Can I ask about your experiences with Telogen Effluvium? My hair is really shedding!

[Weightedvest]

I’ve had TE before but not for years. I’m shocked how many hairs are coming out. I’m about a month in. Tonight I feel like my hair looks different and feels thinner. 😢 how long does it last? What can I do? I can’t remember how I dealt with it before but I remember the despair!

Iron tablets. Get bloodwork done and supplement any deficiencies x

Yes, I’ve been taking Ferrous Fumerate for the past two weeks.

Lost everything within two weeks, all bloods fine with no deficiency.
grew back about 2 inches, caught Covid all gone again.

we have now been a year without shedding and have a few inches of curly hair. I’m having a mesh integration system to replace the hair

I’m so sorry. That’s incredibly tough.

I had it many years ago after a severe diet. I remember my chair at work being covered in hair, and people commenting. I recovered but my hair was never as thick again.

AFAIK, hair goes through three phases: growth, rest and falling out. Usually, your hair is at every stage (some growing etc). But if you go through a shock- like a crash diet - it all goes into the rest phase, then enters the falling out phase all at once.

My hairdresser recommended Viviscal and it really helped me.

Methylated iron
b9 and 12 methylated for proper absorption

Rosemary oil but it’s all internal im sure
biotin vit d etc etc also

Heavy protein intake the dermatologist recommended to me when I had it. I
took a biotin supplement & multivit. Used nioxin products.

I cant remember how long it lasted, maybe a few months but it did recover (unfortunately I have shite, thin hair & little of it at the best of times!)

Oh & bloods showed I was B12 deficient, however Im certain that wasnt a new thing & related to bowel surgery/absorption problems several years earlier. Mine was definitely stress related.

Peri menopause affects it too, can start aT 44 for most women . Earlier too for non Caucasian women

I've had it twice - once after a serious viral bug and once after a period of iron deficiency.

The first time, I started shedding almost exactly three months to the day I fell ill. And then my hair started growing back almost three months exactly after that.

With iron deficiency, it was the same pattern, but has taken longer for my hair to come back as I needed to get my iron levels sorted first (initial transfusion and then ferrous sulphate pills). My ferritin was on the floor at a level of 8 I think, so not surprisingly I lost hair!

I've read it needs to be at 70 for three months for normal growth, if that helps.

Sorry you're experiencing TE. It's not nice. I hope you see growth soon.

I’m sorry OP it is really horrible.

I got stress related TE last year and it went on for about 6 months. I have also bleach damaged my hair so the shape of it kind sucks right now, due to my hair round the front and sides being so much shorter. Prior to this, as with lots of women I also got it after each pregnancy (3, each only 2 years apart), so my hairline has taken a real beating over the last decade!

Some people recommend a fringe to help disguise it. How thick is your hair? I am lucky a bit that my hair strands are fine but there are lots of them in terms of hair thickness, so at this stage now the really thin/bald spots near my hairline are covered with a couple inches of hair, I just do little clippy things with the front of my hair to cope with the length discrepancy with a bunch of bobby pins.

Well, I took the plunge and did tests privately - a whole range of women hair loss related tests.

All markers fine except my B12 was elevated out of range, weirdly and DRUM ROLL - no surprise, my ferritin levels are very low.

range is 10-322 and mine is at 15.2

so, I think we’ve found the answer!

I’ve started taking ferrous fumerate with Vit c and lysine

My iron levels were ok, just ferritin v low

I’m not sure whether it’s still sold but Nourkrin really helped me when I had TE.

Well done on finding the cause OP! It will almost definitely be the ferritin. And you can have totally normal HB (haemoglobin) levels with low ferritin. Annoying!

The iron supplements will help, but please be assured that it can take months to build those levels up. I went from a level of around 8 to around 30 in about four months. But you will get there, and hopefully your hair will come back soon too.

There is also a supplement called Florisene made specifically for this issue in women. It was prescribed to me by a very well regarded trichologist when I had the same issue. It has very good reviews so perhaps take a look if you like?

All the best!

following, not got TE I don’t think but I’ve been shedding bucketloads almost constantly for about 2 years, no signs of going bald yet but my hair is very thin and whispy and nothing like it once was.
am 46 which is probably a factor
I have had underactive thyroid for years but take Levothyroxin to control it so probably not that
taking vitD, biotin and iron supplements and nothing working. Ferritin was 40 at last bloods so could be a factor.
just awful so fistbump from me.

Thanks so much. Yes, I need to accept that I have to work at my ferritin. I need to eat red meat on a fairly regular basis - my dermatologist, during the last TE period 5 years ago, said it's the way to mainline.

That product looks interesting, but the main components - Vit C, iron, lysine - I am already taking. I take one Vit C tablet, lysine with ferrous fumerate x 2 a day; I've just ordered zinc and folate.

Can I ask - do you think the hair will start to regrow before the ferritin is at its max?

My concern is that another 3/4 months of this much loss will make a serious dent in my hair!

Sorry that is also me ☝🏼- have to set up mumsnet differently on computer so use a different username and forget!

In my experience, yes, I did start to see regrowth as my levels slowly started to correct. I think as I moved away from the 'critical' point of the lowest ferritin, things started to get better. My level at last check was much higher, and my hair is definitely coming back as before. Just need it all to grow out long again!

Thanks, that’s encouraging. What do you think the level needs to be, to be out of critical? I realise it needs to be 70+ for optimum growth (which seems a long way off!)