hair loss - not immediately postal natal!

[bumpybecky]

I've done a search but can only find threads realting to hair loss in the months after birth, so I thought I'd start a new thread

I've been losing hair for about 3 months now. My youngest child is 14 months and I did lose hair when he was about 3-6 months old, but this stopped until about Christmas time. Since then I've been losing hair from all over my head, not in clumps, but at an alarming rate.

I've seen the GP and persuaded her to do a thyroid function test (I have a few other possible thyroid symptoms) but they can't fit me in for another fortnight as it's a fasting test apparently. The GP said the most likey cause was stress though. I'm not entriely convinced as apart from a busy family life (4 kids, several animals etc) there's none of the big stress things (no divorce, financial problems, moving, death etc) just normal stuff.

Has anyone else had hair loss due to stress? did it take long for your hair to recover?

DH isn't being hugely sympathetic as he's virtually bald himself! It's just horrible seeing all this hair everywhere

I had it a few years ago and then since then about once a year it happens for a couple of months. The gp said it was very common in women and seemed to be a cyclical thing - I reckon that meant he had no idea why it happens but it just does .

I did take some homeopathic tabs I got from Tesco for hair loss and brittle nails, whether they helped or not I don't know but it did stop and the hair did grow back. I hated having to de-hair the shower plughole everyday - yuk. It is really scary losing your hair so I understand your concern.

I think it is a good idea to check out your thyroid anyway though, and perhaps change shampoo etc to a milder or different one. Obviously I don't know what your diet is like but perhaps take some supplements for a while?

Good luck !

hi, I went through the same hell.
My son was 3 months old when i lost the 'post pregnancy' hair, but it wasnt till a year after that that i really started to lose hair - all over and the whole house was covered, i can recall hand hoovering about 8 times a day, the little collections and piles...i was devastated, so very unhappy - cried a lot. This went on for about 5 months?

i had my hair cut thinking that would stop it but it didnt. Had long hair. So had another cut - very dramatic, a bob really. and it stopped falling out. Although this followed other things too:
eating more red meat (i noticed that during the hair loss phase i cut out meat from my diet...), not brushing my hair, bought a totally organic plain simple shampoo from health food shop and only washed hair every 4-5 days, started exercising again and stood with my head hanging down touching my toes for ages to let the blood flow to my head,

sorry realise am writing an essay here but want to pass on all advice
no hairbrushing,
I do think the short hair do helped immensely. eventually little tiny tufts of baby hair began to poke through. It was over!

wishing you lots of luck
I dont, by the way, think that hair clinics are worth the money
oh, i also had extensive tests - nothing