxiety over some statistic you read, the anxiety could result in some illness. In short, it's useless and isn't good for you.
As for head shaving, just go for it. Even if people don't like it at first, they'll get used to it. Most people had that experience when they first shaved; I certainly did. Now, when people look at my driver license picture from a few years back when I had hair, they all tell me that I look much better now (sly). So grab a razor, rock the sly look and enjoy life!
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If anything, I believe in the correlation between baldness and high testosterone levels. OH YEAH! 8)
Yeah I'm just going to stick with that one and forget about the rest.
Also if you worry and stress about all these things you read, that's going to be bad for your health
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Well said cave Dweller and others. We should not worry about things that we don't have any control over. All it does is cause un needed stress which we don't need. This is something that I need to keep reminding myself about.
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Thanks for all the replies guys, i do feel much better, but it always seems to be in my mind, as such ill always be grateful to hear people's stories or stories about people you may know that maybe went bald young and went on to live long healthy lives, just as a ongoing reassurance, but on the whole I feel somewhat better and look forward to becoming fully sly within a few years max, sooner if my hair thins at current rate! Cheers guys!
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Glad to hear you are feeling better, sir.
Don't be a stranger.
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Jfols, here is something that may help, Back around 1970 or so the newspapers here in the US were all in a panic over a medical study which linked coffee drinking to heart attacks. Publishing medical studies in the news was a very recent practice back then, so people were much more naive about them than they are now. Anyway, everyone was screaming about how dangerous coffee was and how everyone should quit drinking it or they would have a heart attack Real Soon Now. Then a few years later a study came out that said coffee not only did not hurt your heart, but was actually good for you. Back and forth the studies went, until they finally decided that coffee was pretty much harmless for most people, save those with special medical conditions. But what about that first study? Well, it turns out that in 1970 most people who drank coffee also smoked cigarettes, and it was the tobacco that was putting them in an early grave, not the coffee. Once they accounted for the cigarette smoking, the data showed that coffee drinking was harmless.
The point I am trying to make is that you cannot rely on one study. There may be other, unknown factors at play, and having MPB may not actually have any adverse health effects. Hope this helps to put your mind at ease.
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Here is something that definitely will not help but it is the truth. I had an argument (not a loud one, more a difference of opinion) with a friend of my wife who is a strict vegetarian, has never smoked, drinks sparingly, and on and on. I, on the other hand, eat red meat (not excessively), smoke cigarettes (about 7 a day and no intentions of quitting), and drink on occasion although in my younger years I could have been adequately described as an accomplished alcoholic. She just had to inform me of the risks that my lifestyle presents to my longevity. So as not to be thought speechless I had to retort that the one thing that she and I have in common, aside from our friends and spouses, is the fact that someday we'll both be dead. That piece of news actually seemed to startle her. She had not considered that.
The point is that no matter what we do or don't do we're all gonna die someday. Like I've said before life is a crapshoot. One day you walk out the door and "Boom Boom Out Go The Lights". You never come back. Same for everyone you know and love. Nobody gets out of here alive.
So rather than worry about the inevitable just accept it and go on with life. There ain't that much of it, life I mean, relative to the rest of the world. Sometimes I think these studies are put out there, like the baldness relating to heart disease crap, just to keep us rocked back on our heels. We're so busy worrying about how the color of beer we drink relates to bladder cancer that we can't sit down and enjoy a nice cold beer with a friend. And we wonder why so many people are on anti-depressants. Dude, my best advise is to ditch those hair drugs you're on, shave your head or not (up to you) and relax. Find a lifestyle that allows you more time to play than it does to work and do the $h!t that makes you smile. I honestly think that you're too young to be worrying about a Norwood 2.5 predicting your tragic and untimely death.
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Good stuff Buddha so true
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+1 at what buddha said O0
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Thanks boys.
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I just want to enjoy adulthood, have a family and watch them grow up and enjoy that time as a healthy outgoing person, not having to worry the ticker.
At 20, I said something very similar to my boss. I really expected to be dead before I reached 50. He almost slapped me because he was 55. He now is in his eighties, and we still keep in touch. He laughs at me to this day for what I expected to happen.
To answer your question about my health: I developed glaucoma. SURPRISE! Nothing in my biological history indicated THAT would happen. No melanomas, polyps or other cancers. I also did not get married or start a family until I was well into my thirties - probably because I did not meet my soul mate until I was 31. We have been happily married for twenty years and have three kids.
Hi cave, was it because of your hair loss that made you say that to your boss or something else? Thanks
Now quit worrying and go out and enjoy life!
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Hey guys, small update sort of thing, whilst doing some research for something completely different I actually found http://www.hairlosssucks.com/download/hds1.pdf which to me suggests a smaller link than what I was worried about, although in didn't read thoroughly, just incase I have misunderstood and is infact something that will get me worrying again haha
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Jfols...
I am glad your anxiety is lessening, but why are you still allowing yourself to worry?
Take a statistic like that as a motivator to take care of yourself, avoid habits, etc. that can contribute to heart disease, and get a regular check up with your doctor. Then don't dwell on it any longer.
Our lives really are complicated enough as it is. Worry about the things you CAN control.
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Summer is the perfect time to try out head shaving. There's no shame in trying it out and not liking it. First time I shaved I only kept it up for a week because I used improper technique and inadequate tools. I found this site and geared up gathered proper tools for the task then gave it another go and haven't looked back since.
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The key element to success in life is confidence, not hair on your head. It took me a long time to learn that and I made the mistake of hair transplants. Left me with still thin hair on top and very thin hair on the sides/back area plus really bad scarring there. This year I had my head micro tattooed as in my profile pic. It solved the problem my own lack of confidence created in the first place with the transplants and allows me to shave my head and be a confident bald guy which I really love. Shave and change your life.
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Jfols, biology is NOT [necessarily] destiny. All you know is that you MIGHT have a higher chance of heart disease. Knowledge is power and forewarned is fore-armed. Eat healthy, exercise, get regular checks at your doc's, take meds if you need to, and worry less. Once you do all you can, there is nothing else to do. If your concerns are getting in the way of you enjoying life, you may want to get some counseling. There is no shame in getting the help you need. Worry never added a day to anyone's life or a hair on anyone's head...quite the opposite, in fact. ;)