TOO MUCH HAIR ON BODY, NOT ENOUGH ON HEAD

Hello all.  I've been suffering with the side effects of PCOS since my teens but not diagnosed until I was 23, almost 20 years ago.  I'm so sick and tired of the excess hair on my body and face, and the reduction of hair on my head.  During each of my 3 pregnancies my hair all grew back and quick thick.  Now that I've been without a pregnancy and a period for 13 years my hair is getting much thinner on top.  I'm 4 months post op from Lap Band surgery, have lost 40 lbs and all my lab work was good except my male hormones are still high.  I just read the article on Spearmint Leaves,  I'm willing to give it a try.  I also came across this treatment using Saw Palmetto,  Has anyone tried Saw Palmetto?  Have you heard of anyone else trying it?  I spent over $1200 on laser hair removal with my dermatologist for my face with absolutely no results whatsoever,  I'm willing to try anything at this point.  My next group of lab work is scheduled for May,  I'm going to try either the Spearmint Leaves or the Saw Palmetto and see if it lowers the male hormone levels at this point, I'm debating on which method to try.  Here is the Saw Palmetto article. http://www.ovarian-cysts-pcos.com/saw-palmetto.html If anyone has any suggestions,  I'm all ears.  Thanks,  Lisa

You had no results with laser hair removal?  I wonder why... It has been a good success for me.  I know I say it all the time, and a lot of people say it never helped them, but spironolactone did wonders for me.  It takes at least 6-8 months to notice change, but once it gets to working where you can see it, it is great.  I also use Vaniqua again on my facial hair.  It kind of burns or stings when you put it on but it helps slow down the hair growth  on your face.  Spironolactone helps block the male hormone.  When I went off of it, out of fear of dehydration, it made all my hormones go wild again which caused a new series/outbreak of facial hair. I am not sure about the hair loss... I have recently experienced hair loss because of low protein levels which I am working on getting built up,.... it is rather upsetting.  My hair is thin and I hate it so much.  I wish you luck on finding something... do you think the shampoo that helps hair grow would work?

I used to have a salon. Nioxin works pretty well. I haven't had any major hair loss, but my hair is fine and I use it periodically (everyday for a few months) to help stimulate my hair growth. It doesn't REALLY stimulate it like you might think. What happens is your folicales become clogged and it prevents some hairs from growing. The nioxin is made to clean those 'pores' as well as encourage hair growth by stimulating blood flow to the skin... that's how I remember them saying it worked anyway! Try the shampoo and scalp therapy first... I don't know much about all the elixirs they have... but if the shampoo and scalp therapy don't work as well as you'd like you can always give the whole system a try. It really does work for me. Also, brush your scalp with a soft brush every night; you want to stimulate those folicles. I have just dealt with the protein issue too... I started making my own smoothies a blender full at a time. I find when I make them and store them in the fridge for a day or two, I'm much more likely to drink it more often and it's FAR easier for me to drink because all the air/foam from the blending goes away... they're more like the pre-made cans. I use one box of pure unsweetened organic soy milk, or soy slender for the flavored kinds (no sugar) with 8 scoops of protein powder. The powder I get is just plain old whey protein isolate... nothing fancy and only about $10 for a 2 (or 2.5?) pound jug. I blend it up and get a minimum of 42g of protein for just one cup. It's really working well for me. I may change to nonfat milk because my doctor wants me to up my tryptophan intake.... but that's a whole other show!

I've never heard of laser not working at all! I've been dying to have it done because I've seen it work so well for my friends. One friend in particular had resorted to full on shaving and her problem is now virtually gone. What did the doctor say about it not working for you? Do you have coarse clear/light hair? Did you only try that one doctor? I'm really interested because I've never heard of it and I want to know what may happen in my own laser treatment... so I'd really appreciate any details you could share with me!! The pricing I've been looking at is either PER treatment or a flat rate for specific parts of your body. The place many of my friends have gone (in N.CA) charge $250 for your chin, neck, lip, and lower cheeks. That price includes ALL follow ups until you die. One friend has had everything but her head hair and the parts of her eyebrows she wants, laser treated. It was 3K, but that's her WHOLE body for the rest of her life. She only has to go back about once every 6mos now.... maybe something priced with a guarantee like that would work for you?

I started getting electrolysis on my breasts right out of college.  Then I had to start on my tummy.  Then to my eyebrows.  Then to my 'sideburns'/ upper lip/ chin/ widow's peak.  I would have started doing my bikini area (as early as age 14) if I could have.  Once I got older, there was too much bikini hair to do electrolysis on.  So I waxed or shaved all through college. I also used Vaniqua for my upper lip but it made me breakout.  And I did Nair, Nads, bleaching, etc..... I get that 5 o'clock shadow on my legs every day, and have for years.  I hate shaving.  Five years ago I got very interested in laser hair removal.  But I didn't do it till I had the money a couple of years later. I would have absolutely, without a doubt, gone for the 'guarantee' which cost a little more but was good for life, but I was moving across country a couple of months later and they were not available where I was going.  So...I paid about $600 a session, for 3 sessions.  This was a deal they were running in the summer and each session I would get my bikini (brazilian!) area, full legs and underarms done.  I loved it, but I knew I would need at least 5 sessions to get all the hair.  (hair grows in cycles and let's say 30% of your 'possible' visible hair is showing up today - - you get laser treatment - - two weeks or so later maybe another 20% of your hair cycles in that was never touched by the laser.  It has to be zapped.)  I think the basic rule of thumb I was told is that you can expect a 20% reduction of hair with each session, thus needing 5 sessions. Now for people like me, hairy, I knew it would take more sessions than that.  Some people just do.  (P.S. I went to two places and opted for the more expensive one because they had the better/stronger laser at that time. Look into it!)  I moved across country, like I said, after the 3 sessions.  I did not pick it up again in the new state because I was not getting the results I wanted. My doctor wanted to send me to an endocrinologist and I realized that until I got the underlying cause under control I may be throwing money out the window. After many tests I did not get to the bottom of my problem.  I could be PCOS or premature peri-menopausal, but not Cushing's.  But nothing definitive. Anyway...once I lose weight from my surgery I'll re-evaluate my hair situation and move forward to finish the laser treatments.  I'm very committed!  There is a definite difference from the 3 sessions, but it's not enough to allow me to not shave, so it's really pointless until I have fully completed the treatments. You may ask why I didn't laser my face.  Well...the laser can really only pick up darker hair (pigmented).  I got plenty 'o that everywhere but my face.  The hair on my face is lighter, with some dark.  The cost of adding my face to the laser treatments for those small areas were not worth it.  Same with my boobs and tummy.  I have a few stray hairs in those areas (after 15 years of electrolysis -off and on) so I just went back to electrolysis (for those small areas).  Another reason why I put a hold on the treatments (including electrolysis) is that my widow's peak grew back 6 months after I had it done! This was around when I was referred to an endo so I realized that something kooky was up with my body and I didn't need to waste more money till it was fixed.  The growing back hair situation had NEVER happened until my body got weird about 3 years ago.  So...maybe in a few months I'll get my labs done and there will be a change (post weight loss) and I can continue. Sorry for the novel... Sue