Asim Shahmalak
He is a frequent media spokesman, and has written about the importance placed in hair over the centuries and the fact that baldness until recently was not recognised as a social or medical issue, despite the sometimes catastrophic impact it can have on confidence and mental well-being. He wrote: "Male pattern baldness (MPB), the main cause of hair loss, affects an estimated quarter of men by the age of 30 and two thirds by the age of 60. Until recently, the impact baldness might have on confidence and well-being was little understood or recognised by the medical profession at large."
Fatal insomnia
The age of onset is variable, ranging from 18 to 60 years, with an average of 50. The disease can be detected prior to onset by genetic testing. Death usually occurs between 7–36 months from onset. The presentation of the disease varies considerably from person to person, even among patients from within the same family.
The disease has four stages:
Other symptoms include profuse sweating, pinpoint pupils, the sudden entrance into menopause for women and impotence for men, neck stiffness, and elevation of blood pressure and heart rate. Constipation is common as well. As the disease progresses, the patient becomes stuck in a state of pre-sleep limbo, or hypnagogia, which is the state just before sleep in healthy individuals. During these stages, patients commonly repeatedly move their limbs as if dreaming.