LessWrong (30+ Karma)

“Curing PMS with Hair Loss Pills” by David Lorell

16 min • 2 juli 2025

Over the last two years or so, my girlfriend identified her cycle as having a unusually strong and very predictable effect on her mood/affect. We tried a bunch of interventions (food, sleep, socializing, supplements, reading the sequences, …) and while some seemed to help a bit, none worked reliably. Then, suddenly, something kind of crazy actually worked: Hair loss pills.

The Menstrual Cycle

Quick review: The womenfolk among us go through a cycle of varying hormone levels over the course of about a month. The first two weeks are called the “Follicular Phase”, and the last two weeks are called the “Luteal Phase.” The first week (usually less) is the “period” (“menstrual phase”, “menses”) where the body sloughs off the endometrial lining in the uterus, no longer of use to the unimpregnated womb, and ejects it in an irregular fountain of blood and gore. After that is a [...]

---

Outline:

(00:35) The Menstrual Cycle

(02:28) The Bad Guy: Progesterone Allopregnanolone

(05:19) Hair Loss Pills

(07:17) Finasteride

(09:23) Dutasteride

(10:55) Results So Far

(12:39) Come ON ALREADY

(13:44) iM nOt A dOcToR

The original text contained 7 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

---

First published:
July 2nd, 2025

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/mkGxXEmcAGowmMjHC/curing-pms-with-hair-loss-pills

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---

Images from the article:

Chemical reaction showing testosterone conversion to dihydrotestosterone using 5α-reductase enzyme.
Chemical reaction pathway showing progesterone metabolism to allopregnanolone and pregnanolone.
Graph showing hormone levels during luteal phase (days 15-28) of menstrual cycle.
Graph showing DHT reduction and hair count changes with finasteride dosages.

This scientific graph compares data from three studies (shown in red, blue, and yellow lines) tracking how different daily doses of finasteride affect DHT levels and hair count over varying time periods. The x-axis shows daily dosage in milligrams (0-1mg), while the y-axis shows percentage changes in DHT levels and hair count (-20% to 100%).
Graph showing hormone level changes during 28-day menstrual cycle and ovulation phases.
Chemical reaction pathway showing progesterone metabolism to allopregnanolone and pregnanolone via DHP intermediates.

Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Senaste avsnitt

Podcastbild

00:00 -00:00
00:00 -00:00