Need advice - AGA?

I’m losing my mind over this.

My hair loss journey started when I quit birth control in May '23 and it caused me to to through a TE shed. I started shedding in August of '23. My dermatologist recommended I start minoxidil in November '23 so I did (I didn't know it wasn't recommended for TE). My shedding was normal by the end of January. This TE episode resulted in me losing 50% of my hair.

Fast forward I started tapering down from minoxidil as recommended, completely stopping by late April/early May. Well, I started shedding again in June '24 and I'm still shedding. I lost all my regrowth and then some. Now I have 15-20% of my original hair but this time it's different. My part looks bad. I have no regrowth and I'm shedding really short, thin hairs. I also noticed that my “regrowth" that falls out is much thinner than my old hair.

During my first episode, my shed displayed a clear bell shape curve, with me losing 1000 hairs on my worst day. Now, I just shed the same amount almost every day- 100 hairs. Shower days I lose 300-400.

I believe I have AGA. I'm looking at getting a topper soon. My wedding is this September. My question is, when should I start taking minoxidil again (for AGA) or is there a chance this is still a TE episode? My grandfather died September '24 and I had another potential trigger November '24.

I'm also wondering if it was the minoxidil that stabilized my shedding to begin with...