The scalp inflammation/itchy/burning/tingling thread

[TooMuchHairWontKillYou]

Hey all.

Scalp burning/itching is still 24/7 and getting worse. I can no longer hide the "hotspot" above my right temple that has been burnt away. I had my haircut recently and it looked okay, but now that it's grown out a bit it's much more visible, the long hairs are just wispy and thin. Which sucks because I hate having short hair and love longer hair that I can style.

I tried Sulfasalazine and within 4 days on a low-dose I got aggressive gyno, nipples were really painful/aching. I literally couldn't believe it was happening, like how much more unlucky can I get!? It's not even a listed side effect so I have no idea what is going on with my body. Just another extremely rare reaction that I'll have to deal with now. Been 2 weeks and it continues to progress.

I've been prescribed Doxepin, another tricyclic anti-depressant which reduces burning pain/itching. I pray to god this works but it also has gyno as a side effect, and since i'm already susceptible, I can assume it will make my gyno worse. I have no choice but to try it though, this scalp pain is basically ruining my life, I find it hard to sleep at night because of it and have been missing work.

I'm also in the Setipiprant group buy but that will take a few months to arrive. I've also bought some Daivobet (topical anti-inflammatory with calcipotriol, 10x stronger than the Betacap I was using) which I hope at least can give me temporary relief. Also bought some Adenogen which I'll try out but not expecting much.

Use Laticort lossion. Its the best drug I have ever used. It kills burning in seconds

[Dench57]

Thanks for the responses guys.

Hi Dench,i feel your pain. I did have it bad a couple of years ago and eventually got a solution from a great Dermatologist in the form of Cocois lotion which you leave on over night. Lifted heavy plagues etc right off the scalp - amazing stuff and got rid. highly recommend - have you tried. Read the reviews on amazon

Been fine for a while until of late when been using BIM, OC and CB. Itch got fairly intense until the point that a hot shower on my head was not far equaling a big O/ Sex. serious. Dandruff also

I believe the current episode is either the 95% ethanol i was putting on my head or OC... (people had spoke about OC bringing on itch, and i also found it my entire skin was really really itch.. this only occurred after starting OC. V tight correlation)

I've got some Seti and TM coming from Kane (was planning to drop OC and use these) but i think i'm going to drop all Seti/TM and OC for a bit as think they might well be the culprit.. it cant be a co-incidence that someone on the GB from *** spoke about Seti drying and removing all natural oil from his hair to the point that he hardly has to wash it. I believe the CRTH2 inhibitors could be responsible for drying the scalp out and causing itch.. .esp when coupled with ethanol

Are you putting an ethanol products on your scalp (apologies if stated earlier) or anything else?

No I haven't been putting anything in my hair in weeks. I did notice I got bouts of itching all over my body when using Ramatroban though (CRTH2 antagonist). It sounds like you may have a sensitive/dry/flaky scalp if ethanol is irritating it. Have you had psoriasis? I checked Amazon for Cocois lotion and it seems to be indicated for psoriasis and dry/flakey skin - none of which I have, in fact my scalp is oily rather than dry. All the reviews are people with psoriasis/dry/scaley scalp too unfortunately so I'm not sure what will work for me.

IDK if we've been over this, probably have a few times...haha... BUT, I had the same thing going on.. NIZORAL 2% SCRUB THAT SHIT IN HARD AND LEAVE FOR LIKE 7 MINUTES, follow with a gentler shampoo and rinse with freezing cold water and apply minox while hair is still damp. That's the only thing that has worked for me. I also apply a cold pack nightly and give it some pressure.

Tried this James, helps for about 10 minutes and then it's back. Do you think minox helps with the burning/itch sensation? I regularly have to run my head under a freezing cold shower every evening, and have taken to wearing a shower cap with a pack of frozen peas in it when at home. So retarded.

Use Laticort lossion. Its the best drug I have ever used. It kills burning in seconds

Laticort looks like quite a weak corticosteroid (hydrocortisone), and I've tried a variation of that before to no effect. I'll give it a try if I can buy it though, thanks.

[mrfreeman]

Re Tingling

I've had this tingling come on lately and it's really annoying (but not much hair loss). I've also had neck ache and worried it was something to do with cervical problems. There is also something called the occipital nerve at the back of the head, if that is irritated or trapped it can cause the tingling on back/top of head. There are exercises which can help with that. Have any of you considered that as a possible cause (or other spine problems)?

But it comes and goes for me and I'm fine when lying down. I think I will try Nizoral as it could be a scalp infection.

As far as the hairloss is concerned, has anyone tried the paleo type diet to see if that helps? If you cut out grains, gluten, PUFA's etc. (or at least cut down on them), it's possible your immune system might calm down a bit (if those things affect you). I think it helped me as I still have most of my hair at 40+ (hair stopped falling out a few years ago!). I did use Regaine for awhile but not lately. But I do now have some carbs like oats, and dairy because paleo is too restrictive. Anyway just an idea. Also do any foods boost DHT? Maybe that makes it worse aswell.

I hope my tingling isn't a prelude to hairloss, I suppose it will happen eventually but I would like to postpone as long as possible! I will try the Nizoral and see what happens.

[burtandernie]

Some people claim finasteride helped the itch. I am curious how many people tried fin and the itch went away completely or if it went away at the hairline, temples or crown. Its odd why it would it worse in some people. The issue is receptors are important yet little is known about them and testosterone could be important too. Who knows though really

[jamesst11]

I've been on fin for 7 months now and it has only made my hair much thinner. The sensations I get feel like ants crawling under my scalp, very slowly and burning. I only get these feelings on ONE side of my head and this is where it has thinned the most. There is definitely a correlation between these sensations and hair loss.

[Dench57]

Some people claim finasteride helped the itch. I am curious how many people tried fin and the itch went away completely or if it went away at the hairline, temples or crown. Its odd why it would it worse in some people. The issue is receptors are important yet little is known about them and testosterone could be important too. Who knows though really

Most people will find their itch reduced by using Finasteride. For a small minority of us, it makes the itch worse and exacerbates hairloss. I have no idea why.

[Dench57]

I've been on fin for 7 months now and it has only made my hair much thinner. The sensations I get feel like ants crawling under my scalp, very slowly and burning. I only get these feelings on ONE side of my head and this is where it has thinned the most. There is definitely a correlation between these sensations and hair loss.

That sounds exactly what happened to me on Fin, and for a long time it was just on one side of my head too. So weird.

[jamesst11]

That sounds exactly what happened to me on Fin, and for a long time it was just on one side of my head too. So weird.

Dench,
how long were you on it?
Did you notice any regrowth or cessation of hair loss at ANY point
Are you still on it

[Dench57]

Dench,
how long were you on it?
Did you notice any regrowth or cessation of hair loss at ANY point
Are you still on it

I was on it for 3 months between Nov '14- Feb '15. It just burnt my hair away - and the burning continues to this day.

[jamesst11]

yeah man, pretty much the same thing here:

Months 1-5: rapid hair loss accompanied by tingling and itching, etc...
Month 6 and 7: My hair loss is drastically reduced and the sensations are going away and almost non existent. I am also noticing a ton of "new" hairs throughout my scalp. I put "new" in parenthesis, because I am just not sure. We will see!

Do you ever wonder if you should have stuck with it? Perhaps the body just needed time to adjust? It is a pretty extreme physiological change...

[Dench57]

Hey James. Glad to hear it's finally working for you and well done for sticking it out - these drugs can really take you on a wild ride before you come out the other end (if at all). I've spoken to several people recently who had similar experiences with Fin/Dut - i.e. burning/itch/pain for the first few months with accelerated loss and then it levelled out. However I've spoken to one other user who had the same reaction as me, came off Fin after 3 weeks of burning/itching, and he's still dealing with it 2 years later. He says he's retried Fin and it just made it worse again. Its such a messed up drug. Maybe I should've just rode it out - it's impossible to know if it would've stopped but I guess it couldn't have been much worse than what I have now i.e. permanent burning/itching.

I am considering trying Fin or Dut again as an absolute last resort, if Setipiprant and CB-03-01 aren't enough to curb this inflammation. I'm also dealing with mild gyno...which I think I got from anti-inflammatories (ridiculous I know but not sure what else could've caused it). So that would probably be exacerbated if I tried Fin/Dut. It's a truly ****ed up situation.

[Virtual]

Hi, I've read about this problem for weeks and intensely.

I put a post in another forum i want to paste here:

"Hello

The first, sorry for my English is not very good.


I started propecia a year ago, the first months my libido was so so so high, red skin oily skin and a lot of itching / tingling in the middle and frontal scalp.Now that is down a little only,
buti still have the highest libido before i start and the tingling / swelling continue. So, my front and middle scalp is more thin,it has been miniaturized.

I have hypothyroidism for many years, controlled with levothyroxine 10 years ago, I did not have much alopecia until, The dosctor up a little more the synthroid dose two years ago,and started itching and tingling of the scalp, and i had much thinning ang i started on diffuse alopecia, My testosterone levels on the blodd test was so high and my libido went up much too ..

My baseline analysis before Propecia DHT is very high, above the range and medium / low testosterone.

I'm having Reflex hyperandrogenicity on propecia and when i up the levothyroxine dose, i know is the testosterone.

I'm wondering whether to fight this would not be a good idea take oral spiro to lower testosterone levels without sides and continue protecting some hairs.

There are days that I have lower libido, and no tingling, so that it is testosterone, the same happens when being in propecia low levothyroxine, my testosterone and low inflammation disappears.


I am now on RU, but the inflammation not disspear, my hormonal environment remains bad for my hair.

I have always said that we must live well to the treatments, and this is not going well

What would be the best solution for this?

-propecia + oral spiro
-no propecia and only ru.
-propecia + oral spiro + ru
-topical finasteride of Hasson & Wong + ru + minox

I think is necesary lower 5aR2, but I do not know how.
Thanks"


Boys, Its the testosterone and highly inflammatory immune system, think that we are all here diffuse alopecia.

If we have experienced more libido, more oily skin and inflammation .. why we not normalize those reducing testosterone to normal levels?



What methods are there for that?

[Dench57]

Has anyone found diet change helps their itch/inflammation? I hear a lot of reports all over "MPB itch" threads of people cutting down on carbs/sugar/dairy and its helped them immensely. I'm gonna give it a try anyway, won't be easy since I basically live on carbs but will try and cut them down drastically for a week or so.

[unbalding]

I really think it's DHT attacking the follicles because I only get it during/after sex or masturbation.

[mic28]

Hey Ziggy,

Are you still getting a lot of loss? I quit propecia a couple of months ago. I am also hearing a lot about how diet is affecting hair loss. I tried to cut down beer, carbs, sugar and wheat a few weeks back and felt better. I've got lazy since but might try it again