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Re: Thanks for info on BCPs, now what about all the hair?From: jodi (anonymous@obgyn.net)Tue, 27 Nov 2001 14:02:26 -0600 (CST)
Well... it depends on which you care about more - the hair or having a family. There are medications that help with the excess body hair - spironalactone (aldactone) is most widely used in the US. These work by blocking the effects that androgens have on the skin, and thus lessen hair/acne problems. the drawback to these meds is, they are thought to interfere with the development fetuses, male fetuses in particular, because a certain level of androgen is needed for human development. So most people consider them a no-no when you are trying to conceive. (Studies have shown birth defects in animals, no human studies have been performed... ethics and all... I can't help but note the irony that too much androgen is making life hell for us, but too little could make life hell for our children!) Many studies claim that metformin alone - by reducing insulin and thus lowering testosterone levels - will improve hirsuitism in women. Not all women notice a significant change in body hair on met alone, though... which is why many still take spiro. One really annoying thing about the hair issue is that once a hair follicle is stimulated by androgens to go from being just a soft unnoticable hair to a pigmented, coarse icky hair... it takes very little androgen to keep that hair growing that way. so even if you lower your testosterone levels, the hair keeps growing. fun! so i have read that aldactone does nothing "for the hair that's already there." what I don't quite get it... does that mean, the actual hair you can currently see/feel? or the hair that could potentially grow out of that follicle? does that make sense? I have read it can keep new hairs from coming but won't affect hair that's there. but i'm not sure how to interpret it. lots of women do report finer regrowth... one other option is laser or electrolysis. jerry sinefeld described electrolysis as "giving your hair the chair..." tee hee :-) in my opinion, this option should be reserved until you have tried medical methods and a. seen that they were not enough and b. gotten the hormones under control somewhat. otherwise... well, i think electrolysis when you're hormonally a mess is kind of like playing that bop-the-weasel-with-a-mallet game they used to have in arcades... think about it. :-) so... if you want to have a family, anti-androgen meds are out temporarily. metformin might help with the hair, though, and restore fertility. laser or electrolysis is another option, but i wouldn't give it a go without using medical methods as well, be they metformin alone or met plus aldactone... - jodi
At Mon, 26 Nov 2001, Tiffany wrote:
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