My Doctor thinks i have Hair loss dysmorphic disorder help!

[baldasabadger10]

I went to my GP yesterday to get a new prescription for Finasteride. My GP was off sick and replaced by a locum who point blank refused to give me Finasteride. He insisted i had a form BDD and that i should get mental health treatment first. I told him he was wrong and left very annoyed.

I was then awake most of the night thinking about what he said. Hair loss dysmorphic disorder is a subset of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), characterized by a preoccupation of a perceived flaw in the appearance of one €™s hair. Has anyone else on here had this or got this?

 

[ziggs11]

Sounds like an absolute douche. According to sources online, BDD is a serious illness, marked by obsessions that often leads to self harm.

Asking for a propecia prescription is not BDD. Trying to perform your own HT at home or thinking about committing suicide over your male pattern baldness is BDD. Obviously there is a huge difference.

Sources say 1-2% of the world's population meets the diagnostic standards for BDD. The fact that this doctor would simply throw out the idea you have BDD without any indications or knowledge of your history seems wholly inappropriate.

He sounds like a quack. Contact your GP again and also, if it matters enough to you, make a complaint against the doctor.

 

[topccat29]

I wouldn €™t worry about it too much just wait for your regular doctor or find another one. This guy is just doing his job as it sounds like socialized medicine which means spend as little as possible being the main goal and not have you come back too often.

For profit medicine as we currently have it in the States is just the opposite. They will often overtreat where treatment is not even necessary as long as they can keep having you come back as often as possible to generate that recurring income. They would have no problem prescribing Finasteride here as long as they are getting paid. I don €™t have that problem as I don €™t go to doctors but most that I know are on a dozen different medications all very unnecessary but then it €™s just about making money.

Anything can be described as a disorder. The guy next door to me feeds pigeons all day, the lady below him weighs 400 lbs, everyone seems to be texting all day, I like to eat healthy and go to the gym. We all have disorders according the other person I wouldn €™t give it a second thought. And what about these guys that post to forums €¦ €¦ €¦ €¦ €¦.lol €¦ €¦ €¦ €¦ €¦ €¦..what I have learned over the years is sometimes people will often make you feel strange for something you might do so that they can feel better about themselves or maybe other reasons.

 

[Sparky]

You don't have BDD, just go back in when your normal Dr returns. He's a bit of an arse to say that you have BDD because you want to keep your hair, who wants to lose their hair ffs? He doesn't even know you!

 

[baldasabadger10]

I think you are all correct in your comments and i intend to go back to my regular GP on Monday and see what he has to say about it.

I don't think i am anymore obsessive than the next guy regarding my hair, i just don't like loosing it and my normal GP has been fine about my Finasteride prescriptions so far.


I still don't care for the way the other doctor spoke to me and i might even make a complaint at the surgery.

 

[bullitnut]

Sparky wrote:

You don't have BDD, just go back in when your normal Dr returns. He's a bit of an arse to say that you have BDD because you want to keep your hair, who wants to lose their hair ffs? He doesn't even know you!

I'm with Sparky here how can he make that call if he's not your normal doctor.

 

[Dr Arvind]

baldasabadger10 wrote:

I think you are all correct in your comments and i intend to go back to my regular GP on Monday and see what he has to say about it.

I don't think i am anymore obsessive than the next guy regarding my hair, i just don't like loosing it and my normal GP has been fine about my Finasteride prescriptions so far.


I still don't care for the way the other doctor spoke to me and i might even make a complaint at the surgery.

As a doctor, it would take a lot of time before I would brand anyone OCD or BDD (for whatever - nails, weight, hair, skin color, acne etc).
Maybe, he like many others who have not lost hair, considers hairloss treatments to be a luxury. Was the doctor bald/balding?

The minimum you should do is to give him link to the forums so he knows that people worrying about hairloss are not some BDD patients.

Let me know if I can be of any help talking to this doctor,
Dr. A

 

[bullitnut]

What did the Gp say dude?

 

[baldasabadger10]

bullitnut wrote:

What did the Gp say dude?

Hello bullitnuts,


My regular doctor was very understanding when i returned on Monday and said he didn't have a problem giving me a prescription for Finasteride. When i mentioned what the other doctor had said he just apologised and told me to make sure i came to see him in future. This made me angry because i went to see him in the first place but he was off sick, how i managed to bite my tongue i don't know but at least i left with my prescription.

Dr Arvind thankyou for offering to talk with my doctor, as for your question the locum had no hairloss at all.

 

[Dr Arvind]

baldasabadger10 wrote:

bullitnut wrote:

What did the Gp say dude?

Dr Arvind thankyou for offering to talk with my doctor, as for your question the locum had no hairloss at all.

You are most welcome.
One of the reason I felt aggrieved on your topic was because in a recent conference of HT surgeons, they actually had a lecture and poster stating that balding patients having undergone HTs had BDD, when I would say they had just been given below par HT.

In my experience, it is possible to deliver quality medications/hair transplants that can transform the life of a person for better. That improves the quality of life and brings joy and happiness. That makes a life's work worth it for the doctor.

Blaming a patient is a definite no.

Regards,
Dr. A

 

[Bigmac]

Glad you got sorted by your regular doctor, when I went to my doctor/GP in my twenties with concerns about Hairloss he basically showed me the door as he did not understand what I was going through.

 

[bullitnut]

Bigmac wrote:

Glad you got sorted by your regular doctor, when I went to my doctor/GP in my twenties with concerns about Hairloss he basically showed me the door as he did not understand what I was going through.

Glad its all sorted out now. I remember when i was worried about my loss in my twenties BM, i told my mum in floods of tears that i was going bald and she just got my dad who is also bald to have a quiet word with me....he basically told me to man up and stop worrying about it as there was nothing that could be done. I hated him at the time for this and i wish i had just gone to my GP instead of getting a crap UK HT.

I don't hate my dad now though because i know he had zero knowledge of what could actually be done and was just trying to help in his weird own way.

 

[Bigmac]

Thats the thing a lot of GPs still no nothing about hairloss and the effects it has on people.

 

[bullitnut]

I know this is slightly different but i just read that Howie Mandell the guy from Americas got talent and deal or no deal in the US has a disorder called Mysophobia which basically is a fear of germs. He says that his clean shaven head has nothing to do with hairloss but is due to his disorder and he feels cleaner with a shaven head*nl. I always thought he was extremely bald.

 

[Sparky]

yeah, he is quite bald anyway though, and does have a silly little beard.

 

[topccat29]

Anyone that is familiar with the DSM and currently the DSM-5 and understands how that whole system works would know that most of it is just made up. They are made up disorders that require treatment by those making them up. All it takes is a little research and reading.
Maybe the doctor is the one with the disorder I'm sure I could find one in the the DSM-5 that would be fitting. Tell him he should seek treatment and I will send him my bill.