My hair is falling out, by the handful, and it's obvious

[Clocksandcandles]

What can I do? Anything I can take? Vitamins? The wine clearly isn't helping. ..

I am 38, it is prematurely grey, and I am worried!

Thanks

[DonkeyOaty]

You ought to get thyroid function tested

[RonaldosAbs]

Go to the doctor.

[CadiM]

Yup, thyroid needs testing. And iron. Get thee to your GP!

[allowme]

First of all I agree you should get a thyroid function test.

My hair has been thin for years I have started taking Perfectil Plus Hair and to my utter amazement it is working! I have new (white) hair growing on my fringe line and I can see lots of short hair sticking up all over.
I also have an underactive thyroid.

[Clocksandcandles]

Doc said my thyroid level was ok? Think he said 3.75?

I shall return, and take perfectil. Getting married in six weeks and I may need to wear a hat...

[madhouseprice12]

is it the wedding stress?

I lost hair due to illness and took biotin. I don't know what was the recovery and what was the biotin but it did grow back.

[Chunkamatic]

Magnesium deficiency can cause hair loss, Epsom Salt baths are a good (and cheap) way of replenishing levels.

[Babytalkobsession]

Have you had a baby recently? Around 4 months after giving birth my hair started falling out (it's incredibly fine anyway, but was enough to block our drains!) I got really down about it but eventually it started coming back.

If not, I'd get it checked as it could be a sign of some deficiency

[Clocksandcandles]

I don't feel particularly stressed, but it's possible. ..

Have started on a b vitamin complex and magnesium.

Watch this space (or the amount of hair in my plug hole and hairbrush ).

Thanks

[burnishedsilver]

My gp told me to take silica for hair loss. It worked. The hairloss stopped and the hair started growing back. It's in perfectil hair and nails.

[PickaPengy]

The 'Hair,Skin and Nails', tablets by Solgar have really made a difference to my hair. It takes a few months for it so show an effect.

[Icelandicsuperyoghurt]

Have you had your ferritin and vitamin D levels checked. I had awful hair loss/thinning and gp referred me to a dermatologist who took bloods which showed ferritin levels too low to support hair growth (so it was falling out but nothing growing in its place I guess) and also very low vit d. It's taking ages to get the ferritin up to the levels she wanted ( as near to 100 as poss) but gradually (over a year) it started falling out far less and growing better. I don't have anything approaching normal fine hair, but it's a hell of a lot better than it was and at least, even if it's not much thicker, it's not falling out and not quite as brittle. I'm 54 and the dermatologist thinks mine is possibly related to an unusual side effect of HRT

Would def get those 2 levels checked if not already done and also re-post on health board and ask for anyone with knowledge of thyroid to advise re your result. Apparently, a lot of people are given' normal' results, when in actual fact, they're on the low side. There are other levels that you can ask to be checked, to do with thyroid which are often not offered routinely, but can be very useful. I think I have that right ?

in addition to 2 x 120mg of ferrous fumerate a day, even though the GP said I can stop the vit d tablets he gave me for a while, I still take them and also biotin and silica.

[Rewy]

I agree with the poster re ferritin levels. You should take ferrograd c which is iron with vitamin c in which helps you to absorb the iron. Take at night on empty stomach . Perfectil is good. Also eat plenty of protein .

[Rewy]

Meant to add , my hair thinned a lot. Stress , weight loss and a major op. Apparently anesthetic can shock the hair. My ferritin level was 12. The gp said it was on the low side but they don't worry about anything unless its under 12. Laughable when it should be in the 100's

[Newhere2]

I also had this happen and it was thyroid (that NHS doctor said was fine and also I was almost anaemic and needed ferrograd c and also a zinc supplement, NHS doctor also didn't pick these issues up first time .

I'd get a second opinion re the thyroid, I'm very glad I did!

[Clocksandcandles]

Thanks so much for all the advice.

I will get to the doctors and in the meantime will take what I can get in the way of vitamins etc.

I am pretty sure it is my thyroid actually, will push the doc...

Thanks again.

[ImperialBlether]

Are you taking any medications? I had the same problem when I was taking Omeprazole.

[velourvoyageur]

Two possible reasons are telogen effluvium (e.g. what Rewy mentioned) and seborrheic dermatitis.

Both will stop (TE on its own and dermatitis with special shampoo). Worth checking out.

I feel for you OP, hair loss seems really scary, hope you notice an improvement soon.
Have a lovely wedding and I'm sure you'll look absolutely beautiful without a hat!

[velourvoyageur]

I meant the anaesthetic/op bit :)

[Featherbluedot]

Have you dyed your hair recently or been swimming. My hair fell out after swimming in clumps.

[LilyMayViolet]

Probably not this but a friend of mine had a lot of hair use from over using dry shampoo. It grew back as soon as she stopped.

[LilyMayViolet]

Hair loss, sorry, not hair use.

[CloserToFiftyThanTwenty]

I found the LOreal shampoo (black bottle, pink label) for "hair that is prone to fall" or something did actually work and I had noticeably fuller hair

[FreshsatsumaforDd]

My hair was falling out in clumps before I realized that I was intolerant of gluten, but I had lots of other symptoms too...a host of stomach problems, skin rashes, fertility problems, poor food absorption, all went away in a couple of months when gluten (mostly wheat) was removed from my diet.