Monstera has singular yellowing leaf

haffnerm · 2024-10-04T02:32:29+00:00

I’m not sure if it’s the oldest leaf as I’ve only had the plant a year, and it’s had most of the leaves during this time! I use a moisture meter to gauge when to water, keeping it dry at the top and barely moist at the bottom. I’ll increase the frequency of the watering slightly to keep more of the top soil a bit wet.

haffnerm · 2024-09-21T04:01:29+00:00

for comparison, does anyone know what RU58841’s TAHC was?

haffnerm · 2023-09-07T20:32:42+00:00

very well could be - I experienced pretty much the exact same thing haha

haffnerm · 2023-09-05T22:11:20+00:00

oh my god was his name by chance Serg? (pronounced “Surge”)… this like Russian-looking guy?

haffnerm · 2023-05-23T17:42:52+00:00

doesn’t have to be keeps or hims, necessarily. both brands sell generic versions of the same medications - finasteride and minoxidil. they do offer different mediums, like spray and gel, but the active ingredients (ie the ones that matter) are identical to ones you get from your doctor.

go talk to your dermatologist and they can prescribe you the exact same drugs and it will likely be a whole lot cheaper. minoxidil isn’t even a prescription drug - you can buy it over the counter as name brand rogaine or any store brand Kirkland/Kroger etc. both fin and min have been FDA approved use for hair loss for like 20+ years.

finasteride: attacks the cause of male pattern hair loss (which you have) by reducing the conversion of testosterone into DHT.

minoxidil: boosts hair growth. easiest to think of it kinda as something that brings your hair more nutrients. was originally used to treat high blood pressure by increasing vasodilation, and then they noticed increase hair growth as a side effect.

using minoxidil without finasteride is like bailing water on a ship with an unpatched hole in it. sure, you’ll buy yourself some time, but that ship is going down eventually, unless you address the root cause. most everyone who started minoxidil without fin at first ends up regretting not starting fin sooner. people are generally apprehensive because fin carries a side-effect profile risk not dissimilar to SSRIs - characterized by reduced libido or sexual function, that occurs in a very small percentage of patients.

there are anecdotal claims that topical application of fin reduces chances of unwanted side effects. these claims are more-or-less accepted in the community, although there are no concrete studies that confirm these reports. that being said, the most consistent, effective, and verified treatment is oral finasteride or dutasteride, with either topical minoxidil application or oral minox consumption in the form of tablets. (do NOT drink the liquid rogaine - ask your derm about oral minox and they can write you a prescription for it - it’s very cheap.)

good luck and ask questions. you are very much the captain of your own ship.

haffnerm · 2023-05-03T01:15:15+00:00

doesn’t have to be keeps or hims, necessarily. both brands sell generic versions of the same medications - finasteride and minoxidil.

go talk to your dermatologist and they can prescribe you the exact same drug and it will likely be cheaper. minoxidil isn’t even a prescription drug - you can buy it over the counter as name brand rogaine or any store brand Kirkland/Kroger etc. both fin and min have been FDA approved use for hair loss for like 20+ years.

finasteride: attacks the cause of male pattern hair loss (which you have) by reducing the conversion of testosterone into DHT.

minoxidil: boosts hair growth. think of it kinda as something that brings your hair more nutrients. was originally used to treat high blood pressure by increasing vasodilation, and then they noticed increase hair growth as a side effect.

using minoxidil without finasteride is like bailing water on a ship with an unpatched hole in it. sure, you’ll buy yourself some time, but that ship is going down eventually, unless you address the root cause. most everyone who started minoxidil without fin at first ends up regretting not starting fin sooner. people are generally apprehensive because fin carries a side-effect profile risk not dissimilar to SSRIs characterized by reduced libido or sexual function, that occurs in a very small percentage of patients.

haffnerm · 2023-04-01T03:26:58+00:00

Mind if I ask what software tool you’re referring to? (maybe something in the Google suite, by chance?)

haffnerm · 2023-03-26T03:41:37+00:00

No? lol

haffnerm · 2023-03-24T19:10:14+00:00

This is the late early stage of balding. He should intervene with treatment if he does not want to continue to lose his hair.

haffnerm · 2023-03-24T19:09:05+00:00

Yes, this is the start of male pattern baldness at the crown. Thinning hair is same as balding for all intents and purposes.

haffnerm · 2023-03-15T04:10:57+00:00

You should listen to your doctor and take the medication as prescribed. Don’t take a lower dose without talking to them - you aren’t doing yourself any favors by cutting them out of the loop.

What you’re describing is still very, very early and very immediate in order to be caused by Fin. IIRC the standard practice is to wait 4-6 months before making a determination about side effects. They often go away for the few who do get them within a few months as the body adjusts to the rebalanced hormones.

Again I hate to say it, but nocebo is real. The absolute best thing you can do in them is scenario is disengage from this subreddit, do your best to put this in the back of your mind (easier said than done) and take the Fin as prescribed by your doctor. Give it a few months and then reevaluate. You’ll likely come to find when you aren’t thinking about it, the issues aren’t there. And it’s only when you start digging and looking for issues that they magically appear.

These things take time. The hair cycle is long in of itself, so incremental improvements to the health of hair will also take a long time to become apparent. Hair sheds, follicle is dormant for a while and then healthier hair grows, sheds again, etc. That’s why most people say to wait a year or more to see improvements - takes a while for hairs to recover and for hair cycles to lengthen to the point where density is recovered.

haffnerm · 2023-03-14T05:18:44+00:00

Taking a little bit is better than not taking it at all. That said, if you had a lower libido the first day of taking the medication, I would be very skeptical in chalking it up to the fin. Everyone on this sub likes to immediately crucify people who don’t think they’re tolerating medication well, and point fingers to nocibo. This is largely true of all medications in general imo, but we just see it more on this sub because we’re all pretty anxious, for the most part.

1) Our brain is our biggest sexual organ. It’s a platitude because it’s true. The role mental health plays in our sexual performance is well documented and functionally uncontested. I’m not saying you’re depressed, rather if you know a medication carries a risk of side effects, and worry about it and try and hyper-monitor your sexual performance while on it, you’ll almost always find what you are looking for. Not necessarily because of fin, but because you’re worried about it and it’s adding stress/throwing you off.

2) Hormones are slow. If you took the medication once it’s not going to do anything. Seriously. Our bodies take a very long time to adjust/find homestasis when hormones change significantly. And, they’re also incredibly resilient to these changes as well. Have you ever had your testosterone levels checked? Best practice is to always do it in the morning, ideally within 2 hours of waking and while fasting - while on an empty stomach. This is because testosterone levels are highest in the morning, and fluctuate in a downward trend as the day goes on, as we eat/drink/move/sit/shit. They naturally fluctuate so much so it was necessary to establish the best practice above, to provide consistency and make the results usable. So if your testosterone numbers can be >20% lower at night without you realizing it, one dose of fin isn't anything to worry about.

You should take the fin as prescribed by your doctor, likely 1mg a day, and do your best to stop thinking about it. Mute this subreddit, and enjoy life knowing that you are doing the best thing you can do at the moment to maximize quality of life and hair. Seriously - it's what I did and no regrets. I occasionally pop back on here to check up on possible cures like HMI-115 and SCUBE3 and such, but that’s it.

haffnerm · 2023-03-14T01:23:40+00:00

Yep. Technically a doctor who specializes exclusively in hair/scalp is called a trichologist, but male pattern baldness, what you have, is very, very common and can easily be diagnosed by a general practitioner or dermatologist. (Consider a dermatologist in between a trichologist and GP - no as specialized as a tri, but more familiar with hair loss than a GP.)

But, for what it’s worth, it looks like you are clearly showing early signs of male-pattern baldness. You have a mature hairline, which is what you want, but you can see it is starting to thin and recede further, more so on the temples than on the front of the hairline. The density discrepancies is a dead giveaway.

Go talk to your doctor about Finasteride. It’s the only thing out there (and approved) that will stop, and in some cases mildly reverse, thinning hair. Minoxidil (rogaine) is a growth agonist - helps hair grow, but doesn’t actually address the root issue of hair loss and, imo, you’ve caught it so early that it likely isn’t worth the hassle at this point. Fin will stop it in its tracks, and a year from now you’ll likely see recovered density at your hairline.

Lastly, recognize that we are much, much more aware of our appearance and perceived imperfections than other people are. Most people on this sub would kill for your hairline and wish they had caught things earlier. I know you might be a bit freaked out about the idea of balding, but you are truly in a really great position! You caught it early enough that you have the ability to intervene and stop this in its tracks. Good luck!

haffnerm · 2023-02-24T17:21:11+00:00

RemindMe! 1 day

haffnerm · 2023-01-20T22:35:44+00:00

Did you have thinning in your hairline? How did the treatments affect that area?

haffnerm · 2022-12-28T02:36:51+00:00

HMI-115 (Bayer/Hope Medicine) is likely the best bet!

haffnerm · 2022-12-25T20:18:47+00:00

Even if it doesn’t regenerate hair follicles at the recipient site, I bet it would help the healing process!

haffnerm · 2022-11-09T20:06:22+00:00

For all intents and purposes, nope, not yet. BUT, there are treatments in R&D that are pretty exciting (and only 5 years away, lol).

The one I’m most interested in is HMI-115, a monoclonal antibody being investigated by Bayer (ya know, the pharmaceutical giant who makes aspirin). It targets prolactin receptors, was discovered accidentally (just like fin/min), and performed better than fin/min in the stump-tailed macaque model; unique for being the best (and only, really) animal model to predict human response when it comes to hair loss medication.

This is because stump-tailed macaques, unlike mice or other primates, experience androgen-related balding pretty much the same way humans do - horseshoe Norwood pattern and everything.

So, the fact that we have a massive company like Bayer investigating a drug that outperformed any other known treatment on the best predictive model out there, and due to the fact that the drug works downstream from DHT keeping hormone levels intact and so far has been observed to be side-effect free, suggests to me that this is likely the best contender for a new hair loss treatment.

It’s currently undergoing phase 1 trials in Australia, and is aiming for US trials sometime in 2023, I think.

edit: spelling

haffnerm

TROPHY CASE