I plucked up courage to go to the GP who gave me some Betnovate lotion and Nizoral shampoo to try before resorting to the Minoxidil. Neither seemed to do much good. At the same time he took some blood tests to check all sorts of things just in case, because thyroid problems etc can cause hair loss. It turned out I had low levels of vitamin B12 (like my father), but not low enough for the NHS to prescribe any injections or supplements as they would've done in other countries! I did some research and found that Methylcobalamin is a good source of B12 (you can get it in Holland and Barratt). I started to take this along with Perfectil Plus with Extra Hair Support to see if it would help. Four months on now and my hair is definitely thickening up with new hairs visibly sprouting, also all the palpitations and dizziness I was experiencing (and blamed HRT) has vanished! If I were you before trying the Minoxidil I would go and have some blood tests taken at the GP surgery, ask for the printed results and then look up the levels on the web.